Exclu: Authorities take crypto messenger offline

Using the messenger service Exclu, criminals were able to communicate with each other undetected for a long time. This is now a thing of the past. Law enforcement officers from Germany and the Netherlands have succeeded in decrypting the crypto-messenger. The first arrests have already been made.

Exclu taken off the net

If one takes a look at current films, the image is often conveyed that criminals are cavorting in the so-called darknet. But this is by no means the case. In the meantime, this area of the Internet is considered a red rag for people with illegal intentions. After all, the law enforcement agencies know their way around here better than they know their own pockets. Instead, the underground prefers to use crypto-messengers. These can be thought of as WhatsApp with maximum anonymity.

This makes it all the more difficult for the police and public prosecutors to obtain the relevant data. But sometimes a notable breakthrough is made in this area as well. This was the case in the fight against the messenger Exclu. German and Dutch authorities have finally been able to decrypt the service’s data. After reading out all the data, they also took the service offline. After the investigative success against EncroChat, this is apparently the next big fish.

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This is how European cooperation works

Even though the lion’s share of Exclu’s investigation and dismantling must be attributed to authorities from Germany and the Netherlands, strictly speaking, this is broad European cooperation. Finally, authorities from Poland, Sweden, Italy and France also did their bit to finally shut down Messenger. According to authorities, this is a success story resulting from months of investigative work. After gathering the necessary information, raids took place across Europe on Friday, February 03, 2023. More than 70 properties were reportedly searched in Germany, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands.

Exclu uses one in organized crime

The raids were also reportedly accompanied by 48 arrests. Not only users of Exclu, but also admins would have been arrested. It is becoming apparent that the crypto-messenger was used in particular in the field of drug-related crime. However, the encrypted service was also used in other areas of organized crime. It was not only drug traffickers who made money from it.

For the opportunity to communicate via a supposedly secure channel, they also paid a hefty sum to the people behind Exclu. This means that users of the service had to pay 1,200 euros a year. The app itself was very easy to install on the smartphone. When using the app, there are hardly any differences to WhatsApp, Signal and the like. Messages can be sent here, as well as media and voice messages. Only extremely well encrypted.

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Hacking for a good cause

In order to get Exclu on the scent, the people behind the messenger have probably been beaten with their own weapons. At least, the responsible authorities have admitted that one was not afraid of the “use of hacking means”. In the end, the combination of modern cyber-investigation work and classic police work seems to have paid off. Now the question arises as to what should happen to the legal users of the service. After all, certain professional groups with confidentiality obligations in particular have relied on the extremely secure chat. According to the authorities, those affected should contact them to initiate data deletion.