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Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever
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, shows how cunning both the authorities and drug traffickers have become, with privacy implications for everyone. 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?
A painstakingly investigated exposé, Dark Wire reveals the true scale and stakes of this unprecedented operation through the agents and crooks who were there. This fly-on-the-wall thriller is a caper for our modern world, where no one can be sure who is listening in.
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?
A painstakingly investigated exposé, Dark Wire reveals the true scale and stakes of this unprecedented operation through the agents and crooks who were there. This fly-on-the-wall thriller is a caper for our modern world, where no one can be sure who is listening in.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published June 4, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
May 27, 2024
What An Unbelievable True Story
This book is one of the few books I have read that lived up to the hype on the cover page. While I usually read police procedurals, this book covers actual crime and law enforcement agencies worldwide who work to break up drug smuggling and money laundering activities by attacking their critical infrastructure, i.e., their secure communications.
The first chapter provides the story of an ex-USC football player, Owen Hanson. As he got into performance-enhancing drugs at USC in around 2004, he started to deal with them as well, with a list of clients that included professional athletes. Before long, Hanson moved on to selling recreational narcotics like cocaine and ecstasy. After the 2008 financial crisis, he was at the helm of his illegal gambling enterprise. This case was chosen because it introduces the use of an encrypted phone service to shield criminal activities from the authorities. The phones were modified Blackberries, with the camera, microphone, and GPS were removed. These phones only had texting available.
Subsequent chapters provide the details of numerous encrypted phone networks worldwide and their expansion of use globally. The measure of the effectiveness of encrypted phone use increases the probability of even larger shipments of illegal drugs. These aspects of the novel were eye-opening for me. I’ve seen news about how drug traffic was increasing but not how encrypted phone use facilitated this growth.
Then, the unbelievable occurs. A person fundamental to developing a successful encryption phone wanted to do something different. Before, all phones were based on modifying commercially available cell phones. He designed one from the ground up, providing text, voice, and camera capabilities. To help, he asked the FBI for funding in exchange for allowing the FBI to provide a module that would send all transmissions to the FBI. The question is, can the FBI spend money on developing an encryption phone for criminals? What the FBI could and couldn’t do and why were interesting. What foreign law enforcement agencies could join with the FBI at the start and when the sting progressed were also interesting.
The rest of the book was quite detailed on the operations of the drug dealers and smugglers as it was based on their texts, conversations, and videos. See how law enforcement affects criminal operations and how they adapt. I found it fascinating how steadfast the criminals were to these new encryption phones. This part of the book was the most interesting for me.
The remaining chapters provided the events of the international sting on which the critical infrastructure the drug dealers and smugglers relied was turned against them. These are the chapters that I enjoyed reading the most. If you want to read about a very successful international sting and insight into how drug dealers and smugglers work, this is a book to read. I recommend reading this book. I rate it with five stars.
The last chapter covers the announcement by the FBI and the mass arrests that followed. The authors report that two significant criminals were not arrested. The events in this book end around September 2023. I used the Internet to discover if their status had changed. I found that both were arrested in October 2003. I could not find any extradition or prosecution against them.
I received this novel's free prepublication e-book version through NetGalley from Public Affairs. My review is based solely on my own reading experience of this book. Thank you, Public Affairs, for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.
This book is one of the few books I have read that lived up to the hype on the cover page. While I usually read police procedurals, this book covers actual crime and law enforcement agencies worldwide who work to break up drug smuggling and money laundering activities by attacking their critical infrastructure, i.e., their secure communications.
The first chapter provides the story of an ex-USC football player, Owen Hanson. As he got into performance-enhancing drugs at USC in around 2004, he started to deal with them as well, with a list of clients that included professional athletes. Before long, Hanson moved on to selling recreational narcotics like cocaine and ecstasy. After the 2008 financial crisis, he was at the helm of his illegal gambling enterprise. This case was chosen because it introduces the use of an encrypted phone service to shield criminal activities from the authorities. The phones were modified Blackberries, with the camera, microphone, and GPS were removed. These phones only had texting available.
Subsequent chapters provide the details of numerous encrypted phone networks worldwide and their expansion of use globally. The measure of the effectiveness of encrypted phone use increases the probability of even larger shipments of illegal drugs. These aspects of the novel were eye-opening for me. I’ve seen news about how drug traffic was increasing but not how encrypted phone use facilitated this growth.
Then, the unbelievable occurs. A person fundamental to developing a successful encryption phone wanted to do something different. Before, all phones were based on modifying commercially available cell phones. He designed one from the ground up, providing text, voice, and camera capabilities. To help, he asked the FBI for funding in exchange for allowing the FBI to provide a module that would send all transmissions to the FBI. The question is, can the FBI spend money on developing an encryption phone for criminals? What the FBI could and couldn’t do and why were interesting. What foreign law enforcement agencies could join with the FBI at the start and when the sting progressed were also interesting.
The rest of the book was quite detailed on the operations of the drug dealers and smugglers as it was based on their texts, conversations, and videos. See how law enforcement affects criminal operations and how they adapt. I found it fascinating how steadfast the criminals were to these new encryption phones. This part of the book was the most interesting for me.
The remaining chapters provided the events of the international sting on which the critical infrastructure the drug dealers and smugglers relied was turned against them. These are the chapters that I enjoyed reading the most. If you want to read about a very successful international sting and insight into how drug dealers and smugglers work, this is a book to read. I recommend reading this book. I rate it with five stars.
The last chapter covers the announcement by the FBI and the mass arrests that followed. The authors report that two significant criminals were not arrested. The events in this book end around September 2023. I used the Internet to discover if their status had changed. I found that both were arrested in October 2003. I could not find any extradition or prosecution against them.
I received this novel's free prepublication e-book version through NetGalley from Public Affairs. My review is based solely on my own reading experience of this book. Thank you, Public Affairs, for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.
