All language subtitles for Cracking.The.Code.S01E05.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-Kitsune.[eng]

- [Narrator] Criminal gangs
across Europe and the world.

- They're running guns,
trafficking drugs,

they're killing people.

[gunshot fired]

- [Narrator] Using
highly encrypted phones

to stay under the radar.

- The level of security
on these EncroChat devices

would be the envy of James Bond.

- If the encryption
is done correctly,

then we believe it's
impossible to crack.

- [Narrator] The police
are always one step behind.

- It's a game of cat and mouse

between the organized
criminals and law enforcement.

- [Narrator] Until one
team of investigators

turns the phones
against their users.

- The clock is ticking. The
police have to move on it.

[door bangs]

[indistinct shouts]

- All this will lead to
more arrests, more seizures,

and dismantling of
criminal networks.

[ambient music]

- [Narrator] These are the
codes that changed our world.

Bizarre markings, random
letters, and numbers,

words that make no sense.

But cracking them
unlocks military secrets,

decodes ancient civilizations,

and reveals enemies
in our midst.

Now we uncover how
they were decoded,

the genius minds
that broke them,

and the secrets they reveal.

[dramatic music]

[suspenseful music]

May 5th, 2018.

On the outskirts of
Liverpool, England,

53-year-old John Kinsella
is walking his dogs

along a quiet country lane.

It's a sunny early
Saturday morning,

and the last one
Kinsella will ever see.

- 6:45 In the morning,

it was a kind of country
path along the M62.

At the same time,

on CCTV is captured a cyclist

in hi vis gear,

heading out, going
for a bike ride.

- [Narrator] But this
innocent-looking cyclist

is anything but.

He's an armed assassin.

- He takes out a gun and he
shoots John Kinsella four times.

[gunshots fired]

Twice in the back.

And then he goes over
and shoots him again.

[gunshots fired]

- [Narrator] Local
police are in no doubt,

this was a gangland execution.

And they know this because
Kinsella was a gangster.

[suspenseful music]

- John Kinsella
was part of a gang

that was smuggling drugs in
the Northwest of England,

and was involved
with rival gangs.

That involves violence,

that involves drug taking,

that involves firearms.

[gunshot fired]

- [Narrator] Despite
Kinsella's history,

the gangland assassination
is a bombshell.

- A hit to be carried
out that quick

with that kind of caliber
of weapon in England

was incredibly shocking.

- [Narrator] Using CCTV footage

and painstaking detective work,

a suspect is
eventually identified.

38-year-old Mark Fellows,

a member of a rival gang.

- John Kinsella's
murder came three years

after Paul Massey
was gunned down.

Paul Massey was a
notorious gang leader.

In fact, Kinsella had carried
the coffin at his funeral.

And his gang, the A Team,

was in direct conflict with
another gang, the Anti-A Team.

And there were huge turf
wars between these networks

and it got very bloody
and very violent.

- [Narrator] Mark Fellows
is a known associate

of the Anti-A Team.

Police suspect he
pulled the trigger

on gangland boss Massey in 2015

and Kinsella in 2018.

[suspenseful music]

They hope his cell phone
will provide the proof

that Fellows was
behind both hits.

But initially the phone seems
to reveal nothing useful.

- If you turn on the
power button once,
it's just gonna open

and look like an
ordinary Android phone.

- [Narrator] But on
closer inspection,

something doesn't add up.

- It's like it's
a brand new phone.

It has no history,

which is extraordinary

because every phone
has some kind of data.

- [Narrator] The wiped
phone is a red flag.

The police suspect Fellows

has been using a
sophisticated operating system

favored by criminals that
can cover its tracks.

It's known as EncroChat.

- If you press the power button

and the volume button
at the same time,

then you are transported to
the magical world of EncroChat.

It's almost like
being in Gotham City,

this underworld that
exists electronically.

- [Narrator] This
secret operating system

first appeared in 2015,

and everything
about it is shady.

Even buying a handset
is a clandestine affair.

- To get an EncroChat phone,

it's a bit like
getting hold of a gun.

You've got to know
someone who knows someone,

and the deal is done
in a back alley.

- [Narrator] EncroChat
operates in the shadows.

And so do most of its customers.

- I'm a crime reporter

and specialize in
interviewing criminals.

And one of these criminals,

he held up a phone,

and it was this bizarre
group chat going on,

and it had photos
of guns, drugs.

It was crazy.

