Government Denys Allegations Hacker Helped Mexican President Win the 2012 Election Rafa Fernandez De Castro - Fusion
go to original April 1, 2016

Featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, April 4, 2016

The Mexican government is denying allegations made by a self-professed Colombian hacker who told Bloomberg that he led a cyber commando unit that helped Enrique Peña Nieto “eke out a victory” in Mexico’s 2012 presidential elections. Peña Nieto won the presidency by slightly more than 3 million votes.

The Bloomberg report, titled “How to Hack an Election,” was based on an interview with incarcerated Colombian hacker-for-hire Andres Sepúlveda, who claims he’s done dirty internet work in eight Latin American countries over the past five years, targeting candidates and businessmen in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Panama.

Sepúlveda, who’s currently serving a 10-year prison sentence in Colombia on charges of using malicious software, conspiracy to commit crime, violation of personal data and espionage, claims to have been at the center of some of the biggest hacking and election-rigging scandals in Latin America over the past decade.

From hacking email lists and campaign networks, to stealing candidate strategies and manipulating social media trends, Sepúlveda “might be able to claim as much influence over the political direction of modern Latin America as anyone in the 21st century,” Bloomberg gushes.

He says his biggest alleged job was helping Peña Nieto secure the Mexican presidency four years ago, according to his confession in Bloomberg.

Read the rest at Fusion

Related: The Bloomberg Team That Uncovered the Latin American Election Hacker Had No Idea What It Would Find (PRI's The World)

Related: 'How to Hack an Election' Is the Scariest Thing You Will Ever Read About the Internet (Fusion)

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