A hacker affiliated with Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel infiltrated an FBI agent’s phone records, monitored their movements using Mexico City’s surveillance cameras, and enabled cartel assassins to hunt down and murder key government informants.
The shocking incident, detailed in a Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General report, occurred in 2018 during the FBI’s high-stakes investigation into Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, exposing how criminal syndicates now exploit cutting-edge technology to undermine U.S. intelligence operations.
The breach raises urgent concerns about federal agencies' ability to protect their operatives and sources in an era where drug cartels wield surveillance tools once reserved for nation-states. As the Trump administration escalates its war against Mexican cartels by labeling them terrorist organizations, this infiltration proves that sophisticated cybercrime isn't the sole domain of rogue governments; it’s weaponized by brutal narcotraffickers with a license to kill.
Hacker weaponized FBI agent’s phone and city cameras
According to the DOJ report, a cyber operative working for the Sinaloa cartel remotely hacked into the phone of an FBI assistant legal attaché stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. Once inside, the hacker gained access not only to the agent’s call logs but also real-time geolocation data, effectively transforming the FBI phone into a tracking beacon.
