Bolsonaro’s cellphone attacked by hackers: Justice Ministry

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the Federal Police reported that cellphones used by President Jair Bolsonaro were attacked by the group including the four suspects arrested Tuesday (Jul 23). The fact is being given national security treatment, and Bolsonaro was notified immediately.

On Tuesday, the Federal Police launched Operation Spoofing, which probes into suspected cybercrime. Four temporary arrest warrants were served and seven search and seizure orders were authorized by Brasília Judge Vallisney de Souza Oliveira, who mentioned “strong signs that those investigated are part of a criminal organization.”

The arrest warrants targeted Danilo Cristiano Marques, Gustavo Henrique Elias Santos, Suelen Priscila de Oliveira, and Walter Delgatti Neto. The Federal Police presented a “history of possible crimes” that the individuals investigated may have jointly committed “to violate the confidentiality of telephone conversations of a number of Brazilian public officials by hacking smartphone application Telegram.”

The judge said five-day arrests are necessary in order for investigators to collect evidence.

Yesterday (Jul 24), the police told the press that at least a thousand different telephone numbers may have been targeted by the suspects of hacking the Telegram account of Security Minister Sergio Moro and other authorities, among them Economy Minister Paulo Guedes.

“Apparently, a thousand telephone numbers were targeted with this gang’s modus operandi. The number of possible victims of the same kind of attack may be extremely high, though we haven’t started working on ascertaining it yet,” said João Vianey Xavier Filho, general coordinator for Intelligence with the Federal Police, who went on to say that the allegedly attacked telephone numbers will be identified so that investigators can gauge the exact scope of the attacks.

Today, the police should request a meeting with Brazil’s telecom agency Anatel in a bid to address the vulnerabilities unveiled by the investigation.

The probe is reported to have been ongoing since April, when prosecutors in the Car Wash task force reported they received calls on their phones coming from their own numbers. In June, Moro and other authorities recounted similar incidents.

Part of the conversations Minister Sergio Moro held with Car Wash prosecutors when he was still the judge in charge of the allegations under Operation Car Wash was passed on to news website The Intercept Brasil, which decided to disclose the information, believed to be of public interest. The website said the files were given to journalists at The Intercept through an anonymous source. Under Brazilian law, journalists have the right not to reveal their sources.

Yesterday, shortly before his client Gustavo Henrique Elias Santos gave his testimony in Brasília, lawyer Ariovaldo Moreira told journalists that Santos confirmed he received from Walter Delgatti Neto—also arrested as suspect—images of an alleged message sent by then Federal Judge Sergio Moro to other public officials.

“According to Gustavo [Santos], Walter [Neto] showed him some interceptions of an authority some time ago. This authority was current Justice and Public Security Minister Sergio Moro, but Gustavo denied any involvement with the interception of these messages. He went on to warn Gustavo that this could bring him trouble,” the lawyer said, adding that Santos does not remember the exact date when Neto sent him copies of the messages.