Sky ECC: Over 2,000 investigations launched after encrypted messenger hacked
The German federal police launched 2,112 proceedings after Europol cracked the encrypted app Sky ECC. Data protection advocates speak of the largest mass surveillance in history.
Europol cracks encrypted messenger – BKA executes 585 arrest warrants
When customs investigators opened shipping containers at Hamburg port in February 2021, they found 16 tonnes of cocaine – hidden in canisters filled with joint compound. It was the largest amount of drugs seized in Europe at that time, with an estimated street value of over two billion euros.
The blow against the smuggling network was made possible by an unprecedented investigative success: investigators from the European police agency Europol had previously intercepted the perpetrators' communications. The smugglers used Sky ECC, a heavily encrypted crypto-messenger that was regarded worldwide among criminals as being wiretap-proof.
As ZDF reports, the ZDF programme frontal has thousands of documents from the so-called Sky ECC Files – chats and photos that criminals sent to each other. They include messages such as: "What's up, have we hit the jackpot, hahahahaha. If this works out, we'll get 4 million." Another chat participant wrote: "This is already Champions League."
"WhatsApp for criminals"
Zora Hauser, a mafia expert at Cambridge University, assesses the significance of the messenger. "Sky ECC was incredibly important for criminal markets to make them more efficient. You could build networks, find new contacts, organise your entire business model," she says. For the authorities, it was one of the most important operations that had ever taken place.
In Germany, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) coordinated the investigations. According to the BKA, 2,112 investigation proceedings were opened in connection with Sky ECC by the end of March 2025, and 585 arrest warrants were executed. BKA investigator Heiko Löhr told frontal: "The evaluation of the crypto-messenger data on Sky ECC is definitely one of the decisive steps in understanding how organised crime has taken place in Germany, but also in the international context." He added: "If we look at what we know so far about Sky ECC, it has become relatively clear that this cryptographic service was used for virtually nothing other than agreeing on serious criminal offences."
Europol prevented 114 murders
Europol Director Catherine De Bolle described how far the real-time surveillance reached. "The criminals thought the police would never get in there. And we got in," she said. On the Balkans, mafia clans planned violent crimes over Sky ECC. Because Europol could read along in real-time, local police forces could be warned in time. "We reported a planned killing in a specific street at a specific time. That way we were able to prevent 114 murders," De Bolle said.
Data protection advocates speak of scandal
For critics, the operation raises fundamental legal questions. According to its own statements, Europol stored more than one billion messages sent via Sky ECC – everything that was communicated via the service over a period of one and a half years.
Lawyer Christian Lödden, who represents clients who used Sky ECC, describes the procedure as a scandal. "There were 170,000 phones, the vast majority in Europe, a five-digit number in Germany. And over one and a half years, all data was intercepted. This is definitely the biggest intrusion into the privacy of German, European and world citizens," he criticises.
The inventor of the messenger sees himself as a fighter for data protection.
The frontal documentary "Secret Chats and Criminal Deals – The Sky ECC Case" airs on Tuesday, 10 June, at 21:00 on ZDF. The four-part documentary series "The Crime Messenger" is already available on the ZDF streaming portal.
Source: ZDFheute