New Vault7 leaks detail "Marble," used by CIA to evade detection by forensic investigators

Wikileaks has released more data on the hacking tools deployed by the CIA, as part of its Vault7 leaks. The data contains source code files for a framework run by the CIA.

The release of data on the CIA as part of Vault7 began in early March. A previous leak revealed that the CIA could install persistent malware on Apple devices, and the latest set of documents, released on March 31st, contain the source code files for a framework called "Marble".

Wikileaks reports that Marble is a tool used by the CIA to hide from view or "obfuscate" text fragments that are used in the agency's Malware. The documents leaked, which can be viewed on the Wikileaks website, comprise Marble's source files and Wikileaks claims that the code could be used to help the CIA to conceal the language spoken by the creator of CIA malware to evade detection by forensic investigators. In a statement, they have said:

The source code shows that Marble has test examples not just in English but also in Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic and Farsi. This would permit a forensic attribution double game, for example by pretending that the spoken language of the malware creator was not American English, but Chinese, but then showing attempts to conceal the use of Chinese, drawing forensic investigators even more strongly to the wrong conclusion.

Some security experts have claimed that the new leaks could affect ongoing CIA operations. Nicholas Weaver, a security researcher at the University of California called the leaks "technically damaging", and stated in an interview with the Washington Post that they seemed "designed to disrupt ongoing CIA operations".

While the CIA has not confirmed or denied the authenticity of the leaked documents, a spokesman for the agency has stated that Americans should be "deeply troubled" by the actions of Wikileaks. This person then spoke about the founder and editor of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, stating that dictators and terrorists have "no better friend in the world" and that "theirs is the only privacy he [Assange] protects."

Source: Wikileaks via BBC News