Following the Edward Snowden leaks that detailed a large part of the
process by which the U.S. government's largest intelligence agency spies
on terrorists — and American citizens — Al Qaeda has reportedly (and
predictably) started tweaking the way it communicates, but in a way the
doesn't necessarily make it harder for the National Security Agency to
track them. "[A] lawmaker briefed on the matter said al-Qaida's Yemeni
offshoot, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has been among the first to
alter how it reaches out to its operatives," reports the Associated Press's Kimberly Dozier,
referring to what is thought of as the most active group of the
network. The AP sources, of course, cited secrecy in declining to
elaborate on how Al Qaeda has shifted its digital tactics: "The
officials wouldn't go into details on how they know this, whether it's
terrorists switching email accounts or cellphone providers or
adopting new encryption techniques." CNN has more.
Making it harder for the NSA or CIA to spy on Al Qaeda would seem to
help justify programs like PRISM, but it remains unclear whether the
terrorists group's ever-evolving communications make it that much harder
for the NSA to track anyone. After the leaks, "jihadists posted Arabic
news articles about it ... and recommended fellow jihadists to be very
cautious, not to give their real phone number and other such information
when registering for a website," Adam Raisman of the SITE Intelligence
Group, a private analysis firm, told Dozier. Were the most dangerous
terrorists on earth really posting their home phone numbers online? Or,
for that matter, even using Skype anymore?
For the rest of the story: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/06/al-qaeda-since-nsa-leaks/66610/
No comments:
Post a Comment