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Mexican drug cartel hacker spied on FBI official’s phone to track and kill informants, report says


The watchdog revealed the 2018 incident as part of an audit of the FBI"s counter-surveillance efforts.

On Friday, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General revealed the incident as part of a published report auditing the FBI’s efforts to counter surveillance with the goal of protecting “its employees, investigations, and operations.” The hacker “offered a menu of services related to exploiting mobile phones and other electronic devices,” and was able to observe people going in and out of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico’s capital, according to the report, including the FBI assistant legal attaché, a federal agent who works overseas along with local law enforcement authorities. According to a VICE News investigation, Mexican cartels were tapping a security software used by local government agencies “to locate and disappear rivals and hide their crimes.”

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