Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Trends

Wikileaks Has Surfaced Decade-Old Documents Of CIA Router Hacking Techniques

This is how they do it.

This is how they do it.

You thought companies using your cookies to advertise to you was bad? Just read these documents from Wikileaks and you might start going outside more…

Since Donald Trump was sworn in as our forty fifth president, there has been a significant spike in sales of George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. A lot of this has been blamed on paranoia and has often been called an overreaction. But now there’s evidence (or more evidence) that far more aspects of Orwell’s novel are coming true than just doublespeak and thoughtcrime.

Image VIA

According to a series of documents, which have been posted on the non-profit site Wikileaks, the CIA has been monitoring routers and examining internet histories for the last ten years.

Whoever is reading this, I’ll give you a chance to delete a few things before you continue.
All done? Good. As I was saying:

The firmware, known as the Cherry Blossom System, is used to run on home internet routers and send information about what it finds back to a system called ‘CherryTree’ for — what I hope are — surveillance reasons. They are programmed to run on routers from ten American companies including Linksys and Belkin.

The CIA has been using this technology for the last ten years to monitor people from a list of “targets of interest” (and once this article gets published, there’s a good chance I’ll be on that list as well… so if this is my last article, it’s been fun).

As one of the Wikileaks documents states: “The Cherry Blossom (CB) system provides a means of monitoring the internet activity of and performing software exploits on targets of interest.”

So what exactly happens to the targets of interest who are caught with incriminating search histories? My guess is they’re taken to Room 101, but that’s just a guess. They could be blacklisted or possibly taken to court, based on the severity of the offense, but once thing is certain… if anyone wasn’t already clearing their histories than they will now.

If the government wanted to hack us, they should’ve just called this British teenager who successfully hacked Kim-Jong Un’s account on the social media site Starcon.

Featured Image Via
Written By

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Support Real Ones. Fund the Future.

If you read this far, you get it: young voices matter. At TRILL, every story is written by emerging writers telling the truth in a media landscape that too often silences them.

We run ads, yeah. But they don’t run us. We’re independent, mission-driven, and powered by people who believe young storytellers deserve more than just “exposure.”

Your donation goes straight to mentorship, editorial support, and launching the next wave of Gen Z writers into media careers that matter.

If that matters to you, chip in. Even $5 helps keep TRILL free, fearless, and independent.

Donate Now →
Advertisement
Advertisement

You May Also Like

Uncategorized

In an era of short form media and low attention span, learn how to rebuild your stamina and improve your brain function.

Trends

From Screaming in Stores to Throwing Popcorn at Moviegoers, Public Pranking is Evolving

Love & Relationships

In our early 20s, friendship takes real effort. Showing up—especially when it's inconvenient—isn’t optional. It’s how we build meaningful, lasting, reciprocal connections.

College

Students are harming their mental health and need to digitally detox.