Palantir’s Secret War: Inside the Plot to Cripple WikiLeaks

Ekaterina Blinova*
Jun 7, 2025

In 2011, Palantir and HBGary Federal drafted an attack plan targeting WikiLeaks on behalf of Bank of America, according to a post by the Julian Assange-founded organization on X.
Palantir spied on WikiLeaks’ servers, staff, and allies — tracking server migrations across the US and Europe.
They advocated a rapid assault on WikiLeaks, touting their expertise in cybersecurity, insider threats, targeting analysis, and social media manipulation.
Proposed tactics included:
  • Fuel infighting: sow discord among WikiLeaks supporters.
  • Spread disinformation: submit fake documents to WikiLeaks, then publicly expose the error.
  • Undermine infrastructure confidence: plant stories questioning system security.
  • Launch cyberattacks: unmask sources and document submitters.
  • Discredit WikiLeaks: launch campaigns to paint the platform as “radical and reckless” to erode public trust.
  • Discredit employees: social media profiling.
  • Isolate WikiLeaks by cutting ties with prominent journalists: “Without the support of people like Glenn [Greenwald], WikiLeaks would fold.”
  • Pressure WikiLeaks backers among established journalists: because if pushed, they would choose professional preservation over the WikiLeaks cause.

*Ekaterina Blinova is a freelance journalist and has been a Sputnik contributor since 2014. She has a specialist’s degree in history and specialises in US, European, Middle Eastern and Asian politics, international relations, sociology and high tech.

Source: sputnikglobe.com

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