Sometimes the surveillance state turns against itself. That seems to be what resulted in the unhappy demise of some FBIs that have been tracked by a hacker working for the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, according to recent Report released by the US Justice Department.
According to the 47-page report released by Justice Inspector, entitled “Audito of the Federal Bureau of Research to mitigate the effects of omnipotent technical surveillance”, hacker associated with Juaquin “El Chapo” the crime of Guzman used data and surveillance rooms located around Mexico City to identify people. This information was ultimately used to intimate and sometimes kill people who are said to have shared information or cooperate with laws, according to the report.
The hacker, which was not named in the report, used several tactics to take out possible scrolls. First, the Woodman reportedly watched people when they entered and left the United States Ambassado in Mexico City. This surveillance helped identify “people of interest,” and later helped him and the cartel identify an FBI assistant legal connection. Without giving details of how the hacker did, the report indicates that he was able to get the Attaché’s phone number and used this to access calls made and received from that number, as well as geolocate data associated with that phone.
In addition to taking out the data from the victim’s phone, the hacker also reportedly hit surveillance cameras around Mexico City to track the person as they moved through the city and identified people with whom they met. Mexcio City has installed a robust network of security cameras in recent years. Was More than 18,000 through the city in 2018Around the time the report focuses on. At the beginning of a year, it was announced that an An additional 40,000 will be installed In the coming years.
The Report of the Justice section was less about the features of the case in Mexico City and more about the general difficulty to protect sources in the modern surveillance state. “Advances in data mining and analysis, facial recognition and computer online exploit has facilitated than ever for opponents, terrorist organizations and criminal networks to identify FBI employment and operations,” the audit said. It concluded with a recommendation that FBI check its operations to ascertain where it is most vulnerable.
It is at least a little ironic that the surveillance state it has helped create, now makes life difficult for the three-letter agencies.