- [Narrator] Criminals like
Mark Fellows are confident

they can communicate without
fear of incrimination.

Thanks to EncroChat's
ultra-secure
encryption software.

- The service that
EncroChat offered

was military grade encryption.

It was encryption
that law enforcement,

criminals themselves,

no one has seen anything
like this before.

[suspenseful music]

- [Narrator] Encryption
scrambles data,

making it seemingly
impossible for anyone

other than the sender and
recipient to read the message.

EncroChat uses a
particularly secure process

known as end-to-end encryption.

- The software and the phone
would encrypt a message

as soon as you're
putting it into the phone

so that when it was transmitted,

it would already be encrypted.

And on the other side,

the intended recipient
would have a secret key

that would allow them to decrypt
and receive that message.

- [Narrator] The only risk
of messages being intercepted

is if the phone falls
into the wrong hands.

But EncroChat has a
solution for that too.

- The level of security
on these EncroChat devices

would be the envy of James Bond.

Once a message has been sent,

it can be deleted
from the phone.

The other key security feature

is that everything on the phone
can be wiped in an instant

by keying in a pin code.

- [Narrator] This explains
why Mark Fellow's cell phone

was blank when he was arrested.

Either Fellows had
wiped the data himself

or the police had wiped it

when they tried to
access the phone.

- If someone is
incorrectly guessing pins

after a particular
number of attempts,

it's gonna automatically
erase all the information.

- [Narrator] And
that's not the only way

these heavily-modified Android
phones protect their users.

- The GPS, the
microphones, the cameras,

all of those parts of a phone

that reveal a lot about its use,

are completely disabled.

It doesn't use phone
networks, it uses wifi.

So there is no trace of
that phone being used.

Police can't locate
you and the phone,

they can't position you
anywhere near a crime.

- [Narrator] This makes these
phones appealing to anyone

who wants to keep their
communications private.

- The key selling point
is anonymity guaranteed.

In other words,

what you say to other people
will be kept completely private

between you and
the other person.

- Because it was
seen as impenetrable,

criminals started to
use it extensively,

to the point I think
90% of the 60,000 people

that were using EncroChat
were in fact criminals.

[suspenseful music]

- [Narrator] Serious
criminals and gang members

like Mark Fellows are
quick to adopt EncroChat

because the alternatives
are far less functional

and less secure.

- These days it's possible
to buy a mobile phone

extremely cheaply
and with no paperwork

and no contract required.

So they really can't be traced.

- Buy burner phones and throw
them away just like that,

and leave very little
trace of yourself.

- [Narrator] But these
so-called burner phones

are far from ideal.

- You can't keep contacts
on a burner phone

because that in itself
is identifiable.

And so to even try and remember
someone's number these days,

I don't think anyone can.

- [Narrator] Modern
technology now means

that with the right permissions,

the police can
locate a burner phone

or track down where
it was purchased.

- If the police find a phone,

they can recover a whole
wealth of information,

including contacts, messages,
history of activity,

and they can even get a
bunch of location-based data.

- [Narrator] This is
why EncroChat phones,

with their
stripped-down handsets,

are a game changer
for criminal kingpins.

[suspenseful music]

But above all, it's EncroChat's
bulletproof encryption

that makes the phone
such a valuable weapon

in the criminal's arsenal.

- Even if the police
intercept a message

between EncroChat
phones on route,

it's going to look
like gibberish,

and they're not going to be
able to read the contents.

- [Narrator] EncroChat
enables its users

to send messages without
fear of interception

by using a digital key.

- The key is the
recipe for encryption

and the recipe for decryption.

- [Narrator] To send
a secure message,

both the sender and the
recipient use this digital key

to encrypt and decrypt,
lock and unlock the message.

- I scramble up a message
according to some recipe,

and I send it to you.

And you can only
unscramble the message

if you know the same recipe.

- [Narrator] EncroChat
uses a digital key.

But the idea of using a
cryptographic key is not new.

From Roman emperors to Cold
War spies and serial killers,

people have been using
cryptographic keys

to lock and unlock secret
messages for thousands of years.

And they can be anything from
code books to cipher wheels.

But perhaps the most bizarre
use of a cryptographic key

involves a playerless piano

and the most beautiful
woman in the world.

- How long must he
live between us?

- [Narrator] By the time
America entered World War II,

Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr

had already lived
a colorful life.

- Hedy Lamarr was a young
star in German cinema.

