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Julian Assange’s protection reportedly cost Ecuador millions
The Ecuadorian government has apparently spent quite a bit of money protecting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. According to a report at The Guardian, the country had the full assent of the Ecuadorian president and foreign minister to "protect" Assange via "Operation Guest," which sources say had an average cost of at least $66,000 per month.
WikiLeaks loses access to a key cryptocurrency account
This hasn't been the best week for WikiLeaks, to put it mildly. Coinbase has shut off the WikiLeaks Shop's account for allegedly violating the cryptocurrency exchange's terms of service. In other words, the leak site just lost its existing means of converting payments like bitcoin into conventional money. While Coinbase didn't give a specific reason (it declines to comment on specific accounts), it pointed to its legal requirement to honor "regulatory compliance mechanisms" under the US' Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
DNC sues Russia, Trump campaign and WikiLeaks over 2016 hack
While Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election continues, the Democratic National Committee has decided to take action of its own. According to the Washington Post, the DNC this morning filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit accusing (among others) the Russian government, WikiLeaks and key officials inside Donald Trump's presidential campaign of computer fraud, racketeering, data theft and more, all in hopes of swaying the outcome of a presidential election.
Ecuador cracks down on Julian Assange’s internet access
The Ecuadorian government just suspended Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's internet communications, preventing him from sending tweets or other messages from the South American country's embassy in London. Assange, granted Ecuadorian citizenship this year, has been living at the embassy for six years to avoid extradition for rape charges in Sweden (which have since been dropped).
Democrats aim to subpoena Apple, Twitter over private chats
The House of Representatives' investigation into Russia's election interference may have ended, but Democrats are still discussing what they'd like to do if and when they regain a House majority -- and it could have significant repercussions for the tech industry. Their recently published memo in the aftermath of the investigation calls on the House Intelligence Committee to subpoena Apple, Twitter and WhatsApp for info regarding encrypted chat apps and private messages. The Democrats want to know which apps key actors in the 2016 US election used, and what they said.
Julian Assange's Twitter account goes quiet (update: It's back)
Late on Christmas Eve Julian Assange's official Twitter account appears to have been deleted. It's initially unclear if the disappearance was a ban or if Assange simply deleted his own account. But it does not appear to simply be a glitch. According to The Daily Beast, a second account popped up shortly after claiming to be a back up alternate to the official @JulianAssange. It accused Twitter of deleting Assange's account to silence him ahead of a major story. But that account has also now been removed. You can see a cached version of the original account here, but there are no obvious clues as to why the account went quiet. We've reached out to both Wikileaks and Twitter for more information. We'll update the story if and when we hear back. Update: Assange's account is back up, but there's still no explanation from him, Wikileaks or Twitter.
After Math: When you come undone
Oh hey, what a surprise, the guy who joked just last week about how he was a "puppet FCC Chairman" in front of his former Verizon bosses just so happened to spearhead a campaign to roll back Net Neutrality protections -- something Verizon has long lobbied for. Such a coincidence. Of course those weren't the only shenanigans to take place this week. The UK declared the website of accused serial rapist Julian Assange, Wikileaks, a media organization; a crew physically stole $1.8 million in cryptocurrency somehow, Disney managed to become an even larger evil empire than it already is and AOL finally took AIM out back behind the woodshed. Numbers because how else will you maintain an accurate body count?
UK tribunal declares WikiLeaks a media organization
A British tribunal released a ruling today on a freedom of information case in which an Italian journalist, Stefania Maurizi, sought documents regarding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition. While the tribunal decided that she could not get those documents due to confidentiality reasons, it did state in its summary that WikiLeaks was a media organization, which could make any US attempts at having Assange extradited more difficult.
Russian hackers had hundreds of US targets in addition to the DNC
Various US agencies continue to look into the role Russia played in last year's presidential election, and targets of those investigations include interactions between Trump advisors and Russian officials, ads purchased by Russian agents through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and whether the Kremlin was involved in the DNC email hacks of last year. In regards to the latter, Russia has been suspected of being behind the hacks for quite some time and just this week, reports have surfaced that the US Department of Justice has pinpointed six Russian officials it believes to have been involved in the hacks. However, a report released today by the Associated Press suggests that the group behind the DNC email breaches actually had a much wider range of targets.
CIA uses a secret tool to spy on NSA, FBI and other intel partners
Apparently, nobody's exempt from the CIA's intelligence gathering, not even its own intelligence partners. According to a set of documents published by WikiLeaks, the CIA uses a tool called "ExpressLane" that hides behind a fake software update to collect information from agencies around the world that use its biometric collection system. In the US, the list includes fellow government agencies like the FBI, the NSA and Homeland Security. These partners are supposed to share data with the CIA, but clearly, the intelligence service wants to make sure they're not keeping anything from the agency.
