Undercover investigation reveals the reality of 'Altamides,' an advanced phone tracking software that can identify the location of anyone in the world
Through thorough investigation and undercover reporting, the non-profit news organization Lighthouse Reports has revealed the unknown truth about Altamides , a phone tracking software that has tracked former prime ministers, prominent politicians, Netflix producers, Nobel Peace
Surveillance Secrets - Lighthouse Reports
https://www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/surveillance-secrets/
Lighthouse Reports discovered a massive data archive on the deep web , containing over one million tracking attempts to obtain real-time location information for millions of people around the world. More than 70 journalists from 14 media outlets came together to investigate the archive.
A closer look revealed that the archive belonged to Altamides, a phone tracking software provided by FIRST WAP , a company based in Jakarta, Indonesia. The archive contained over 14,000 phone numbers and monitored people from over 160 countries.
The only clue to identifying the people being monitored was their phone number, and the team of journalists spent months identifying the phone number owners. To dig deeper and understand the data, they also mapped the monitored individuals based on their temporal and spatial connections.
As a result of the investigation, Altamides's targets of surveillance include a wide variety of people, including the former prime minister of Qatar, the wife of former Syrian dictator
In Italy, journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi was tracked by Altamides just days after reporting on corruption in the Vatican, as police pursued his source. In the United States, Anne Wojcicki , the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin and founder of DNA testing company 23andMe, was reportedly tracked more than 1,000 times as she moved around Silicon Valley.
Furthermore, Patrick Karegeya , the former head of Rwanda's intelligence agency who was in exile in South Africa, was assassinated in a Johannesburg hotel in 2013. However, it has also been revealed that Karegeya's close associates were being tracked by Altamides before his assassination.
In response to journalists' inquiries, FIRST WAP said that while it opposes any illegal activities or human rights violations, it cannot comment on specific allegations that could enable the identification of customers. The company also stated that it only provides users with tracking software called Altamides, but does not conduct tracking activities itself, and that it does not know how users are using Altamides. The company also emphasized that its technology is used by law enforcement agencies to 'fight organized crime, terrorism, and corruption.'
Lighthouse Reports also found that in 2012, a woman named Sophia (not her real name) was tracked by Altamides while walking along a beach in India. However, it turns out that the woman was not being followed by an intelligence or law enforcement agency, but by a man who was simply stalking her.
This case shows that Altamides has spread beyond government control to non-governmental organizations and individuals, who are using it for commercial purposes and personal gain. The archives obtained by Lighthouse Reports include tracking histories of hundreds of ordinary people, including teachers, therapists, and tattoo artists, as well as business leaders and political influencers.
Altamides was sold through a 'dark network of intermediaries' who resold the surveillance systems to clients around the world. Classified documents obtained by Lighthouse Reports reveal that KCS Group, a British corporate investigations firm, attempted to sell Altamides to governments around the world during the
In the early 2000s, FIRST WAP founder Josef Fuchs realized that the world's telecommunications networks used an outdated protocol called SS7 (Signal Signaling No. 7) , which could be exploited to pinpoint users' locations. Seeing this as a business opportunity, Fuchs transformed FIRST WAP from a marketing company into a phone tracking company, offering a service that could pinpoint users' locations within seconds of entering their phone number.
Since then, FIRST WAP has built a global phone tracking company, but it has not received much attention for over 20 years. Over time, the company has expanded its surveillance capabilities, and Altamides is now capable of not only tracking location information, but also intercepting SMS messages, eavesdropping on phone calls, and infiltrating encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp.
Lighthouse Reports also conducted undercover investigations to understand the criteria FIRST WAP used to market Altamides. To do so, Lighthouse Reports' reporters created a fictitious profile of a businessman based in South Africa who runs a research consultancy company registered in the British Virgin Islands. They created a LinkedIn page and impersonated this person. A colleague also accompanied the reporter, portraying a politically influential person with extensive political connections throughout West Africa. The reporters then traveled to ISS World , the world's largest surveillance technology trade fair, held in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.
The journalists successfully met with FIRST WAP's sales manager, Günter Rudolph, at the company's booth at ISS World. They then moved to a hotel room in Prague to discuss Altamides. The journalists asked some questionable questions, such as, 'Can FIRST WAP help governments spy on dissidents overseas?', 'Can it decrypt encrypted WhatsApp chats?', and 'Can it help mining company owners stop environmental activists from protesting?'
The topic then turned to the possibility that potential buyers of Altamides might include individuals under EU or US sanctions, and that if a European national like Rudolph were found to have orchestrated the transaction, he risked imprisonment. Regarding this issue, Rudolph responded, 'That's why we route these transactions through Jakarta. It's a gray area, but we can definitely find a solution.' The next day, Rudolph proposed a solution: 'Using newly established shell companies to hide FIRST WAP's connection to sanctioned customers from documentary records.'
When asked about Lighthouse Reports' undercover investigation, FIRST WAP said, 'There was clearly a misunderstanding,' and explained that Rudolph's comments were merely about technical feasibility.
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