Europol 'Unlocks' Encrypted Sky ECC Chat Service to Make Arrests
upstart writes in with an IRC submission:
Europol 'unlocks' encrypted Sky ECC chat service to make arrests:
European law enforcement authorities have made a large number of arrests after a joint operation involving the monitoring of organized crime communication channels after "unlocking" Sky ECC chat's encryption.
Sky ECC is advertised as a secure messaging platform used by around 170,000 individuals worldwide. The service's US, Canadian, and European servers are being used to exchange over three million messages each day.
[...] "By successfully unlocking the encryption of Sky ECC, the information acquired will provide insights into criminal activities in various EU Member States and beyond and will assist in expanding investigations and solving serious and cross-border organized crime for the coming months, possibly years," Europol said in a press release published today.
[...] The investigation started after Belgium police seized mobile phones from criminals who used Sky ECC. After "unlocking" the chat platform's encryption, investigators have been able to monitor communications between roughly 70,000 Sky ECC users.
[...] Sky ECC told BleepingComputer Tuesday that statements of the platform's encryption being cracked are false. According to the company, the hacked software was running on cloned devices running a fake phishing application designed to impersonate the Sky ECC app.
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