Friday, July 31, 2015

Cryptome publishes my Wikileaks findings

Those unfamiliar with my Wikileaks findings should read my (so far) four post series on my discover of malware within files available for download on the Wikileaks website that can, among other things, identify and track those reading infected files: 1st post | 2nd post | 3rd post | 4th post 
Note that my posts are lengthy and contain some technical information. If you aren't really into reading technical things you would probably prefer the summaries of my findings available in The Register or Neue Zürcher Zeitung (for German speakers). 

Because Wikileaks has refused to inform its users that the infected files are, in fact malicious, I went public with my findings. Cryptome has just published a letter with a brief explanation of the issues with the Wikileaks malware

cryptome joshua wieder wikileaks malware



Cryptome is a long time advocate of government transparency, and had already been publishing leaked documents on their website for close to a decade when Wikileaks was first created. Here is Cryptome describes their mission:
Cryptome welcomes documents for publication that are prohibited by governments worldwide, in particular material on freedom of expression, privacy, cryptology, dual-use technologies, national security, intelligence, and secret governance -- open, secret and classified documents -- but not limited to those. Documents are removed from this site only by order served directly by a US court having jurisdiction. No court order has ever been served; any order served will be published here -- or elsewhere if gagged by order. Bluffs will be published if comical but otherwise ignored.
Cryptome has had its ups and downs over the years. Certainly, publication there is not verification of my findings. However, I greatly appreciate the publication and hope that it contributes to my ongoing goals of getting some extra pairs of eyes reviewing these malicious files as well as other file leaks, and to warn journalists and activists of the dangers of improperly handling these malware infected files.

At least two major news papers will be running features that I know of; I'll post those as they are released.

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