Here’s a fascinating story for those who are interested in cybersecurity technology:
This just happened in the last month and is breaking news with more to follow as initial reporting has only occurred in the past week.
Encrochat provided modified phones and an encrypted messaging system which was widely used by drug dealers, organized crime, illegal arms dealers, money launderers, etc (the service had over 10,000 users in the UK alone) who openly posted photos and plain text details of their illicit activities, secure in the belief that their communications were completely confidential and incapable of being monitored, as the company promised.
Except authorities found a way to inject malware into the phones, that allowed them to monitor 100 million messages and in the UK alone, over 746 arrests have already been made, including middle-tier and high-level “untouchables”. Encrochat has ceased operations “due to police action” and a spokesman said they did not find a single user of the Encrochat system that was not a criminal.
This is focused in Europe but who knows where the tendrils may lead? It also shows what can be done to thwart those who think they are clever enough to think they can conduct their dirty business in secrecy. That’s not to say it was easy - the technical team has been working to infiltrate Encrochat’s network since 2016.
With this revelation and the Iranian nuke facilities blowing up unexpectedly it’s a safe bet that cybersecurity is becoming a major issue and will become much more visible.
In related news: it WAS the Israelis -
That is great news, indeed.