EU hacking operation ‘like having an inside person in every top organised crime group’

In the last decade, law enforcement has been engaged in an technological arms race with criminal gangs constantly trying to find new ways of communicating without being spied on.

The devices proved so hard to crack that senior gardaí called for the introduction of new laws allowing investigators to demand passcodes from suspects on arrest. The operation targeted Encrochat, a service which shares many of the same features as PGP but which was viewed, until last month at least, as being significantly more secure.

The infiltration began as far back as April, meaning millions of messages were intercepted. These were then filtered by the French and Dutch authorities and shared with police agencies across the EU. A senior NCA official compared it to “having an inside person in every top organised crime group in the country”, adding that it was “broadest and deepest-ever UK operation into serious organised crime”.

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