On july 5th 2015, 400GB of information regarding Hacking Team – the Italian company that sells surveillance malware to governments all across the globe – was filtered. In Latin America, most countries contacted and negotiated with the enterprise. Nonetheless, the use of the malware in the region is illegal and amounts to grave violations of human rights. Given the history of authoritarian and dictatorial countries in the region, how do we analyze the implications for democratic institutions in these countries? What is the impact for dissidence and journalism and in the region when facing this invasive malware?