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Militants using secured messaging apps to dodge cops
[Dhaka Tribune] Members of different Lion of Islam outfits have apparently smartened up and become tech-savvy as they are now using encrypted communications applications or apps more and more to maintain communications online, making it harder for the law enforcement agencies to trace them.Encrypting the messages while chatting via these or other social media app is also making it tougher for police to recover the conversations most of the time from electronic devices seized from enjugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! Lion of Islams. Police’s Anti-Terrorism Unit officials said the gunnies initially had used popular apps like Facebook and its Messenger, and Google Hangouts to communicate. But recently they have started using instant, but encrypted messaging apps such as Threema, Telegram and Wickr to keep their chats more secret. At present, officials said, gunnies also use WhatsApp, Viber, Tango, Hike and several other similar apps as most of them have the encryption facilities, but they rapidly switch platforms to avoid detection. Monirul Islam, chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, in several earlier instances claimed that they had succeeded in weakening the existing Lion of Islam outfits in Bangladesh after the Gulshan cafe attack in July last year. "We have broken most of the Lion of Islam networks. But they are trying to remain active on the internet. We are tracking their online activities through regular monitoring and working on preventing them by conducting raids," he said. CTTC’s Additional Deputy Commissioner Abdul Mannan told the Dhaka Tribune: "The Lion of Islam groups have started giving technology-related training to their new recruits so that they can avoid our online traps." "Militants now also prefer students with a science or IT background while recruiting as their network and communications are now fully internet-based. Every Lion of Islam group now has its own IT wing and they prefer online chats than talking over mobile phones." Making their case, Sherlocks also said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States had examined 30 phones seized from Holey Artisan Bakery after the July 1, 2016, attack, and found that the attackers had used encrypted messaging app Threema to communicate with the gunnies outside. A police inspector of the CTTC, requesting anonymity, somewhat confessed to the Dhaka Tribune: "It’s becoming harder for us to infiltrate their secret online network as the gunnies are now using updated apps. "They may also use Silent Circle, Signal, Chat Secure, OS Tel or Red Phone, which are highly advanced and more privacy-conscious messaging apps, in the future. If they do that, it will become more challenging to trace their secret and online networks." Posted by: Fred 2017-10-02 |
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