Australian police infiltrate encrypted messaging app Ghost and arrest dozens
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/09/2024 (727 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian police said Wednesday they have infiltrated Ghost, an encrypted global communications app developed for criminals, leading to dozens of arrests.
The app’s alleged administrator, Jay Je Yoon Jung, 32, will appear in a Sydney court Wednesday on charges including supporting a criminal organization and benefitting from proceeds of crime, police said.
Australian police arrested 38 suspects in raids across four states in recent days while law enforcement agencies were also making arrests in Canada, Sweden, Ireland and Italy, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said.
“We allege hundreds of criminals including Italian organized crime, motorcycle gang members, Middle Eastern organized crime and Korean organized crime have used Ghost in Australia and overseas to import illicit drugs and order killings,” McCartney told reporters.
Australian police had prevented 50 people from being killed, kidnapped or seriously hurt by monitoring threats among 125,000 messages and 120 video calls since March, Assistant Commissioner Kirsty Schofield said.
Police allege the administrator developed the app specifically for criminal use in 2017.
Australia joined a Europol-led global taskforce targeting Ghost in 2022.
Col. Florian Manet, who heads France’s Home Affairs Ministry National Cyber Command Technical Department, said in a statement issued by Australian police that his officers provided technical resources to the task force over several years that helped decrypt the communications.
McCartney said the French had “provided a foot in the door” for Australian police to decrypt Ghost communications.
Australian police technicians were able to modify software updates regularly pushed out by the administrator, McCartney said.
“In effect, we infected the devices, enabling us to access the content on Australian devices,” McCartney said, adding that the alleged administrator lived in his parents’ Sydney home and had no police record.
Yoon Jung was arrested at his home on Tuesday.
Police say Yoon Jung used a network of resellers to offer specialized handsets to criminals around the world.
The modified smartphones sold for 2,350 Australian dollars ($1,590) which included a six-month subscription to Ghost and tech support.
