Cybersecurity

FBI hackers targeted users in 120 countries, incl. Russia, China & Iran

During the largest known law enforcement hacking campaign, the FBI reportedly hacked into thousands of computers around the world and implanted malware that allowed them to gather personal data, according to court documents.

The FBI’s international hacking efforts stem from an investigation called “Operation Pacifier.”

Launched in 2014, the FBI conducted an investigation into a child pornography website called Playpen after they obtained the IP address associated with the site. The site operated on the onion router (Tor) network, which masks IP addresses and other identifying information.

According to court documents, the FBI obtained a warrant from a magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia to search and seize “property located in the Eastern District of Virginia.” The warrant also authorized the FBI to send malware from the Playpen server to computers that logged on to the site with a username and password.