Home Wi-Fi routers made by Linksys, DLink, Belkin and other top tech firms have been used by the CIA to monitor the flow of internet traffic, documents revealed by WikiLeaks show.
The infected routers spy on the internet-connected devices' activities without the user knowing, turning them into "covert listening points," the Daily Mail reports.
A 175-page CIA user manual for setting up the spying activity dubbed "Cherry Blossom," reads in part:
"The Cherry Blossom (CB) system provides a means of monitoring the internet activity of and performing software exploits on targets of interest. In particular, CB is focused on compromising wireless networking devices, such as wireless (802.11) routers and access points (APs), to achieve these goals.''
It also explains how a maneuver called "tomato'' can steal the routers' passwords if a default feature known as a universal plug and play is left on.
The manual, according to the Daily Mail, is about 10-years-old.
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