Terrorist encryption tools nothing more than ‘security cape’ and gov’t red flag

Summary:Terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda have something in common -- they are using encryption tools which are not worthy of the name.

CANCUN, MEXICO: Are encryption tools used by terrorist organizations truly secure, or are they nothing more than a publicity stunt?

"Terrorists love forums," Rodrigo Bijou from data solutions provider The Data Guild said with a slight shrug as he addressed attendees at Kaspersky Labs' Security Analyst Summit. On Tuesday, the terrorism and technology speaker said that throughout his research, online forums have become a modern-day breeding ground for the spread of terrorist-based propaganda -- as well as a place to share "secure" encrypted communications tools used by groups including ISIS and Al Qaeda. The Data Guild

However, the actual security value of these tools is debatable -- and so could they have another purpose altogether?

The use of technology by terrorists is far from a new idea. For example, while some groups do rely on trusted couriers to send messages, now they have caught up with the times and have seen the potential the Internet holds to spread their message, recruit new members and communicate with each other.

Groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda are known to use the Web for these purposes. However, they have also developed their own encryption-based toolkits to try and keep their activities from the eyes of intelligence agencies and governments across the globe.

Three main developers of secure, encrypted communications tools have been linked to terrorist organizations. The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) and Al-Fajr Media Center Technical Committee (FTC) -- both propaganda and media arms linked to Al Qaeda -- and ISIS -- as a developer itself of security tools -- have all created supposedly secure, encrypted messaging platforms -- but there is a problem.

ISIS does not trust the others, and due to this political conflict, the platforms are sub-par at best. Perhaps happily for us, this lack of trust ensures that none of the groups are pooling their resources to improve terrorism-based communication software.

Al Qaeda, for example, has a flagship communications tool called Asrar al-Mujahideen, launched in 2008. The GIMF software comes pre-loaded with a public encryption key and according to their website, the software provided follows the "latest technological advancements" with "4096 bit public key encryption" for use on the Windows and Android platforms.

Another GIMF tool released in 2013 is the Asrar al-Dardashah encrypted chat plugin, suitable for Symbian and Android and designed to encrypt data across chat apps already in use.

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Terrorist encryption tools nothing more than 'security cape' and gov't red flag