Cops Say They Can Access Encrypted Emails on So-Called PGP BlackBerrys
January 13th, 2016Via: Vice:
Dutch investigators have confirmed to Motherboard that they are able to read encrypted messages sent on PGP BlackBerry phones—custom, security-focused BlackBerry devices that come complete with an encrypted email feature, and which reportedly may be used by organized criminal groups.
“We are capable of obtaining encrypted data from BlackBerry PGP devices,” Tuscha Essed, a press officer from the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), told Motherboard in an email. The NFI is a body that assists law enforcement in forensic evidence retrieval, and which, according to its website, deals with most of the forensic investigations in criminal cases in the Netherlands.
The news first emerged when Dutch blog “misdaadnieuws.com,” or Crime News, published apparent documents sourced from the NFI in December last year. According to that report, deleted messages can be recovered and encrypted emails read on these devices. The process is carried out with a piece of forensics software made by private company Cellebrite.
