Police infiltrate ‘Ghost’ encryption app used by drug lords and mafia – DNyuz

BRUSSELS — In the battle between law enforcement and encrypted messaging apps, agents won one battle on Wednesday.

Law enforcement agencies around the world have revealed that they have infiltrated an encrypted chat platform called Ghost, gaining access to large amounts of private communications from criminal networks. So far, 51 suspects have been arrested.

Criminals involved in drug trafficking and money laundering coordinated activities on the platform on a daily basis, officials said at a news conference at the headquarters of the European Union’s law enforcement agency, Europol, in The Hague. The platform is known for its advanced security features, including layers of encryption and the fact that users can buy it without providing personal data.

Authorities in Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States worked with Europol and Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, to map the platform’s global infrastructure.

They found servers in France and Iceland and tracked down Ghost’s owners in Australia, where authorities arrested a 32-year-old administrator, The Associated Press reported.

“No matter how advanced the technology, no matter how secure they think their communications are, we will find them and stop their criminal activities,” said Catherine De Bolle, Director of Europol.

Officials say authorities have also arrested members of the Italian mafia, motorcycle gangs and organized crime groups. The arrests were made in Canada, Sweden, Ireland and Italy.

This is the latest high-profile raid on encrypted communications carried out by a team of international law enforcement agencies in recent years.

In 2020, France and the Netherlands led the investigation into EncroChat, a “cryptophone” company that sold encrypted communications services and devices used by criminal networks, many of which were involved in drug trafficking and organized crime.

Authorities have breached EncroChat to access “more than 100 million encrypted messages from criminals” and monitor the chats of “thousands of criminals” in real time, leading to more than 120 people being charged in Belgium with drug and arms trafficking, extortion, torture and attempted murder.

In March 2021, police in Belgium and the Netherlands raided more than 200 homes and arrested dozens of suspected criminals after cracking Sky ECC, an encrypted chat app with offices in Canada and the US that claims to offer the world’s most secure messaging platform.

And in June of that year, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that they had developed and operated an app called ANOM. It was taken over by criminal gangs looking for new ways to communicate securely. In two days, no fewer than 500 criminal networks were dismantled worldwide.

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