DNC hires ex-Uber engineer as its chief technology officer
The Democratic National Committee has selected ex-Twitter VP Raffi Krikorian as its chief technology officer. Krikorian was until recently the senior director of engineering at Uber's Advanced Technologies Center, but left the company in February.
Guess what Michael Moore's 'Trumpileaks' site is about
Michael Moore just created a new website called "Trumpileaks," for, you guessed it, collecting leaked information about Trump administration activities. In a letter posted on the site, Moore implored, "I need one of you to help me. It might get dangerous. It may get us in trouble. But we're running out of time."
Sweden drops investigation into Julian Assange rape allegations
Sweden has dropped its investigation into Julian Assange over allegations of rape, dramatically changing the plot in a standoff that has lasted seven years. The charges were first leveled at the WikiLeaks founder in 2010, causing him to seek asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 after losing a series of appeals. He's been sequestered there ever since, and could finally go free once the withdrawal of his warrant is confirmed by a London court, possibly by the end of the day.
Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning walks free from prison
Chelsea Manning took her first steps as a free woman moments ago. Charged with espionage and the capital offense of aiding the enemy, she faced a 35 year sentence for 20 charges, stemming from classified information the then-Bradley Manning submitted to Wikileaks. The soldier's sentence was commuted by President Obama in January. She will be on unpaid active duty in the military while her military court conviction goes through the appeal process, BBC notes. Should the appeal not be approved, Manning could be dishonorably discharged.
Reports: US is preparing charges against Wikileaks' Assange
United States authorities have prepared charges for the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, CNN reports. Assange has been hiding out in the Embassy of Ecuador in London since 2012, fleeing allegations of rape in Sweden and espionage charges in the US. This makes him difficult to reach, regardless of a formal charge -- unless Ecuador plans to kick him out of its embassy after a five-year stay.
The new CIA head hates WikiLeaks (when convenient)
The new director of the CIA has come out swinging against WikiLeaks, calling the organization a "hostile intelligence service." In his first public speech, Mike Pompeo called Julian Assange a "narcissist who has created nothing of value," adding that he "relied upon the dirty work of others to make himself famous."
Watch 'Citizenfour' team's WikiLeaks doc this summer on Showtime
There haven't been any shortage of documentaries about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but the one we've kept a keen eye on is from filmmaker Laura Poitras. You might remember her as the director of the the Edward Snowden documentary Citizenfour and as one of the 150 filmmakers calling for camera encryption. As it happens, Risk will see a theatrical release, but this summer the film will be available on the small screen thanks to Showtime, Variety reports.
WikiLeaks latest CIA dump focuses on malware for Windows
As WikiLeaks continues to extend the mileage from its "Vault 7 cache" of CIA information, its latest release focuses on tools it says the agency uses for hacking Windows computers. While its release didn't include any source code, manuals described a "Grasshopper" tool used to create custom malware setups depending on the target intended. As CSO Magazine explains, it used some elements from the Carberp financial malware that leaked onto the internet in 2013. The CIA's Advanced Engineering Division and Remote Development Branch allegedly modified that malware, while the Grasshopper setup allows them to customize its ability to persist on the victim's computer, reinstall itself and evade antivirus scans.
WikiLeaks: CIA has all sorts of tools for hacking your 2008-era Mac (updated)
One of Apple's big talking points is that Macs don't get viruses and that they're relatively safe when compared to Windows PCs. Well, WikiLeaks would like you to reconsider that notion with more info about Vault 7. The organization's latest dump is a handful of documents from the Central Intelligence Agency that detail, among other things, how the agency can infect a MacBook Air during its boot cycle via a modified Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter. With "Sonic Screwdriver," the CIA's monitoring tools are stored on the dongle and the machine can be infected even if it's password protected. Considering how dongle dependent the new MacBooks are, this sort of exploit becomes even more worrying.
WikiLeaks won't share CIA exploits unless companies meet terms
WikiLeaks offered to work with tech companies to patch the CIA's leaked security exploits, but there has been a whole lot of silence ever since. Why? That depends on who you ask. Motherboard sources claim that WikiLeaks "made demands" of the companies before it would hand over necessary details of the vulnerabilities, including a requirement that they promise to issue security patches within 90 days. Potential fixes are reportedly stuck in legal limbo, the tipsters say, as the companies are worried about writing patches based on leaked info, not to mention the origins of the leak. They're worried that Russia might have been responsible for forwarding the info.
