Vault 7: Michael Hastings Assassinated by CIA Remote Car Hack?

originally posted by: butcherguy
For me, this seems to confirm what I had already thought:
If you know too much, and they think that you are going to spill the beans, the government will kill you.

Is it the Government or are the CIA rogue?

I am sure they are spying on politicians, for insurance purposes of course, just as much as they are spying on civilians.

Back to the O.P, Michael Hastings demise as always been right up there as far as suspicious circumstances go and I think the info dump by Wikileaks just confirms these suspicions.

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978

originally posted by: butcherguy
For me, this seems to confirm what I had already thought:
If you know too much, and they think that you are going to spill the beans, the government will kill you.

Is it the Government or are the CIA rogue?

I am sure they are spying on politicians, for insurance purposes of course, just as much as they are spying on civilians.

Back to the O.P, Michael Hastings demise as always been right up there as far as suspicious circumstances go and I think the info dump by Wikileaks just confirms these suspicions.

Good question.
I firmly believe that there are members of Congress that are aware of what the CIA is really about, along with Cabinet members, and of course, Presidents.
George H W Bush was the CIA Director before becoming POTUS.
So I will go with the government as my answer.

a reply to: darkbake

This story is absolutely terrifying... i wish it wasn't true, but i can't be that ignorant... To think this type of hacking abilities are out there, is truly worrisome, makes me wish I had a pre 1970's car...

How the hell do the people approach this matter? Honestly? They can say to us "we don't do this, we won't do this", but the idea is out there, and we even have a highly questionable case to go with it (giving it validity)... This is beyond worrisome... This is crazy..

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978

originally posted by: butcherguy
For me, this seems to confirm what I had already thought:
If you know too much, and they think that you are going to spill the beans, the government will kill you.

Is it the Government or are the CIA rogue?

I am sure they are spying on politicians, for insurance purposes of course, just as much as they are spying on civilians.

Back to the O.P, Michael Hastings demise as always been right up there as far as suspicious circumstances go and I think the info dump by Wikileaks just confirms these suspicions.

i think its that our agencies are all paranoid of one another. So instead of working together, they all work against each other... This is a MAJOR problem...

a reply to: darkbake

Modern cars without manual over-ride are potential death traps. I don't drive any more. I walk and cycle. I don't like modern cars and motorbikes. Give me a 70s Harley D' any day, love them.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

driver dialled 999 as his out-of-control car hurtled along a motorway at more than 110mph and said that the cruise control was stuck open and he could not stop, an inquest heard. An operator heard company director Kaushal Gandhi being killed as his car crashed into the back of a stationary lorry during the eight-minute emergency call. A recording of the 32-year-old's call to police was played to a coroner, who heard he struggled at the controls of his white Skoda Octavia as it reached speeds of 119mph on the M40 before the fatal impact. Mr Gandhi had told the emergency call handler that the cruise control had stuck open and he was accelerating out of control. The inquest heard the car had a button to start and stop the engine instead of an ignition key and as Mr Gandhi pushed it, the engine kept escalating to high revs.

This thread reminded me of that story. Certainly there are many vulnerabilities with computerized automobiles. There are many accounts of cars being hacked. The CIA will have access well beyond layman hacking these days.

www.wired.com...

It’s been eight months since a pair of security researchers proved beyond any doubt that car hacking is more than an action movie plot device when they remotely killed the transmission of a 2014 Jeep Cherokee as I drove it down a St. Louis highway. Now the FBI has caught up with that news, and it’s warning Americans to take the risk of vehicular cybersabotage seriously. In a public service announcement issued together with the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, the FBI on Thursday released a warning to drivers about the threat of over-the-internet attacks on cars and trucks. The announcement doesn’t reveal any sign that the agencies have learned about incidents of car hacking that weren’t already public. But it cites all of last year’s car hacking research to offer a list of tips about how to keep vehicles secure from hackers and recommendations about what to do if you believe your car has been hacked—including a request to notify the FBI.

I am not up on the Hastings conspiracy, but car hacking is a fact.

www.wired.com...

The hackers holding the scissors agree. “We shut down your engine—a big rig was honking up on you because of something we did on our couch,” Miller says, as if I needed the reminder. “This is what everyone who thinks about car security has worried about for years. This is a reality.”

For the time being they can't hack my legs.

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978

originally posted by: butcherguy
For me, this seems to confirm what I had already thought:
If you know too much, and they think that you are going to spill the beans, the government will kill you.

Is it the Government or are the CIA rogue?

I am sure they are spying on politicians, for insurance purposes of course, just as much as they are spying on civilians.