She married an Austrian
arms dealer who was mixed up

with some of the more
notorious fascists of that day.

She managed to
escape that marriage,

make her way to England,

where she happened to cross
paths with Louis B. Mayer,

and convinced him that she
should be in American movies.

- [Narrator] Mayer
promoted Lamarr

as the most beautiful
woman in the world.

But Hedy Lamarr was
more than a pretty face.

[suspenseful music]

She was also a
brilliant inventor.

- Early in World War II,

the US had a problem
with its torpedoes.

Despite deploying
fleets of submarines,

the US was having very limited
success sinking enemy ships.

- [Narrator] The US
Navy used radio signals

to steer the torpedoes
towards their targets.

- Unfortunately,
this radio-controlled
targeting system

was very easy for
the enemy to jam.

All they had to do was
tune in the frequency

and then they could overwhelm it

with a transmission
of their own.

The torpedo would go off course,

and the ship would
sail on safely.

- [Narrator] It was a problem

that Hedy Lamarr
thought she could fix,

[piano plays]

thanks to a so-called
player piano.

- She often worked with a
composer named George Antheil.

And Antheil was an expert

at composing music
for player pianos.

This is a technology few
people would recognize today.

- [Narrator] Inside
a player piano,

a role of paper
with punched holes

tells the piano
which notes to play.

And bizarrely,
Lamarr and Antheil

thought this mechanism might
solve the torpedo problem.

Their big idea was to use a
similar perforated role of paper

to change the radio signal
controlling a torpedo,

just as it changed the notes
played on a player piano.

- [James] It would turn
on and off switches,

those switches could
control the frequency

of the radio receiver
or transmitter.

- [Narrator] One role of paper

would be located
on the submarine,

another inside the torpedo.

- You had one drum
on the submarine

and it would constantly
change the frequency

of the radio signal

that's controlling the
direction of the torpedo.

The receiver on the torpedo
has the exact same system

changing the frequency
at which it receives,

and the two of them
are moving in sync.

- [Narrator] The signal
hops across frequencies

according to a random,
prearranged sequence.

Jamming one frequency only
interrupts the transmission

for a split second.

And without knowing
what's on the paper,

the enemy can't predict where
the signal will hop next.

- There's no way that anyone
trying to jam the signal

can stay ahead of this
constantly changing frequency.

- [Narrator] Lamarr
and Antheil's invention

relied on the US
Navy giving the keys,

in this case, identical
sheets of perforated paper

to both the submarine
and torpedo.

Like all encrypted messages,

the system only works if
the sender shares the key,

whatever it is,
with the recipient.

[suspenseful music]

But this system won't work

for EncroChat's 21st
century customers.

- When encryption was
something that armies did

or governments did,

sharing the keys was achievable

because armies have
dispatch riders,

diplomats have special channels.

The information age can't run

on people exchanging bits
of paper with a key on it.

- [Narrator] In a world

where sender and
recipient may never meet,

and hackers can eave drop with
the click of a few buttons,

how can keys be shared online
or over cell phone networks

without fear of
electronic interception?

The answer comes from

one of the most secure and
secretive places on the planet.

Britain's top-secret cyber
security headquarters

in Cheltenham, known as GCHQ.

Here in the 1960s,

British cryptographers
solved the problem

of how to send a secret
message without sharing a key.

And their solution
seems to defy logic.

- I can send you
a secret message,

even though we've never met,

you will be able to decipher
the message, and only you.

- [Narrator] In
the GCHQ solution

and the system used by
EncroChat five decades later,

each person has two keys,

one secret private key
and one shared public key.

- Their public key,

which they can show to
anyone and is not sensitive,

and their private key, which
they keep to themselves.

- [Narrator] The first step

in sending a secure
locked message to someone

is generating a
private digital key.

This is a long string of
randomly generated numbers

running into hundreds,
sometimes thousands of digits.

- Well it's really hard to
guess it if you don't know it,

and it's drawn from a very
large space of possibilities.

- [Narrator] The next step

is to generate a
public digital key.

This is directly linked

to the recipient's
private digital key

through a series of complex
mathematical processes.

- The public key
is used to specify

how the data is
gonna get scrambled.

And its purpose is to be
combined with the message

that you're trying to send
through a mathematical process

that sort of scrambles
and mixes everything up.

- [Narrator] The
securely locked message

is then sent to the recipient.

But unlocking the scrambled
message then needs

both the recipient's public key

and the private
key linked to it.

