The agencies involved "carried out one of the largest and most sophisticated law enforcement operations to date in the fight against encrypted criminal activities," Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, deputy executive director of Europol,
said. The agency has acknowledged that "countless spin-off operations will be carried out in the weeks to come."
What is ANOM and how did law enforcement bypass encryption?
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The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) coordinated with the Australian Federal Police in 2019 to develop an encrypted messaging service called ANOM. Nobody knew that the ANOM was planted by law enforcement authorities and was supposed to look like any other ordinary service popular among criminals. The network developer became an informant and used their contacts to spread the word on the street.