A joint investigation team involving French and Dutch authorities has taken down an encrypted messaging service that went by the name Matrix. It is important at the onset to make clear that this encrypted cybercriminal communications network, has no relationship with the Matrix.org Foundation or the Matrix protocol itself.
For three months, authorities monitored the messages of possible criminals. The infrastructure consisted of more than 40 servers spread over several countries. More than 2.3 million messages in 33 languages were intercepted and deciphered during the investigation.
The messages that were intercepted are linked to serious crimes such as international drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and money laundering, according to the Europol press release.
During a coordinated operation supported by Eurojust and Europol, the messaging service was taken down by Dutch and French authorities and follow-up actions were executed by their Italian, Lithuanian, and Spanish counterparts.
Actions to take down the service and pursue serious criminals happened on December 3rd in four countries. In France, one suspect was arrested, and his house searched. In Spain, two suspects were arrested following a European Arrest Warrant from the Netherlands and six houses were searched. Six houses were searched in Lithuania. The main servers in France and Germany were taken down.
Cybercriminals using the messaging service are alerted to the interception by the authorities through a splash page. Through legal requests, authorities will now be able to access the messages for their investigations.