Back to the O.P, Michael Hastings demise as always been right up there as far as suspicious circumstances go and I think the info dump by Wikileaks just confirms these suspicions.

Good question.
I firmly believe that there are members of Congress that are aware of what the CIA is really about, along with Cabinet members, and of course, Presidents.
George H W Bush was the CIA Director before becoming POTUS.
So I will go with the government as my answer.

Fair enough.

I agree there are members of congress who are very much embroiled in the CIA shenanigans, with John McCain being the most prominent.

originally posted by: hutch622
a reply to: lordcomac

The shifter lever isn't physically connected to the transmission- the ignition switch isn't connected to the starter. The throttle pedal isn't even connected to the engine- and I wouldn't be surprised if the brake pedal weren't connected to the brakes either.

Pretty sure the hand brake is a physical contact . Dont know about a mercedies but i can guarantee you mine will stop the car cold from any speed .

No, it isn't. They're electronic.

Just remember what they used to do to cars that couldn't be hacked...

Snip, snip, goes the brake lines...

You don't know, until it's too late.

-----

It's clear cut what happened to the man, I mean it's pretty in our faces.

If you plan on being vocal about things, maybe you want to protect yourself and cover your ace...

a reply to: Tranceopticalinclined

Maybe they hit him with the heart-attack gun that hey used on Breitbart.

Dead men tell no tales and they don't hit the breaks either.

If he was that scared of his own vehicle and his neighbour wouldn't let him borrow theirs, why not just rent a car? Or take a bus? Or a taxi? Or a train or plane?

He thought his vehicle was tampered and he drove it anyway. That part of this whole story just seems very odd to me.

There's been a number of people killed via car crashes in recent years. I think most people knew about how cars can be controlled remotely far before these most recent leaks came out.

originally posted by: hutch622
a reply to: lordcomac

The shifter lever isn't physically connected to the transmission- the ignition switch isn't connected to the starter. The throttle pedal isn't even connected to the engine- and I wouldn't be surprised if the brake pedal weren't connected to the brakes either.

Pretty sure the hand brake is a physical contact . Dont know about a mercedies but i can guarantee you mine will stop the car cold from any speed .

Nope. There's no such thing as a conventional hand brake any more. It's a button on the dash, too. Modern cars are all "fly by wire." Everything has a computer intermediary. There is no physical cable connecting the hand brake to the rear brakes, which makes certain maneuvers impossible today.

a reply to: schuyler

Thrilling is when you are following someone closely at a fast rate of speed and they pull the E-brake 180.

a reply to: darkbake

According to what I've researched, the FBI had a file on Hastings due to pieces he had written for the Rolling Stone (most about Middle East war-related issues, Obama, and Drones).

I wonder what specifically the CIA would want with a journalist like him? And why him, there are hundreds if not thousands of journalists who report on nefarious activities done by our government...

What gets me, about this new leak?

Criminal Minds, or some show like it, just did a show recently regarding just regular joe's hacking into people's car's and causing accidents, and people doubt that the CIA has been doing this?

I'm more worried about this being "Old News" really. I mean, how long have they been able to do this, and more importantly, what have they already moved on too, or came up with, that we don't know about?

Isn't the government always 10 years ahead of the public, or something like that?

Oh goody. Now imagine your car with its forward camera using recognition protocols to hunt down some enemy of the state.

"Honest Ocficer, my car did it. ..." as some poor shmuck lays bleeding to death in the crosswalk.

a reply to: darkbake

I had not heard before about this man but looking into this for a moment, seems like this could very well be what happened. i know personally that they have the ability to hack cars, I know myself how it is done. It is not far from being used to do something like this. Looking that he made a book that questioned how the America soldiers in leading positions had a lot of wrong doings that he pointed out. I guess he really pissed someone off, I am guessing Stanley McCrystal.

To force the car to speed and disable the ability to correct it, seems to me what could have certainly occurred here.

I was thinking about this yesterday, and what was Hastings investigating before he died? Or more to the point, what did he report on right before his death?

originally posted by: chadderson
Yet another reason the old classic cars are to be sought after! I don't think a 60's muscle car can be h4x0rd.

Yet another reason for 'Cash for Clunkers'

"Oh, I see, it has to be alliterative," sez Connie.*

* "Gravity's Rainbow"

# 702

Used to be when you aimed for a lightpole, the pole would obey, and fall over.

Now a daze the car is ripped in half no matter how you strike the fixture.

If you want it to pop apart like a plastic toy, just hit any building
except the Pentagon, of course.

# 703