WikiLeaks just published thousands of documents it says came from the CIA

Impact

WikiLeaks, an organization responsible for leaking countless classified documents from anonymous sources, published "thousands" of documents it says are from the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

According to a press release posted on the WikiLeaks' website, the document dump is the beginning of a "new series of leaks on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency." The organization has named the project "Vault 7."

According to WikiLeaks, the documents contain information about the CIA's "global covert hacking program," including malware tools created by the CIA, allegedly to further U.S. surveillance. WikiLeaks says the documents shared on Tuesday had been circulating among hackers who had worked for the U.S. government, one of whom gave WikiLeaks access to "portions of the archive," according to the press release.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Notably, WikiLeaks claims the Vault 7 documents show that the CIA had worked to "weaponize" popular products like iPhones and Samsung TVs by turning them into "covert microphones."

WikiLeaks has been a controversial organization from its outset. Its embattled founder, Julian Assange, has been accused of moving WikiLeaks away from its founding principles of transparency and towards targeted attacks on specific politicians or groups of people.