Europol and European law enforcement authorities have managed to arrest a large number of people by monitoring the communication channels of organized crime . The monitoring of communications was possible after the encrypted chat application Sky ECC was “unlocked”
The Sky ECC app is advertised as a secure messaging platform, with more than 170,000 users worldwide. The service's servers in the U.S., Canada and Europe are used to exchange over three million messages every day.
According to the data, a large percentage of Sky ECC users (over 20%) are located in Belgium and the Netherlands.
“By unlocking the Sky ECC encryption, information was obtained that provides evidence of criminal activities in several EU Member States and beyond and will help expand investigations and tackle serious and cross-border organised crime for the coming months, possibly years,” Europol said in a press release.
See also: Ireland: Europol pursues family for €4 million "laundering"
Europol “broke” the encryption of the Sky ECC application
The investigation began when Belgian police seized mobile phones from criminals who were using Sky ECC to communicate with each other and organize their criminal activities. After unlocking the encrypted chat app, investigators were able to monitor communications between approximately 70,000 Sky ECC users.
According to Europol, by unlocking the encrypted Sky ECC application, investigators from Belgium, France and the Netherlands were able to obtain important information after viewing hundreds of millions of messages sent by members of organized crime groups.
"Continued monitoring of the illegal Sky ECC communications tool by investigators in the three countries involved has yielded invaluable information on hundreds of millions of messages exchanged between criminals," Europol added.
In this way, the authorities obtained information about more than a hundred planned large-scale criminal operations .
On March 9, the authorities in Belgium and the Netherlands, in cooperation with Europol, conducted raids on the homes of criminals, seized devices and other items and arrested a large number of people.
“The operation is an essential part of the ongoing effort by the judiciary and law enforcement in the EU and in third countries to disrupt the illegal use of encrypted communications,” Europol adds.
About a year ago, European authorities arrested hundreds of suspects in several countries after collecting evidence by gaining access to the EncroChat.
EncroChat phones with the Android operating system and the EncroChat operating system were used by criminals for communication via encrypted channels.
Many of the EncroChat users migrated to the Sky ECC platform after the first was discontinued.
See also: Authorities shut down chat platform for criminals, EncroChat
Sky ECC denies the claims of “breaking” the encryption
“The SKY ECC platform remains secure and no approved SKY ECC device has been compromised,” the company states on its website.
“On March 8, 2021, SKY ECC received a notice about various articles that were published in Belgium and the Netherlands, which claim that the Belgian and/or Dutch authorities have broken or compromised the encrypted communication software SKY ECC. SKY ECC states, after thorough investigation, that all these claims are false“.
The platform said that a phishing app with the same name and that it is trying to expose the scammers behind the fake app.
Useful information: Phishing emails: How to recognize them and how to protect yourself?
Sky ECC added that no police or judicial authorities have contacted it regarding this investigation and “categorically denies any claim that the platform is a favorite choice of criminals.”
Source: Bleeping Computer
