International police forces have successfully taken down an encrypted communication platform and apprehended 51 individuals, marking a significant achievement in the joint efforts to combat anonymous messaging services utilized by criminal organizations. Europol, along with law enforcement agencies from nine countries, dismantled Ghost, an online platform that employed three different encryption standards and allowed users to delete messages by sending a specific code. This crackdown is the latest operation aimed at deciphering encrypted messaging services used by criminals for their global operations, following previous takedowns of platforms like EncroChat and Sky ECC.
During a press conference in The Hague, David McLean, assistant commissioner of Australia’s federal police, revealed that Ghost had been utilized by Italian organized crime groups, outlaw motorcycle gangs, Middle Eastern organized crime syndicates, and Korean organized crime networks to import illegal drugs and order targeted killings. As part of a joint investigation initiated in 2022, authorities arrested 38 individuals in Australia, 11 in Ireland, one in Canada, and one belonging to the Sacra Corona Unita mafia organization based in Italy’s Puglia region.
McLean disclosed that Ghost was administered by a 32-year-old Australian man who was one of the primary targets of this operation. By decrypting the app’s code to access users’ messages successfully through this decryption operation alone as many as 50 potential deaths or injuries could have been prevented.
Europol stated that several thousand people worldwide used Ghost with approximately 1,000 messages exchanged daily. The ability to intercept these messages is crucial for law enforcement agencies seeking to prosecute criminal groups operating on a global scale. Justin Kelly from Ireland’s police force acknowledged that encrypted phone communication poses challenges for contemporary policing but emphasized significant progress being made.
Jean-Philippe Lecouffe from Europol noted that Ghost had fewer users compared to previously decrypted platforms like EncroChat or SkyECC. This suggests criminals are diversifying their use of encrypted message platforms across multiple smaller networks. In recent years when EncroChat was decrypted it led to over 6,500 arrests globally and seizure of approximately €900k primarily in cash. Subsequently many users migrated to another platform called Sky ECC which was unlocked by Belgian Dutch and French law enforcement resulting in large-scale raids and arrests.
These successful decryptions continue yielding fresh charges and convictions as evidenced by an upcoming judgment next month involving more than 120 defendants based on decrypted information obtained from SkyECC during ongoing legal proceedings at a Brussels court.