June 21, 2024
A book that starts off great, until you read the same sentence variation 50 times per chapter.
At the 1000th "but the criminals didn't know: the FBI was watching them all along!" , you would want to give up, but you've already gone too far. Thankfully, the final "critical" chapter is interesting to put your reading into perspective.
While i very well welcome the initiative and praise the investigative work behind it, I don't understand why most of the book is the way it is. It's 05% descriptive until the last chapter. At some point, you just wonder when it would end. There is just not enough details about what matters - consequences of international cooperation, the world-wide public opinion about privacy at the time these events occured. And by the time the author gets to them, you have either given up by lack of interest, or you've reached the end of the book.
A very interesting investigation of a story, but in the wrong format for me. The author shared a lot of the important bits on his Twitter, and does great job with his website - I'd rather advice anyone to spend their time on those than the book itself.
At the 1000th "but the criminals didn't know: the FBI was watching them all along!" , you would want to give up, but you've already gone too far. Thankfully, the final "critical" chapter is interesting to put your reading into perspective.
While i very well welcome the initiative and praise the investigative work behind it, I don't understand why most of the book is the way it is. It's 05% descriptive until the last chapter. At some point, you just wonder when it would end. There is just not enough details about what matters - consequences of international cooperation, the world-wide public opinion about privacy at the time these events occured. And by the time the author gets to them, you have either given up by lack of interest, or you've reached the end of the book.
A very interesting investigation of a story, but in the wrong format for me. The author shared a lot of the important bits on his Twitter, and does great job with his website - I'd rather advice anyone to spend their time on those than the book itself.
August 14, 2024
I wanted to read this book following hearing an interview with the author on the radio. The process of listening to the interview was more stimulating than reading the book, unfortunately. As a criminal justice person, I’d gladly assign this as a required read for a course- but if you are looking for a true crime-related pleasure read, you will be disappointed.
This is akin to going through piles of police reports…
That being said, I also think this would make an amazing visual timeline presentation in a museum like the National Crime Museum in DC! The way that the FBI infiltrated a "legit business" working for an illegitimate audience is interesting and important- particularly when we are thinking about things like entrapment, warrant, search for seizure, in a legal sense.
The re-named criminal protagonist who carries Anon as a company, referred to here as Microsoft, is also a tragic criminal tale of how one's own networks can turn against you (even and especially as the marked leader). It was amazing to me that none of the criminal groups suspected a breach in the Anon phone company, before they did their own groups...when the phones were the one thing all the raids had in common.
If you don't mind digging through some dense, police report-ish writing, you can find a very interesting thread tracing how one company worked with the FBI in an attempted "organic growth model" that was supposed to stop...at some point!
Meh.
This is akin to going through piles of police reports…
That being said, I also think this would make an amazing visual timeline presentation in a museum like the National Crime Museum in DC! The way that the FBI infiltrated a "legit business" working for an illegitimate audience is interesting and important- particularly when we are thinking about things like entrapment, warrant, search for seizure, in a legal sense.
The re-named criminal protagonist who carries Anon as a company, referred to here as Microsoft, is also a tragic criminal tale of how one's own networks can turn against you (even and especially as the marked leader). It was amazing to me that none of the criminal groups suspected a breach in the Anon phone company, before they did their own groups...when the phones were the one thing all the raids had in common.
If you don't mind digging through some dense, police report-ish writing, you can find a very interesting thread tracing how one company worked with the FBI in an attempted "organic growth model" that was supposed to stop...at some point!
Meh.
August 15, 2024
Fascinating story, could have been a great thriller but written like a dry diary.
July 14, 2024
I first heard about this book thanks to an article on Ars Technica. What I found strange was it was the time I heard anything about this. Given the timing (2020-21) of the bulk of the story though, it's not too much of a surprise. I had other things on my mind back then.
I've read a lot of computer history and cybercrime books. I find the topic fascinating. This book is really more about more traditional crime (drugs, guns, money laundering) with a technical aspect (encrypted phones). From a technical perspective I didn't enjoy this as much as other books, but it's still a fascinating story.
It poses a lot of issues as technology and specifically encryption techniques continue to evolve how do you balance our right to privacy against the needs to prevent crimes? I don't have any answers and this book doesn't attempt to answer that question. What it does it instead is to tell a fascinating story that seems like it's right out of a movie.
I think this could turn into a great documentary or possible a movie, but it's probably not flashy enough for the latter. Staring at computer screens reading messages is not exactly big screen cinema. Overall though I found this a great read.
I've read a lot of computer history and cybercrime books. I find the topic fascinating. This book is really more about more traditional crime (drugs, guns, money laundering) with a technical aspect (encrypted phones). From a technical perspective I didn't enjoy this as much as other books, but it's still a fascinating story.
It poses a lot of issues as technology and specifically encryption techniques continue to evolve how do you balance our right to privacy against the needs to prevent crimes? I don't have any answers and this book doesn't attempt to answer that question. What it does it instead is to tell a fascinating story that seems like it's right out of a movie.
I think this could turn into a great documentary or possible a movie, but it's probably not flashy enough for the latter. Staring at computer screens reading messages is not exactly big screen cinema. Overall though I found this a great read.
June 25, 2024
Interesting story, blandly told.
June 13, 2024
I gave it three stars on net galley. The story felt important, certainly entertaining. You've got the FBI acting in concert with other nations around the world to catch violent criminals. There's a deus ex machina. It's a true life techno thriller. Unfortunately, the writing lacks the thriller part. This thing reads like a math textbook. I felt nothing. If an author writes about a storm I expect to taste it, I need to smell it and certainly see it. Ominous; thunder cracks send sharp signals up the spine. Lightning flashing in the distance reveals grim rain. Shadows swirling in the dimly lit streets. Gotterdamerung upon us.
