The FBI did not break the encryption to acquire the master keys. The case puts on the table how important it is to have free and open software.
The FBI infiltrated through more than 11,800 encrypted phones among 300 alleged criminal organizations in a massive operation of more than two years against criminal activities in which cases of high-level public corruption were also found in many countries around the world.
The FBI operation, called Trojan Shield, was revealed on June 7, 2021, but began in 2018. It consisted of distributing the Anom device, a mobile device that encrypts communications and supposedly offers private digital interactions, among different criminal groups. But the truth is that the FBI had access to all the conversations made over the phones.
The document highlights that to make an organic distribution; Anom Enterprise used ‘criminal influencers’, recognized and influential criminal figures to set a promotion campaign of its adoption.
What the users of these phones ignored was that the American and Australian agents possessed a master key. Thus, they decrypted more than 20 million messages sent from these devices. With this evidence, they gained complete access to information about fugitives from the law of Turkey, Australia, Colombia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Spain, the United States of America, and Thailand.
The Contribution of an Anom Developer
The whole plan came to good fruition thanks to the collaboration of the Anom developer himself. San Diego FBI agents negotiated the conviction of the person named in the document as a confidential human source (CHS), who had distributed other encrypted devices such as Sky Global and Phantom Secure to various criminals before.
The source brought the US agency its encrypted device as an Anom source. At their discretion, the FBI and AFP agencies merged a master key into the telephone system to decrypt each message sent.
The CHS faced several charges, and his role in this operation could lead to his conviction. He is also known by drug traffickers and other criminals, his active role in the initial distribution of the devices was key to achieve the goals of the operation.
This event gave the device enough legitimacy, even more so after other private messaging services like Phantom were shut down in the past. After this situation, the adoption of Anom happened organically.
The FBI stated that one of the main goals of the operation was to weaken confidence in the private communications industry, while the FBI is willing to set up its infiltration.
This kind of infiltration can only happen when the code behind the devices is closed source and can show some back doors. In free and open-source devices, the chances to get the system manipulated are few. This happens because there wouldn’t be developers who review the code to notice the manipulation.
Recently, a rumor about the FBI having “hacked bitcoin” spread like a plague. The rumor stated that this “hack”’s intention was to recover stolen funds through ransomware, which is false. This possibility gained strength because federal agents reported having the private keys through a third party, but did not specify how.
By: Jenson Nuñez
