Trump, Putin supporters seize on WikiLeaks ‘Umbrage’ disclosure

AMONG the thousands of documents dumped by WikiLeaks, there is one in particular Donald Trump and his supporters will be very pleased to see.

The claims about CIA Umbrage have been seized upon by Trump supporters. Picture: AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez

OF ALL the disclosures including the enormous cache of documents released by WikiLeaks, one in particular will prove a gift to the Trump administration and Russia.

The leaked files, ostensibly stolen from the CIA, include details about “Umbrage” — a group dedicated to cultivating a “library of attack techniques ‘stolen’ from malware produced in other states including the Russian Federation.”

Umbrage allows the CIA to carry out cyber attacks that leave false “fingerprints” as a way of muddying the digital trail, according to the documents.

“This is analogous to finding the same distinctive knife wound on multiple separate murder victims. The unique wounding style creates suspicion that a single murderer is responsible. As soon (as) one murder in the set is solved then the other murders also find likely attribution,” WikiLeaks writes.

“With Umbrage and related projects the CIA cannot only increase its total number of attack types but also misdirect attribution by leaving behind the ‘fingerprints’ of the groups that the attack techniques were stolen from.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied allegations of hacking. Picture: AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

A picture of Trump is burned at a women's’ march in the Philippines. Picture: AFP/Ted Aljibe

It essentially means the CIA would be able to carry out cyberattacks and make it look like it was coming from Russia. The revelation has been seized on by Trump supporters after the CIA concluded Russia of being behind an attack of Democratic Party emails during the campaign.

The theory has already been picked up by Trump supporter Milo Yiannopoulos who highlighted it in a blog post and tweeted by Kim Dotcom — currently living in New Zealand.

#Vault7 pic.twitter.com/Se4CfEszJr

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 8, 2017

Wow. CIA's UMBRAGE project allows the agency to stage cyber attacks and make it look like #Russia is responsible. False flag par excellence! pic.twitter.com/yAGSO5XEKh

— Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) March 7, 2017

Let me get this straight, code name "Umbrage" was Obama's @CIA hackers intentionally writing code to mimick Russian hackers? #Vault7

— Juha (@IbranElCryssa) March 8, 2017

The WikiLeaks documents don’t shed any light on the claims of a wiretap but they do further muddy the waters in Washington amid a series of leaks from intelligence agencies.

Mr Trump ignited the capital over the weekend by tweeting unsubstantiated claims former President Barack Obama had ordered a wiretap on Trump tower. They were denied by intelligence officials and Mr Obama.

However tech website Wired said the Umbrage technique is not new and is already accounted for in “forensic” cyber investigations

“The tools described in Umbrage are already publicly known and available,” it said. “One is based on a prevalent espionage virus widely known by hackers called Shamoon, and another adapts malware likely developed by Chinese state-sponsored hackers. The tools can cover hackers’ tracks or make attacks look like they come from other sources.”

The authenticity of the WikiLeaks documents has not been confirmed although security experts say the data dump “rings true”.