Joseph Cox got his hands on a story equivalent to a crossfire hurricane and proceeds to give temperature and wind speed in hourly intervals.
Joseph Cox got his hands on a story equivalent to a crossfire hurricane and proceeds to give temperature and wind speed in hourly intervals.
August 28, 2024
An amazing story about a group of FBI agents who create a startup business selling "secure phones" to criminals who use them to communicate securely with others. Only, the FBI can read all the messages, in conjunction with agents in countries around the world. Very well told, with some disturbing implications, and of course, though they bust a huge number of criminals, it's really on a dent in the market.
July 20, 2024
I was really excited for this book and I was just left disappointed. The book is structured more as a series of vignettes into specific events (crimes) and characters which are then tied together through signposting and narrative building from the author.
While I suspect this is highly representative of how the author through his primary sources was able to generate an understanding of this operation, I didn't read this book for a series of small stories of drug drops and meth labs. Admittedly, this book does frame itself as a true crime thriller and not a Harvard MBA business case, but I can't help but feel the latter would've been a much more worthwhile endeavor. The words spent on detailing random different industrial or agricultural goods that drugs were hid within becomes uninteresting after the 3rd time. If I wanted to learn about a meth lab I'd go watch Breaking Bad. It's a disservice to the authors research to spend so much time on what are really insubstantial aspects of the story.
Maybe its the fact that consulting has fried my brain, but while reading the book I couldn't help but think to myself that I wanted to know more about the unique logistics, bureaucracy and operational aspects. Give me some org charts, shipment data and markets share charts lol. I think the way the author changed his language and tone in the name of being a 'true crime thriller' meant that the substantive and unique parts of the story became harder to discern. For example, throughout the middle half of the book, while Anom is increasing market penetration through various means (new geographies, forced removal of competitors) we see several short stories of individual phone deals- and each one is describes with bombastic language as to its scale and volume. Anom is made to seem like a clear #2 in scale and prestige in many of these cases. What you don't realize until the end of the book, when the author throws out real numbers is that we are taking counts of phones in the hundreds, and by the end thousands, not tens or hundreds of thousands. But all that very important context of scale is lost. I am not saying the author needs to give me a loop of market sizing and competitive landscape PPT slides, but really not providing some clarity in the narrative to these sorts of things clouds the story and makes it unclear.
There were a few areas I really wish the book delved into further were. First, I wish the book provided a much more detailed discussion of the legal and ethical questions surrounding the program, and the legal loopholes and arrangements to navigate around them. While it attempts this in fits and starts, it is clear the author was out of depth here, and I wish they had dedicated more time and possibly cowrote with experts on these topics. Second, I thought the time spent at the beginning talking about the outshore software development labor was interesting. Possibly expanding further on the types of individuals who were actually working at the company Anom across the organization. Third, the individual who lead Anom and who was the only one involved in the relationship with the FBI, was somehow completely absent from the narrative. I felt like that was a very clear blindspot. Finally, I wish the book provided longer discussions of and painted a better picture of the encrypted phone industry as a whole. At the beginning of the book it does a good job of describing the nascent industry, but as Anom grew and the tech matured, the book did not pull the reader along in its understanding. Details like which communications were apps vs. physical devices, which were primarily criminal user bases vs. which were not, how did these companies manage their supply of physical devices (build their own or modifying existing brands devices).
On net, the operation itself carries the book to be relatively engaging. However when I finished, the only feeling I was left with was a longing for more substantive content and less true crime kitschyness.
While I suspect this is highly representative of how the author through his primary sources was able to generate an understanding of this operation, I didn't read this book for a series of small stories of drug drops and meth labs. Admittedly, this book does frame itself as a true crime thriller and not a Harvard MBA business case, but I can't help but feel the latter would've been a much more worthwhile endeavor. The words spent on detailing random different industrial or agricultural goods that drugs were hid within becomes uninteresting after the 3rd time. If I wanted to learn about a meth lab I'd go watch Breaking Bad. It's a disservice to the authors research to spend so much time on what are really insubstantial aspects of the story.
Maybe its the fact that consulting has fried my brain, but while reading the book I couldn't help but think to myself that I wanted to know more about the unique logistics, bureaucracy and operational aspects. Give me some org charts, shipment data and markets share charts lol. I think the way the author changed his language and tone in the name of being a 'true crime thriller' meant that the substantive and unique parts of the story became harder to discern. For example, throughout the middle half of the book, while Anom is increasing market penetration through various means (new geographies, forced removal of competitors) we see several short stories of individual phone deals- and each one is describes with bombastic language as to its scale and volume. Anom is made to seem like a clear #2 in scale and prestige in many of these cases. What you don't realize until the end of the book, when the author throws out real numbers is that we are taking counts of phones in the hundreds, and by the end thousands, not tens or hundreds of thousands. But all that very important context of scale is lost. I am not saying the author needs to give me a loop of market sizing and competitive landscape PPT slides, but really not providing some clarity in the narrative to these sorts of things clouds the story and makes it unclear.
There were a few areas I really wish the book delved into further were. First, I wish the book provided a much more detailed discussion of the legal and ethical questions surrounding the program, and the legal loopholes and arrangements to navigate around them. While it attempts this in fits and starts, it is clear the author was out of depth here, and I wish they had dedicated more time and possibly cowrote with experts on these topics. Second, I thought the time spent at the beginning talking about the outshore software development labor was interesting. Possibly expanding further on the types of individuals who were actually working at the company Anom across the organization. Third, the individual who lead Anom and who was the only one involved in the relationship with the FBI, was somehow completely absent from the narrative. I felt like that was a very clear blindspot. Finally, I wish the book provided longer discussions of and painted a better picture of the encrypted phone industry as a whole. At the beginning of the book it does a good job of describing the nascent industry, but as Anom grew and the tech matured, the book did not pull the reader along in its understanding. Details like which communications were apps vs. physical devices, which were primarily criminal user bases vs. which were not, how did these companies manage their supply of physical devices (build their own or modifying existing brands devices).
