FBI owns a global messaging service....for criminals
The news signals a major coup for law enforcement: ordinarily, agencies either shut down or crack messages on an already established service, such as Phantom Secure or Encrochat, two similar encrypted messaging networks. But in this case, the FBI took control of a communications company called Anom in its infancy and turned that into a wide-reaching honeypot, with the suspected criminal users instead coming to them.
"The FBI opened a new covert investigation, Operation Trojan Shield, which centered on exploiting Anom by inserting it into criminal networks and working with international partners
Arrests are “expected for years”.
Let us just hope this reduces some of the demands to kill encryption!
FBI “push[es] the envelope” to fight encryption
The FBI has complained about encryption in consumer products for years, with one FBI official in 2018 reportedly calling Apple "jerks." Today's announcement demonstrates again that law enforcement has the ability to target criminals' use of encrypted communications without making mass-market devices less secure.
"Encrypted criminal communications platforms have traditionally been a tool to evade law enforcement and facilitate transnational organized crime," FBI Criminal Investigative Division Assistant Director Calvin Shivers said in the Europol announcement. "The FBI and our international partners continue to push the envelope and develop innovative ways to overcome these challenges and bring criminals to justice."