Encrypted phone networks using secure handsets are being cracked by police, exposing thousands
of alleged drug dealers' details. But lawyers say the evidence has been illegally obtained, and
can't be used in court. Here's what's behind the Encrochat and Sky cryptophone hacks - and how it
might affect your right to private communication. It's a bad time to be a drug dealer. Police
across Europe have been carrying out a wave of coordinated raids.
In February, across Germany hundreds of officers searched dozens of properties including here
in Berlin, seizing drugs and weapons, and closing an alleged cocaine taxi operation.
Last year Dutch police say they found a torture chamber
while dismantling drug labs - along with thousands of kilograms of cocaine and crystal meth.
In the United Kingdom, almost 1000 people have been arrested,
tens of millions of pounds in cash seized, and fleets of luxury cars impounded. UK law
enforcement say it's their biggest operation ever. It's all because of the demise of Encrochat,
a cryptophone network. Encrochat used modified Android handsets with a hidden operating system,
activated by pushing the power and volume buttons. Users could send encrypted messages across a
closed network. The camera and GPS were disabled. A panic code would wipe the device in seconds.
Encrochat handsets cost about €1000 upfront, and €1500 for a six- month contract.
An estimated 60,000 customers had signed up.
But in May last year, Encrochat sent out an emergency message - destroy your phones.
"We can no longer guarantee the security of your device. You are advised to power off
and physically dispose of your device immediately." - Encrochat message,
12 June 2020 ((Image on photo wires? - )) French police had managed to hack
into Encrochat's servers, and install malware directly on users' handsets, collecting millions
of seemingly secure messages. Through Europol, they shared their discovery with police
across the continent. ((Europol exteriors?)) Encrochat wasn't the only cryptophone system.
After it went down users switched to Sky Phone. On Sky devices, users logged in to a "stealth
mode” operating system using the calculator and entering a number. Messages could
self-destruct after 30 seconds. Sky phone promised a $1 million dollar
reward for anyone who could hack the system. Someone did. In March 2021, Belgian and Dutch
police announced they'd cracked Sky Phone, and had been monitoring messages for weeks.
"It's a big blow because we have been able to read the messages 'live' over the past three weeks.
Plans for killings, plans for drug transports, plans for large-scale money transports."
"We will be able to dig into this goldmine of information for the next weeks and months. I
believe this investigation shows that criminals are wrong in thinking they can stay outside the
view of the police." Sky phone's boss
has been indicted by a US grand jury and is wanted for arrest.
But he claims European police cracked a copycat system not under his control. Sky phone, he says,
was a legitimate private communication tool - and the raids are a threat to our freedoms.
"Privacy and protection of information is the foundation of the effective
functioning for many industries including legal, public health, vaccine supply chains,
manufacturers, celebrities and many more." And some lawyers agree. There's nothing illegal
about using encrypted communication. Most of us do it every day. WhatsApp is encrypted,
so too are Signal secret chats. German defense lawyer Ulrich Sommer
represents several people charged with crimes following the Encrochat raids.
"I have a right to telecommunications, as does any citizen. This can only be interfered
with if certain conditions are met - such as there being an initial suspicion against me.
I assume that in the present case all conceivable rules have been disregarded. ((WB))…
The investigators not only violated laws, but also human rights.
And that's why the whole outcome is, in my view, not usable in a proper criminal trial."
"Yesterday was Encrochat, today was Sky, tomorrow it will be WhatsApp and after
that the telephone network. From my view, I'm really appalled about the impact on society.”
Belgian police say Sky phone users should come forward if they were "using their telephone for
legitimate ends". Normally, innocent people don't have to ask to be excluded from investigations.
So why should we care if alleged drug dealers and the criminal underworld are being tracked down?
Well, Ulrich Sommer say many people legitimately need to use encrypted communications - lawyers,
journalists and political dissidents, for example. He says these police operations put them at risk,
because they erode privacy. "If you fled Russia because you were a
political dissident, would you trust your e-mail service, or call over the regular phone system?
No, you'd take steps to protect your communication from some nosy Russian hackers.
That's not only legitimate, that's even necessary to protect your fundamental rights. ((WB))
You and I have every right to make use of exactly that encryption, nobody can forbid us to do that."
Defense lawyers are planning to fight these cases all the way to the European Court of Justice.
With Encrochat and Sky Phone hacked, what comes next?
No doubt a new encrypted phone network will emerge - and become a new target for police hackers.