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An international criminal communications network known as the Matrix, containing more than 2 million encrypted messages in 33 languages and spanning 40 servers, has been disintegrated by a coordinating law enforcement operation that launched in 2021. Led by Europol and Eurojust, the Matrix Network, not to be confused with the completely legitimate and unaffiliated Matrix.org Foundation which one The Dutch police have confirmed this “has nothing to do with the crypto communications service Matrix,” first came to the attention of law enforcement after messages were found on the smartphone of a man convicted of being a Dutch journalist.
According to a statement dated December 3 published by EuropolThe Matrix operation connected at least 8,000 criminal users who paid between $1,360 (€1,300) and $1,680 (€1,600) for six months of access to the encrypted messaging service. Because the server hardware is largely physically located in France and Germany, a joint investigation involving both French and Dutch law enforcement officers tracked all messages sent through the Matrix over a three-month period. These messages, which Europol said numbered 2.3 million and were “intercepted and deciphered during the investigation”, will now be used as evidence and to support further investigations.
While this is far from the first encrypted messaging platform to be dismantled by international law enforcement operations, and Europol said it won’t be the last, it was “technically more complex” than previous networks such as Sky ECC and EncroChatEuropol said.
According to Europol, Matrix operators were “confident that the service was superior and more secure than previous applications used by criminals”, but this condemnation proved to be misplaced and will likely be replaced by a different type of condemnation in due course. Despite being an invitation-only network, law enforcement investigators were able to “intercept the messaging service and monitor activity on the service.” It is not clear at this time what was the “innovative technology” used by these researchers to crack the encrypted network.
Europol said that among the 2.3 million encrypted messages intercepted during the Matrix network operation, links to serious crimes such as international drug trafficking, arms trafficking and money laundering abounded. As a result, three suspects have been arrested so far, one in France and two in Spain. Europol said the main Matrix servers have now been taken down.
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