On net, the operation itself carries the book to be relatively engaging. However when I finished, the only feeling I was left with was a longing for more substantive content and less true crime kitschyness.
July 1, 2024
I agree with this review. It's a fun and interesting story, but I didn't need the author telling me at the beginning of every chapter that "little did the criminals know, the FBI could actually read what they were sending each other!" I got it, it's pretty crazy that they pulled this off. That's the whole premise of the book and the reason I picked it up.
I also agree with the linked review that the book doesn't spend nearly enough time diving into the implications of the operation:
- The wiretap was mostly used to track down kind of upper-mid-level drug traffickers. Their general goal appeared to be to "find as many people as possible committing crimes, arrest them, and convict them." Did they use Anom to its fullest capability to do this? Would the world have been better off if they'd focused less on the money or the drugs and more on preventing murders?
- What does this tell us about the overall drug enforcement strategy? If you ask the head of the DEA or something what their goals are beyond arresting people - what do they say? And what would their plan be to achieve that?
- As the epilogue mentions, it's not clear to me why criminals didn't just use Signal or WhatsApp or Telegram (with a burner phone, maybe, so their phone numbers couldn't be traced to them). Once they do that, as an interview subject points out, either the police stop pursuing these criminals, or they hack into mainstream chat applications, or they somehow force those apps to put in secret bypasses. All bad outcomes.
- Obviously, there's a moral minefield in undermining encryption and lying to people about it. Although it's great that they were able to have such high precision in targeting criminals as users of Anom, it still seems a bit borderline for what I'd like the government to be able to do to pursue them.
The most unexpected part was learning about the modern structure of drug trafficking and organized crime. Presumably because of years of adaptation to avoiding law enforcement, most organized crime is extremely decentralized. Some characters base their criminal behavior on what they see on TV, because they don't have other sources to learn from. Always interesting to learn about how this stuff works.
I also agree with the linked review that the book doesn't spend nearly enough time diving into the implications of the operation:
- The wiretap was mostly used to track down kind of upper-mid-level drug traffickers. Their general goal appeared to be to "find as many people as possible committing crimes, arrest them, and convict them." Did they use Anom to its fullest capability to do this? Would the world have been better off if they'd focused less on the money or the drugs and more on preventing murders?
- What does this tell us about the overall drug enforcement strategy? If you ask the head of the DEA or something what their goals are beyond arresting people - what do they say? And what would their plan be to achieve that?
- As the epilogue mentions, it's not clear to me why criminals didn't just use Signal or WhatsApp or Telegram (with a burner phone, maybe, so their phone numbers couldn't be traced to them). Once they do that, as an interview subject points out, either the police stop pursuing these criminals, or they hack into mainstream chat applications, or they somehow force those apps to put in secret bypasses. All bad outcomes.
- Obviously, there's a moral minefield in undermining encryption and lying to people about it. Although it's great that they were able to have such high precision in targeting criminals as users of Anom, it still seems a bit borderline for what I'd like the government to be able to do to pursue them.
The most unexpected part was learning about the modern structure of drug trafficking and organized crime. Presumably because of years of adaptation to avoiding law enforcement, most organized crime is extremely decentralized. Some characters base their criminal behavior on what they see on TV, because they don't have other sources to learn from. Always interesting to learn about how this stuff works.
July 27, 2024
A fascinating look into one of the biggest surveillance operations ever. The book does a good job of showing the side of the law enforcement and the side of the criminals.
Besides an interesting story, it is also a good comment on the “war on drugs” and the extent of surveillance that is possible in today’s world. Definitely worth reading for an “insider” perspective on these topics.
Besides an interesting story, it is also a good comment on the “war on drugs” and the extent of surveillance that is possible in today’s world. Definitely worth reading for an “insider” perspective on these topics.
June 26, 2024
I can't imagine it's too surprising for someone who is both a computers professional and enthusiast, as well as an enjoyer of crime stories, but true crime books about computers always fascinate me.
August 19, 2024
Book club book #2.
Lagged in the middle but epic finale.
Lagged in the middle but epic finale.
August 23, 2024
Proud recipient of the CBE, the most excellent Order of the British Empire, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, no relation to Bernard, rose to fame taking on the Police. As frontman, song writer, and the guy on bass, he had ditched the jawbreaker name and just went by the mononym Sting. Whether or not there were trademark issues with the 1973 hit film THE STING shall remain a mystery, and the numerous Grammy awards and hundred million plus records sold with THE POLICE and solo is testament to a choice well made. Owning jurisdiction over more than two hundred categories of federal crimes and apprehending their violators, the FBI is the United States's premier 'police force', also dabbling in cyber matters and organized crime. DARK WIRE presents the story of the biggest sting operation ever run by the fibbies, ushering in a modern way of fighting crime and new, tech savvy criminals.
Estimating the 'crime business' in the EU upwards of $122 billion per year, EuroPol were in dire straights when more and more European countries transitioned into a meth hubs and the rest of the world turned to "narcoterrorism", trying to destabilize society and fasten its hold on it. Evidenced by the increase in assassinations, shootings, bombings, arsons, kidnappings, torture, and intimidation, Euro-criminals (and elsewhere) decided it was time to go Mexican (cartel) style. Casting aside civility, it's amazing that it took the world almost 40 years to emulate the 1980s Miami Cocaine Cowboy days as fictionalized in MIAMI VICE and SCARFACE. While the drug trade prospered as ever and the world drowned in cocaine and other recreational substances, the FBI and other LE were still rubes regarding how encryption and secure phones fit into narco-trafficking. Not necessarily a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, modern phones and tech also enable traffickers to work remotely, making the biz more global than ever. Now they've got drugs, guns, and cryptography.
