To find a man who harassed and threatened dozens of girls on social media, Facebook paid a computer security company, asking her to develop malicious software with which the FBI was then able to expose and indict the pedophile. The story, which dates back to 2017, is the Motherboard technology site.
The protagonist of the story is Buster Hernandez, a 28-year-old Californian accused, among other things, of production and exchange of child pornography, child coercion, extortion and threats. The man exploited an operating system that preserves anonymity, called Tails, to use undisturbed mail, chat and Facebook for the purpose of harassing underage students. He extorted nude photos and videos of the girls, threatening them with death, rape and even massacring in their school, or bombing her, in case they refused to please him.
To stop it, Facebook paid a six-figure sum to a cybersecurity company, which exploited a vulnerability present in Tails to create software with which to trace the real IP address of who is watching a video. Facebook then sent the software, through an intermediary, to the FBI, which was able to use it to track down and arrest the molester.
"It's a unique case. The man used such sophisticated methods to hide his identity that we took the extraordinary step of collaborating with security experts to help the FBI bring him to justice," said a Facebook spokesman. "The only acceptable outcome for us was for Hernandez to respond to the abuse of young girls."