- If I want to communicate
secretly with someone,

I can go look up
their public key

and use it to encrypt
my message in such a way

that only that intended
recipient who holds
that private key

will be able to
decrypt and read it.

- [Narrator] A
secret private key

with a shared public key
is an ingenious solution

to the problem of
sending secure messages

over insecure networks.

This process is known as
end-to-end encryption,

and it happens automatically

every time an EncroChat
user sends a message.

[suspenseful music]

But EncroChat isn't the
only messaging system

to use end-to-end encryption.

In fact, a billion
people around the world

use one every day,

for completely legal purposes.

- End-to-end encryption is
an incredibly common tool

that many of us use every day,

especially in messaging apps
like WhatsApp and Signal.

And it protects our
secure communications

from things like
unwanted surveillance,

it protects dissidents
and whistle blowers,

and it protects
very ordinary things

like our credit
card information.

- The difference between
EncroChat and WhatsApp

is that WhatsApp regularly
work with the police

and will help with
an investigation.

- [Narrator] WhatsApp even
has a set of guidelines

for law enforcement officials
seeking to access its records.

But that still doesn't make
it any easier to read messages

that have been
securely encrypted.

Instead, the police can
access other related data.

- They do have the metadata,
meaning the information about

which parties were
communicating at what times

and in what amount.

- [Narrator] While WhatsApp

is willing to assist
law enforcement,

EncroChat takes a radically
different approach.

- EncroChat, as far
as we are aware,

have never cooperated
with anybody.

- [Narrator] In fact, EncroChat
guarantees its customers

it will never give
up this information

under any circumstances,

making its end-to-end encryption

a gift for the
criminal underworld.

Within months of launching,
EncroChat is making a fortune.

Each modified phone sells for
around a thousand dollars.

But the real money is in the
secure encryption service

provided by EncroChat.

- To subscribe to one, it
was about 1,300 to 500,

just for a couple of months.

- [Narrator] As the police
can't read their messages

and EncroChat won't
release any metadata,

by the time killer Mark
Fellows is arrested,

he's just one of many
serious criminals

who believe EncroChat
makes them untouchable,

free to conduct their
business undetected.

But law enforcement
is slowly closing in

on operations like EncroChat.

[suspenseful music]

On the other side
of the Atlantic,

police have found
a way to crack down

on a similar encrypted
messaging service,

without cracking the code.

In 2008, Canadian
entrepreneur Vincent Ramos

set up a company in Vancouver
called Phantom Secure.

Ramos's big idea was to sell
secure Blackberry phones

to top flight business
people, celebrities,

and wannabe James Bonds.

- These Phantom Secure devices

were straightforward
Blackberry phones,

but with key security
features in them

quite similar to EncroChat.

So in a way they were
the precursor to the
EncroChat device.

- [Narrator] With a
Phantom Secure phone,

a user couldn't
make ordinary calls.

They could only send
encrypted emails.

Not surprisingly that
made them less popular

with wannabe James
Bond business execs,

and more popular
with real villains.

- Phantom Secure had clients

including major drug
trafficking organizations,

gambling syndicates,

as well as the Hell's
Angels out in Australia.

- [Narrator] Like EncroChat,
the Phantom Secure phones

used end-to-end
encryption software.

But unlike EncroChat,

whose ownership is
carefully shielded,

it was clear who was
behind this operation.

- Phantom Secure was
of openly known...

It was run by Vincent Ramos.

- [Narrator] In February, 2017.

The FBI set up a sting
operation in a Las Vegas hotel.

- [Livvy] The FBI, posing
as drug traffickers,

had arranged a meeting
with Vincent Ramos

to negotiate a deal of buying
200 Phantom Secure phones.

- Ramos was talking about
the benefits of these devices

and how they were
great for drug dealing.

And that was one
of the key things

that helped the authorities
take Ramos down.

[gavel hits]

- [Narrator] Ramos
was subsequently

sentenced to nine years
in jail for racketeering.

Phantom Secure collapsed,

leaving a major
gap in the market

that a new provider
stepped straight into.

- Another similar device
emerged called Anom.

The unique feature of this phone

is that when you use
the calculator function,

it was actually to
install encryption

on the messages and
communications of that phone.

Absolutely perfect
for criminals.

- [Narrator] Use of
these secure new devices

spread rapidly by word of mouth.

By late 2019,

there were almost 10,000
regular users of Anom,

all of them criminals.

