Behind Closed Lock Screens: How Terrorists are Taking Advantage of Encryption

Lecture Center Concourse

The creation of the internet and the many advances that have followed have made the world a more complicated, and in some ways, more dangerous place. Terrorists have taken advantage of the growing technology, and are now using blogs, forums, and other innovations to further their goals. One of these innovations is encrypted messaging. Nowadays people can utilize online applications to send instant messages to each other in a format that is impossible to decipher if intercepted. Through data collection and analysis, this paper examines what applications are being used, what groups are using them, and for what purposes. It looks at the differences in how each active terrorist group uses the encryption applications and, based on findings, suggests new measures for policy makers when requesting decryption tools for law enforcement.