El Chapo drug cartel reportedly tracked and killed informants by hacking an FBI phone
According to the highly redacted report, which is based in part on testimony from an "individual connected to the cartel," the hacker offered gang leaders "a menu of services related to to exploiting mobile phones and other electronic devices."
The hacker "observed people going in and out of the United States Embassy in Mexico City" and identified people of interest, including the FBI's Assistant Legal Attache (ALAT). They used the ALAT's mobile phone number to "obtain calls made and received, as well as geolocation data associated with the [attache's] phone." The hacker also used Mexico City's camera system to follow the ALAT around the city and identify people they met with. "According to the case agent, the cartel used that information to intimidate and, in some instances, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses," the report states.
The exact technical methods are redacted but the report explains that the hacker used "ubiquitous technical surveillance" (UTS) to spy on the FBI, which was investigating and eventually convicted Guzmán. The report defines UTS as the "widespread collection of data and application of analytic methodologies for the purpose of connecting people to things, events or locations." In other words, the cartel used some of the FBI's own methods against it.
The report said that the recent availability of commercial tools that allow UTS is an "existential" threat. It cited other examples including the use of credit card transaction reports widely available from data brokers along with cell phone call logs.
The FBI's response to the UTS threat was "disjointed and inconsistent," according to the Justice Department, and countermeasures instated in 2022 were "inadequate" and lacking in "long-term vision." It recommended (among other things) that the agency incorporate all UTS vulnerabilities into its final mitigation plan, identify key officials authorized to execute the strategy, establish a line of authority for responding to UTS-related incidents and ensure ongoing training on UTS strategies.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Patel and Ratcliffe try to bolster claims that FBI and CIA conspired against Trump
The release of formerly classified FBI and CIA documents this week illustrates how President Donald Trump's appointees at both agencies are trying to use the levers of government to prop up his long-standing assertions that intelligence agencies conspired against him. The FBI released emails on Tuesday that purport to show an effort by the bureau's leaders in 2020 to cover up a source's claim that there was a Chinese plot to throw the presidential election to Joe Biden. In a statement to the Daily Mail, Trump's FBI director, Kash Patel, said the emails reveal that bureau leaders 'chose to play politics and withhold key information from the American people.' And CIA Director John Ratcliffe released an internal agency analysis related to the 2020 election that he argued showed that Democratic appointees 'manipulated intelligence and silenced career professionals — all to get Trump.' Patel's and Ratcliffe's claims went beyond the information contained in the released documents. The documents do not describe definitive evidence that any official acted out of political motive or engaged in anything beyond the good-faith debate that is typical of the intelligence verification and analysis process. The emails do show that at least one FBI official raised the concern that the report conflicted with congressional testimony at the time by Director Christopher Wray, who said the FBI was not aware of any Chinese attempt to interfere in the presidential election. A former FBI official told NBC News that Wray does not recall being made aware of the report. A former senior FBI official said he was not aware of the report either. The former official, who requested anonymity, noted that the bureau produces hundreds of reports every day based on such tips, which do not always pan out. Patel also promoted an article by the right-wing journalist John Solomon than mentioned that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had seized fake licenses that were arriving mostly from China and Hong Kong around the time the FBI received the tip. According to a 2020 news release from CBP, 20,000 fake licenses were seized in Chicago between that January and June. It said 'most were for college-age students,' a population that has historically sought licenses with fake birthdays so underage students can purchase alcohol. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment from Patel regarding the fake licenses. Dozens of judges, including Trump appointees, have found no evidence of widespread or systemic voter fraud affecting the 2020 election, despite allegations promoted by Trump and his allies since he lost that year's presidential race. The day after Patel released the emails, though, Trump appeared to mention them during a press conference where he talked about 'China and the license plates' and claimed that 'tens of thousands of cards' were used to vote in the 2020 election. The emails released by Patel offer a window into the deep concern among senior career FBI analysts about an intelligence report from an agent in the Albany field office based on a single, unvetted source making a historic allegation: that the Chinese government sent thousands of fake IDs to help people fraudulently vote for Biden. The report was ultimately withdrawn over concerns about its veracity. Two FBI officials familiar with the matter told NBC News that the tip was not credible intelligence and never should have been sent out in an intelligence report. The CIA analysis cited by Ratcliffe found procedural faults with how the agency crafted its assessment that Russia tried to denigrate Hillary Clinton and help Trump get elected in 2016. But it didn't question that broad conclusion — one echoed by two exhaustive congressional investigations. Yet Trump appointees and allies quickly argued the documents vindicated Trump's long-running claims that he had been wronged by intelligence agencies investigating foreign election interference. The CIA review found that 'Obama's Trump-Russia collusion report was corrupt from start,' read the headline of a New York