- Anom felt a lot
less underground

than a lot of the other
encryption services.

If you're a criminal

and the service isn't
working quite right for you,

you could ring and get
some customer support.

- [Narrator] It seemed
too good to be true.

And that's because it was.

- Anom was a sting
operation run by the FBI.

They could read all the
messages between the criminals.

They could see where drug
deals were being planned,

what other violent activities
were in the pipeline.

And it proved to be a
major coup for the FBI.

- The amount of intelligence

that we received was staggering.

- [Narrator] In June, 2021,

the Anom sting results in a
multinational police operation

across 16 countries.

Over 800 people are arrested,

40 tons of drugs seized,

and hundreds of
guns, luxury cars,

and millions of dollars
in cash recovered.

[suspenseful music]

But the techniques that
allowed Anom to succeed

and Phantom Secure to fail

won't work against EncroChat

because incredibly, the company
is doing nothing illegal.

- It's not illegal to
own an EncroChat phone.

It's not illegal to
use an EncroChat phone.

- What is illegal is
to plan drug deals

or to plan to kill
your rival gangsters.

But there's nothing illegal

about having an EncroChat
phone or using it.

- [Narrator] Making matters
harder for the police,

the company is based in Panama.

EncroChat is one of thousands

of offshore
companies based here.

Existing on paper alone,

but with no mention
of the people behind

the highly lucrative operation.

By 2018, police estimate

there are at least
60,000 subscribers

generating up to
$180 million a year.

This is very big business.

EncroChat phones
are becoming endemic

in the criminal
underworld across Europe.

Armed with them,
organized criminal gangs

are getting away with murder.

[suspenseful music]

Including Mark Fellows'
hit on John Kinsella.

[sirens wail]

In November 2019,

Fellows is tried for murder
at Liverpool Crown Court.

CCTV footage captured
near the crime scene

reveals an EncroChat phone

played a critical
role in the killing.

- The CCTV is really
crucial evidence

because it places Fellows

near the murder scene at
the absolute critical time.

- And if you look carefully
at some of these images,

you can see, Fellows has
got a phone in his hand.

- He's using that phone to
communicate to his wingman.

Who's parked in
a layby in a car,

and that phone is
an EncroChat device.

- [Narrator]
EncroChat's encryption

means police can't
read the messages

exchanged by the two men.

But they believe
Fellows' accomplice

used the phone to tell him

when Kinsella was
coming into range.

And the simple fact that
Fellows used an EncroChat phone

contributes to the
evidence against him.

- The prosecution at the trial

say that the EncroChat device

is the favorite device of
the criminal underworld.

- [Narrator] The jury agrees.

Fellows is found
guilty of the murders

of John Kinsella
and Paul Massey.

[sirens wail]

He's given a whole life tariff,

joining an infamous club of
just 75 prisoners in the UK

sentenced to spend the rest
of their lives in jail.

The phone that Fellows
thought put him

beyond the reach of the law,

ultimately helped send him down.

[suspenseful music]

But Fellows is just one

out of tens of
thousands of criminals

across Europe and
beyond using EncroChat

to conduct their
illegal business.

- EncroChat phones
are being used

for everything in
the criminal world.

Major drug trafficking,
kidnappings,

plots to murder people,

all being discussed really
openly across EncroChat.

- [Narrator] If police can
intercept these messages,

they could stop the crimes,

catch the criminals,

and strike a blow to the heart
of European organized crime.

But to do that, they need
to crack the EncroChat code.

350 miles from Liverpool,

on the outskirts of Paris,

one team of French law
enforcement officials

is attempting to do just that.

A dedicated digital crime unit

made up of 60 cyber
crime specialists

has been following
the rise of EncroChat

since its inception.

But so far, it's
failed to find a way

in to EncroChat's ultra-secure
encryption system.

To unscramble a message,

the team needs to know
the private digital key

used to unlock it.

- In a public key
encryption system,

there's this
mathematical relationship

between your public key
and your private key.

- [Narrator] Because both
public and private key

are related,

in theory, it could be possible
to identify the private key

by working backwards through
the layers of complex math

that connect them.

But the reality is,

EncroChat's digital
keys are so long,

this is impossible.

- If you don't know
that private key,

you're not gonna be able to
reverse engineer what happened

and get back to the
underlying message.

- [Narrator] If a billion

of the world's
fastest supercomputers

ran all the possible solutions,

it could take thousands
of billions of years

to find the private key.

