WikiLeaks
Today
[August 24th 2017] WikiLeaks publishes secret documents from the
ExpressLane project of the CIA. These documents show one of the cyber
operations the CIA conducts against liaison services -- which
includes among many others the National Security Agency (NSA), the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI).
The OTS
(Office of Technical Services), a branch within the CIA, has a
biometric collection system that is provided to liaison services
around the world -- with the expectation for sharing of the biometric
takes collected on the systems. But this 'voluntary sharing'
obviously does not work or is considered insufficient by the CIA,
because ExpressLane is a covert information collection tool that is
used by the CIA to secretly exfiltrate data collections from such
systems provided to liaison services.
ExpressLane
is installed and run with the cover of upgrading the biometric
software by OTS agents that visit the liaison sites. Liaison officers
overseeing this procedure will remain unsuspicious, as the data
exfiltration disguises behind a Windows installation splash screen.
The core
components of the OTS system are based on products from Cross Match,
a US company specializing in biometric software for law enforcement
and the Intelligence Community. The company hit the headlines in 2011
when it was reported that the US military used a Cross Match product
to identify Osama bin Laden during the assassination operation in
Pakistan.
Documents:
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