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CIA reportedly hacked Wi-Fi routers for years

Newly leaked documents indicate the intelligence agency developed implants for devices from 10 different manufacturers.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Steven Musil
Inside the CIA

The CIA has been targeting wireless routers since 2012, according to newly leaked confidential documents.

Brooks Kraft

The CIA has been hacking home, office and public wireless routers for years in an effort to carry out clandestine surveillance, according to classified documents seen by CNET sister site ZDNet.

The intelligence agency had by mid-2012 developed implants "for roughly 25 different devices from 10 different manufacturers," including Asus, Belkin, D-Link, Linksys and Netgear, according to one document.

The trove of documents, part of an ongoing series of leaks released by the website WikiLeaks , could not be immediately verified. But they detail several hacking tool suites, which could allow the agency to conduct targeted exploitation of networks and computers, ZDNet reported.

WikiLeaks, the organization notorious for leaking highly secure government data, published a cache of documents in March that reportedly exposes tactics the CIA uses to hack into our devices. The leak suggested that the CIA may be equipped with a variety of tools that let it hack into your phone, smart TV, computer and router.

The CIA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.