Australia and the FBI distributed a “secure” application among the criminals for several years, and then they arrested 800 people
On Habré, it is not worth explaining that any smartphone bought in a store is a potential “bug” that can be listened to at any time. For what purpose this is being done – the second question, but now it is not so important. The topic of the article is an interesting operation of the Australian police and the FBI, connected with crime, protected phones and encryption.
A few years ago, there was a company like Phantom Secure. She was engaged in the distribution of modified smartphones among criminals – most often with physically remote cameras and microphones, cut out services of manufacturers and limited functionality, which leaves only the ability to exchange text messages over encrypted channels. Phantom Secure was not the only such company, but it was to her that law enforcement officers had the most questions. In 2018, it was closed, the head was arrested, after which the most interesting thing began.
What kind of company is this?
She, like several others, sold phones, most often BlackBerry, from which, in addition to the already mentioned elements, GPS modules, browsers, instant messengers, etc. were removed. Instead, closed counterparts were installed – Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) software and a client for transferring encrypted messages. If necessary, the phone could be cleared of any data, and remotely.
The company worked for several years, after which it was nevertheless closed, arresting the management and seizing assets. After that, the leadership was put on trial. The case file said that the company’s products were used, for example, by representatives of the Sinaloa drug cartel, as well as various criminal groups in South America, Asia and other regions.
At the same time, both the phones and the subscription to secure communications were not cheap at all – the latter cost “corporate” clients $ 2000-3000 per month.
The company managed to close the company after undercover employees began to carefully ask the representatives of the organization whether the devices could be used to discuss drug delivery issues. The company replied in the affirmative and the police got down to business.
Well, well, what is there now?
Immediately after the said company was closed, and with it the encrypted messaging services EncroChat and Sky ECC, criminal groups began to look for an alternative.
Australian Police have reintroduced undercover agents. One of them, a drug dealer, began distributing devices, modified phones with “safe” software to his accomplices. The main means of communication was AN0M application (or ANOM), which was positioned as absolutely safe.
The wireless telegraph worked, and AN0M telephones became more and more in demand. A wave of popularity overtook these devices with specialized software on them in March 2021. The police shut down the extremely popular Sky ECC service in March 2021, and the criminals had to find a replacement for it urgently.
It would not have been possible to distribute Trojan phones in the usual way, since in order to purchase a device, the buyer should have known some of the owners of such a device. In general, something like a mutual guarantee, which is extremely difficult to overcome. The phone allowed exchanging messages in only one way – in the same application. All messengers, mail, etc. have been removed.
Interchange
It is unclear how all this was kept secret, but phones did spread throughout the world. They were used by representatives of 300 criminal groups from 100 countries of the world. A total of 12 thousand phones were purchased. They were received by the mafia, all sorts of drug cartels, Asian groups and even bikers.
At one point, the police decided it was time to act. Australians, the FBI and representatives of law enforcement agencies from 16 other countries of the world received the results of the analysis of the correspondence of criminals. By the way, the police studied about 27 million messages. All this data was carefully studied over time, plans were drawn up for the capture. Of course, it took more than two days to analyze the correspondence; it took many months of painstaking work.
Over the past few days, law enforcement officers have carried out about 1,000 searches, as a result of which they have seized tons of drugs, thousands of weapons, dozens of modified vehicles, including luxury cars, as well as tens of millions of US dollars in both fiat and cryptocurrencies.
The detained criminals are already testifying, law enforcement officers have managed to prevent several dozen crimes that were planned for the near future.
As the representatives of the authorities who carried out Operation Ironside aptly put it, this is the name of the operation, the police were all the time together with the criminals, literally “in their back pockets.” Naturally, with such an approach to the case, the law enforcement officers turned out to have so much information about the crimes that they will have to deal with it for a long time. More arrests and seizures are likely to follow in the near future.
