Alongside providing numerous conveniences for human life, advanced technology on smartphones has also made the operations of the criminal world more sophisticated and unpredictable. Taking advantage of the security technologies on smartphones, many secure messaging services have emerged to facilitate communication for criminals.
One of the most famous companies offering this service is Phantom Secure, which specializes in providing “robust encrypted devices” specifically for criminal organizations, allowing them to exchange information without fear of being monitored and discovered by law enforcement agencies.
Not only using a secure encrypted messaging service, the devices provided by Phantom Secure to criminals were also customized to further enhance security capabilities. The strict security of these devices made it difficult for law enforcement agencies to track and gather evidence of criminal activities. In fact, Phantom Secure’s devices were once openly sold on their website.
However, everything began to change in 2018 when the CEO of Phantom Secure was arrested, leading to a collapse in the communication network of this service. This arrest also created a gap in the market, prompting criminals to seek a new secure messaging service to replace Phantom Secure.
This arrest also brought the FBI a valuable informant. This individual revealed that a new encrypted messaging device called Anom was being secretly developed to replace Phantom Secure, and they were willing to cooperate and provide this system to the FBI in exchange for a reduced sentence.
The FBI and many law enforcement agencies worldwide saw this as an opportunity not to be missed.
They decided to leverage this encrypted messaging device and service to compete for the market that Phantom Secure was leaving behind. Thus, instead of trying to break the encryption that criminals were using, the FBI and law enforcement agencies would have in their hands the very information that criminals were exchanging. This operation was akin to placing a wooden horse into Troy – hence the name “Operation Trojan Shield.”
Thanks to relationships with Australian crime gangs from their informant, who was once a distributor of similar encrypted messaging devices like Anom, the first batch of devices was distributed, and criminals began to spread the word about this new device’s reputation.
Priced at $2,000 each, Anom phones are special devices with a single application designed for secure communication. Other common smartphone features, such as GPS, have been removed to ensure anonymity and security. They also have a feature that remotely wipes data in case they fall into the hands of law enforcement.
Each message is encrypted based on two strings of codes, including a “master key” encryption key and a fixed ID code linked to any username chosen by the user.
However, what they did not know was that messages on Anom would be routed to servers at the FBI and other law enforcement agencies involved in this operation. In fact, the master key for these messages was also in the hands of the FBI, allowing them to decrypt these messages.
Until the recent arrests, around 12,000 Anom devices had been sold and used by over 300 criminal groups in more than 100 different countries, including Italian crime syndicates and transnational drug trafficking organizations. This indicates the criminals’ trust in the security and encryption capabilities of Anom devices.
From 2019 to 2021, these phones helped the FBI track 27 million messages exchanged between criminals, along with countless images serving as evidence for drug trafficking and numerous other criminal activities.
The messages and evidence led to the largest coordinated crackdown on criminal organizations worldwide. More than 800 arrests were made across 16 countries in recent days, seizing over 8 tons of cocaine, 22 tons of marijuana, and 2 tons of synthetic drugs, as well as 250 firearms, 55 luxury vehicles, and over $48 million in various currencies.
Not only did this operation dismantle many criminal organizations, but the campaign with the cooperation of Anom phones was also described by the FBI as a move to “shake the confidence” of the entire industry of encryption devices for criminals.
Last year, European law enforcement also infiltrated EncroChat, a service providing encrypted messaging devices similar to Anom, dismantling this service and arresting many members of organized crime gangs. In March of this year, another service known as Sky Global, which provided devices for criminal organizations and international drug trafficking, was also taken down.
Reference: WSJ