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Why do criminals use their own encrypted messaging platforms, instead of using any of the recommended apps?
(www.europol.europa.eu)
this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2024
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You're missing the #1 reason organized criminals prefer their own service. To have trusted staff who control everything — the servers, code development & deployment — whom can't be ordered by a court to shut off access to individuals at any time, or provide metadata, eavesdrop, etc.
The weakest link with legal services like Signal is that they can be compelled by law enforcement, the judicial system, and government... That's an enormous risk for any organized crime operation. Even a minimal amount of metadata collection can do a lot of damage, especially if it's analyzed over months/years, and especially when performed by an advanced persistent threat actor like a nation state.
I disagree, stupid self developed systems leak so much more, I think the number 1 reason is, surprise surprise, stupid people.
Also plenty of criminals and organized crime also use standard tools like telegram (which is way worse then signal)
That's a very simplistic way of arguing or thinking about the issue. You are in fact not surrounded by idiots. Not everybody has expertise in your field (or the field you believe to be an expert in), so to you, it might seem obvious, but them, it's not.
Ridiculing others for "omg that was so obvious" is a failure on your part to see the obvious: they have other shit going on. I'd like to see you become a successful drug lord, escape capture for decades, and be an expert in computing at the same time. It wouldn't surprise me if you'd utterly fail at the drug lord part and make basic mistakes that a drug lord would call you an idiot for.
Anti Commercial-AI license
Look, no one needs to be an expert on everything, in the context of running a drug ring, being stupid means not having the roght experts for the right tasks.
If I was a drug lord I would start by hiring someone who has done it in the past.
If you approach cyber security with the mindset that it is simple and you don't need an expert, then you are an idiot. Same as if you approached almost any subject with dire consequences if done poorly.
So yeah, if your "cyber security expert" is your computer guy who does everything, unless he is actually a cyber security expert, you are an idiot.