By Brandon Valeriano By Brandon Valeriano March 8 at 9:00 AM

WikiLeaks says it has a trove on the CIA's hacking secrets. Washington Post national security reporter Greg Miller explains what these documents reveal. (Dalton Bennett,Greg Miller/The Washington Post)

WikiLeaks is once again in the news with a massive dump of information regarding the alleged cybersecurity activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Vault 7 dump of information comes at a fortuitous time for President Trump as he tries to regain control of the news cycle after the seemingly constant revelations that current and former staffers actively met with Russian officials during the run-up to the election and before his inauguration.

The latest information release is potentially devastating to the CIA but it should promote a positive discussion about U.S. cyber-capabilities and steps forward to promote resiliency in all targets. Here are four big questions:

None of the revelations reported by WikiLeaks should be shocking and we must first consider the source. The intelligence community previously reported direct linkages between WikiLeaks and Russia in relation to the DNC hack. A WikiLeaks news release on March 7 suggests these documents were obtained from a contractor and have been in circulation for some time. While a third-party contractor is likely the source of this information, with the great majority of successful attacks against U.S. targets coming through third parties, this also does not preclude Russias involvement, given their previous relationship with WikiLeaks.

A key point here is that this document trove shifts the narrative away from the hacking of the DNC and Russias relationship with Trump and toward a focus on the malfeasance allegedly committed by the CIA. Instead, we must consider where the information came from and the lack of credibility WikiLeaks has as a news source.

[The DNC email hack didnt tell us much. Heres why cyberattacks have limited punch.]

Attribution in cyberspace is difficult, but not impossible, as scholars have pointed out. In cyberspace, we mainly have a reasonability problem, not an attribution problem. There is a clear motive for Russia to engage in passing this document dump on, both to distract from current speculation about close ties to Trump and to gain revenge for the previously released Panama Papers, which they blame on the United States.

But can we know that Russia is directly responsible? That is tough given the likely many layers of insulation between the source of the information and its delivery.

At this point, the information dump does seem legitimate but it will take some time for technical experts to sift through the data and code. Theres an important question here:How many zero dayexploits does the U.S. control? Zero day exploits are unknown vulnerabilities and possible avenues of attack, called zero days because they have yet to be discovered and can act as open doors to inaccessiblesystems.

[Trump says that classified leaks are devastating America. Heres the real issue with secrets and leaks.]

Former cybersecurity official Jason Healey, now a Columbia University professor, had previous research that suggested the U.S. was only in control of dozens of zero days. This information dump could possibly reveal many important vulnerabilities held by U.S. assets.

If so, the leaked information could be a troubling degradation of U.S. cyber-capabilities, because once known, these pathways toward access become useless. But we should remember that cyber-capabilities are as much about the technical abilities and human capital in the U.S. government rather than the pure number of exploits available at one time. If there is any positive to be taken from this, it could be that this allows for the holes identified in the data dump to be fixed. It also reignites thedebate on the responsibility of government to disclose vulnerabilities to the public.

Caution is the key, and we should not be surprised that the CIA has extensive cybersecurity capabilities. The great majority of cyber-actions that are not criminal are what might be termed cyberespionage. Information operations seeking to gain an advantage by manipulating information and risk often drive cyberconflict behavior, a key theme in my teams ongoing research on cyber-coercion.

[The 10 things you need to know about cyberconflict]

The real danger here was pointed out by Thomas Rid, professor at Kings College, who noted that misinformation could be slipped into these files to sow discord. Among the thousands of files, one or two fake campaigns waged by the U.S. would foment discord and mistrust. The common misguided focus on cyberwar often misses the importance of deception in cyber-operations, a point noted by Erik Gartzke and Jon Lindsay in their research.

4) Whats next?

The next steps are clear. The cybersecurity community has been waiting for the Trump administration to release its promised cybersecurity executive order. Now is the time to do this, but we must go beyond the circulated drafts that just order more studies on current vulnerabilities and capacity. A clear plan of action that would delineate lines of control over cyber-operations and protection of critical infrastructure in the U.S. government, limit access of critical systems to contractors, and create a scalable plan to recruit young cybersecurity talent are pressing needs. And responsibility for these continued cyber-breaches needs to be established and prevented in the future.

Brandon Valeriano is the Donald Bren Chair of Armed Politics at the Marine Corps University and a Reader at Cardiff University. He also serves as an Adjunct Fellow at the Niskanen Center and is the author of Cyber War versus Cyber Realities (Oxford University Press, 2015).

