Mexico returned a spying system to an Israeli company: "Failed to locate mobile phones"
The Israeli company Septier supplied the Mexican government with a mobile phone tracking system that proved operationally ineffective. Authorities returned the equipment, citing critical malfunctions.
The Israeli cyber technology company Septier sold the Mexican government a technological system for spying and tracking the mobile phones of citizens, but the system failed operationally and technologically. This emerges from harsh audit reports on the functioning of the cellular signal scanning system, compiled by the Prosecutor General in the Mexican Ministry of Justice, which reached Calcalist.
The Mexican Ministry of Justice returned the system to the intermediary in the deal, the Mexican company Comercializadora Antsua, which recently initiated legal proceedings, including a lawsuit in Israel against Septier from Petah Tikva, demanding compensation of about 2 million shekels for the loss of the deal and financial damages incurred. According to reports from the Mexican Ministry of Justice, the malfunctions in the Septier system (Guardian Septier), intended to locate and block phones, led to "difficulty in locating targets, even when the mobile phone to be located was within a few meters of the system," as well as "erroneous reports regarding the location of the mobiles."
According to the intermediary Antsua, based on its correspondence with Septier representatives, "the malfunctions in the system led to a risk for the agents who operated the equipment." It was further written in the Prosecutor General's reports that the system suffered from "repeated disconnections, which required turning it off and on each time anew — something that does not allow for operational activity, poor battery performance that significantly deviates from Septier's commitment, battery charging times that were less than 50% of the manufacturer's commitment, and disconnected communication during operation."
Technical issues and field test failures
The first system entered use on April 2, 2019, but suffered, according to the reports, from significant malfunctions almost from the first moment of its operation. According to a report by the Cyber Investigation Division in the Mexican Prosecutor General's office, the system itself froze during operation and required turning off and on several times before returning to operation. The Guardian application disconnected users and required re-entry. Even when the system worked, it suffered from difficulties, including making two calls to the target number in order to link it to the system, and an inability to pick up the target at a distance greater than 20 meters.
In May 2019, the company supplied Mexico with an alternative system. However, this one too, it was claimed in the reports, suffered from a series of malfunctions that made it unusable. The Prosecutor General's report details a practical exercise performed with the system, which was installed in a Ford pickup, on May 7, 2019: "The operation began in the underground parking lot of a shopping center, when the 'target' (a 2G phone) was located on the floor above, inside the shopping center, at a distance of about 80 to 100 meters. The equipment failed to locate the target, so the technician suggested shortening the distance to about 50 meters in a direct line of sight. Only at this stage did the tactical equipment manage to locate it, but the equipment failed to stabilize the location and continued to lose the target constantly."
Adv. Beni Baratz, representing Septier, stated: "The company received a lawsuit, will study it, and in due time will respond in court."
