WikiLeaks
Today, May
19th 2017, WikiLeaks publishes documents from the "Athena"
project of the CIA. "Athena" - like the related "Hera"
system - provides remote beacon and loader capabilities on target
computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system (from
Windows XP to Windows 10). Once installed, the malware provides a
beaconing capability (including configuration and task handling), the
memory loading/unloading of malicious payloads for specific tasks and
the delivery and retrieval of files to/from a specified directory on
the target system. It allows the operator to configure settings
during runtime (while the implant is on target) to customize it to an
operation.
According to
the documentation (see Athena Technology Overview), the malware was
developed by the CIA in cooperation with Siege Technologies, a
self-proclaimed cyber security company based in New Hampshire, US. On
their website, Siege Technologies states that the company "...
focuses on leveraging offensive cyberwar technologies and
methodologies to develop predictive cyber security solutions for
insurance, government and other targeted markets.". On
November 15th, 2016 Nehemiah Security announced the acquisition of
Siege Technologies.
In an email
from HackingTeam (published by WikiLeaks), Jason Syversen, founder of
Siege Technologies with a background in cryptography and hacking,
"... said he set out to create the equivalent of the
military’s so-called probability of kill metric, a statistical
analysis of whether an attack is likely to succeed. 'I feel more
comfortable working on electronic warfare,' he said. 'It’s a little
different than bombs and nuclear weapons -- that’s a morally
complex field to be in. Now instead of bombing things and having
collateral damage, you can really reduce civilian casualties, which
is a win for everybody.'"
Documents:
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