The CIA named a hacking tool after a character from Final Fantasy VII

By William Hughes | July 27, 2017 | 10:22pm

Aux Features Games

Reminding us that there’s nothing stopping the shadowy surveillance figures employed by the U.S. government from also being absolute fucking dorks, a recent WikiLeaks dispatch revealed that the C.I.A. has a hacking tool named after a character from Final Fantasy VII. Specifically, the agency at one point employed a tool called “Aeris,” which served two major purposes: implanting viruses into systems running Linux, and enraging fans pissed off that the Agency didn’t use the character’s original Japanese name, “Aerith.”

This isn’t the first time video game-themed naming has intruded into very serious topics. (Did you know there’s a gene in your body named Sonic hedgehog?) Still, there’s something inherently bizarre about the C.I.A.—rarely regarded as a fun or funny organization—basically daring a hacker with a name like “xxSephiroth42069xx” to come stick a sword through its little electronic darling, making video game fans/international espionage agents worldwide bawl their eyes out yet again.