Aussie students, AFP officers fighting Colombian drug cartels at risk amid cyber hack

The identities of new Aussies who may have revealed information about Colombian drug cartels may be in danger, after the Australian Federal Police was hacked.

Colombians living in Australia who may have informed on drug cartels could be in danger as it has been revealed Australian Federal Police were only tipped off by the media days after a hack had exposed dozens of their undercover stings.

The AFP’s law enforcement counterparts in Colombia, whose databases were the target of the hack, are understood to have failed to inform them of the potentially devastating breach.

Security experts and former undercover agents have warned about the dangerous ripple effect from the ruthless drug cartels if they find out about anyone helping police.

One of the drug disruption operations revealed through the hack was how the AFP has been targeting Colombian students in Australia who were being used as an onshore syndicate to import cocaine by air streams.

Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of New England, Dr Michael Kennedy warned “we know that the cartels not only infiltrate police forces in countries like Mexico and they have intimidated police by murdering officers and putting their heads on sticks for warn people.”

“They will kill not only an informant, but the whole family from the maid to the pet dog and cat.”

Dr Kennedy said some parts of Colombian law enforcement could be part of the problem.

“It is a developing country and they are at risk from the drug cartels who have billions of dollars and their own private armies.

“It would be naive to think you can share intelligence with Colombian law enforcement as if there is no problem dealing with police in a developing country.

“In the drug world it is very hard to keep information secure. There are always leaks but the risk is much higher in developing countries.”

Australian Federal Police undercover officers have been jeopardised in a hack. Picture: Matthew Poon

The hack by a group known as Guacamaya, which targeted a Colombian government database has exposed the details of 35 Australian Federal Police operations past and current and has revealed the scale of drug importations into Australia using a myriad of businesses to launder drug money.

The leak of documents which was identified 10 days ago has breached operational security and potentially endangered the lives of those involved including undercover police officers, potentially co-operating civilians and informants.

It is understood the AFP has taken steps to move their officers and operatives out of harm’s way before the leak was made public.

Warren Reed, a former Australian Secret Intelligence Service officer, turned author and commentator on security and intelligence matters said the hack has enormous implications for the defence of the nation and could be devastating for law enforcement.

“It potentially reveals not only the people involved, but their networks, the tactics used, the inroads they had made and were yet to make, it blows the whole field wide open,” Mr Reed said.

“With all the cyber hacks happening you have to ask what is next?”

The former head of the NSW Police Undercover unit, Mick Drury, said the data breach is most disturbing and its potential to adversely impact upon the investigative success in recent years achieve by the AFP.

It has been revealed that a database with five million emails and tens of thousands of documents were hacked from a password protected database.

The hack has also exposed key weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the data systems in which the information was held, according to the former head of FBI Cyber Security Unit, Don Codling.

Mr Codling who is now the head of the Codling Group International said “the sorts of data stolen or dumped is very useful for a wide range of social engineering attacks and phishing expeditions that can be laser-focused against specific targets like officers, agents, informants.”

“These breaches show the need for encryption, tight controls and limits on what sensitive stuff gets shared,” Mr Codling said.

Senior Labor minister Jason Clare told Channel 7 “we all know about Colombian drug cartels and their tentacles stretched out right across the world, including here in Australia, where you’ve got criminals working with them.”

The AFP arrested Australian man, Mark Buddle, for allegedly importing more than 160kg of cocaine into Melbourne in May, 2021. Source: Australian Federal Police

Greens Justice Spokesman Senator David Shoebridge said there are questions for the AFP to answer starting with why they were providing Columbian police with the details of undercover operatives in Australia.

“Columbia is the source of a significant part of the world’s cocaine and their law enforcement agencies are under incredible strain and threat from organised crime. This should have led to extreme caution from the AFP before they shared any sensitive data about local operations.

“These are life and death matters, and the fact that the AFP found out about the data breach through media reports is genuinely chilling,” Senator Shoebridge said.

The AFP Association President Alex Caruana said they are aware of the hack and are working with the AFP in relation to the welfare of its members.

Former undercover agents said it needs to be established who and how people have been compromised – whether it is their cover name and story or their real identity and to call them in from the cold.

“They may need to be relocated or put into witness protection.”

A spokeswoman for the AFP said they are currently assessing the information that may have been obtained from Colombian law enforcement and working with our partners in impacted regions to mitigate any potential threats to the safety of people, or ongoing investigations.”

She said the AFP is also working with Colombia law enforcement efforts to safeguard their computer systems.

Originally published as Aussie students, AFP officers fighting Colombian drug cartels at risk amid cyber hack