Security Update News
Update Information
| Title |
Surveillance Used by a Drug Cartel |
| Update ID |
SCHNEIER:0EE9A570EC3A95233D04018F912BE6EC |
| Type |
schneier |
| Published |
2025-07-03T11:06:42 |
| Last Updated |
2025-07-02T16:21:00 |
Security Impact
AI Analysis
| AI Description |
A surveillance system was misused by the Sinaloa drug cartel to obtain an FBI official’s phone records and track informants using Mexico City’s cameras. This highlights vulnerabilities in surveillance systems that can be exploited for malicious purposes. |
| AI Severity |
Critical |
| AI Vendor |
Government/Public Sector |
| AI Product |
Surveillance System |
| AI Version |
Unknown |
Update Details
Once you build a surveillance system, you can’t control who will use it:
> A hacker working for the Sinaloa drug cartel was able to obtain an FBI official’s phone records and use Mexico City’s surveillance cameras to help track and kill the agency’s informants in 2018, according to a new US justice department report.
>
> The incident was disclosed in a justice department inspector general’s audit of the FBI’s efforts to mitigate the effects of “ubiquitous technical surveillance,” a term used to describe the global proliferation of cameras and the thriving trade in vast stores of communications, travel, and location data.
>
> […]
>
> The report said the hacker identified an FBI assistant legal attaché at the US embassy in Mexico City and was able to use the attaché’s phone number “to obtain calls made and received, as well as geolocation data.” The report said the hacker also “used Mexico City’s camera system to follow the [FBI official] through the city and identify people the [official] met with.”
FBI report.
View Advisory Details
