https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/11/police-decrypt-258000-messages-after-breaking-pricey-ironchat-crypto-app/
By Dan Goodin
Ars Technica
11/7/2018
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.
[...]
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