Ever stalwart, the FBI would not be stymied, prompting the approximate thirty five thousand employees, especially those in the San Diego area to think outside the box. After running a handful of secure phone providers like Phantom Secure, Encrochat, and Sky out of business via criminal investigations, being too good at what they do started to hurt the Feds and their means to monitor international crime and the syndicates doing their thing. As foreign police forces hack first and ask Christian Slater, the US Federales decided to forego all questions dealing with privacy, proportionality, technology and legality and whether LE should hoover up intercepted info, and created the 'Start Up' company from hell; from the criminal POV, of course. Anom was the name and AVON type sales was the game--the company ran so well, with criminals unwittingly being marketers, frontmen and sales staff all rolled into one, the company ran better than some industry companies, making the Justice Department-run company a top player in the overall market. Instead of embracing success, it was stamped out, the American part of the op shut down; standing in the way of rough justice, U.S. bureaucracy.
A complex Venn Diagram where 2023's BLACKBERRY and SCARFACE intersect, DARK WIRE adds drug traffickers, weapon smugglers, soccer stars, elite forces soldiers and money launderers with a fun shoutout to Stephen King's IT. Salting the narrative with daft terms like hockey stick growth and law enforcement honey pots, DARK WIRE insists that crooks are still entitled to legal representation, BITCOIN is very much trackable, borders mean nothing to criminals, Dubai is no longer a GANGSTA's PARADISE, and corruption is more than just a business in Russia, it's an institution. Nonetheless, DARK WIRE is a Harvard Business case at best. Every chapter is the same thing over and over and over. Surely, it's going somewhere, eventually, but it's not worthy of a 350 page book. Coming away with solid lessons on the history of encryption, Edward Snowden's reveal, Hawala (ancient Chinese & ME bankless money vouch system), and a meth tutorial more detailed than BREAKING BAD, DARK WIRE should prod readers to question why Blackberry doesn't face the same charges as everyone else, and how long before this kind of lazy law enforcement trickles down to U.S. cop shops, using more phone data to invade privacy and what would keep them from turning everything into MINORITY REPORT? DARK WIRE is excellent in showing just how far law enforcement agencies are prepared to go to apprehend criminals, no matter who gets in the way, as the threshold of hacking users has been crossed and worldwide scale is now a reality. An interesting lesson on tech and the Internet of things encroaching on rights and the normal life, DARK WIRE is a must-read that highly recommends to change the default password on a phone or the factory combo on a safe--Complacency kills.
June 10, 2024
Wild story about how the FBI ran an encrypted phone service called Anom used by a bunch of criminals in the drug trade! The story itself is so wild that a lot of the book talking about some of the nuts and bolts didn't quite live up to the hype for me.
Odds and ends:
- Anom was not the first company to make ultra-secure phones - an earlier one was Phantom Secure. Their model was interesting - they would only sell phones to people if they were referred to by existing customers, which meant that almost everyone using them were criminals. (pg 14)
- In March 2014 a news report in Australia claimed that Phantom Secure phones were linked to some underworld killings, and that the police couldn't get into the phone to read their messages. Obviously this made Phantom Secure much more popular! (pg 45)
- Phantom Secure's CEO was arrested in 2018 and convicted of racketeering conspiracy for knowingly providing criminals with the phones. Phantom Secure's sellers were looking for what to do next (and trying to avoid the FBI), but one of them who was technically-minded wanted to start his own encrypted phone company. And in exchange for a possibility of a reduced sentence, he reached out to the FBI and offered, from the very beginning, to let the FBI run it! (pg 84)
- There are several discussions about the age-old problem that intelligence services have when they've broken a high-value method of encryption; they want to use the knowledge they have to stop bad things from happening, but doing this too often will make it clear to the enemy that their encryption is broken and they'll switch to something else. (see the Coventry Blitz from World War 2, although apparently it wasn't very clear that Coventry was even the target!) (pg 120, 172)
- Anom phones claimed to have the GPS removed for security reasons. (some other encrypted phones also removed the camera and microphone, but Anom didn't do this) Instead the phone attached the GPS coordinates of the phone to every message that was forwarded to the FBI! (pg 126)
- The pandemic affected criminals, too - apparently more money laundering was done with dead drops (which don't require face-to-face contact) than before! (pg 137)
- A separate encrypted phone company called Encrochat had some of its servers in France, and the French police discovered this and managed to hijack the update process to backdoor all of their phones! After a few months the company figured out that the phones had been hacked and pushed an update to fix some issues and gather more information, but the police re-hacked the phones with a new update shortly thereafter. At that point Encrochat threw in the towel, told all their customers the phones weren't safe to use, and shut the company down. (pg 149)
- One of the big gangsters that the book follows (known, confusingly, as "Microsoft") realized at some point that something was up because a bunch of his operations were getting disrupted. But he thought it was yet another encrypted phone company they used (Sky), and so he forbid people he worked with from using that. Which meant more people using Anom! (pg 209)
- The knowledge that Anom was compromised was kept pretty close to the vest. In one case a Swedish police officer was ready to raid a warehouse and phoned another officer to ask if their source of the intelligence would be in danger. The "source" was actually Anom, so the other officer said they'd call back in ten minutes, twiddled their thumbs, then called back saying it was OK to go ahead! (pg 266)
- After the operation was done (and the FBI announced the truth about Anom), estimates put the number of arrests from the Encrochat, Anom, and Sky intelligence (yes, the police compromised Sky too!) at more than ten thousand people. They also led to the seizure of two hundred tons(!) of drugs and more than 760 million dollars! (pg 309) The police learned a lot about how drug smuggling operations work. And yet, it probably made only a small dent in the overall drug trade. (pg 311)
Odds and ends:
- Anom was not the first company to make ultra-secure phones - an earlier one was Phantom Secure. Their model was interesting - they would only sell phones to people if they were referred to by existing customers, which meant that almost everyone using them were criminals. (pg 14)
