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Police Decrypt 258,000 Messages After Breaking Pricey IronChat Crypto App (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Police in the Netherlands said they decrypted more than 258,000 messages sent using IronChat, an app billed as providing end-to-end encryption that was endorsed by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. In a statement published Tuesday, Dutch police said officers achieved a "breakthrough in the interception and decryption of encrypted communication" in an investigation into money laundering. The encrypted messages, according to the statement, were sent by IronChat, an app that runs on a device that cost thousands of dollars and could send only text messages.
"Criminals thought they could safely communicate with so-called crypto phones which used the application IronChat," Tuesday's statement said. "Police experts in the east of the Netherlands have succeeded in gaining access to this communication. As a result, the police have been able to watch live the communication between criminals for some time." Blackbox-security.com, the site selling IronChat and IronPhone, quoted Snowden as saying: "I use PGP to say hi and hello, i use IronChat (OTR) to have a serious conversation," according to Web archives. Whether the endorsement was authentic or not wasn't immediately known. The site has been seized by Dutch police.
"Criminals thought they could safely communicate with so-called crypto phones which used the application IronChat," Tuesday's statement said. "Police experts in the east of the Netherlands have succeeded in gaining access to this communication. As a result, the police have been able to watch live the communication between criminals for some time." Blackbox-security.com, the site selling IronChat and IronPhone, quoted Snowden as saying: "I use PGP to say hi and hello, i use IronChat (OTR) to have a serious conversation," according to Web archives. Whether the endorsement was authentic or not wasn't immediately known. The site has been seized by Dutch police.
"I use PGP to say hi and hello, i use IronChat (OTR) to have a serious conversation,"
Sure sounds like a paid product endorsement....
They couldn't keep it secret for very long because they would have to present the intercepted messages in court eventually.
It appears that weaknesses in the app are to blame here. It was a poorly designed app, basically snake oil.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Just because someone is a crook doesn't mean its ok to step over their dead bodies to stop them.
The information the police were obtaining causes the crims to suspect and then kill / harm each other. The police determined that the risks or death / injury to the people involved in or around the criminal activites exceed the rewards
No, see these are WORDS. Once again people on slashdot conflate words with violence. My words didn't hurt anybody therefore get the fuck out of here with your noise. I was smart, I did my time and realized being a criminal is fucking stupid and I bust my ass for a living now. on that note.
You're dangerously close to being a fascist, IMHO. Control yourself before it's too late.
FTFY...