GETTY/PA Experts reveal Russia was behind the latest CIA data dump on Julian Assange's Wikileaks

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“Tuesday’s data release comes as the CIA investigates Donald Trump’s connection to Putin, the Kremlin and Russian hacking during the election campaign. It’s all about Russia showing that the CIA is just as bad,” said Dr Andrew Foxall, director of the Russia Centre at the Henry Jackson Institute think tank. More than 9,000 documents detailing the hacking practises of the Central Intelligence Agency were released by Wikileaks on March 7. The classified information contained in “Vault 7” showed that the CIA has produced more than 1,000 malware systems - viruses, trojans, and other software - that can infiltrate and take control of targeted electronics including smart televisions.

Julian Assange has taken a consistently pro-Russia stance Dr Andrew Foxall

It is especially embarrassing because it exposes classified information about the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence, the unit assigned by President Obama to respond to fears that Russia's interfered with last year’s presidential elections last year. Analysts are now convinced that Wikileaks has a pro-Russia agenda, added Dr Foxall. “When Julian Assange launched Wikileaks in 2006 he was talking about transparency in Eurasia where corruption is rife. But actually it is the US which has been targeted,” he said.

“He claims that Wikileaks has secret Russian intelligence but hasn’t disclosed anything remotely sensitive about Russia. He has taken a consistently pro-Russia stance.” Julian Assange this week denied the criticism, labelling his operation as a “neutral, digital Switzerland”. However critics were sceptical over his claim that he had been given the documents by a former US government hacker to begin public debate into hacking. “The documents contained 75,000 redactions. These were codes that would also affect Russia’s security,” added Dr Foxall. “Because some of the data was relatively fresh, it is unlikely it had been in the pipeline for a while. And Assange’s team is small. The logical conclusion is that the data was given already redacted. “This was the work of a sophisticated team, and it fits entirely into a pattern of behaviour demonstrated by Russia in the past.”

REUTERS Documents detailing the hacking practises of the CIA were released by Wikileaks

That pattern includes using nominally independent pro-Russian groups to carry out cyber attacks. “The Russian state denied having any involvement with the cyber attack on Estonia in 2007, which was blamed on a non-Government youth movement called Nashi,” he said. “Afterwards, whistleblowers from the group revealed they had been taking instructions from Moscow. “It is deliberate policy to blur the lines so that Putin can maintain plausible deniability.” In January, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed there was a “high confidence that Russian military intelligence relayed material to WikiLeaks.” “My view is that Wikileaks is a tool of the Kremlin. Revelations have repeatedly embarrassed the US and fed Moscow’s geopolitical ambition,” said Alina Palykova, of the Washington DC- based Atlantic Council.

GETTY CIA has produced software that can take control of Smart TVs

“The smoking gun is the fact that Russia also hacked the Republican National Committee at the same time that it infiltrated the Democratic National Committee. Yet not one word about the RNC was released. “Russia didn’t even try to cover up its tracks. It suits Putin for Russians to know that he is capable of being such a big player on the world stage. Tampering with elections is massive. It helps with his domestic agenda.” However, the latest cyber attacks were proof that Moscow was becoming disenchanted with the Trump Regime, she said. “The initial elation that existed during the presidential campaign and immediately after Donald Trump was elected has dissipated,” she said. “Putin has become very cautious of President Trump. Moscow holds mixed views over Trump’s Russia policy, and the US choice of new ambassador to Moscow has been vilified there.”

GETTY The latest data release comes as the CIA investigates Donald Trump’s connection to Russia

She echoed concerns at the timing of the Vault 7 data dump, adding: “Tuesday’s Wikileaks dump goes beyond just embarrassing the CIA. Just look at the timing- there is a congressional inquiry into Russian hacking. “What Moscow is doing is undermining western values and principles, and it’s part of what the Russian machine has been doing. “There are many Americans who are inherently suspicious of US institutions, and are against surveillance of the population. Showing the extent of the CIA’s activities feeds into that.” Last night cyber experts warned that MI6 remained vulnerable to Russian cyber attacks, too. “I am convinced that, based upon the massive number of security vulnerabilities found in commonly deployed systems throughout governments, each and every agency that is targeted will eventually be breached,” said Mike Ahmadi, global director of critical systems Synopsys.

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