- In March 2014 a news report in Australia claimed that Phantom Secure phones were linked to some underworld killings, and that the police couldn't get into the phone to read their messages. Obviously this made Phantom Secure much more popular! (pg 45)
- Phantom Secure's CEO was arrested in 2018 and convicted of racketeering conspiracy for knowingly providing criminals with the phones. Phantom Secure's sellers were looking for what to do next (and trying to avoid the FBI), but one of them who was technically-minded wanted to start his own encrypted phone company. And in exchange for a possibility of a reduced sentence, he reached out to the FBI and offered, from the very beginning, to let the FBI run it! (pg 84)
- There are several discussions about the age-old problem that intelligence services have when they've broken a high-value method of encryption; they want to use the knowledge they have to stop bad things from happening, but doing this too often will make it clear to the enemy that their encryption is broken and they'll switch to something else. (see the Coventry Blitz from World War 2, although apparently it wasn't very clear that Coventry was even the target!) (pg 120, 172)
- Anom phones claimed to have the GPS removed for security reasons. (some other encrypted phones also removed the camera and microphone, but Anom didn't do this) Instead the phone attached the GPS coordinates of the phone to every message that was forwarded to the FBI! (pg 126)
- The pandemic affected criminals, too - apparently more money laundering was done with dead drops (which don't require face-to-face contact) than before! (pg 137)
- A separate encrypted phone company called Encrochat had some of its servers in France, and the French police discovered this and managed to hijack the update process to backdoor all of their phones! After a few months the company figured out that the phones had been hacked and pushed an update to fix some issues and gather more information, but the police re-hacked the phones with a new update shortly thereafter. At that point Encrochat threw in the towel, told all their customers the phones weren't safe to use, and shut the company down. (pg 149)
- One of the big gangsters that the book follows (known, confusingly, as "Microsoft") realized at some point that something was up because a bunch of his operations were getting disrupted. But he thought it was yet another encrypted phone company they used (Sky), and so he forbid people he worked with from using that. Which meant more people using Anom! (pg 209)
- The knowledge that Anom was compromised was kept pretty close to the vest. In one case a Swedish police officer was ready to raid a warehouse and phoned another officer to ask if their source of the intelligence would be in danger. The "source" was actually Anom, so the other officer said they'd call back in ten minutes, twiddled their thumbs, then called back saying it was OK to go ahead! (pg 266)
- After the operation was done (and the FBI announced the truth about Anom), estimates put the number of arrests from the Encrochat, Anom, and Sky intelligence (yes, the police compromised Sky too!) at more than ten thousand people. They also led to the seizure of two hundred tons(!) of drugs and more than 760 million dollars! (pg 309) The police learned a lot about how drug smuggling operations work. And yet, it probably made only a small dent in the overall drug trade. (pg 311)
June 16, 2024
In the late 2010s early 2020s, the FBI created an encrypted phone service that became very popular with drug dealers, money launderers and other nefarious types. Of course, the FBI left a backdoor where they could monitor all of the communications and find evidence of crimes in countries other than the US. In 2021, in coordination with law enforcement agencies, the FBI orchestrated the takedown of thousands of criminals at once. Mr. Cox has written a very engaging account of the program from its genesis in frustration at criminals use of encrypted phones beyond the reach of law enforcement to the culminating raids around the world. Mr. Cox's account is like an organized crime novel, only it is about true events. The account is very easy to read and entertaining and focuses on the individuals involved (both law enforcement and criminals). At the end, Mr. Cox tries to raise the privacy concerns raised by such a program, but he does not go too into depth. I am ok with that. Mr. Cox has written a very fun read about how the program worked. Others can debate the policy implications. One annoying issue with this book - every couple of pages (or even more frequently), Mr. Cox reminds the reader that the criminals thought the service was very secure, but the FBI had access to all. We get it. We did not need several dozen reminders throughout the book.
August 9, 2024
In cyberspace FBI hears you scream.
A well-told story of how FBI together with Australian Police (and eventually several European police authorities) built and ran an encrypted phone service company, from 2018 to 2021.
Criminals need to communicate, and are often wary of using 'normal' communications means, as phone tapping is as old as phones. There were a bunch of 'secure' phone companies in the 2010's, that sold modified blackberries etc, with the camera and GPS removed, and routing messages through alternate servers. Some of these were hacked, and many organized crime syndicates moved to the 'Anom' service, which boasted a slick UI and several useful features, such as voice scrambling and image distortion as well as end-to-end encryption and easy data wiping. Little did the criminals know that all the messages (as well as un-scrambled voices and undistorted images) were saved to a server in Lithuania, ultimately controlled by the FBI.
The story broke in 2022, but this is the first book-length investigation of the whole build-up and eventual exposure of what has been called 'the greatest sting operation in history'. (I would save that moniker for CIA brazen takeover of Crypto AG, but why squabble about details.)
What is just as interesting is what is not in the book. Apparently FBI had no warrants for wiretapping in the US, so they supposedly assiduously cleaned out any domestic communications. (yeah, right...)
A well-told story of how FBI together with Australian Police (and eventually several European police authorities) built and ran an encrypted phone service company, from 2018 to 2021.
Criminals need to communicate, and are often wary of using 'normal' communications means, as phone tapping is as old as phones. There were a bunch of 'secure' phone companies in the 2010's, that sold modified blackberries etc, with the camera and GPS removed, and routing messages through alternate servers. Some of these were hacked, and many organized crime syndicates moved to the 'Anom' service, which boasted a slick UI and several useful features, such as voice scrambling and image distortion as well as end-to-end encryption and easy data wiping. Little did the criminals know that all the messages (as well as un-scrambled voices and undistorted images) were saved to a server in Lithuania, ultimately controlled by the FBI.