- If the encryption
is done correctly

and you don't have any kind
of access to the private key,

then we believe it's
impossible to crack.

- [Narrator] This is a major
blow to the French team

trying to take down EncroChat.

The criminals'
messages can't be read

because the code
can't be cracked.

- They can't hack into them.

They can't access the messages.

And that was a major
problem for law enforcement.

When they realized
that these devices

are being used by
criminals across the world.

- [Narrator] But the
French Digital Crime Unit

doesn't accept defeat.

They think outside the box
and hatch a radical plan.

Instead of cracking
the EncroChat code,

they plan to use the code

and turn it against
the criminals.

But first, they need
to find a way into it.

[suspenseful music]

After four years of frustration,

dead ends, and dogged
persistence, in early 2019,

the team finds a chink in
EncroChat's formidable armor.

- The French police, with some
amazing investigative work,

finally found out
where the servers

of EncroChat were based.

- [Narrator] One of
EncroChat's servers

is located in Northern France.

Due to ongoing criminal cases,

exactly where or
how it was found

remains under wraps.

- We still don't
know to this day

what led to the breakthrough
by French investigators.

My suspicion is that
there must have been

some inside information
from somewhere,

but it absolutely was the vital
step in this investigation.

- [Narrator] Because the servers
are linked to the phones,

if the team can infiltrate them,

the hope is they'll be able to
observe the encrypted traffic

being sent between
EncroChat handsets.

- But even then they can't read
the contents of the messages

because of the protection
of the encryption,

because the keys are
on the local devices

and not on the server.

- [Narrator] Despite
being thwarted

by the ultra-secure encryption,

the French Crime Unit
refuses to give up.

The solution, when
it comes is simple,

turn the server
against the phones.

- EncroChat, like pretty much
any other software provider

needs the capability to
frequently update their software

in response to emerging threats

and bugs that they might
find that need to be fixed.

So their servers need the
ability to push updated software

to the phones to keep
them ahead of threats

as they are discovered.

- [Narrator] The French
Digital Crime Team,

most likely working
with software developers

and computer programmers,

devises an audacious plan:

to use these software
updates from the server

to get inside the
EncroChat handsets.

- If someone can gain
access to those servers

and install their own
piece of software,

then that piece of software

can be pushed through
that update mechanism

to all of the phones.

- [Narrator] The plan is
to infiltrate the server

using malicious software,
commonly known as malware.

- Malware is software

that is designed to
infiltrate a system

and take control for
an unauthorized user

to perform actions like
locking you out of your data

and holding it for ransom,

sending your information
to some other party,

and generally doing
things on the device

that was not the
intention of the user.

- [Narrator] Today, malware
is almost always unleashed

by criminal hackers looking
to make trouble or money.

But that's not how
it started out.

[suspenseful music]

Lahore, Pakistan.

In January 1986,

two budding programmers
wrote a program

to monitor heart rates.

This software proved more
popular than they anticipated.

Much more popular.

- Programs were typically
put on floppy discs.

And so they had found that
people could easily copy

the floppy disc and distribute
the program without paying.

Now these two young brothers

just wanted to discourage people

from illegally copying
and sharing it.

So they inserted
this malicious code

to pop up a message that
would warn the users.

- [Narrator] The
virus, called Brain,

didn't harm the computers,

but it panicked users enough
to contact the brothers

and pay the royalties.

Although back in 1986,
the internet didn't exist,

the virus spread like
wildfire via floppy discs

and changed the digital world.

- This opened up a whole
new world of possibilities

for malicious
software to be spread

and to gain control of systems.

And in response, an entire
industry of antivirus

and defense mechanism
has cropped up

to try to protect
all of our machines

from these kinds of threats.

- [Narrator] Today, malware

has developed into
a battleground

between computer security
experts and criminals.

[suspenseful music]

Usually it's the bad guys
who are one step ahead.

But in northern France,
in the spring of 2020,

it's the French police's
Digital Crime Unit

who unleash a malware attack.

How the malware was uploaded
has not been revealed.

But however the team
did it, it worked.

EncroChat's administrators,
whoever they are,

are unaware their servers
have been infiltrated.

And when the next
software update

goes out to EncroChat handsets,

it takes the French
team's malware with it.

- The software
updates of course,

would be accepted by
any Encro phone user

because it's come directly
from the EncroChat servers.

So you'd have no
question to doubt it.

- [Narrator] The malware
immediately gets to work.

