Encrypted messaging service intercepted, 2.3 million messages read by law enforcement
European law enforcement agencies have taken down yet another encrypted messaging service mainly used by criminals.
The Matrix encrypted messaging service was an invite-only service which was also marketed under the names Mactrix, Totalsec, X-quantum, or Q-safe. Dutch and French authorities started an investigation when the service was found on the phone of a criminal convicted for the murder of Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries in 2021.
The investigators soon found Matrix was technically more complex than previous platforms such as Sky ECC and EncroChat, which were earlier subjects of law enforcement eavesdropping.
Eventually the authorities were able to intercept the messaging service’s traffic and monitor the activity for three months. The authorities intercepted and deciphered over 2.3 million messages in 33 languages during the investigation.
The intercepted messages mostly dealt with serious organized crimes such as international drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and money laundering. Now, visitors to the the messaging service are alerted to the takedown through a splash page telling them the platform has been disabled by international law enforcement:
“It’s not the first time and will not be the last time we are able to read the messages in real time. We gained access to data related to this service and our investigation does not end here.”
These services don’t come cheap. We don’t know the exact pricing of Matrix, but similar services cost several thousands of dollars per year. Which explains why law enforcement seized four cars, 970 phones, and a house, along with over half a million in crypto and over $150,000 in cash.
With the takedown of Matrix, the encrypted communication landscape for criminals has lost yet another significant player.
Europol stated:
“Criminals, in response to the disruptions of their messaging services, have been turning to a variety of less-established or custom-built communication tools that offer varying degrees of security and anonymity.”
This offers both a challenge and opportunities for law enforcement, since the smaller fish are less tasty, but easier to catch if you’ll pardon me that analogy.
The Matrix messaging service is in no way related to the legitimate Matrix messaging protocol. We don’t want US citizens looking for an encrypted messaging service to shy away from apps built on the Matrix protocol just because it has the same name.
Although I appreciated the hint of the splash page to the media franchise The Matrix.
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