The story broke in 2022, but this is the first book-length investigation of the whole build-up and eventual exposure of what has been called 'the greatest sting operation in history'. (I would save that moniker for CIA brazen takeover of Crypto AG, but why squabble about details.)
What is just as interesting is what is not in the book. Apparently FBI had no warrants for wiretapping in the US, so they supposedly assiduously cleaned out any domestic communications. (yeah, right...)
June 13, 2024
I'm still to complete 30% of it, but it feels unnecessarily artificially elongated. Cox keeps on repeating things ("but unbeknownst to them, the FBI was reading every single word" and the like thrown in dozens of times. I mean come on respect the reader's intellect). I feel it could have been ¾th or less had these reputations been avoided.
Also after reading the parts about Dubai I started doubting Cox's research. For eg - "WhatsApp is banned/illegal in Dubai" is simply false. WhatsApp CALLS are banned, but not the messaging app itself. WhatsApp itself has never been illegal or banned. Only reason I could make out the factual inaccuracies about Dubai was because I am from here. So I wonder what other things Cox got wrong.
Good book, great content, but seriously could have done in a shorter version in my opinion. Unnecessarily stretched, just like this review lol. Blood And Oil by Bradley Hope and Justin Sheck was masterfully written, I was hoping for a similar feel but it isn't quite up to that level.
Edit - Wasta means one's influence/connections. It does not mean authority or power like Cox says lol. I hope his poor research was limited just to Dubai.
Edi2 - the audiobook narrator Peter Ganim's Spanish pronunciations are hilarious, but now I'm just nitpicking 😂
Also after reading the parts about Dubai I started doubting Cox's research. For eg - "WhatsApp is banned/illegal in Dubai" is simply false. WhatsApp CALLS are banned, but not the messaging app itself. WhatsApp itself has never been illegal or banned. Only reason I could make out the factual inaccuracies about Dubai was because I am from here. So I wonder what other things Cox got wrong.
Good book, great content, but seriously could have done in a shorter version in my opinion. Unnecessarily stretched, just like this review lol. Blood And Oil by Bradley Hope and Justin Sheck was masterfully written, I was hoping for a similar feel but it isn't quite up to that level.
Edit - Wasta means one's influence/connections. It does not mean authority or power like Cox says lol. I hope his poor research was limited just to Dubai.
Edi2 - the audiobook narrator Peter Ganim's Spanish pronunciations are hilarious, but now I'm just nitpicking 😂
June 9, 2024
An exceptional inside look at the biggest bandaid rip in the history of secure communications. What started as street level dealers ripping out the microphone and camera out of cellphones eventually spiraled out to a fully fledged massive industry with it's bosses, players, beefs and competition, to eventually the the law running the monopoly themselves, keeping their involvement under wraps and instilling fear into all the users once the rabbit was pulled out of the hat. This of course reads like a tale of many startups coming together and fading out but that's how Anom snowballed and was successful in the first place.
There aren't many people alive who could tell so many details about Anom, due to, well the circumstances where Anom is usually employed. The author has managed to speak to all sides involved and reveal a bunch of previously unknown feats from law enforcement.
I would've liked to read more about how Anom's staff (developers, managers, accountants, lawyers...) managed the day to day of the company while unknowingly doing the work of the FBI. Was one ever close to finding out?
There aren't many people alive who could tell so many details about Anom, due to, well the circumstances where Anom is usually employed. The author has managed to speak to all sides involved and reveal a bunch of previously unknown feats from law enforcement.
I would've liked to read more about how Anom's staff (developers, managers, accountants, lawyers...) managed the day to day of the company while unknowingly doing the work of the FBI. Was one ever close to finding out?
August 24, 2024
An astonishing story, researched and relayed by a reporter who's been on the beat for nearly a decade. Despite often veering into tacky, thriller-y prose, the story is well-assembled over all and really conveys the complexity of the ever-changing network of criminal and law enforcement activity that its story revolves around.
While the presentation of the story is solid and straightforward, it would be incomplete without the epilogue that re-centers the focal questions raised by the story. If the majority of the book is investigative journalism, the epilogue provides something like a brief critical reading guide that frames the issues truly at play in a story like this. The lengths of enablement that intelligence agencies go to in order to embed themselves in criminal machinations raise real questions about privacy, ethics, and efficacy.
The story the book tells is most compelling with these ideas in mind, but is a remarkable one regardless, and the corniest writing flourishes are ultimately fairly forgivable.
While the presentation of the story is solid and straightforward, it would be incomplete without the epilogue that re-centers the focal questions raised by the story. If the majority of the book is investigative journalism, the epilogue provides something like a brief critical reading guide that frames the issues truly at play in a story like this. The lengths of enablement that intelligence agencies go to in order to embed themselves in criminal machinations raise real questions about privacy, ethics, and efficacy.
The story the book tells is most compelling with these ideas in mind, but is a remarkable one regardless, and the corniest writing flourishes are ultimately fairly forgivable.
July 23, 2024
I remember reading the article when Operation Trojan Shield was announced here in Australia. Operation Trojan Shield was an international law enforcement operation where agencies, including the FBI and the Australian Federal Police, infiltrated a criminal communications network by secretly controlling a supposedly secure messaging app called ANOM, which ran on custom Android devices. This allowed them to monitor the activities of various criminal organisations.
I thought, "Gosh, I can't wait for this to be turned into a book and a TV series!" So when I saw The Economist recommend this book, I dropped everything and started reading. I could not put it down. What an amazing operation and stroke of luck with getting control of ANOM in the first place, what a scale—16 countries' forces involved—and most importantly, what an incredible piece of journalism. Now I'm waiting for the TV series!
