In a huge sting operation, FBI and Australian Federal Police ran an encrypted chat service AN0M for 3+ years to intercept messages between criminals globally
The FBI and Australian Federal Police ran an encrypted chat platform and intercepted secret messages between criminal gang members … Source: Australian Federal Police .
The Record Catalin Cimpanu
Related Coverage
- Australian Federal Police and FBI nab criminal underworld figures in worldwide sting using encrypted app ABC · Alison Xiao
- Trojan Shield: How the FBI Secretly Ran a Phone Network for Criminals VICE · Joseph Cox
- Hundreds arrested in global crime sting after underworld app is hacked The Guardian
- View article Associated Press
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- View article Washington Post
- 800 criminals arrested in biggest ever law enforcement operation against encrypted communication Europol
- FBI encrypted phone app leads to hundreds of global underworld arrests New York Post · Samuel Chamberlain
- Organised crime dealt ‘heavy blow’, says PM, after global police sting cracks open ‘encrypted’ app Sydney Morning Herald · Fergus Hunter
- Senior gang members arrested after global sting targeting organised crime Stuff.co.nz
- Police raids around world after investigators crack An0m cryptophone app in major hacking operation ComputerWeekly.com · Bill Goodwin
- Hundreds arrested globally after joint U.S.-Australian organised crime sting Reuters · Colin Packham
- Global Gangsters Caught In Encrypted Phone Sting International Business Times · Andrew Beatty
- AFP-led Operation Ironside smashes organised crime Australian Federal Police
- AFP and FBI sting used encrypted app to intercept crims' comms iTnews · Juha Saarinen
- The FBI operated an ‘encrypted’ chat app for organized criminals Engadget · S. Shah
- For years, the underworld thought its phones were safe. They fell for an encrypted app trap CNN · Ben Westcott
- An0m: Hundreds arrested in massive global crime sting BBC
- AFP used controversial encryption laws in its ‘most significant operation in policing history’ ZDNet · Campbell Kwan
- Police Infiltration of Encrypted App Busts Global Crime Ring Bloomberg · Jason Scott
- Australian cops, FBI created backdoored chat app, told crims it was secure - then snooped on 9,000 users' plots The Register · Simon Sharwood
Discussion
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@seamushughes
Seamus Hughes
on x
Let's advance the story a bit w/ some original reporting: An FBI informant introduced Anom to Phantom Secure & Sky Global users in 2018. The informant gave each user a unique ID number, the FBI had full access to that ID list. Working w/ AFP, it was called Operation Trojan Horse …
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@josephfcox
Joseph Cox
on x
New: for *years* the FBI has been secretly running an encrypted messaging app used by criminals. Sometimes cops shut down these networks or hack them. Here, the FBI took over it in its infancy and saw it grow across the world, listen to all the messages https://www.vice.com/...
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@theage
@theage
on x
Sources told The Age the FBI had been in control of Anom and the AFP were monitoring communications there for an extended period, yielding enormously valuable intelligence before the platform was completely shut down on Tuesday. https://www.theage.com.au/...
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@ashk4n
Ashkan Soltani
on x
BREAKING: Police around the world uncover ‘21 murder plots, 3000kg drugs, and $45M in cash/assets’ by tricking criminals onto a backdoored crypto network (An0m) developed by AU Federal police. https://www.abc.net.au/...
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@johnruddick2
John Ruddick
on x
Wow! “More than 220 have been arrested on 526 charges & 3.7 tonnes of drugs, 104 weapons & $45m in cash were allegedly seized in the operation involving more than 4000 police officers ... the most significant policing operation in Australian history”. https://www.smh.com.au/...
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@aravosis
@aravosis
on x
This is an awesome story. The FBI, and the Australians, jointly broke into an encrypted messaging app that organized crime was using worldwide for years. The authorities now have 20 million communications by 11,000 people! Lots of people going to jail. https://twitter.com/...
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@chrizap
Chris Zappone
on x
More than 220 people have been arrested on 526 charges across Australia and 3.7 tonnes of drugs, 104 weapons, and $45 million in cash were allegedly seized in the operation involving more than 4000 police officers. https://www.theage.com.au/...
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@mollymckew
Molly McKew
on x
Super interesting Aussie-American op yielded major results against criminal networks. Now of only everyone would understand why telegram isn't a great place to discuss dissident movements and protests... https://twitter.com/...
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@andydiggle
Andy Diggle
on x
Remember that season of The Wire where the cops tricked the perps into buying compromised phones...? Think bigger. https://twitter.com/...
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@troyhunt
Troy Hunt
on x
This story is cool from the perspective of law enforcement success, but I fear the word “encryption” is being misrepresented here. Trojan'ing and app and controlling an endpoint where messaging is available in the clear is not an attack against encryption https://www.smh.com.au/.…
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@sub8u
Subrahmanyam Kvj
on x
Can't make this up. Australian Police and the FBI ran a fake “secure” messaging app for years. They recruited “criminal influencers”, seeded the app widely. And sat back while scooping up evidence! Fascinating story. A future TV series for sure! https://www.couriermail.com.au/ ..…
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@campuscodi
Catalin Cimpanu
on x
🆕The FBI and Australian police ran a fake encrypted chat platform to catch criminal gangs in one of the largest sting operations known to date, known as Operation Ironside The platform, known as Anøm (An0m), had more than 11,000 registered users. https://therecord.media/... https…
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@campuscodi
Catalin Cimpanu
on x
Super-relevant tweet, on why the sting operation was shut down. Criminal gangs began catching on there was something wrong with the service https://twitter.com/...
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@josephfcox
Joseph Cox
on x
Here is what Anom's website looked like, before it closed down earlier today. An invite code could provide a decent way for law enforcement to keep an operation intercepting communications only on targets or suspected criminals https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/...
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@victoriapolice
Victoria Police
on x
A snapshot of Victoria Police's involvement in Op Ironside. This global operation has resulted in over 100 organised crime members being charged for using encrypted communications to plot killings, organise mass drug trafficking and gun distribution.→ https://www.afp.gov.au/... h…
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@josephfcox
Joseph Cox
on x
Anom offered users encrypted communication. People close to and trusted by organized crime sold Anom devices. But the FBI, and its source, were secretly running the company, and added a master key to the encryption, letting them read millions msgs https://www.vice.com/... https:/…
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@campuscodi
Catalin Cimpanu
on x
AFP Operation Ironside page: https://online.afp.gov.au/... AFP press conference: https://www.youtube.com/... More from Europol in a few hours: https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
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@campuscodi
Catalin Cimpanu
on x
Hundreds have been arrested and charged only in Australia alone. I'm expecting the tally to be in the thousands across the world, making this one of the biggest LEA actions to date. https://twitter.com/...
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@jason_kint
Jason Kint
on x
Amazing. “The app, known as AN0M, was used by organised crime gangs around the world to plan executions, mass drug importations and money laundering. Authorities say they were able to read up to 25 million messages in real-time.” https://twitter.com/...
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@josephfcox
Joseph Cox
on x
Anom started small, just Australia, around 50 devices. But it grew, and especially so when authorities closed Sky, another encrypted network. Eventually Anom, the FBI's honeypot, was active in 90 countries https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/...