Ex-con was paid $120,000 to bring down the underworld

A tech-savvy convicted drug trafficker has been revealed as the person who invented the Trojan horse app AN0M.

A tech-savvy convicted drug trafficker has been revealed as the person who invented the Trojan horse app AN0M which tricked the global underworld into handing their crime secrets to police.

An FBI affidavit unsealed on Tuesday in the United States District Court revealed the FBI had recruited a “confidential human source’’ who gave them access to AN0M in the hopes of receiving a lesser sentence on unnamed charges they were facing.

In his affidavit, FBI Special Agent Nicholas I. Cheviron told the court the FBI had recruited the source after the take – down on encrypted app Phantom Secure in 2018.

The source had been developing the “next generation” encrypted communications product, poised to compete for market share against established hardened encrypted device competitors.’’

Agent Cheviron said the void left by Phantom Secure’s bust created an opportunity for a new encrypted app, and the source had previously been distributing Phantom Secure and Sky apps to organised crime figures and had “invested a substantial amount of money into a new hardened encrypted device.’’

The source was paid US$120,000 by the FBI for his services.

“The CHS (confidential human source) offered this next generation device, named “Anom,” to the FBI to use in ongoing and new investigations. The CHS also agreed to offer to distribute Anom devices to some of the CHS’s existing network of distributors of encrypted communications devices,’’ the affidavit stated.

The FBI opened a new covert investigation, Operation Trojan Shield, which centred on exploiting AN0M by inserting it into criminal networks and working with international partners, including the Australian Federal Police, who had invented a way of monitoring the communications.

“Before the device could be put to use, however, the FBI, AFP, and the CHS built a master key into the existing encryption system which surreptitiously attaches to each message and enables law enforcement to decrypt and store the message as it is transmitted,’’ the affidavit states.

“A user of Anom is unaware of this capability.’’

The affidavit revealed the human source had been “working for FBI agents since 2018 in exchange for the possibility of having a reduced sentence in relation to charges the CHS is facing.’’

The source had been paid US$120,000 by the FBI for services and US $59,508 for expenses related to living and travel.

“The CHS has a previous conviction for importing narcotics, for which the CHS was sentenced to six years in prison,’’ the affidavit notes.