Instructing EncroChat's
secure system

to attack itself from within.

Acting like a double agent,

the malware manipulates the
EncroChat operating system

on each phone.

And so begins a game
of cat and mouse

between the French Digital
Crime Unit and the criminals.

- Firstly, they have
problems with their password,

and then they have problems
with the kill function,

putting in the pin
code that automatically

deletes all the messages
and data on their phone.

- [Narrator] The
criminals can no longer

wipe their phones
clean of evidence.

- For the EncroChat users

this is an absolutely
vital concern

because if those phones

come into the hands of
police and law enforcement,

they can read all
those messages.

They've got a goldmine
of information,

then that's a real problem.

- EncroChat starts getting
complaints from users saying

my kill switch isn't
working, you know,

and that's a major
feature of the device.

There's something going wrong.

So EncroChat says there's
a bug in our encryption.

- [Narrator] To fix the problem,

EncroChat unwittingly does
the worst thing it can do.

It sends another
software update.

- French investigators
were able to piggyback

on that security update with
another piece of malware.

- [Narrator] Once EncroChat

realizes there's a
problem with its system,

a security update is pushed out.

- So at this point
we've almost got a game

between law enforcement
and the criminals,

one doing something, the
other one responding.

There's a kind of
street warfare,

but it's being played
out on the computers.

- [Narrator] The Digital Crime
Unit once again strikes back.

This malware update
instructs the phones

to secretly send
copies of messages

before they're encrypted,

and after they've
been decrypted,

direct to the police.

- All those messages,

all that information
that's being sent

to be read by law
enforcement officials.

- [Narrator] Faced with
an uncrackable code,

the French team has achieved
the seemingly impossible.

Without needing a digital key,

they can now read all
of the secret messages

sent by EncroChat's
criminal customers.

- Every planned hit,
every planned kidnapping,

every planned drug deal.

They can just sit and watch in
real time and take it all in.

- The National Crime Agency

has said that breaking
the EncroChat network

was the same, in effect,

as cracking the
war-time Enigma code.

- [Narrator] Instead
of cracking EncroChat's

uncrackable encryption,

French police have found a way

to flip EncroChat
in their favor.

Now, the once super-secure
system is working for the police

against the criminals.

And those criminals have no idea

their incriminating messages

are now in the hands of the law.

- For about two months,

the police, sitting in
their offices, in their HQ,

can sit and watch every message,

every kind of conversation
that's going on.

- [Narrator] In the
first month alone,

the French Digital Crime Team
captures 70 million messages

from more than 32,000
phones in 121 countries.

Realizing the vast scale

of the criminal networks
relying on EncroChat,

the French team joins forces

with other European law
enforcement agencies.

- This goldmine of
information is disseminated

to each country involved

and then to particular police
forces within each country

to step in and take action.

- France, Sweden,
Norway, Britain

were all able to
share intelligence

and sit and watch these 100
million encrypted messages

between criminals
going backwards and
forwards in real time.

- These are criminals
that law enforcement

have tried to deal with
for many, many years.

And they have been able to
operate on these devices

believing that law
enforcement would never see

what those criminal
exchanges were.

[suspenseful music]

- [Narrator] They
don't know it yet,

but EncroChat and its
users are cornered.

By the second week of June,

after multiple
updates and fixes,

EncroChat's mysterious
administrators

finally realized their
supposedly bulletproof system

has been fatally compromised.

- In effect they're trapped.

They can't send out any
more security updates.

But at the same time,

they can't instruct
all their users

not to use EncroChat devices

because they'll be left without
any communication system.

- [Narrator] On the
night of June 12th, 2020,

EncroChat hits the
self-destruct button.

- They contact all the users

and they tell them to
power off their devices,

dispose of them, destroy them,

throw them away,
don't use them again.

It's the end of EncroChat.

- [Narrator] But it's too late
for EncroChat's customers.

Law enforcement
agencies across Europe

now have everything they need
to bring the criminals down.

The multinational,
multi-agency task force

has unearthed a treasure
trove of criminal activity

spanning Europe and beyond.

- They can join the dots
between different organizations,

different sales
that are happening,

what shipments are coming in,

who's gonna take
a hit out on who.

It was the equivalent of
having an undercover officer

within every single gang
across the world, pretty much.

- [Narrator] But now those
gangs know they've been watched,

which means law
enforcement's cover is blown.

So the police have to hit
the criminals hard and fast.

