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FBI arrests CEO of company selling custom BlackBerrys to gangs
Custom, extra-secure BlackBerry phones remain a staple of the criminal underworld, and a recent bust just illustrated this point. Motherboard has learned that the FBI arrested Vincent Ramos, the founder of the well-established phone mod seller Phantom Secure, for allegedly aiding criminal organizations that include the Sinaloa drug cartel. The company altered BlackBerry and Android devices to disable common features (including the camera and web browsing) while adding Pretty Good Privacy for encrypted conversations. And it wasn't just turning a blind eye to the shady backgrounds of its customers, according to investigators -- it was fully aware of who was involved.
Canadian police used BlackBerry's key to unlock BBM messages
BlackBerry's big selling point is its stance on mobile security, but a report from Vice and Motherboard reveals at least one national police force were able to bypass that security. A cache of documents revealed that Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police had the ability to intercept and crack encrypted messages sent through BlackBerry's BBM service. The RCMP's findings in an operation called Project Clemenza led to seven men confessing their roles in a murder conspiracy, but over 1 million messages were captured and unlocked by a server in Ottawa along the way.
