\n<\/p>\n
In 2018, a hacker hired by the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel run by the infamous kingpin Joaqu\u00edn \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzm\u00e1n spied on the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City with the goal of identifying \u201cpeople of interest\u201d for the cartel to target and kill, according to a new U.S. government watchdog report.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the Department of Justice\u2019s Office of the Inspector General revealed the incident as part of a published report<\/a> auditing the FBI\u2019s efforts to counter surveillance with the goal of protecting \u201cits employees, investigations, and operations.\u201d<\/p>\n The report said the 2018 incident happened while the FBI was working on the investigation that would eventually lead to the arrest of El Chapo. At the time, according to the report, someone connected to his cartel tipped off the FBI that the criminal organization had hired a hacker.\u00a0<\/p>\n The hacker \u201coffered a menu of services related to exploiting mobile phones and other electronic devices,\u201d and was able to observe people going in and out of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico\u2019s capital, according to the report, including the FBI assistant legal attach\u00e9, a federal agent who works overseas along with local law enforcement authorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n Somehow \u2014 the report does not detail exactly how \u2014 the hacker was \u201cable to use\u201d the official\u2019s mobile phone number to \u201cobtain calls made and received, as well as geolocation data, associated with\u201d the official\u2019s phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the FBI, the hacker also accessed Mexico City\u2019s camera system to follow the attach\u00e9 through the city and \u201cidentify people\u201d who the attach\u00e9 met with, read the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to the case agent, the cartel used that information to intimidate and, in some instances, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses,\u201d the report added.<\/p>\n When reached for comment, the FBI referred questions to the Department of Justice, which did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n For years, Mexico has been at the bleeding edge of surveillance and hacking capabilities, on both sides of the drug war.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the side of the law, for more than a decade now, multiple local and federal law enforcement agencies in Mexico have spent millions of dollars<\/a> to use spyware made by Hacking Team<\/a> and later NSO Group<\/a> to go after cartels, but also activists<\/a> and journalists<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the criminal side, the Sinaloa cartel used encrypted phones<\/a>, which are specially crafted devices designed to minimize the risk of surveillance by stripping it of core functionalities, and by adding encrypted communications technologies.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to a VICE News investigation<\/a>, Mexican cartels were tapping a security software used by local government agencies \u201cto locate and disappear rivals and hide their crimes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier in 2015, Motherboard reported<\/a> that local cartels employed \u201ca hacker brigade\u201d to build and manage their own communications networks. Later in 2017, Motherboard revealed<\/a> that a hacker working for the Sinaloa cartel helped authorities track down and arrest the elusive cartel\u2019s lieutenant, D\u00e1maso L\u00f3pez N\u00fa\u00f1ez. The hacker had originally been hired by the cartel in 2014 to try to hack into the high-security Altiplano Federal Penitentiary, where El Chapo was being held at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n