Using supposedly impregnable encrypted phones, Serbian hit men discussed plans to kill a judge. But as they texted, their messages also flashed up on the computer screens of a secret police team in Belgium that had hacked into the messenger service they were using, Sky ECC.
https://twitter.com/drewharwell/status/1463519827998515205
Sky sold phones w/ encryption software installed and GPS/camera/microphone disabled. Messages got automatically deleted after 48 hrs if contact wasn’t reachable, and devices could be wiped remotely. Sky said platform was impenetrable and offered $5 mil to anyone who could hack it
Authorities found Sky server in northern France and worked w/ officials to get access. At first they could only see metadata, not messages. Until an international team of hackers found way to decrypt about half of the 3 million daily messages, and used keyword filters to sort
Users, confident in the platform’s impregnability, shared pictures of corpses, severed heads and other body parts, as well as bricks of cocaine and stacks of cash. One user sent a photograph to demonstrate he had carried out an order to torture a victim.
They "had to decide whether to act on the info, given the risk of exposing the operation, but always did so in case of threats to life. In one case a msg indicated that a gang in Canada was about to begin torturing a captive. The Belgians called authorities there to intervene"
"After police seized a large consignment [of cocaine] at the port in Antwerp, one group exchanged messages blaming a partner for snitching and proposing to kill him. Authorities decided to end the operation instead of risking an outbreak of violence."
The CEO of Sky Global and an associate were indicted in the US on racketeering and drug-trafficking, on grounds that their encrypted phones facilitated drug distribution. Their lawyers say the gov has painted the execs as criminals simply for providing encrypted technology.
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