Police Shut Down Matrix Encrypted Criminal Hub

An international law enforcement operation has taken down Matrix, an encrypted messaging service used by criminals.

This followed a large-scale investigation into the messaging service, which was coordinated by Eurojust and Europol. The operation was executed by Dutch and French authorities on December 3 and follow-up actions undertaken by their Italian, Lithuanian and Spanish counterparts.

The main servers used by Matrix in France and Germany have been taken down as a result.

The operation also resulted in the arrest of individuals suspected of being involved in serious crime. In France, one suspect was arrested, and his house searched. In Spain, two suspects were arrested following a European Arrest Warrant from the Netherlands and six houses were searched.

Additionally, six houses were searched in Lithuania.

Prior to the takedown, Dutch and French police utilized “innovative technology” to intercept Matrix and monitor the activity on the service for three months. No information was provided on the technology used by law enforcement for these purposes.

More than 2.3 million messages in 33 languages were intercepted and deciphered during the investigation, many of which were linked to serious crimes such as international drug trafficking, arms trafficking and money laundering.

This information will now be used to support other investigations into criminal activity.

Criminals using the messaging service are alerted to the interception by the authorities through a ‘splash page.’

Cooperation between the Dutch and French authorities started through a joint investigation team (JIT) set up at Eurojust.

An Operational Task Force (OTF) was also established by Europol in June 2024 between the Netherlands, France, Lithuania, Italy and Spain, which played a key role in monitoring criminal activity on the platform. This OTF will also provide assistance with independent follow-up investigations stemming from intelligence gathered during the live phase of the operation.

Matrix Platform “Technically Complex”

Europol said Matrix’s infrastructure was technically more complex than other encrypted platforms popular with criminals.

The infrastructure to run Matrix consisted of more than 40 servers across several countries, while users were only able to join the service if they received an invitation.

The messaging service was first discovered by Dutch authorities after it was found on the phone of a criminal convicted for the murder of a Dutch journalist in 2021. This initiated an investigation into the service.

The Matrix takedown is the latest in a number of law enforcement operations targeting encrypted messaging platforms in recent years, including the takedowns of Ghost in 2024, Exclu in 2023 and EncroChat in 2020.

The criminal encrypted communication landscape has become more fragmented as a result of these actions, creating new challenges for law enforcement.

Europol said: “Criminals, in response to the disruptions of their messaging services, have been turning to a variety of less-established or custom-built communication tools that offer varying degrees of security and anonymity.”