Encrochat: the top-secret network explained after the NCA helped hack phones of major crime figures and made arrests

The encrypted communications system was used by many high profile organised criminals

£54m in cash has been seized by police authorities due to the hack of EncroChat (Essex Police)

A military-standard encrypted communications system used by several high profile mob bosses in Europe has been hacked resulting in the arrests of hundreds of criminals.

More than 700 have been arrested so far, including police officers and law enforcement officials, and drugs worth £80 million plus £54 million in cash has been seized.

The operation has seen the involvement of regional crime squads and every police agency in the UK.

Here’s how the communications system was used by criminals.

What is Encrochat?

Encrochat was a platform where users were able to communicate privately between specially-designed handsets.

Marketed as the electronic equivalent of two people having a conversation in an empty room, it enabled users to send written messages or make voice calls through an encrypted system.

There were thought to be 60,000 users internationally, including 10,000 in the UK, with prices at £1,500 for a six-month contract.

Investigators say that the platform, which was not in itself illegal, was designed to be secure against unwanted outside access, and in the UK was used purely for criminal purposes.

Who was running it?

Hosted in France the identity of those in charge of EncroChat has not been made available, but they have not been accused of criminal activity.

They have decided to shut down their operation following the hack, however.

Speaking to Vice a company representative said: "our main priority has always been our customers integrity and security, and when we no longer can guarantee that, we have no other choice than to shut down the service even if it destroys our business."

What features did the phones have?

According to the Encrochat website, customers had access to features such as self-destructing messages, that deleted from the recipient's device after a certain length of time.

There was also panic wipe, where all the data on the device could be deleted by entering a four-digit code from the lock-screen.

The National Crime Agency said the handset could also be wiped remotely.

Encrochat made sure that there was no way to link the SIM or device to the user's account, and its handsets had no camera, USB data port, GPS or microphone to make them extra secure.

Investigators became aware of the platform in around 2016, but it grew in popularity in the following two years after law enforcement hacked the encrypted Blackberry PGP system.

Who used the phones?

Law enforcement have been aware of Encrochat for some years. Drug dealers Andrew Venna and Matthew Cornwall, who operated in Gloucester and Stroud, used the devices before they were jailed in May 2019; as did Mark Fellows and Steven Boyle, who were jailed for life last year for the 2015 gangland killings of John Kinsella and Paul Massey in Liverpool.

After the platform was accessed, investigators were able to monitor thousands of Encrochat handsets and analyse millions of messages to get information on drug dealing, the sale of illegal guns and money laundering.

Several organised crime gangs active in the UK, a number in double figures, have been dismantled.