Politics

While its cyber abilities receive notably less attention than those of other intelligence agencies (like, say, the NSA), the FBI has a fairly sophisticated hacking arsenal, the likes of which isn’t without controversy. In 2022, the New York Times reported that the FBI had sought to procure a tool that could hack “any phone in the U.S.” The tool was sold by the NSO Group, the notorious Israeli spyware vendor, whose products have been ensnared in hacking scandals all over the world. In 2023, the New York Times reported that a federal agency had disobeyed the Biden administration, which had issued a rule that barred federal agencies from doing deals with NSO. The FBI was asked to investigate which agency had disobeyed the White House and ultimately found that the agency itself had bought the tool.

Several recent operations helmed by the FBI have demonstrated the agency’s increasingly powerful cyber capabilities. In January, it closed a backdoor to thousands of U.S. computers infected with Chinese malware by taking over the hackers’ command-and-control server. In 2023, the FBI also used one of its NITs to somehow unmask a Tor user who was part of an anti-terrorism case. That same year, the bureau hacked and infiltrated a ransomware gang known as “Hive,” which allowed it to ultimately disrupt the criminal operation. In general, the bureau knows what it’s doing when it comes to cyber, even if it does keep a low profile.