[GekkePrutser]

This 'analysis' seems to be more PR speak by another similar network? I wouldn't put much trust in people using terms such as 'ENTERPRISE MILITARY GRADE', of course in all caps to emphasize the effect. Has snake oil written all over it.

I thought this article would be a genuine analysis by a security researcher as a tie-in to the news today:)

[hn_throwaway_99]

I think you don't understand what is going on here. ANOM was just admitted by the Australian Police and FBI to have been specifically built to infiltrate organized crime. The whole app was a plot to get access to the messages of these purported criminals.

This analysis came out a couple months ago, and was exactly correct. Also, you are blaming the style of the writing but ignoring the substance, which is that the app is most definitely making encrypted connections where it has no need to do so.

[GekkePrutser]

I didn't know that when I wrote that, no. I thought it was the same story as EncroChat at the time (where an existing network was taken over by the police). I saw it in more detailed news reports since.

The points might have been valid but the language is not instilling any kind of confidence: "This is an ENTERPRISE MILITARY GRADE Encrypted setup." doesn't exactly make it seem like a security researcher who knows what they're talking about. And add many other words capitalised for maximum shock effect: "imagine you were meeting up with someone like an EX-LOVER your partner may not approve of"

It all sounds very much FUD and biased. If you do a good analysis, this is not how you present it.

The main points he really makes are poor endpoint security (not uncommon in this market, as many such networks have been breached) and noticed some suspicious traffic which is indeed a telltale that something more is going on.

But it sounds way too much like someone with 'skin in the game' was trying to spin it and turned out to be right.

[9wzYQbTYsAIc]

Technically, ANOM did start as a “legitimate” criminal application, but was handed over to the FBI early in development as part of a plea deal.

[thieving_magpie]

Not to speak for them but I experienced the same feeling of interest in who the author was. For me it sounded like someone associated with CIPHR or another messaging application that did this analysis (still factual analysis) on a rival application. There was some marketing-type language in there that made me think that.