The Fall of EncroChat

In June 2020, EncroChat users received a flurry of panicked messages from the company claiming its encrypted network had been hacked by "government entities". What unravelled was one of the biggest hacks by law enforcement in history, who claimed many of its users are alleged organized criminals in Europe.
The hack was said to have revealed a litany of criminal behaviour - drug deals and shipments, money laundering and arms trafficking, corrupt police officers, a planning of a murder and even the discovery of a torture chamber, hidden within a shipping container.
But was the hack even legal? And what are the implications for the encrypted communications that many of us use everyday?
This podcast was based on the reporting (www.vice.com/en/article/3aza9...) of Joseph Cox (www.vice.com/en/contributor/j...) at Motherboard (www.vice.com/en/section/tech) , VICE News.
Guests:
Joseph Cox ( / josephfcox ) , Senior Staff Writer at Motherboard, VICE News.
Jake Moore ( / jake_mooreuk ) , Cyber Security Specialist at ESET (www.eset.com/uk/) .
Edouard Klein, Intelligence-Driven Cybersecurity, Sekoia.fr (www.sekoia.fr/)
Tuesday Reitano ( / tuesdayjaded ) , Deputy Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. (globalinitiative.net/profile/...)
Reading:
How Police Secretly Took Over a Global Phone Network for Organized Crime (www.vice.com/en/article/3aza9...) , Motherboard
Encrochat Investigation Finds Corrupt Cops Leaking Information to Criminals (www.vice.com/en/article/m7jyv...) , Motherboard
Encrypted Phone Network Says It's Shutting Down After Police Hack, (www.vice.com/en/article/5dz9q...) Motherboard
Europol, Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment (iOCTA) 2020 (www.europol.europa.eu/activit...)
Al Jazeera, Opinion: The EncroChat police hacking sets a dangerous precedent (www.aljazeera.com/opinions/20...)
ComputerWeekly.com - Berlin court finds EncroChat intercept evidence cannot be used in criminal trials (www.computerweekly.com/news/2...)
ComputerWeekly.com - Secrecy around EncroChat cryptophone hack breaches French constitution, court hears (www.computerweekly.com/news/2...)
Presenter: Jack Meegan-Vickers
Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (globalinitiative.net/)