A retrospective on the ANOM Phone/Trojan Shield sting.

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, a retrospective on the ANOM Phone/Trojan Shield sting.

ANOM: How the FBI Wiretapped the World

VICE News reports on the Anom phone honeypit sting operation: How the FBI Wiretapped the World. The article’s intro reads:

“For years criminal organizations around the world were buying a special phone called Anom. The pitch was that it was completely anonymous and secure, a way for criminals to do business without authorities watching over their shoulder.

It turned out that the whole thing was an elaborate honeypot and that the FBI and law enforcement agencies around the world were listening in. They’d help develop the phones themselves.”

Here is the description of the sting, from Wikipedia:

“The ANOM (also stylized as AN0M or ΛNØM) sting operation (known as Operation Trojan Shield or Operation Ironside) is a collaboration by law enforcement agencies from several countries, running between 2018 and 2021, that intercepted millions of messages sent through the supposedly secure smartphone-based messaging app ANOM. The ANOM service was widely used by criminals, but instead of providing secure communication, it was actually a trojan horse covertly distributed by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP), enabling them to monitor all communications. Through collaboration with other law enforcement agencies worldwide, the operation resulted in the arrest of over 800 suspects allegedly involved in criminal activity, in 16 countries. Among the arrested people were alleged members of Australian-based Italian mafia, Albanian organised crime, outlaw motorcycle clubs, drug syndicates and other organised crime groups.”

JWR’s Comments: We must assume that the ANOM/Trojan Shield sting was not unique and that there are several similar large, long-duration sting operations still in progress, particularly for encrypted messaging, teleconferencing, and VPN services. Remember: There is NO truly secure electronic communication!

Canada’s Phones, Banking Disrupted

As reported last Friday (July 8, 2022): Rogers network outage hits homes, banks, businesses across Canada.

Police Violent Over-Reaction to Dutch Farmers’ Protesters

Tim Pool: Dutch Police Fire On Farmer Protesters With Live Rounds As The Global Agenda Collapses.

The Rapid Spread of Monkeypox

Two updates on the Monkeypox outbreak in homosexual men. The spread seems similar to AIDS in that it is primarily spread by sodomy:

Monkeypox Has Mutated at an Unprecedented Rate with ‘Accelerated Evolution’.

and,

Monkeypox meter.

Kremlin: Russia Could Eventually Reclaim Alaska

As reported by Business Insider: Kremlin official suggests Russia could one day try to reclaim Alaska from the US.

Army Cuts Pay for 60,000 Unvaxed National Guard & Reserves

Reader C.B. sent this news: Army cuts pay, benefits from more than 60,000 unvaccinated National Guard, Reserves. C.B. says: “I suspect a lot of troops will be severing their service ties.”

Joe Biden Goes Full Ted Baxter

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Biden Gives Up Game, Reads Stage Directions Out Loud During Speech: ‘Repeat the Line’. JWR’s Comment: This reminds me of Ted Knight in the role of “Ted Baxter” in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, reading his prompts aloud. As memory serves, one of these that he read in a news broadcast, when he was handed a note: “An important news bulletin has just been handed to me…’Ted: There is something on your nose’.”