Cybersecurity News. PHOTO: Cybercrime Magazine.

Exposing ‘Anom” – Inside The FBI’s Secret Encrypted Phone Company

This week in cybersecurity from the editors at Cybercrime Magazine

Listen To the Podcast

Sausalito, Calif. – Dec. 19, 2024

Joseph Cox, author of the 2024 book “Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever“, came on the Cybercrime Magazine Podcast to share the inside story of the largest law-enforcement sting operation ever, in which the FBI made its own tech start-up to wiretap the world.

In 2018, a powerful app for secure communications called Anom took root among organized criminals. They believed Anom allowed them to conduct business in the shadows. Except for one thing: it was secretly run by the FBI.

Backdoor access to Anom and a series of related investigations granted American, Australian, and European authorities a front-row seat to the underworld. Tens of thousands of criminals worldwide appeared in full view of the same agents they were trying to evade. International smugglers. Money launderers. Hitmen. A sprawling global economy as efficient and interconnected as the legal one. Officers watched drug shipments and murder plots unfold, making arrests without blowing their cover.

But, as the FBI started to lose control of Anom, did the agency go too far? Cox tells Cybercrime Magazine Podcast host and Editor-at-Large David Braue the riveting story.

Listen to the Podcast episode



Cybercrime Magazine is Page ONE for Cybersecurity. Go to any of our sections to read the latest:

  • SCAM. The latest schemes, frauds, and social engineering attacks being launched on consumers globally.
  • NEWS. Breaking coverage on cyberattacks and data breaches, and the most recent privacy and security stories.
  • HACK. Another organization gets hacked every day. We tell you who, what, where, when, and why.
  • VC. Cybersecurity venture capital deal flow with the latest investment activity from various sources around the world.
  • M&A. Cybersecurity mergers and acquisitions including big tech, pure cyber, product vendors and professional services.
  • BLOG. What’s happening at Cybercrime Magazine. Plus the stories that don’t make headlines (but maybe they should).
  • PRESS. Cybersecurity industry news and press releases in real time from the editors at Business Wire.
  • PODCAST. New episodes daily on the Cybercrime Magazine Podcast feature victims, law enforcement, vendors, and cybersecurity experts.
  • RADIO. Tune into WCYB Digital Radio at Cybercrime.Radio, the first and only round-the-clock internet radio station devoted to cybersecurity.

Contact us to send story tips, feedback and suggestions, and for sponsorship opportunities and custom media productions.