Australian Federal Police ‘Blacklist’ isolated low priority users from active surveillance of AN0M devices

Criminals that escaped the Operation Ironside global sting might be shocked to learn they aren’t yet in the clear. See the AFP’s secret blacklist of AN0M users and their bizarre names.

Almost 150 users of the encrypted AN0M app that were not part of the global sting that shook the underworld a year ago today were placed on a “blacklist” in 2019, AFP documents reveal.

The ‘blacklist’ meant the user was not actively monitored by police – but today we reveal their data remains saved on a server for police to pursue at any time.

There are 146 AN0M user handles on the list – you can see the full list below.

A cache of documents tendered to court as part of the Operation Ironside “test case” and released by the SA Supreme Court show that a 2019 decision was made to separate particular users of the app.

In October that year, AFP tech developers completed the ability to isolate the data from particular phones as it flooded into the AFP servers.

“If a device is subject to being ‘black-listed’, it means that data will cease to be collected by the AFP at the point at the which it is ingested into the AFP,” the documents state.

“This means that the data will continue to exist on the source server and if the need arises to obtain the data at a later date, a warrant will have to be executed on it.”

The AN0M app appears on the screen of a smartphone in Paris, on June 8, 2021. Photo: Olivier MORIN.

The AFP in conjunction with the FBI had installed a secret function in the AN0M handsets which sent a mirror image of all messages, pictures, videos and audio sent over the app to law enforcement agencies.

In a stroke of genius, the function created a double of all images and audio which were doctored using features on the phone and sent both the original and the altered message to the AFP servers.

The AFP used a tiered rating system which relegated users to the ‘blacklist’ based on priorities in investigations and limited criminality.

As of October 3, 2019, 66 devices were considered low priorities as they combined had 345 outgoing communications over a 48-hour period.

A full list of the user names reveals a cornucopia of exotic handles including Ultimate Warrior, Russian Hitman, Staunch, full blood, laferrari and banana.