Police crack crypted chat messages

The police were able to read Thousands of encrypted conversation messages by criminals to crack encryption, announced today the police in the east of the Netherlands at a press conference. By cracking encryption, the police could watch 258,000 instant messages live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Reports included the drug, weapons and money trade.

This breakthrough was achieved after police in the eastern Netherlands discovered, as part of a money laundering investigation, a provider of cryptographic phones. "We had enough indications that these phones were being used by criminals and managed to intercept encrypted communication messages between these phones and watch them live for a while," police said. Phones, which cost 1500 euros per semester, can only be used to send instant messages. In addition, they had a "panic button" to clear the device.

Thanks to the information contained in encrypted conversation messages intercepted and torn apart, the police carried out several searches in the Netherlands, seizing drugs, money and weapons. There have also been several arrests and more than 100 people suspected of being involved in criminal activities. The chat application used on cryptophones was IronChat. The server and the IronChat website were taken offline by the police and the two owners were arrested. How could the encryption be deciphered, the police did not let you know. However, the police said that it was not possible in the Netherlands to watch live encrypted communications

. Discussions also showed that criminals suspected that they had leaked information to the police and that retaliatory action was ongoing. prepare. On the basis of this information, an investigation was opened into possible parties involved and aimed at preventing possible reprisals. Three suspects were arrested today during an action of the special intervention service. A 31 year old man from Almelo and two men from Enschede aged 23 and 33 years old.

Update

During the press conference, police said the encryption was cracked, but the NRC reported that the agents had access to the server where the encryption keys were located. With these keys, it was possible to decrypt the encrypted messages. The encryption protocol used by IronChat has not been cracked.

Update 2

The Crown announces that the server using IronChat was discovered after the police found the cryptophone provider. The operation was then launched to allow the police to intercept and decrypt messages from IronChat users via the server keys. [ad_2]
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