We are the producers of Risk , a documentary film about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

We unequivocally defend WikiLeaks journalistic right to publish true and newsworthy information.

The Trump administrations threats against WikiLeaks and attacks on press freedom are chilling. As Margaret Sullivan recently argued in the Washington Post, prosecuting WikiLeaks under the Espionage Act would set a dangerous precedent for all journalists.

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We were disturbed, however, to learn that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks sent cease and desist letters to our distributors demanding they stop the release of Risk: We therefore demand that you immediately cease the use and distribution of all images of the Named Participants and that you desist from this or any other infringement of the rights of the Named Participants in the future.

In WikiLeaks efforts to prevent the distribution of Risk , they are using the very tactics often used against them legal threats, false security claims, underhanded personal attacks, misdirection and with the same intentions: to suppress information and silence speech.

Filmmaker Laura Poitras speaks as former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden is seen on a video conference screen during an award ceremony for the Carl von Ossietzky journalism prize on December 14, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. Adam Berry/Getty

Since 2016, Assange and his lawyers have repeatedly demanded that we remove scenes from the film in which Assange speaks about the two women who made sexual assault allegations against him in 2010 and Swedens investigation which has since been discontinued.

In response to our refusal to remove these scenes, Assange and his lawyers are now claiming that Risk threatens the safety of the staff who consented to being filmed, and furthermore, that we are being sexist by including Assanges own comments about women in the film.

These arguments are not only false, they are a deliberate effort at misdirection.

Risk was filmed over the course of many years, beginning in 2011. Assange and WikiLeaks freely consented to participating in the film, knowing we were making an independent documentary. Neither WikiLeaks nor Assange have any editorial control of Risk. There were individuals who requested from the beginning not to appear in the film, and those requests were respected.

Wikileaks and their lawyers were shown the film before each public screening, most recently inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London on April 1, 2017. Each time, we invited their responses.

WikiLeaks comments have consistently been about image management, including: demands to remove scenes from the film where Assange discusses sexual assault allegations against him; requests to remove images of alcohol bottles in the embassy because Ecuador is a Catholic country and it looks bad; requests to include mentions of WikiLeaks in the 2016 U.S. presidential debates; and, requests to add more scenes with attorney Amal Clooney because she makes WikiLeaks look good.

It is only after we declined to make the changes they tried to impose that WikiLeaks raised objections to Risk . Their attempts to censor the content of the film are an effort to prevent reporting on Assanges own words. They also constitute a saddening break with WikiLeaks own ideals.

Last month, WikiLeaks lawyers published an op-ed saying they object to our editing in the United States. However, Assange has known since 2015 that we were editing in the U.S. In 2016, he signed an agreement to license WikiLeaks own footage to us and raised no objection to mailing a hard drive with footage directly to our editing room in New York City.

WikiLeaks has also repeatedly publicized their participation in Risk , most recently re-tweeting a link to the films trailer on April 10, 2017 (a tweet that has since been deleted), without raising any concerns.

In their cease and desist letter, lawyers for WikiLeaks and Assange state: The unauthorized release of the Film has caused our clients to suffer ongoing irreparable harm, and exponentially increasing damages every time a new viewer sees the Film.

All the participants in Risk agreed for years to be in the film. We have no obligation to seek WikiLeaks or Assanges authorization to release the film. In fact, our rights under the First Amendment are protected precisely because we are engaging in independent journalism. Assange himself has criticized the media for seeking permission from public figures before releasing stories.

Like WikiLeaks, our journalism has been the target of U.S. government investigation, secret grand jury, and threats by elected officials. We fully understand and empathize with the dangers WikiLeaks is facing, and we stand in solidarity with all journalists and publishers around the world currently under attack.

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Wikileaks Documentary Makers Accuse Assange of Censorship - Newsweek

Wikileaks released details of what it claims is a CIA-developed wireless router hacking program targeting home wireless routers and business wireless networks. The program is called Cherry Blossom and leverages custom router firmware called FlyTrap, according to the organizationslatest leak posted Thursday.

Cherry Blossom provides a means of monitoring the Internet activity of, and performing software exploits on, targets of interest, according to the report.

Thereleaseis part of itsongoing Vault 7 leaksthat began in March and have continued almost weekly exposingCIA activities and capabilities.

According to the documents, the CIA created modified router firmware called FlyTrap that could be installed on routers remotely. Once successfully installed, FlyTrap would then monitor the targets internet traffic and scan for email addresses, chat usernames, MAC addresses and VoIP numbers. FlyTrap also allowed government agents to redirect traffic to desirable sites.

Once the new firmware on the device is flashed, the router or access point will become a so-called FlyTrap. A FlyTrap will beacon over the Internet to a command and control server referred to as the CherryTree. The beaconed information contains device status and security information that the CherryTree logs to a database, according to Wikileaks.

