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Are We Being Watched by the CIA?

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Toronto chapter.

Some of the devices that you use in your everyday life are probably not as secure as you may think. Although companies tend to guarantee your security and privacy, there is a concern that has been brought up about the idea that the devices are being surveilled by the CIA. Smart devices may be useful in making you’re life more convenient by having so much information and resources at your disposal, however there is a chance that these devices are being used against you.

Wikileaks recently stated that the CIA can get past the encryption on our smart devices through hacking tools which allows them to have access to people’s personal devices. You may have heard of the issue in 2015 where the FBI wanted to get access to the San Bernanrdino shooter’s phone however Apple would not grant them access. However, the FBI apparently was able to gain access to the device without Apple’s help and that leaves the question of “How?”. This creates a slippery slope because if the FBI is able to get access to one Apple device through the encryption and without the help of Apple, that means they have access to any Apple devices. Therefore the question is does anyone truly have any privacy when it comes to their devices?

Statement made by WikiLeaks on their twitter page.

Apple and Samsung are both huge companies where privacy is a key component of what they are. The two companies ensure that they are working to make sure that they can maintain a certain level of privacy and security for their devices. However, that doesn’t change the fact that at least as of now, the CIA has access to computers, phones, and smart TVs.However there is also some negligence that comes with this because apparently the CIA has lost control of some of the hacking tools that it possesses which means that these tools could be in the hands of anyone. These are just claims that have been made by WikiLeaks and haven’t been proven yet, however that doesn’t change the fact that we should be cautious when using our personal devices because you never know who else has access to the data on your phone or any other Smart device.