I thought, "Gosh, I can't wait for this to be turned into a book and a TV series!" So when I saw The Economist recommend this book, I dropped everything and started reading. I could not put it down. What an amazing operation and stroke of luck with getting control of ANOM in the first place, what a scale—16 countries' forces involved—and most importantly, what an incredible piece of journalism. Now I'm waiting for the TV series!
August 25, 2024
What is proper balance of protecting privacy and eliminating criminal drug trafficing?
Dark Wire details the largest sting operation in history conducted by FBI. Lifes were saved, millions of kilos of illicit drugs were discovered and destroyed. Million of dollars were diverted from criminal enterprises. Ultimately the impact on the international drug trafficking activities of organized crimes was not much more than is decimal rounding error in the spreadsheet of criminals profits.
Although the impact and dedicated efforts of a small cadre of law enforcement is laudable, the question is always there as to what would end the plaque of drug use on society.
Where should the line be drawn to protect privacy rights of the general population and to enable law enforcement to control criminal activities? These are deep philosophical questions that deserve public debate and soul searching decisions.
Dark Wire details the largest sting operation in history conducted by FBI. Lifes were saved, millions of kilos of illicit drugs were discovered and destroyed. Million of dollars were diverted from criminal enterprises. Ultimately the impact on the international drug trafficking activities of organized crimes was not much more than is decimal rounding error in the spreadsheet of criminals profits.
Although the impact and dedicated efforts of a small cadre of law enforcement is laudable, the question is always there as to what would end the plaque of drug use on society.
Where should the line be drawn to protect privacy rights of the general population and to enable law enforcement to control criminal activities? These are deep philosophical questions that deserve public debate and soul searching decisions.
May 30, 2024
The cat and mouse game between law enforcement and criminals is eternal and it often leads to a really good tale. In this case the story verges on the incredible. The law is behind an encrypted phone service used by drug traffickers giving them access to vast amounts of information. The operation”s reach is world wide and Joseph Cox did a tremendous amount of research to lay out how it came about and was run. There are accounts of drug deals, money laundering, and planned assassinations. Cox includes both sides. The book flows easily through a good deal of detail. The final chapter sums up the operation’s accomplishments and how they fit in the greater scheme of cat and mouse.
I received a digital advanced copy of this book compliments of Public Affairs and NetGalley.
I received a digital advanced copy of this book compliments of Public Affairs and NetGalley.
June 17, 2024
As someone who both develops and uses secure computing platforms like privacy-focused cellphones, this was an amazing story -- information about multiple law enforcement agencies going after niche secure phone networks (Phantom Secure, based on BlackBerry) and the huge sting where law enforcement largely ran a honeytrap secure cellphone (Anom, based on a fork of Android).
This book describes the technical and especially user and law enforcement landscape around these devices and the sting operation which ensued. It raises many legal issues (especially in the US, which actually has meaningful free speech protections, unlike most of the other nations involved), and many of these are still unresolved.
This book describes the technical and especially user and law enforcement landscape around these devices and the sting operation which ensued. It raises many legal issues (especially in the US, which actually has meaningful free speech protections, unlike most of the other nations involved), and many of these are still unresolved.
August 7, 2024
I was hoping from the beginning that it was a bit more narrative non-fiction. It had a moment where it feel like it might be - instead so much of the book is just a lot of very well research details about the breakdown of this network of criminal cell services. Too much moving around with characters without coming back to a main story characters and stakes. Instead this moving around started to deflate the scale of the story. Still very interesting information I was happy to learn, but most of the book felt as if I was being informed by a very excited and well researched friend. If its of interest worth a read, but I don't I'd recommend like I might a David Grann or Michael Lewis researched story
June 17, 2024
Really interesting story with crazy details on the FBIs behind the scenes efforts, also dives really deep into how large drug syndicates operated in the 2010s.
The author poses an interesting question at the end that I was also thinking during the last 10% of the book: If this program lead to more drug seizures and mass arrests of high-level smugglers than any other effort in history, and yet the price, availability, and quality of street drugs was never impacted, are law enforcement efforts to combat the drug trade completely irrelevant? Do efforts to decrease the supply of drugs work at all?
The author poses an interesting question at the end that I was also thinking during the last 10% of the book: If this program lead to more drug seizures and mass arrests of high-level smugglers than any other effort in history, and yet the price, availability, and quality of street drugs was never impacted, are law enforcement efforts to combat the drug trade completely irrelevant? Do efforts to decrease the supply of drugs work at all?
July 5, 2024
**3,5 stars rounded up**
A fascinating story of an enormous law-enforcement operation that was well-researched by the author. This book would be better in my opinion if in the beginning we weren't just dropped in the middle of the story without much context or explanation. It was confusing, especially since I was listening to it as an audiobook. Also I wish author spent more time discussing the implications and wider consequences instead of listing up more and more busts that were very similar and didn't add anything new to the story or repeating "if only they knew FBI was behind this encrypted phone" every couple of pages.
A fascinating story of an enormous law-enforcement operation that was well-researched by the author. This book would be better in my opinion if in the beginning we weren't just dropped in the middle of the story without much context or explanation. It was confusing, especially since I was listening to it as an audiobook. Also I wish author spent more time discussing the implications and wider consequences instead of listing up more and more busts that were very similar and didn't add anything new to the story or repeating "if only they knew FBI was behind this encrypted phone" every couple of pages.
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August 5, 2024
I'm torn between 3 or 4 stars for this book. The premise is so outrageous that it sounds fictional, but it's all a true story. The work put into this book is undeniable and the information uncovered & methodically detailed is impressive. Telling the story of Anøm is a huge undertaking and one that has such potential to be an enthralling read, but ultimately Cox's writing style failed to deliver on that front. This book is still worth a read for a window into sting operations, what technological advances mean for criminals (and those who investigate them), as well as the benefits of international cooperation.
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