It’s no secret now that CIA hacking is a common thing, and there is little we can do to change this. However, is there any positivity about this? Is there a silver lining? Well, according to privacy advocates, there is! It might scare you to think that YOU are being spied on by the CIA, through your smart tv, phone, or computer. And this was proven a few days ago when WikiLeaks published thousands of documents proving that the CIA is actually spying on you. However, it is not proven whether these documents are actually legitimate or not. This also prompted former CIA employee Edward Snowden to post on twitter, the following: ‘It may not feel like it, but computer security is getting better’.
So, how exactly does this improve computer security? Isn’t hacking supposed to be a bad thing? Well, the idea here is that if the CIA spies spend time on hacking particular suspects, then they won’t use spy programs which may actually hack the entire internet. Previously, programs such as Muscular, and Upstream were designed to suck up huge amounts of data from the internet and store it for the NSA to comb through later, and there is a chance that some of YOUR data might be stored in these programs, whether you are an American citizen, or not.
So, is there any way that you can protect yourself against such hacking practices? Well, you can start by using encryption for your messages. The use of encryption programs such as WhatsApp and Signal is actually forcing the CIA to selectively use high risk, expensive targeted attacks. And if you are concerned that the CIA may hack your operating system on your phone, then this is actually a legitimate concern, however, this has a very simple solution; you simply have to update your software. Apple, Microsoft, and Google have already stated that their products are safe from most of the tools the CIA uses for hacking if of course, you are using the latest software.
