WikiLeaks just published details of a purported CIA operation that turns Windows file servers into covert attack machines that surreptitiously infect computers of interest inside a targeted network.

"Pandemic," as the implant is codenamed, turns file servers into a secret carrier of whatever malware CIA operatives want to install, according to documents published Thursday by WikiLeaks. When targeted computers attempt to access a file on the compromised server, Pandemic uses a clever bait-and-switch tactic to surreptitiously deliver malicious version of the requested file. The Trojan is then executed by the targeted computers.

WikiLeaks has released the user guide, demo and more of a new spy malware strain allegedly created and used by the CIA. The spyware targets all Windows versions and allows attackers to completely hijack computers, steal data and send it to CIA severs, delete data and upload malicious software.

According to WikiLeaks' documents, the spyware was created by the CIA, with help from a private New Hampshire-based cybersecurity firm called Siege Technologies. The spyware has two modules. While Athena, the primary module, targets Windows XP to 10, the secondary module dubbed Hera targets Windows 8 through Windows 10.

Federal investigators suspect a vetted member of the U.S. intelligence community supplied WikiLeaks with the trove of previously unpublished CIA documents released by the anti-secrecy group last month.

A joint investigation launched by the CIA and FBI in the wake of last month’s WikiLeaks publication has given way to a manhunt within the federal government, sources familiar with the probe told this week. The material released by WikiLeaks was “classified and stored in a highly secure section of the intelligence agency,” and had likely been compromised by an individual with physical access to the documents, such as a CIA employee or contractor.

Since March, Wikileaks has published more than 8,761 confidential documents it claims originated from inside the US Central Intelligence Agency. Contained within the whistleblowing organisation's Vault 7 files are details of recent security exploits used by the agency to spy on people.

In particular, the documents claim the CIA developed malware to hack Samsung smart TVs, shared zero-day exploits with UK security agencies, developed anti-forensic tools to avoid detection, and built tools so its code could be disguised as being created in a third-party country.

Tech giants Apple, Samsung and Microsoft have broken their silence on the latest leak from WikiLeaks that revealed the CIA hacked into their products for surveillance purposes. Apple claimed to have previously addressed the vulnerabilities in their operating system, iOS, revealed in Tuesday’s ‘Vault 7’ leak from WikiLeaks.

“While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities,” the company said in a statement, urging customers to update to the latest version of iOS to ensure they have the most recent security updates.

The US intelligence agencies are facing fresh embarrassment after WikiLeaks published what it described as the biggest ever leak of confidential documents from the CIA detailing the tools it uses to break into phones, apps and other electronic devices.

The thousands of leaked documents focus mainly on techniques for hacking and reveal how the CIA cooperated with British intelligence to engineer a way to compromise smart televisions and turn them into improvised surveillance devices. The leak will once again raise questions about the inability of US spy agencies to protect secret documents in the digital age.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange advised journalists to use the regular postal service instead of email to avoid government surveillance, while talking about how to protect information sources and whistleblowers in an interview.

“Journalists are treated by intelligence services as spies,” Assange told. He also suggested other methods to avoid spying and protect confidentiality, such as meeting with the sources at conferences. He claimed that, although improvements in both legislation and technologies were needed to improve protection for whistleblowers, the latter still played a greater role.

The US National Security Agency tapped phone calls involving German chancellor Angela Merkel and her closest advisers for years and spied on the staff of her predecessors.

A report released by the group suggested NSA spying on Merkel and her staff had gone on far longer and more widely than previously realised. WikiLeaks said the NSA targeted 125 phone numbers of top German officials for long-term surveillance. The release risks renewing tensions between Germany and the US a month after they sought to put a row over spying behind them, with Barack Obama declaring in Bavaria that the two nations were inseparable allies.

Washington has been leading a policy of economic espionage against France for more than a decade by intercepting communications of the Finance minister and all corporate contracts valued at more than $200 million.

The revelations come in line with the ongoing publications of top secret documents from the US surveillance operations against France. The publications consist of seven top secret documents which detail the American National Security Agency’s economic espionage operations against Paris. NSA has been tasked with obtaining intelligence on all aspects of the French economy, from government policy to infrastructural development.

Mr Assange has claimed asylum in the embassy since June 2012 against his removal to Sweden, where he is now. The British taxpayer has footed a bill of £10 million and rising to police the Ecuadorian embassy where the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is avoiding extradition over sex crime allegations.

His presence in the embassy means the Metropolitan Police has been forced to post a round-the-clock detail of officers to arrest Julian Assange should he leave the building in Knightsbridge. Meaning the total estimated cost including a further three months of cover is now thought to have reached millions of dollars.