Description
Written "in the manner of a good crime thriller" (The Wall Street Journal), the inside story of the largest law-enforcement sting operation ever, in which the FBI created its own tech start-up to wiretap the world In 2018, a powerful app for secure communications called Anom took root among organized criminals. They believed Anom allowed them to conduct business in the shadows. Except for one thing: It was secretly run by the FBI.
Backdoor access to Anom and a series of related investigations granted American, Australian, and European authorities a front-row seat to the underworld. Tens of thousands of criminals worldwide appeared in full view of the same agents they were trying to evade. International smugglers, money launderers, hitmen: a sprawling illicit global economy as efficient and interconnected as the legal one. Officers watched drug shipments and murder plots unfold, making arrests without blowing their cover.
Featuring a new epilogue with crucial updates to the case, Dark Wire reveals the true scale and stakes of this unprecedented operation through the agents and criminals who were there. This is a fly-on-the-wall thriller for the modern world, where no one can be sure who is watching.
Author: Joseph Cox
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 11/11/2025
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 1.10d
ISBN13: 9781541702707
ISBN10: 1541702700
BISAC Categories:
- True Crime | Cybercrime
- Computers | Internet | Online Safety & Privacy
- Political Science | Law Enforcement
Backdoor access to Anom and a series of related investigations granted American, Australian, and European authorities a front-row seat to the underworld. Tens of thousands of criminals worldwide appeared in full view of the same agents they were trying to evade. International smugglers, money launderers, hitmen: a sprawling illicit global economy as efficient and interconnected as the legal one. Officers watched drug shipments and murder plots unfold, making arrests without blowing their cover.
Featuring a new epilogue with crucial updates to the case, Dark Wire reveals the true scale and stakes of this unprecedented operation through the agents and criminals who were there. This is a fly-on-the-wall thriller for the modern world, where no one can be sure who is watching.
Author: Joseph Cox
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 11/11/2025
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 1.10d
ISBN13: 9781541702707
ISBN10: 1541702700
BISAC Categories:
- True Crime | Cybercrime
- Computers | Internet | Online Safety & Privacy
- Political Science | Law Enforcement
About the Author
Joseph Cox is an award-winning investigative journalist and has been the world's leading reporter on Anom, writing exclusive stories on it for Vice Media's Motherboard. He is a cofounder of 404 Media, a digital media company devoted to revealing hidden stories.