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An audit of the FBI’s attempts to protect its investigators from surveillance has revealed surprising details and capabilities used by a Mexican cartel to track down federal officers and in some cases, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses. The audit comes following the US Department of Justice’s concerns regarding the FBI’s management of the Ubiquitous Technical Surveillance (UTS) threat in 2022.
According to the audit report, heavily redacted for public release, an insider from the Sinaloa cartel (also known as El Chapo) contacted the FBI in 2018. They shared information on how a mercenary cybercriminal hired by the cartel helped track down individuals who could be a threat to the cartel’s operations and anyone who could give up key details about the criminal organisation.
In a typical hacker-for-hire fashion, the cybercrook had a “menu of services” including exploiting smartphones and other devices. The hacker also had access to Mexico City’s camera systems, meaning they could track people visiting and leaving the US embassy in Mexico City and identify people of interest to the cartel, including those who presented any threat to the gang. Additionally, the hacker could also track these interested individuals across the city.
Multiple individuals were identified via the process, including an FBI officer and an assistant legal attache (ALAT). The hacker was able to find the ALAT’s phone number — using it to extract intel, including details about calls made and geolocation data of the device.
All of this information was used to intimidate, and in some cases, “kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses” according to a case agent.
UTS has been a pain for more advanced law enforcement agencies for decades now. The audit cites advances in commercially available technologies to have raised the threat. It claims these advances are making it “easier than ever” for less technologically advanced countries and organisations to exploit any vulnerabilities in criminal investigations, raising the risk for those involved.
The Register reports the Office of Inspector General (OIG) told the FBI its response to UTS threats was “disjointed and inconsistent.” In response, the FBI has raised the internal risk level for UTS threats to Tier 1 and is working to establish a red team that detects any vulnerabilities and come up with a mitigation plan.
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