“Wireless keyboards and other devices are often vulnerable and can be exploited without the user’s knowledge,” Watkins adds.
Supply chain attacks
Another possibility to expose a target’s encryption key or password relies on malware or hardware interference using something installed in the supply chain.
EncroChat was a Europe-based encrypted communications network and service provider. It offered modified Android smartphones with enhanced security features, including encrypted communications and remote wiping.
The service gained popularity among criminals following the closure of similar services, helping to boost its membership to around 60,000 subscribers by mid-2020.
European law enforcement agencies successfully infiltrated the EncroChat network, deploying malware on a French server allowing them to access messages and disable the panic wipe feature. The police operation led to thousands of arrests.
Jessica Sobey, barrister at Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, an experienced criminal defense lawyer, said the admissibility of evidence obtained through the Encrochat hack was fiercely contested in court.
“The IPT [Investigatory Powers Tribunal] rejected the defense argument that the NCA withheld critical information when it applied for a warrant to obtain messages from the EncroChat network,” Sobey tells CSO. “It ruled that the use of a TEI warrant was justified, and that the investigation could be classified as a single investigation into the criminal use of EncroChat.”
Sobey adds: “Defense lawyers, however, continue to argue that the IPT has blurred the distinction between bulk warrants and thematic warrants and this could still prove to be fertile ground for legal challenges. concerning the gathering of digital evidence from encrypted devices.”
