Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

The French government revealed that a recent breach of its Tchap encrypted messaging platform affects the accounts of over 73,000 employees in the French public sector. [...]

France’s government chat app Tchap was breached after a single account was compromised, exposing messages and data from public channels. Tchap, the encrypted messaging platform developed by the French government for its civil servants and made mandatory last year, was breached on June 7. ANSSI, France’s cybersecurity agency, detected the intrusion. The vector was straightforward: […]

DINUM, the digital affairs directorate of the French government, warned that hackers used a hijacked user account to breach Tchap, the French government's encrypted messaging platform. [...]

France Invokes Geopolitical Instability to Mandate 2030 DeadlineA working quantum computer is probably at least a decade away. The rush to adopt encryption algorithms that can withstand the onslaught of a qubit attack has already begun, with European countries feeling variable levels of urgency. "Sooner is better in principle," an analyst said.

Privacy-focused email provider Tuta (previously Tutanota) and the VPN Trust Initiative (VTI) are raising concerns over proposed laws in France set to backdoor encrypted messaging systems and restrict internet access. [...]

Until September 2024, the encrypted messaging service acceded to 14 requests for user data from the US; that number jumped to 900 after its CEO was detained by French authorities in August.

Europol on Tuesday announced the takedown of an invite-only encrypted messaging service called MATRIX that's created by criminals for criminal purposes

Platform Used for Drugs, Arms Trafficking and Money LaunderingFrench and Dutch police led the takedown of an encrypted messaging platform used in international drug and arms trafficking. Dutch police discovered the app, named Matrix, on the phone of a criminal convicted in 2021 of murdering a journalist.

They took the red pill French and Dutch police have taken down the Matrix chat app, which was designed by criminals for criminals to be a secure encrypted messaging tool.…

Platform Used for Drugs, Arms trafficking, and Money LaunderingFrench and Dutch police led the takedown of an encrypted messaging platform used in international drug and arms trafficking. Dutch police discovered the app, named Matrix, on the phone of a criminal convicted in 2021 of murdering a journalist.

A law enforcement operation executed by Dutch and French authorities resulted in the main servers used by Matrix being taken down

Telegram Messages Hard to Encrypt But CEO Faces Charges for Noncompliant CryptologyThe arrest and indictment of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov is sparking concerns about the viability of encrypted communications in France. The Paris Prosecutor's Office indicted Durov, the 39-year-old Russian-born owner of Telegram on Wednesday, after arresting him Saturday night.

Activists Raise Concerns Over Privacy and Hostility to End-to-End EncryptionThe Saturday evening arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov by French law enforcement agencies thrust the already controversial social media platform further into the international spotlight as Paris authorities said the Russian billionaire will likely remain in custody at least through Wednesday.

Authorities Hacked the End-to-End Encryption Platform in 2020The Dominican Republic earlier this month extradited to France a suspected administrator of now-defunct encrypted messaging service EncroChat. The extradition is the latest in a series of actions European authorities have been taking against EncroChat users since authorities penetrated its network.

NATO, United Nations, US DoD, and French government among its customer base Element, one of the companies behind decentralized comms platform Matrix, says customers are asking it to insert a protective clause from the encryption-busting element of UK government's Online Safety Bill (OSB).…