According to new Posts published by WikiLeaks, the CIA has been developing and maintaining a host of tools to do just that. This morning, the organization published new documents describing a program called Cherry Blossom, which uses an altered version of a given router’s firmware to turn it into a surveillance tool. Once in point, Cherry Blossom lets a remote agent monitor the target’s internet traffic, scan for useful data like passwords, and even redirect the target to the desired website.
The document is part of a list of publications on CIA hacking tools, including previous modules targeting Apple products and Samsung Smart TVs. As with earlier publications, the document dates to 2012, and it’s unclear how the programs have grown in the five years since.
The manual describes different versions of Cherry Blossom, each tailored to a specific brand and model of router. The pace of hardware upgrades seems to have made it difficult to support each model of router, but the document shows the most popular routers were accessible to Cherry Blossom.
“As of August 2012,” the manual reads, “CB-implanted firmware can be built for roughly 25 different devices from 10 various manufacturers, including Asus, Belkin, Buffalo, Dell, DLink, Linksys, Motorola, Netgear, Senao, and US Robotics.”
The guidebook also goes into detail on how CIA agents would typically install the modified firmware on a given device. “In typical operation,” another passage reads, “a wireless device of interest is implanted with Cherry Blossom firmware, either using the Claymore tool or via a supply chain process.” The “supply-chain operation” likely refers to intercepting the device somewhere between the factory and the user, a common tactic in surveillance operations. No public documents are available on the “Claymore tool” mentioned in the section.
It’s unclear how widely the implant was used, although the manual generally refers to use for specific purposes, rather than for mass surveillance. There’s also reason to believe the NSA was using similar tactics. In 2015, The Intercept published documents obtained by Edward Snowden that detailed efforts by the UK’s GCHQ to exploit vulnerabilities in 13 models of Juniper firewalls.