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WikiLeaks strikes again. Here are 4 big questions about Vault 7. - Washington Post

New York Times

Republican Party, WikiLeaks, International Women's Day: Your Wednesday Briefing New York Times Speaker Paul D. Ryan, center, presented the American Health Care Act at the Capitol on Tuesday. Some critics of the bill have called it Obamacare lite. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times. (Want to get this briefing by email? Here's the ...

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Wall Street Journal (subscription)

WikiLeaks Dumps Trove of Purported CIA Hacking Tools Wall Street Journal (subscription) WASHINGTONWikiLeaks released a massive trove of documents and files Tuesday that it says exposes how the Central Intelligence Agency hacks smartphones, computer operating systems, message applications and internet-connected televisions, ...

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WikiLeaks Dumps Trove of Purported CIA Hacking Tools - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

President Trump gestures as he walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., on March 3, 2017.(Photo: Luis M. Alvarez, AP)

President Trump has remained mum about the release of CIA documents by WikiLeaks on Tuesday.

While Trump praised the organization during the 2016 presidential campaign, he has been at odds with them in recent months, including over Trump's attack on Wikileaks source Chelsea Manning and the president's ongoing refusal to release his tax returns. Trump lastmentioned WikiLeaks on Twitter onNov. 5, 2016, three days prior to Election Day, when he posted a story about a WikiLeaks release and Clinton campaign aides.

Here are some of the notable times Trump has talked about WikiLeaks in the past:

Trump: "I think it's disgraceful."

Where: In a preview for a December 2010 interview withKilmeade & Friends, as reported by CNN

Context: Trump, years prior to announcing his presidential campaign, appeared on the Kilmeade & Friends, a radio show on Fox News. In a clip posted on YouTube to preview the interview, host Brian Kilmeade mentioned WikiLeaks, saying, "You didn't have anything to do with it, did you?" Trump replied, "Nope, but I think it's disgraceful. I think there should be a death penalty or something." Earlier that week in a move that helped bring WikiLeaks into international view, the nonprofit organization began releasing leaked U.S. embassy cables.

Trump: Went on a tweetstorm to talk about the WikiLeaks release of emails from the Democratic National Committee. One tweet: "Leaked e-mails of DNC show plans to destroy Bernie Sanders. Mock his heritage and much more. On-line from Wikileakes, really vicious. RIGGED"

Where: Twitter

Context: On July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks dumped thousands of emails and attachments from top aides at the DNC. The emails raised questions about whether Democrats tried to undercut Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign in order to favor Hillary Clinton.

Trump: "I love WikiLeaks!"

Where: A campaign rally in Pennsylvania

Context: A few days before then-candidate Donald Trump spoke to supporters in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., WikiLeaks began releasing the emails of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.The emails were dropped within an hour of the release of the now infamous Access Hollywoodvideo of Trump bragging of kissing and groping women (and using some choice language to do so). At his campaign rally, Trump read the excerpts of Clinton's past closed-door speeches, which were contained within the emails released by WikiLeaks (and he twisted some of those excerpts while doing so).

Trump: "So in one case youre talking about highly classified information. In the other case youre talking about John Podesta saying bad things about the boss."

Where:Press conference at the White House

Context: During the press conference, Trump addressed leaks that resulted in the resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn earlier that week, saying they werea "real problem." When a reporter noted that the president had encouraged leaks during the campaign, specifically from WikiLeaks, Trump replied that those releasesdid not compare because it was not classified: Podesta "said terrible things about her. But it wasn't classified information."

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How Trump feels about WikiLeaks: A timeline - USA TODAY

WikiLeaks's New Damage Wall Street Journal (subscription) Tuesday's WikiLeaks dump of a major chunk of what it claims is the CIA's hacking arsenal ought to be an eye-opener for anyone still laboring under the delusion that WikiLeaks's Julian Assange or former National Security Agency contractor Edward ...

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WikiLeaks's New Damage - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Washington Post

WikiLeaks says it has the CIA's hacking secrets. Here's what you need to know. Washington Post March 7, 2017 6:20 PM EST - WikiLeaks says it has a trove on the CIA's hacking secrets. Washington Post national security reporter Greg Miller explains what these documents reveal. (Dalton Bennett, Greg Miller / The Washington Post). March 7, 2017 6:20 ...

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WikiLeaks says it has the CIA's hacking secrets. Here's what you need to know. - Washington Post

Heres a look at WikiLeaks and the trial of Chelsea Manning.

Facts: WikiLeaks is an organization that facilitates the anonymous leaking of secret information through its website.

It was founded in 2006 by Julian Assange, activist, computer programmer and hacker.

Chelsea Manning, a transgender woman and former Army intelligence analyst who provided WikiLeaks with classified documents, was convicted of violating the Espionage Act in 2013 and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Her sentence was later commuted by President Barack Obama.

