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Reuters File Photo / Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO — A misreading of new WikiLeaks documents published Tuesday morning led to mass panic over whether the CIA and allied intelligence organizations could hack into secure messaging apps trusted by millions of people across the world.

The claims were made off a cache of almost 9,000 documents and files that WikiLeaks said came from the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence and allegedly detail how the CIA hacks into phones, laptops, and other connected devices. A number of news outlets reported that the documents revealed that Signal, WhatsApp, and other messaging apps that use high-level encryption to ensure that messages are sent and received safely had been compromised.

Cybersecurity experts, however, were quick to point out that the documents simply stated that if a phone was compromised — which is to say if the CIA hacked into the phone itself — any apps on that phone would no be longer secure. This is the equivalent of saying that if your house is broken into and bugged, whispering softly on your phone in your bedroom is not going to make that conversation secure.

The leak is the latest to become public by WikiLeaks, which has come under fire for failing to adequately redact certain documents and also for its role in the US election. Last year the group released thousands of emails detailing the communications of top Democratic Party leaders — which were widely believed to originate from a Russian government–sponsored hack. US intelligence agencies accused Russia of trying to meddle in the US elections and said WikiLeaks had assisted in that cause.

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