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Businesses Encryption Privacy

Encrypted Phone Network Says It's Shutting Down After Police Hack (vice.com) 31

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Someone in control of an email address long associated with Encrochat, a company that sells custom encrypted phones often used by organized criminals, tells Motherboard the company is shutting down after a law enforcement hacking operation against its customers. From a report: The news comes as law enforcement agencies have arrested multiple criminal users of Encrochat across Europe in what appears to be a large scale, coordinated operation against the phone network and its users. "We have been forced to make the difficult decision to shut down our service and our business permanently," the person wrote in an email to Motherboard. "This [sic] following several attacks carried out by a foreign organization that seems to originate in the UK." The email address has been linked to Encrochat for years, but Motherboard could not confirm the identity of the person currently using the account. Motherboard also separately obtained screenshots of text messages sent over the past week of alleged Encrochat users discussing a wave of arrests associated with the Encrochat takeover. Encrochat is part of the encrypted phone industry, which sells devices pre-loaded with private messaging apps, sometimes have the GPS or camera functionality physically removed, and can be remotely wiped by the user.
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Encrypted Phone Network Says It's Shutting Down After Police Hack More

Encrypted Phone Network Says It's Shutting Down After Police Hack

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  • Devices need a hardware factory reset (Score:3, Insightful)

    by davidwr ( 791652 ) on Monday June 22, 2020 @03:51PM (#60214246) Homepage Journal

    "The malware was designed to conceal itself from detection, disable the phone's factory reset"

    I've said it before and I'll say it again:

    Devices need a way to do a factory reset in hardware.

    Ironically phones and other high-theft items are an exception because you don't want to give a thief a way to take out anti-theft protection. However, you should be able to boot to an "alternate boot sequence" which force-wipes all "user data."

    This way if someone hacks the BIOS/EUFI/equivalent and installs code to defeat a reset, you can still erase the important things without destroying hardware if you have physical access.

  • This [sic] (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22, 2020 @04:13PM (#60214354)

    "This [sic] following several attacks carried out by a foreign organization that seems to originate in the UK."

    Why did the editor add a [sic] here? There's no problem with the grammar in the sentence in question.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nyet ( 19118 )

      Because mssmash is a complete idiot.

    • Re:This [sic] (Score:4, Funny)

      by Barnoid ( 263111 ) on Monday June 22, 2020 @07:14PM (#60215116)

      "This [sic] following several attacks carried out by a foreign organization that seems to originate in the UK."

      Why did the editor add a [sic] here? There's no problem with the grammar in the sentence in question.

      Unless you're a /. editor. Then you probably think adding '[sic]' every now and then sounds cool.

  • Cool phone if it wasn't hacked by the police

  • Ain't that a convenient excuse!
    You know what's also often used by criminals? Streets!
    And water!

    Sounds more like punishing an entire group because there are assholes in that group too. Reminds me of the rethoric of a certain well-dressed goose-steppers.

    If that was alright, then pray there won't be aliens applying that to all of humanity.

    • Once known to be used by criminals, then using one is a beacon to police.

      Same with any obscure privacy technology.

      You need to merge in with the mainstream, hidden in plain sight.

  • mssmash, please consider an actual English or journalism degree.

    No need for the [sic] after "This"

    • It may have scanned a *little* better if there was a comma after the this... but I'd say that was more a matter of style than gramatical correctness.

  • . . . and they couldn't parallel construction their way around all the wiretapping evidence. So it was either show their cards and shut it down or let all the criminals walk. Look for a new company with mysterious funding offering a similar product soon.
    • Before they fold, they need to publish and put the malware into the public domain, and post a reward for information leading to its creators. This means the police or whoever violated computer trespass - they do not want to see their handy dandy malware published and diagnosed, so that going forward - those vectors are shutdown for good. Prior to the shutdown, the police should have got lots of red hot tips about famous high ranked politicians doing all the nasty acts they do - poisoning the well so as to

  • Its look like GCHQ [wikipedia.org] have got their toybox out and are playing.

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