Australian police infiltrate encrypted messaging app Ghost, arrest dozens

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian police said Wednesday they have infiltrated Ghostan encrypted global messaging app developed for criminals that has led to dozens of arrests.

The alleged administrator of the app, Jay Je Yoon Jung, 32, appeared in a Sydney court on Wednesday charged with supporting a criminal organisation and benefiting from the proceeds of crime.

Jung has not entered a motion or applied for bail. He will remain behind bars until his case returns to court in November.

Australian police have arrested 38 suspects in raids in four states in recent days, while law enforcement agencies have also made arrests in Canada, Sweden, Ireland and Italy, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said.

“We allege that hundreds of criminals, including Italian organised crime, members of motorcycle gangs, Middle Eastern and Korean organised crime, used Ghost’s services in Australia and overseas to import illegal drugs and to commission killings,” McCartney told reporters.

Australian police have prevented the death, kidnapping or serious injury of 50 people by monitoring threats contained in 125,000 messages and 120 video calls since March, said Deputy Commissioner Kirsty Schofield.

Police say Jung created the app in 2017 specifically for criminal purposes.

Australia has joined Under the leadership of Europol global task force that will tackle Ghost in 2022.

Colonel Florian Manet, head of the technical department of the National Cyber ​​​​Command at the French Interior Ministry, said in a statement released by Australian police that his officers had been providing the task force with technical resources for several years to help decrypt the communications.

McCartney said the French “enabled” Australian police to decrypt the Ghost communications.

Australian police technicians were able to modify software updates regularly released by the administrator, McCartney said.

“We ended up infecting devices, which allowed us to access content that was on devices in Australia,” McCartney said, adding that the alleged administrator lived at his parents’ home in Sydney and had no police record.

Jung was arrested at his home on Tuesday.

Police say Jung used a network of retailers to offer specialist phones to criminals around the world.

The modified smartphones sold for A$2,350 ($1,590), which included a six-month Ghost subscription and technical support.

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In this version, the suspect’s name was changed to Jung.