The files are the most comprehensive release of U.S. spying files ever made public, according to Julian Assange. There are a total of 8,761 documents that account for "the entire hacking capacity of the CIA", Assange wrote in a release, and the trove is just the first of a series of "Vault 7" leaks, The Independent reports.
WikiLeaks claims that the CIA had "lost control of its arsenal", according to Assange.
A range of software and exploits that, if real, could allow unparalleled control of computers worldwide, includes software facilitating external control of the most popular consumer electronics products, WikiLeaks claims.
Read alsoAssange: Some leaks may have been Russian"'Year Zero' introduces the scope and direction of the CIA's global covert hacking program, its malware arsenal and dozens of "zero day" weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products, include Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones," the organization said in a release.
The public files don't include the cyber weapons themselves, according to a statement. The organization will refrain from distributing "armed" software "until a consensus emerges on the technical and political nature of the CIA's program and how such 'weapons' should be analyzed, disarmed and published", it said.
Read alsoCNN: Intel report says U.S. identifies go-betweens who gave emails to WikiLeaksThe files were made available by a source who intended for them to start a conversation about whether the CIA had gained too much power, according to the organization.
