CEO who sold encrypted phones to criminal gangs gets nine years in prison

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ceo-who-sold-encrypted-phones-to-criminal-gangs-gets-nine-years-in-prison/

By Catalin Cimpanu
Zero Day
ZDNet News
May 29, 2019

A Canadian man who sold encrypted BlackBerry smartphones to criminal gangs all
over the world was sentenced this week to nine years in prison, according to the
US Department of Justice.

The man's name is Vincent Ramos, a 41-year-old who served as the CEO of Phantom
Secure, a company that sold custom PGP-encrypted BlackBerry phones for more than
a decade.


PHANTOM SECURE DEVICES USED BY CRIMINAL GANGS

According to US authorities, Ramos' company knowingly sold encrypted smartphones
to several criminal gangs in the US, Mexico, and Australia.

Phones provided by Phantom Secure gave criminal gangs the ability to encrypt
communications and remotely wipe devices when arrested members had their devices
seized by law enforcement.

A criminal probe began into Ramos' business in 2017 after law enforcement
learned of his company's products during the investigation of Owen Hanson, a
former USC football player who was caught moving over a ton of cocaine from
Mexico into the US.

[...]



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