Everyone knows encrypted messengers like Telegram, WhatsApp or Signal. Tools accessible to all, most often used in a completely innocuous way, but also sometimes for criminal purposes. EncroChat was one of them, albeit on a higher level, its designers having marketed their product as tamper-proof. This was not the case. The hacking of the system and the exploitation of the data by the cyber gendarmes of the IRCGN made it possible to bring down numerous organized crime networks throughout the world. 20 minutes takes stock of this exceptional investigation.
What is EncroChat?
Better than a simple encrypted messaging service, the EncroChat Solution offered its users a complete communication system that was a priori untraceable. Indeed, the designers were well aware that the mobile device itself could constitute a breach in the security of their encrypted application. That is why instead of simple software, they provided modified phones, devoid of cameras, microphones, geolocation system and equipped, among other options, with the possibility of completely erasing the contents of the device. by entering a “panic pin”. These devices were sold for 1,000 euros each, not counting the subscription of 1,500 euros for six months, including global coverage and 24/7 assistance.
According to the specialized interregional jurisdiction (Jirs) of Lille, which led the investigations around EncroChat, the conditions for the resale of the phones were themselves particularly secure, “ensuring anonymity and absence of traceability” to customers of this encrypted communication solution. “not declared in France”. It is all this that has tipped off the authorities, suggesting that the primary purpose of EncroChat was to “serve criminal organizations”. As early as 2017, in several cases, in particular “drug transport and trafficking”, the gendarmes saw such encrypted telephones pass.
What is this story of piracy in order… under secret-defense?
When the gendarmes noticed the recurrence of the presence of phones using the EncroChat solution in big organized crime cases, they decided to work seriously on it. According to the Jirs, this dates back to 2019, when the Cerberus project was launched with the aim of “understanding how” this messaging works. “In 2020, no less than a hundred gendarmes were mobilized on this project”, assured General Christophe Husson, second in command of the national gendarmerie.
His men have worked well, their investigations into the technical operation of EncroChat having enabled them to set up “a technical device through which user communications could be obtained in an unencrypted manner”, explains the Jirs vaguely. We will not know more about this device, “whose design and operation are covered by national defense secret”, insists the prosecutor of Lille, Carole Etienne. And even if we knew more, “any disclosure of elements relating to this technical device is repressed by French law”, specifies the Jirs.
For Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, of Europol, it is “a turning point in the fight against organized crime”. And indeed, the criminals involved were surprised. Their lawyers have tried to look for the little beast, in particular by contesting the validity of the evidence collected thanks to the device of the gendarmes and by filing appeals against the way in which this evidence was obtained. “This special investigative technique has been validated by the judge of freedoms and detention and by two judgments of the criminal chamber of the court of cassation”, sweeps the prosecutor of Lille, Carole Etienne.
What did the investigators find?
Controversial or not, the fact remains that the famous device has enabled the gendarmes to collect “115 million conversations, including a million photos, from nearly 60,000 users worldwide”, explains Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, director Deputy Executive for Europol Operations. And what investigators discovered in those conversations is beyond comprehension. “The use of this data has enabled us to avoid a hundred assassinations”, assures the representative of Europol, “including at least that of a magistrate in a country which I will not mention”, continues Baudouin Thouvenot, of the Eurojust agency. Some were prepared by a kind of organization offering criminal services of assassination or even torture, specifies Jean-Philippe Lecouffe. “The main part was however linked to associations of criminals in connection with the trafficking of heavy weapons, money laundering or drug trafficking”, specifies the prosecutor of Lille.
In three years of investigation, 6,558 suspects were arrested, in Europe and in 123 countries, including 197 “high-value targets”. “Leaders of criminal organizations who controlled their activities from abroad, in jurisdictions where they felt safe,” adds the deputy director of operations of Europol. “For France alone, this represents 84 ongoing procedures and 165 arrests,” adds Carole Etienne.
In this case, three years after the start of the judicial investigation opened by the Lille Jirs, the results are dizzying. More than 7,000 years in prison were pronounced against those convicted. In terms of seizures, they are just gigantic: 739 million euros in cash, 154 million criminal assets, 103 tons of cocaine, 163 tons of cannabis, 271 properties, 83 boats and 40 planes… And this concerns “only” the cases which are no longer covered by the secrecy of the instruction, insists Carole Etienne.