Listed by the CIA are hundreds of individual consumer- and business-class wireless router models targeted by the agency from brands made by 3Com, D-Link, Linksys and Panet Tec. The Cherry Blossom framework in the alleged CIA documents describes a program and software used for contract year 2011-2012.

If the router is configured to allow firmware to be updated remotely (and tons are) you are at risk. I would put the percentage of (home) routers out there vulnerable to this type of attack at well over 80 percent, said Rick McElroy, security strategist at Carbon Black.

Exploiting misconfigured routers is nothing new, and something adversaries have been doing for years.

McElroy notes that in March, Wikileaks revealed a similar alleged CIA plot targeting more than 300 enterprise-class Cisco routers and switches. Based on the Vault 7 public disclosure, Cisco launched an investigation into the products that could potentially be impacted by these and similar exploits and vulnerabilities, wrote Cisco at the time in security bulletin announcing fixes for the alleged CIA hacks.

According to Wikileaks documents, FlyTrap is capable of setting up VPN tunnels to Cherry Blossom-controlled VPN servers in order to give an operator access to clients on the FlyTraps WLAN/LAN for further exploitation.

Clearly the most difficult aspect of a Cherry Blossom program is implanting the FlyTrap firmware on the targeted wireless router. To that end, the alleged CIA document suggests using a CIA exploitation tool such as Tomato or Surfside for targeting vulnerabilities in commercial routers.

In instances where a wireless device doesnt permit an over-the-air update, the CIA developed what are called Wireless Upgrade Packages. Its unclear what or how these packages might be deployed to targeted systems. Also ambiguous, is another suggested means of installing FlyTrap on routers using the Claymore tool. According to the leaked CIA document, the Claymore tool is a survey, collection, and implant tool for wireless (802.11/WiFi) devices.

The last method for installing FlyTrap on one of the hundreds of routers listed is described: Use the Devices Firmware Upgrade Web Page over a Wired (LAN) Link this technique would likely be used in a supply chain operation, the alleged CIA describes.

For security expert Udi Yavo, CTO and co-founder of enSilo, he believes this last method mentioned indicates that the CIA intercepted some router devices in the supply chain and created back doors that could later be exploited.

The CIA has the ability to compromise the device in the supply chain. In these cases, no vulnerability or misconfiguration is needed. However, a lot of IoT devices are easy to compromise. For example, during DEFCON 2016 over 40 zero days were found in IoT devices. And that was in 2016, before that it was even easier, Yavo said.

It should be noted, however, that the CBlossom architecture does not limit itself to wireless devices in general, wired network devices could be implanted/compromised in the same fashion to achieve the same goals, read the alleged CIA document.

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Wikileaks Alleges Years of CIA D-Link and Linksys Router Hacking Via 'Cherry Blossom' Program - Threatpost

Your daily round-up of some of the other stories in the news

A serious flaw in Facebooks software put counter-terrorism moderators at risk after revealing their personal details to the very people they were monitoring.

The bug caused the personal profiles of content moderators to be in displayed in the activity logs of groups where targets were admins.

More than 1,000 staff over 22 departments were affected. And, of those, six were evaluated as high priority after their profiles were seen by suspect Egyptian Islamic State supporters.

The Guardian reports, one of the six has gone into hiding for fear of being tracked own and butchered.

A spokeperson for the social media giant confirmed the breach, saying Our investigation found that only a small fraction of the names were likely viewed, and we never had evidence of any threat to the people impacted or their families as a result of this matter.

WikiLeaks just released its latest tranche of stolen data, this time relating to a suite of router and Wi-Fi hacking tools from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The tools come from a project dubbed Cherry Blossom (WikiLeaks variously writes both Cherry Blossom and CherryBlossom, but the leaked documents routinely refer to Cherry Blossom, or CB for short, if youre a stickler for precision).

In the words of its own Quick Start Guide, the CB project focused on internet surveillance:

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.

Intriguingly, the above summary is accompanied by a footnote that adds the following comment:

The CB architecture does not limit itself to wireless devices in general, wired network devices (e.g., routers, gateways) can be compromised in a similar fashion to achieve the same goals.

If you arent already taking security as seriously on your router as you do on your mobile phone or your laptop, this leak might be the impetus you need to change your mind.

The latest clever piece of technology could make desperately riffling through travel phrasebooks and the fear of asking for directions while in a foreign country a thing of the past.

The Pilot is the worlds first earphone that translated languages in real time, reports Science Alert. It fits into your ear like a standard wireless earpiece and works by communicating with a smartphone app to translate between two languages. Translations can be made between English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, but more will be added as upgrades.

Currently the earpieces are sold in pairs, so you and the person youre talking to each wear one earpiece, but creators Waverly Labs are planning for future versions to translate from everything around you.

Catch up with all of todays stories on Naked Security

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News in brief: Facebook moderators revealed to terrorists; WikiLeaks release Cherry Blossom; language-translating ... - Naked Security