WIKILEAKS has published thousands of documents that it says come from the CIA’s Centre for Cyber Intelligence, a dramatic release that appears to give an eye-opening look at the intimate details of the agency’s cyberespionage effort.

It was not immediately clear how WikiLeaks obtained the information, which included more than 8700 documents and files. The CIA tools, if authentic, could undermine the confidence that consumers have in the safety and security of their computers, mobile devices, high-tech cars and even smart TVs.

WikiLeaks said the material came from “an isolated, high-security network situated inside the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.”

It didn’t say how the files were removed, such as possibly by a rogue employee, by hacking a federal contractor working for the CIA or breaking into a staging server where such hacking tools might be temporarily stored.

The more than 8000 documents cover a host of technical topics, including what appears to be a discussion about how to compromise smart televisions and turn them into improvised surveillance devices.

WikiLeaks said the data also includes details on the agency’s efforts to subvert American software products and smartphones, including Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Microsoft Windows.

RELEASE: Vault 7 Part 1 "Year Zero": Inside the CIA's global hacking force https://t.co/h5wzfrReyy pic.twitter.com/N2lxyHH9jp — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 7, 2017

This is the first leak of the CIA project the site is calling “Vault 7.”

WikiLeaks first released an encrypted version of this batch of documents, nicknamed “Year Zero,” on Twitter late Monday.

CIA's secret hacking division produced a huge amount of weaponized malware to infest iPhone. Android phones--and lost control of it. #Vault7 pic.twitter.com/KmFLEVmbnE — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 7, 2017

The dump could not immediately be authenticated but WikiLeaks has a long track record of releasing top secret government documents.

Jonathan Liu, a spokesman for the CIA, said: “We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents.”

WikiLeaks, which has been dropping cryptic hints about the release for a month, said in a lengthy statement that the CIA had “recently” lost control of a massive arsenal of CIA hacking tools as well as associated documentation.

One expert who examined the dump, Rendition Infosec founder Jake Williams, told the AP it appeared legitimate.

“There’s no question that there’s a fire drill going on right now,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me that there are people changing careers - and ending careers - as we speak.”

Jointly developed CIA+MI5 malware infests Samsung smart TVs to turn them into covert microphones #Vault7 pic.twitter.com/Ki0wRlgjPP — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 7, 2017

U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt is a covert CIA hacker base https://t.co/K7wFTdlC82 pic.twitter.com/oqjtcVb56E — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 7, 2017

If it does prove legitimate, the dump will represent yet another catastrophic breach for the US intelligence community at the hands of WikiLeaks and its allies, which have repeatedly humbled Washington with the mass release of classified material.

One of the purported CIA malware programs is described in the WikiLeaks documents as a “simple DLL hijacking attempt” that had been tested against Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and 7 operating systems.

The technique, which the document called a “Windows FAX DLL injection,” introduces computer code that allows an attacker to gain access to a computer process’ memory and permissions while at the same time masking the attack.

Williams, who has experience dealing with government hackers, said the voluminous files’ extensive references to operation security meant they were almost certainly government-backed.

WikiLeaks said its data also included a “substantial library” of digital espionage techniques borrowed from other countries, including Russia.

Bob Ayers, a retired US intelligence official currently working as a security analyst, noted that WikiLeaks has promised to release more CIA documents.

“The damage right now is relatively high level,” he said. “The potential for really detailed damage will come in the following releases.”