Post piece by conservative columnist Miranda Devine. A press release from the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said the 'bombshell' FBI emails showed 'FBI headquarters interfered with [an] alleged Chinese election interference probe' to shield then-Director Christopher Wray 'from political blowback.' The FBI emails show that senior career public servants at the bureau had concerns about the reliability of information from a confidential human source who claimed that the Chinese Communist Party planned to use fake IDs to cast ballots for Biden in the 2020 election. The information came from a source that an FBI agent based in Albany, New York, had just met, who in turn got it from a separate unnamed source. The emails say the source in Albany also repeated a claim made on social media that the Chinese government was intentionally spreading Covid in the U.S. — an allegation that has never been corroborated. One email released by the FBI said the information had not been verified through other intelligence-gathering methods. The emails say top bureau intelligence analysts Nikki Floris and Tonya Ugoretz ordered the intelligence report recalled because it lacked corroboration. Floris was forced out of the FBI earlier this year, and Ugoretz — who was promoted to become the FBI's top intelligence official — was recently placed on leave. The FBI has not said why. Floris and Ugoretz did not respond to requests for comment. The emails lay out an internal debate over the reliability of the intelligence, which former FBI agents say is typical. The Albany office, backing its agent, sought to prevent the report from being recalled. Senior FBI officials, meanwhile, pushed for corroboration of the source's allegations. In a Sept. 25, 2020, email, an assistant section chief in the Criminal Intelligence Branch said the claim about Chinese election interference was 'getting a lot of attention from all HQ divisions.' The assistant section chief added, 'We know that the source is first contact and hasn't been re-interviewed. Are you considering recalling the [intelligence report] until you can track the source down and re-interview? Everything election is getting scrutiny, and we just want to be sure we have reliable sourcing.' In a Sept. 28 email, another official noted that the allegation that China was trying to influence the election in favor of Biden, as well as previous seizures of fake driver's licenses imported from China, 'were all documented in some fashion on open sources.' The official added that 'Given the lack of specifics we received in the initial reporting, my first opinion was that the [confidential human source] wants to help and is probably supplementing his reporting via open sources.' Ultimately, the emails show, an FBI official who specializes in Chinese foreign interference instructed the Albany office that 'we have not approved a re-issue' of the report 'specifically because of our concerns that the reporting is not authoritative.' The new head of the FBI's Office of Congressional Affairs is Marshall Yates. A former Republican aide on Capitol Hill, Yates has ties to figures that have long backed Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Yates was chief of staff to former Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., on Jan. 6, 2021, when Brooks spoke at Trump's rally in support of efforts to overturn his election loss. Yates then went on to work for the Election Integrity Network, a project headed by Republican lawyer Cleta Mitchell, a key figure in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. In a 2022 speech in New Mexico, Yates said the 'election objection did not go as we wanted in 2020, on Jan. 6,' but that 'luckily' it had 'sparked a grassroots movement across the country for election integrity.' The FBI did not reply to a request for comment about Yates' involvement. The internal review released by Ratcliffe last week examined how the CIA put together a 2017 intelligence assessment that concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. The review found some deviance from standard procedures, but it defended the assessment's overall findings. The report disclosed that two senior leaders of a CIA mission center focusing on Russia objected to the conclusion that Russia's goal was to help secure Trump's victory but agreed that Putin hoped to denigrate Clinton and undermine the U.S. democratic process. The review also cited complaints by some CIA officers that they felt rushed by a tight deadline to produce the assessment. The CIA director at the time, John Brennan, was a Democratic political appointee who has since become an ardent Trump critic. In a second post on X, Ratcliffe argued that the complaints about the process were evidence the 'assessment was conducted through an atypical & corrupt process under the politically charged environments' of Brennan and then-FBI Director James Comey. The CIA declined to comment when asked to explain the basis for Ratcliffe's accusation. A special counsel appointed during the first Trump administration looked extensively into how the CIA crafted its assessment but filed no criminal charges and reported no clear evidence that political bias tainted the process. A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation in 2020 concurred with the 2017 intelligence assessment and found no reason to dispute its conclusions. This article was originally published on
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
FBI Warning—Do Not Take These Calls On Your Smartphone
