Dark WireJoseph Cox
Dark Wire
by Joseph Cox · first published 2024
9mentions
5recommended by
9HN commenters
2024–2026first – last mentioned
56% recommend44% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Narrative account of the FBI's secret operation to build and sell its own encrypted phone network, Anom, to criminal groups; recommended for readers curious about law enforcement, encryption and organized crime.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Dark Wire by Joseph Cox covers the whole story https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Wire-Incredible-Largest-Operatio... It was a real conundrum for law enforcement agencies because at some point they had to stop facilitating…
on “MikroPhone: A privacy enhanced, simple and featured RISC-V mobile phone” ↗For more on this subject, here's a book that documents it: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Wire-Incredible-Largest-Operatio....
on “France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors” ↗Early in the year I picked up "Dark Wire" by Joseph Cox. It was a fascinating dive into the world of "secure phones", particularly a company called Anom. I also read: "Digital Fortress" - Dan Brown (not strictly technically plausible but the…
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗I highly recommend two... Dark Wire - An insane story about the FBI setting up their own encrypted phone network and selling it to global crime syndicates. Mastermind - The story of a 10-year-long quest to bring down Paul Le Roux, who…
on “Ask HN: Best Cyber Warfare Books?” ↗If you enjoy this story, read the book Dark Wire which focuses on the FBI’s infiltration of Anom, another encrypted message service. It also covers sky briefly. Fascinating story https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/joseph-cox/dark-wir...
on “The Crime Messenger” ↗ANOM has been discussed many times before: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=ANOM The new part here is a 41m interview with journalist Joseph Cox (404 Media, Vice) whose new book comes out 6/2024 "Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever"
on “How the FBI built its own smartphone company to hack the criminal underworld” ↗Dark Wire by Joseph Cox came out this earlier in the summer that covers the 2010s version of this with an Android phone company being stood up as a replacement for Blackberries https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59644256-dark-wire
on “Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon” ↗…Stephen Graham Jones • Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly — Anthony Bourdain • Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism — Sarah Wynn-Williams • Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever — Joseph Cox • Source Code: My Beginnings — Bill Gates • The Afterlife of Malcolm X: An Outcast Turned Icon’s Enduring Impact on America…
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗Pair it with your Dark Wire phone for perfect anonymity! /s https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/joseph-cox/dark-wir...
on “Cell Service for the Fairly Paranoid” ↗