Timeline: December 2007 WikiLeaks posts the US Army manual for soldiers dealing with prisoners at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay.

March 2008 WikiLeaks posts internal documents from the Church of Scientology.

September 2008 WikiLeaks posts emails from the Yahoo email account of Sarah Palin.

November 2008 WikiLeaks posts a list of names and addresses of people it claims belong to the far-right British National Party.

November 2009 WikiLeaks posts what it claims are 500,000 messages sent during the September 11, 2001 attacks.

April 5, 2010 A classified military video is posted by WikiLeaks. It shows a US Apache helicopter firing on and killing two journalists and a number of Iraqi civilians in 2007. The military claimed that the helicopter crew believed the targets were armed insurgents, not civilians.

May 2010 The US military detains Manning for allegedly leaking US combat video, including the US helicopter gunship attack posted on WikiLeaks, and classified State Department records. Manning was turned in by Adrian Lamo, a former hacker, who Manning confided in about leaking the classified records.

July 6, 2010 The military announces it has charged Manning with violating army regulations by transferring classified information to a personal computer and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system and of violating federal laws of governing the handling of classified information.

July 25, 2010 WikiLeaks posts more than 90,000 classified documents relating to the Afghanistan war in what has been called the biggest leak since the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. The documents are divided into more than 100 categories and touch on everything from the hunt for Osama bin Laden to Afghan civilian deaths resulting from US military actions.

October 22, 2010 WikiLeaks publishes nearly 400,000 classified military documents from the Iraq War, providing a new picture of how many Iraqi civilians have been killed, the role that Iran has played in supporting Iraqi militants and many accounts of abuse by Iraqs army and police.

November 28, 2010 WikiLeaks begins publishing approximately 250,000 leaked State Department cables dating back to 1966. The site says the documents will be released in stages over the next few months.

November 28, 2010 The WikiLeaks website suffers an attack designed to make it unavailable to users. A Twitter user called Jester claims responsibility for the attack.

December 1, 2010 Amazon removes WikiLeaks from its servers.

April 24, 2011 Nearly 800 classified US military documents obtained by WikiLeaks reveal details about the alleged terrorist activities of al Qaeda operatives captured and housed in Guantanamo Bay.

September 2, 2011 WikiLeaks releases its archive of more than 250,000 unredacted U.S. diplomatic cables.

October 24, 2011 WikiLeaks announces that it is temporarily halting publication to aggressively fundraise. Assange states that a financial blockade by Bank of America, VISA, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union has cut off 95% of WikiLeaks revenue.

December 16, 2011 Mannings Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing that will determine whether enough evidence exists to merit a court-martial, begins.

February 23, 2012 Manning is formally charged with aiding the enemy, wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the Internet, transmitting national defense information and theft of public property or records.

February 26, 2012 WikiLeaks begins releasing what it says are five million emails from the private intelligence company, Stratfor, starting with a company glossary that features unflattering descriptions of US government agencies. The authenticity of the documents could not be independently confirmed.

July 5, 2012 WikiLeaks begins publishing more than 2.4 million emails from Syrian politicians, government ministries and companies dating back to 2006.

February 28, 2013 Manning pleads guilty to some of the 22 charges against him, but not the most serious charge of aiding the enemy, which carries a life sentence.

June 3, 2013 Mannings court-martial begins.

July 30, 2013 Manning is acquitted of aiding the enemy, but found guilty on 20 other counts, including violations of the Espionage Act.

August 21, 2013 A military judge sentences Manning to 35 years in prison.

August 22, 2013 Through a statement read on NBCs Today show, Manning announces he wants to live life as a woman and wants to known by his new name, Chelsea Manning.

April 23, 2014 A Kansas judge grants Mannings request for a formal name change from Bradley to Chelsea.

July 22, 2016 WikiLeaks releases nearly 20,000 emails from Democratic National Committee staffers. The emails appear to show the committee favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the US presidential primary.

October 7, 2016 More than 2,000 hacked emails from Clintons campaign chairman, John Podesta are published by WikiLeaks. The emails include possible excerpts from closed-door speeches. During the Democratic primary, Sanders asked Clinton to release the transcripts from her speeches but she declined. WikiLeaks claims that it has more than 50,000 of Podestas emails and pledges to continue releasing batches of documents during the weeks leading up to the election.

January 3, 2017 During an interviews on the Fox News Network, Assange says that Russia did not give WikiLeaks hacked emails.

January 12, 2017 WikiLeaks tweets that Asssange will agree to be extradited to the US if Obama grants clemency to Manning.

January 17, 2017 Obama commutes Mannings sentence, setting the stage for her to be released on May 17.

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WikiLeaks Fast Facts - fox2now.com