These calls are not what they seem. Republished on July 4 with further police and federal agency warnings that fraudulent callers are now targeting smartphone users in the U.S. This is not the FBI. That was the stark warning from the bureau in June, as attacks on smartphone users frightened victims into sending money to avoid arrest, 'spoofing FBI phone numbers nationwide and impersonating government agents.' Less than a month later and those warnings are now being amplified. Both ATF and U.S. Marshals have just issued similar alerts as attackers widen the net. ATF is 'working with the FBI, which is actively investigating this scam. The public is urged to exercise caution and avoid sharing personal or financial information with unsolicited callers.' The U.S. Marshals will 'NEVER call you to collect money or resolve a court case,' warning that scammers use 'real USMS names' in their attacks. 'HANG UP,' it says in its own public alert, 'and REPORT to your local FBI office.' The FBI says callers trick victims 'into thinking an arrest is imminent unless they send money,' which does not happen. 'The FBI will never call you demanding money to get out of criminal charges. It's a scam. Hang up and visit the FBI's to file a report.' These attacks are not limited to federal agencies, and we have seen a raft of state and local reports warning of the same attacks. The New York State Police has alerted citizens to 'an ongoing phone spoofing scam in which scammers impersonate members of law enforcement or government agencies in an attempt to solicit sensitive personal information from individuals across New York State and beyond.' ATF says the attacks impersonating its own agents instruct victims 'to purchase Apple gift cards in amounts of $500 or $1,000 to 'clear a red flag' from their accounts. Victims are then asked to provide gift card numbers to the callers.' In its July 2 public advisory, ATF says citizens should 'report suspicious calls to the ATF at 1-888-ATF-TIPS or the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at And anyone falling victim should 'contact local law enforcement immediately.' ATF will never 'call or email private citizens to demand payment or threaten arrest. You will not be asked to wire a 'settlement' to avoid arrest; ask you to use large sums of your own money to help catch a criminal; request you send money via wire transfer to foreign accounts, cryptocurrency, or gift/prepaid cards; [or] call you about 'frozen' Social Security numbers or to coordinate inheritances.' The FBI warns there are many versions of this scam, 'and they all exploit intimidation tactics.' Callers use 'an urgent and aggressive tone, refusing to speak to or leave a message with anyone other than their targeted victim.' They also warn victims 'not to tell anyone else, including family, friends, or financial institutions.' There should be doubts as to the variety of these law enforcement impersonation scams — every avenue is being explored. These include a warning on Thursday that a jury scam is 'using real police officer's names,' with one police department warning citizens that callers use the name and ranks of serving officers, warning that jury service had been missed and a payment was due in order to avoid arrest. Similarly, police forces warn scammers pretending to be police officers are demanding money for missing court appearances. In reality, it doesn't matter what script is used, when phone numbers can be spoofed it's easy to gain a victim's confidence. Even the FTC has been the subject of these impersonation scams, with victims receiving calls warning of 'fraudulent activity on their Apple ID.' Again the financial ask is spurious, but works given the threat of fines or arrest. As the FBI says, no federal agent 'will ever call or email you to demand payment or threaten arrest.' If you ever receive any of these calls, hang up and do not engage. If you have any doubts, call local law enforcement and explain what has happened.
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
New video of Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.'s ICE arrest emerges
Footage from the arrest of Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. earlier this week showed the 39-year-old getting detained — with both hands behind his back and a chain wrapped around his waist area next to an open car door — by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents just days after his fight with Jake Paul, according to the video published Thursday by Fox 11 Los Angeles. Chávez Jr., a Mexican citizen and the husband of a United States citizen, is facing 'expedited removal' from the U.S. due to an alleged arrest warrant in Mexico for 'involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives' and allegedly being an 'affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel,' the Department of Homeland Security said in a release Thursday. Michael Goldstein, Chávez Jr.'s attorney, said Thursday that the arrest occurred while Chávez Jr. was on a scooter outside his Studio City, Calif. home, according to the Associated Press, and his manager, Sean Gibbons, told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that they were 'working on a few things.' 'They blocked off his street and took him into custody leaving his family without any knowledge of his whereabouts,' Goldstein told the Times, while also saying that around 25 agents and officials were present for Chávez Jr.'s arrest. 'The current allegations are outrageous and appear to be designed as a headline to terrorize the community. Mr. Chavez is not a threat to the community.' 5 Julio César Chávez Jr. was arrested by ICE on July 2. x/MattSeedorff 5 Mexican boxed Julio César Chávez Jr. was arrested by ICE on July 2. x/MattSeedorff Chávez Jr. applied to get lawful permanent resident status in April 2024 — two months after the B2 tourist visa he originally received in August 2023 expired, according to the DHS. But there were 'multiple fraudulent statements' on the application, according to the DHS, and Chávez Jr.'s wife, Frida Muñoz, has an alleged connection to the Sinaloa Cartel from a previous relationship to the late son of leader Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. 5 Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. was arrested by ICE. x/MattSeedorff 5 Julio César Chávez Jr. during a May 5 weigh-in. LatinContent via Getty Images ICE was notified in December that Chávez Jr. was an 'egregious public safety threat,' according to the DHS, but the administration of former President Joe Biden determined he wasn't an 'immigration enforcement priority' — and Chávez Jr. was allowed back into the U.S. on Jan. 4. Due to the fraudulent statements, he was considered 'removable' on June 27, according to the DHS. 5 Julio César Chávez Jr. is pictured during a Feb. 23 press conference. LatinContent via Getty Images The Sinaloa Cartel was designated as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization' by President Donald Trump's administration. Chávez Jr., the son of the famous Mexican boxer, lost to Paul by unanimous decision Saturday in his second bout since 2021.
