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Hacking. Disinformation. Surveillance. CYBER is Motherboard's podcast and reporting on the dark underbelly of the internet.
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At least one incorporation of Encrochat is based in Panama, according to corporate records available online. The company includes agents, representatives, and directors who also hold roles at hundreds or thousands of other companies, suggesting they are frontmen instead of the legitimate owners. Arias B. & Associates, a law firm that provides services to companies seeking incorporation, previously told Bloomberg it terminated its relationship with Encrochat in 2017 after it could no longer locate the company’s owner.One of the emails obtained by Motherboard shows the Encrochat co-owner sending details of the company to their business associate, showing who is really behind the Panama-based company.The co-owner also emailed details of a bank account in Luxembourg to conduct Encrochat related business, according to a copy of the email and the associate. At some point, the co-owner ditched bank accounts in Canada, where Encrochat was doing business, the associate said.Did you work for Encrochat? Do you have any more documents related to Encrochat arrests? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, OTR chat on jfcox@jabber.ccc.de, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.
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Encrochat offered clients dedicated Android devices that came preloaded with the company's operating system and own apps, including one for sending end-to-end encrypted text messages. Encrochat, like some other encrypted phone companies, was heavily but not exclusively used by the criminal underground. After identifying a way to push malware onto Encrochat devices around the world using the phones' update mechanism, French authorities gathered text messages, geolocation data, and other information from the phones, according to law enforcement files obtained by Motherboard. Encrochat had tens of thousands of users. In all, authorities gathered a hundred million messages and then distributed those to other law enforcement agencies. Someone in control of an Encrochat affiliated email address previously characterized the company as a legitimate firm in an email to Motherboard.In a message sent to Encrochat devices shortly after the hack, Encrochat's owners warned users of the law enforcement takeover, and said government entities "illegally" seized its domain.In a press release announcing the operation, French authorities wrote "any person presenting themselves as manager, representative or administrator of the companies at the origin of this service have been invited to make themselves known and to present their arguments to the gendarmerie [law enforcement] services at the following address."French prosecutors did not respond to a request for comment sent Friday asking if they were unaware of the identity of Encrochat's owners.Subscribe to our cybersecurity podcast CYBER, here."I think he got into business with the wrong people and they strong armed him somehow. But maybe I'm giving him too much credit."