Secrets of the Chat:Terrorists receive new mobile phone encryption software
Posted by: Jon Ben-Mayor on 09/05/2013 07:41 AM
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Reports are saying that a new mobile phone encryption software is being released by an Islamist group that produces propaganda for terrorist groups like al Qaeda, Pakistan’s Taliban and Somalia’s al-Shabaab. The software is said to allow secure checking of email and text message encryption.
The front has long offered jihadists a general encryption program and earlier this year released a texting version called "Asrar al-Dardashah," or "Secrets of the Chat."
On its website, NBC News says the front claims that the new software for direct encryption of material sent to and received from mobile phones "will be a blessing, relief and a secure weapon for our brothers for continuous communication far from the eyes and monitoring of the enemies."
"There is no doubt that GIMF produces the premiere proprietary encryption software for jihadists -- in the realm of both Internet messaging and now telephony," Flashpoint senior partner Evan Kohlmann, an NBC News terrorism analyst, said in an email. "There is also no doubt that Al-Qaida has placed its reliance on this technology. AQAP in Yemen, for instance, has encouraged would-be recruits living in western countries to send them ideas for proposed terrorist plots encrypted with GIMF-produced software. We don't really know how effective the encryption is or isn't, because nobody at an official level has publicly disclosed that. However, based on our research, it is likely that U.S. intelligence agencies do have the capability to break that encryption when needed."
Word of the release comes in the wake of news stories detailing the extent of controversial U.S. government technology initiatives aimed at thwarting terrorist plots.
The front has long offered jihadists a general encryption program and earlier this year released a texting version called "Asrar al-Dardashah," or "Secrets of the Chat."
On its website, NBC News says the front claims that the new software for direct encryption of material sent to and received from mobile phones "will be a blessing, relief and a secure weapon for our brothers for continuous communication far from the eyes and monitoring of the enemies."
"There is no doubt that GIMF produces the premiere proprietary encryption software for jihadists -- in the realm of both Internet messaging and now telephony," Flashpoint senior partner Evan Kohlmann, an NBC News terrorism analyst, said in an email. "There is also no doubt that Al-Qaida has placed its reliance on this technology. AQAP in Yemen, for instance, has encouraged would-be recruits living in western countries to send them ideas for proposed terrorist plots encrypted with GIMF-produced software. We don't really know how effective the encryption is or isn't, because nobody at an official level has publicly disclosed that. However, based on our research, it is likely that U.S. intelligence agencies do have the capability to break that encryption when needed."
Word of the release comes in the wake of news stories detailing the extent of controversial U.S. government technology initiatives aimed at thwarting terrorist plots.
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