6 ms·

but its not the same as https://matrix.org/ https://matrix.org/, right?

defrost 2y ago
Specifics are vague: Dutch police said the Matrix app was targeted along with similar encrypted services known by the names Mactrix, Totalsex, X-quantum and Q-Safe. The investigation did not spotlight the similarly-named Matrix open source communication protocol. ~ https://nltimes.nl/2024/12/03/dutch-french-police-take-matrix-encrypted-chat-app-23-million-messages-captured https://nltimes.nl/2024/12/03/dutch-french-police-take-matri... There's a fair chance that some of these are "custom" extensions of the Matrix protocol* .. but security is famously hard and such things often end up being a titanium door in a titanium frame propped up by a stick in an open field. Even full stack hyper secure apps suffer from the dimmest element in a chat group perhaps being easy to social engineer. The only definitive answer here would be from a comprimised crook willing to talk about their phone app or the police releasing details ahead of prosecutions and future use of whatever tricks they leveraged. Unlikely and unreliable either way * eg: https://element.io/ https://element.io/ is one such extension .. but not AFAIK used by criminals to talk laundering and wetwork. There's a 2023 paper on lines of attack against and security guarentees of the open source Matrix Core: ~ https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1300.pdf https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1300.pdf It's good but not perfect ... and it still needs to be fitted in a containing application and used by a group that follows good practices.
- Arathorn 2y ago
  The matrix.org team has checked directly with Europol, and there is absolutely no link between the Matrix protocol and the MATRIX/MACTRIX/Totalsex/X-quantum/Q-Safe/Mchat app involved in this takedown. https://x.com/BarbossHack/status/1864074132985426337 https://x.com/BarbossHack/status/1864074132985426337 pointed out that on their site, this was a proprietary app claiming to use something called "MDTP protocol".
  - defrost 2y ago
    Cheers for the clarification - I was pressed for time when I commented and didn't pursue the forums. Thankyou.

Specifics are vague: Dutch police said the Matrix app was targeted along with similar encrypted services known by the names Mactrix, Totalsex, X-quantum and Q-Safe. The investigation did not spotlight the similarly-named Matrix open source communication protocol. ~ https://nltimes.nl/2024/12/03/dutch-french-police-take-matrix-encrypted-chat-app-23-million-messages-captured https://nltimes.nl/2024/12/03/dutch-french-police-take-matri... There's a fair chance that some of these are "custom" extensions of the Matrix protocol* .. but security is famously hard and such things often end up being a titanium door in a titanium frame propped up by a stick in an open field. Even full stack hyper secure apps suffer from the dimmest element in a chat group perhaps being easy to social engineer. The only definitive answer here would be from a comprimised crook willing to talk about their phone app or the police releasing details ahead of prosecutions and future use of whatever tricks they leveraged. Unlikely and unreliable either way * eg: https://element.io/ https://element.io/ is one such extension .. but not AFAIK used by criminals to talk laundering and wetwork. There's a 2023 paper on lines of attack against and security guarentees of the open source Matrix Core: ~ https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1300.pdf https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1300.pdf It's good but not perfect ... and it still needs to be fitted in a containing application and used by a group that follows good practices.

Arathorn 2y ago
The matrix.org team has checked directly with Europol, and there is absolutely no link between the Matrix protocol and the MATRIX/MACTRIX/Totalsex/X-quantum/Q-Safe/Mchat app involved in this takedown. https://x.com/BarbossHack/status/1864074132985426337 https://x.com/BarbossHack/status/1864074132985426337 pointed out that on their site, this was a proprietary app claiming to use something called "MDTP protocol".
- defrost 2y ago
  Cheers for the clarification - I was pressed for time when I commented and didn't pursue the forums. Thankyou.