Damberg said that granting police the legal and technical capabilities to intercept encrypted communications was a top priority, as they were being left behind by criminal groups who now often use services like Signal and WhatsApp to coordinate operations. The minister told local press [1, 2, 3, 4] that 90% of all the communications police have intercepted for investigations in recent years have been encrypted. |
But unlike countries like Australia, where the local government has passed a law forcing tech companies to introduce encryption backdoors, Swedish police will take the sensible route -- aka the German route. More than a decade ago, German authorities began deploying a malware strain named the Bundestrojaner (Federal Trojan) as part of their investigations. How Swedish authorities will do this is unclear, but there are at least two routes. They can create the malware themselves, or they can buy it from contractors. The last option has been popular with law enforcement agencies across the world, and there's now a booming market for companies that sell hacking tools and exploits (also referred to as lawful intercept tools) to law enforcement agencies. The new rules and capabilities are set to enter into effect on March 1, 2020. According to Damberg, police can only use these new capabilities if the crime someone is suspected is punishable by a penalty of four years or higher. |
