Police Hacked into Encrypted Messaging Platform ‘Exclu’ to Monitor Cybercriminals

Dutch police infiltrated secure communication platform ‘Exclu,’ gaining access to shady activities orchestrated by criminal organizations.

The platform, which was touted as impenetrable due to its advanced encryption protocols and access control measures, has been under investigation for some time.

Exclu’s teardown was a joint effort of Europol, Eurojust, and police in France, Sweden, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. It comprised two separate investigations, launched in September 2020 and April last year.

During the investigations, law enforcement agencies carried out 79 targeted searches in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other regions. As a result of the operation, 42 individuals were arrested, including the alleged manager of Exclu and the platform’s suspected owner, plus 40 “regular” users.

Authorities uncovered “two drug labs and a cocaine laundry,” as well as “several kilos of narcotics, more than 4 million euros in cash, various luxury goods and several firearms,” according to a Dutch police press release.

Exclu was a crypto-communications platform that allowed users to converse privately by sending encrypted messages, images, videos or voice recordings. The service was available on smartphones and could be activated with a biannual license of 800 euros.

A roughly estimated 3,000 people used Exclu, including 750 Dutch speakers. Although favored by cybercriminals, the crypto-communications platform was also used by legitimate customers for whom privacy was quintessential, such as civil-law notaries, lawyers and doctors.

Following the dismantling of the service, authorities recommend that Exclu users who can invoke legal privilege share their user data by sending it to a dedicated email address. After checking it, if justifiable, the police will dispose of it accordingly, according to the announcement.