- Police are working
at breakneck speed.

There are some people
whose lives are at risk

because acts of violence
are gonna be carried out.

At the same time,

there are drug deals
that are being planned,

that they need to
arrest those involved.

- The clock is ticking,

basically the police
have to now move.

They've had their
window of opportunity.

It's gonna be closed,
they have to move on it.

[sirens wail]

- [Narrator] Within 24 hours,

police across Europe
make their move.

[indiscriminate yelling]

- These raids were so fast,

so effective, and
happened at the same time,

the criminals
couldn't do anything.

And the realization that
it has to do with EncroChat

would've installed absolute fear

because if you haven't
been raided yet,

it's probably coming.

- Hundreds of arrests,
drugs being seized,

money being recovered.

I've reported and researched
on crime for about 25 years,

and this is certainly the
biggest and most significant

organized crime operation
that I've ever covered.

- [Narrator] Across Europe,

police forces arrest
at least 1500 criminals

and seize millions of dollars
worth of illegal items,

from guns to drugs.

[suspenseful music]

One of the most significant
arrests is in Britain.

Just a few hours after
EncroChat warns its users

their messages are
no longer secure,

the piece of a quiet
English suburb is shattered.

The modest street
in northwest England

is home to dad of
three, Thomas Maher.

- Thomas Maher owns
a trucking company.

And behind that company,

he was trafficking
serious Class A drugs,

cocaine, heroin, across
Europe and Britain.

And EncroChat actually
lifted the lid on him.

- [Narrator] Hidden behind
the respectable facade

and EncroChat's
encryption software,

Maher operated a vast
drug smuggling network,

working with Colombian cartels

and some of Europe's most
notorious organized crime gangs.

Police recover 10,000
messages sent via EncroChat

involving Maher
during the period

he was under investigation.

- It emerges that Thomas Maher,

in one month alone
in April 2020,

is coordinating
shipments of cocaine

to and from the Netherlands
worth over $2 million.

- [Narrator] And
thanks EncroChat,

he coordinated all this from
the comfort of his home.

- Thomas Maher's drug operation
is actually a prime example

of how with the
use of EncroChat,

he, as the sort of
kingpin of his operation,

didn't even have
to leave his sofa.

- [Narrator] But he
certainly saw the profits.

- When police raided
Thomas Maher's premises,

they found a fleet
of luxury cars,

luxury watches, a map
made out of bullets,

which must have been
valued about 20,000 pounds.

- [Narrator] Maher is
one of hundreds of people

arrested in the UK as a
result of the EncroChat sting.

- These are not
street-level criminals.

These are the kingpin of
organized crime groups

living the lavish lifestyle

on the back of
criminal proceeds,

who we have now
been able to get to,

having never got as
close to them before.

- [Narrator] So
far, British police

have seized 106
EncroChat handsets,

77 guns, two tons of drugs,

28 million illicit pills, and
nearly $70 million in cash.

The effect on the criminal
community has been cataclysmic.

- One criminal spoke
to me and he said

that people are
just disappearing.

It's crazy, the supplies
are being shut off.

It was like a house of cards
that collapsed all at once

in June 2020.

[suspenseful music]

- [Narrator] Across Europe,

countless organized criminal
gangs faced the same fate.

And this is just the beginning.

- The encrypted communication

gave an inside view on all
kinds of criminal activities.

So all this will lead to
more arrests, more seizures,

and dismantling of
criminal networks.

[suspenseful music]

- [Narrator] Today,
arrests continue to be made

as police unpick the
web of connections

between organized
criminal gangs.

But already the
EncroChat investigation

is one of the largest
and most sophisticated

police operations ever

in the fight against
serious organized crime.

- Where there's crime,

there has to be secrecy,

and where you want secrecy,

there has to be a code,

and it's a game of cat and mouse

between the organized
criminals and law enforcement.

[sirens wail]

- It seemed like an
unbreakable system,

but police were able to
get around the encryption

by turning the phones
against themselves.

- That doesn't mean that
organized crime is dead.

It's never dead,

but it has been a huge dent

for many criminal networks
right across Europe.

- [Narrator] And it's
all thanks to a code

that couldn't be cracked.

To the unseen
software developers

and cyber crime specialists,

led by the incredible
French team of investigators

who turned EncroChat's
encryption against itself

and transformed the
criminal's greatest asset

into their worst enemy.

[suspenseful music]

[chimes sound]