In 2018, a hacker hired by the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel run by the infamous kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán spied on the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City with the goal of identifying “people of interest” for the cartel to target and kill, according to a new U.S. government watchdog report.
On Friday, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General revealed the incident in a published report auditing the FBI’s efforts to counter surveillance with the goal of protecting “its employees, investigations, and operations.”
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.
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.
Somehow — the report does not detail exactly how — the hacker was “able to use” the official’s mobile phone number to “obtain calls made and received, as well as geolocation data, associated with” the official’s phone.
According to the FBI, the hacker also accessed Mexico City’s camera system to follow the attaché through the city and “identify people” who the attaché met with, read the report.
“According to the case agent, the cartel used that information to intimidate and, in some instances, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses,” the report added.
When reached for comment, the FBI referred questions to the Department of Justice, which did not r …