German police are set to make use of new laws to hack the devices of criminal suspects in order to monitor communications, bypassing the need to force tech companies to provide encryption backdoors.

Local media reports referencing Interior Ministry documents claimed that law enforcers will be able to make use of new Remote Communication Interception Software (RCIS) to target Android, iOS and BlackBerry mobiles.

The idea is to hack into suspects’ devices in order to read communications at source. This would seem to be a neat way of monitoring targets without the need to engage with providers of services like WhatsApp, iMessage and Telegram.

Tech companies including Facebook and Apple have been steadfast in refusing to engineer backdoors for law enforcers – arguing that it would undermine security for millions of innocent users and businesses. As most are based in the US, it’s unlikely that the German government alone could do anything about it.

That’s why they’re working to install backdoors on targeted devices themselves.

Tom Van de Wiele, principal security consultant at F-Secure, railed against misleading media reports claiming the encrypted messages themselves on platforms like WhatsApp could be hacked by police.

“The police are installing backdoors on suspect phones using phishing or other ways, as well as they should if they want to catch someone committing a crime or with ample evidence that that person requires further investigation,” he told Infosecurity Magazine. “If you control the phone then of course you control what was received and what is being sent from the phone, encrypted or not.”

The German parliament recently passed a new law expanding the power of the police to hack devices belonging to all criminal suspects and not just terror suspects.

This is in stark contrast to the situation in the UK, where the new Investigatory Powers Act grants police the power to hack devices irrespective of suspicion of criminal activity.

However, activists in Germany are still worried about the move, especially as the authorities have been revealed to have bought surveillance software from infamous provider FinFisher, as a back-up in case their own RICS 2.0 tools are leaked or get compromised.

By using third party provider tools, governments could skirt legal restrictions on what they can and can’t do, according to Deutsche Welle.

The European Commission claimed back in March that it was planning to give tech communications providers “three or four options” forcing them to make the communications of suspects available to police, ranging from voluntary measures to legislation.

In related news, rights groups have this month signed a joint open letter to EU member states urging more to be done to reform EU rules governing the export of surveillance equipment.

It claimed over 330 export license applications for such technology have been made to 17 EU authorities since 2014; with 317 granted and only 14 rejected.