The Ghost platform attracted the attention of criminals due to its advanced security and anonymization features. It allowed its users to exchange messages confidentially using a triple layer of encryption. In addition, it offered an automatic message destruction system, erasing any evidence on both the sender and recipient sides.
Messaging is popular with criminals
The subscriptions, billed at $2,350 for six months, also included a modified smartphone and technical support services. Payment was made in cryptocurrency, reinforcing the anonymity of the transactions.
At its peak, the platform was used by thousands of people around the world, with around 1,000 messages exchanged daily. It benefited from a global network of resellers who offered it to potential customers, including international criminal networks.
The investigation, led by Europol’s Operational Taskforce (OTF) since March 2022, involved officers from nine countries, including France, Italy, Canada, the United States and Australia. This international collaboration helped locate the platform’s servers in France and Iceland, identify its owners in Australia and uncover assets linked to Ghost’s infrastructure in the United States.
The information gathered during the investigation led to a series of coordinated raids in several countries. In total, 51 arrests were made, including 38 in Australia, 11 in Ireland, one in Canada and another in Italy. The platform’s managers face five charges, with sentences of up to 26 years in prison.
Alongside the arrests, authorities dismantled a drug lab and seized weapons, illicit substances and over €1 million in cash. Europol stressed the importance of deploying cyber experts in several countries to carry out this complex operation, which required specialist technical skills.
This operation against Ghost is the latest of its kind (and probably not the last) conducted by Europol to target encrypted communication platforms, such as Sky ECC, EncroChat and Exlu, used by criminals around the world. However, these actions have the drawback of fragmenting the encrypted communications landscape, making investigations more difficult. Criminals are now turning to less established or less personalized communication tools, making it harder to detect them.
Europol calls for a balance between privacy and lawful access to data for criminal investigations. Criminal networks think they can hide, but they cannot escape our collective efforts “, said Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol. She also recalled the responsibility of private companies, which must allow legal access to data when required by law, while respecting fundamental rights on the confidentiality of exchanges.
Source: www.journaldugeek.com
