The Army's Cyber Defense Command has acquired, for the first time, a tool that allows the extraction of data from cell phones, device cloud systems, and public records stored on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
The contract, acquired without bidding, was signed in the last days of 2021. At the time, the commander of the Army was Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, current Minister of Defense.
The tool is normally used by the Civil Police, the Federal Police, the National Institute of Criminalistics, and the Public Ministry as a way of accessing data, including blocked ones, from cell phones seized as a result of court decisions.
The contract documents produced for the Army unit do not specify which cell phones would be accessed or what the legal basis is for this access to private data.
Folha questioned the Army about the acquisition of the tool and the purpose of the purchase, but there was no response.
At the head of the Cyber Defense Command is General Heber Garcia Portella, a member of the military designated by the Ministry of Defense for the election transparency commission set up by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court).
Portella began to question the integrity of electronic ballot boxes, lending credence to President Jair Bolsonaro's coup-oriented speech regarding the Brazilian electoral system.
Translated by Cassy Dias