Anomaly Six
{{Short description|American media intelligence company.}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Anomaly Six LLC
| logo = Anomaly_Six_logo.svg
| industry = Media intelligence
| founded = {{start date and age|2018}}
| founders = Former military intelligence officers Brendan Huff and Jeffrey Heinz
| hq_location = Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
| products = Location data products
| website = {{URL|https://www.anomalysix.com/}}
}}
Anomaly Six (A6) is a media intelligence company. It sells global-location-data products to the United States government and the private sector. The company has embedded its software in over 500 mobile applications, giving it the ability to track hundreds of millions of mobile phones.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-government-contractor-embedded-software-in-apps-to-track-phones-11596808801|title=U.S. Government Contractor Embedded Software in Apps to Track Phones|first=Byron|last=Tau|date=August 7, 2020|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite web |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=March 30, 2021 |title=U.S. Special Operations Command Paid $500,000 to Secretive Location Data Firm |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/anomaly-6-six-special-operations-command/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605195305/https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3vjxj/anomaly-6-six-special-operations-command |archive-date=June 5, 2022 |access-date=April 24, 2022 |website=Vice Media}} In one presentation, the company claimed it could track 3 billion phones in real time.
History
The company was founded in 2018 by two former military intelligence officers. It is based in Alexandria, Virginia.{{Cite web |last1=Biddle |first1=Sam |last2=Poulson |first2=Jack |date=April 22, 2022 |title=American Phone-Tracking Firm Demo'd Surveillance Powers by Spying on CIA and NSA |url=https://theintercept.com/2022/04/22/anomaly-six-phone-tracking-zignal-surveillance-cia-nsa/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605195650/https://theintercept.com/2022/04/22/anomaly-six-phone-tracking-zignal-surveillance-cia-nsa/ |archive-date=June 5, 2022 |access-date=April 24, 2022 |website=The Intercept}}
The company purchases cell phone location data from advertisers who in turn get the information from embedded software development kits (SDK) in commonly used phone applications. The publishers of apps frequently allow third parties to insert SDKs into their apps for a fee. Some of the apps have Anomaly Six’s own SDK embedded in them. This system often relies on disclosures in the complex terms of service that must be agreed to in order to use an application. Most apps' privacy policies do not disclose whether or not SDKs are embedded in their product.
In September 2020, U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, an operational unit of the United States Special Operations Command, paid Anomaly 6 $589,500 for a "Commercial Telemetry Feed". This is the first reported contract between the United States government and Anomaly 6.
In April 2022, it was revealed that the company had demonstrated its surveillance ability by tracking the mobile phones of members of the CIA and NSA. The company revealed the tracking during a meeting between A6 and Zignal Labs. The two companies were in talks to discuss a potential partnership, which they decided not to proceed on.{{Cite web |last=Ropek |first=Lucas |date=April 22, 2022 |title=Surveillance Firm Reportedly Tracked NSA and CIA Spies as Product Demo |url=https://gizmodo.com/cia-nsa-spies-tracked-anomaly-6-product-demo-1848830150 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605200039/https://gizmodo.com/cia-nsa-spies-tracked-anomaly-6-product-demo-1848830150 |archive-date=June 5, 2022 |access-date=April 24, 2022 |website=Gizmodo}}
References
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External links
- [http://www.anomalysix.com/ Official website]