This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race

by Nicole Perlroth

For three months, the Shadow Brokers disappeared. Meanwhile another leak, this time a CIA vault—the leakers called it Vault7—of Langley’s hacking tools dated between 2013 and 2016 were published online. The vault detailed how the CIA could hack into cars, smart TVs, web browsers, and the operating systems of Apple and Android phones and Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. Essentially, the motherlode. But the Shadow Brokers did not take credit for the leaks. And based on the tools, it appeared Vault7 was the work of a second leaker. Two years later, the CIA would pin the Vault7 leaks on a former elite CIA programmer by the name of John Schulte, who claimed innocence. A jury determined Schulte was guilty of making false statements to investigators, but as to whether Schulte was the source of the leaks, the jury was deadlocked, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial.