Fears over secret text apps used by terrorists
AN ENCRYPTED app exposed by the Daily Mail was used by the schoolboy terrorist to send thousands of messages around the world.
Prosecutors said the 14-year-old communicated with fellow Islamic State sympathisers over a secure application known as Telegram.
The Blackburn schoolboy used it to exchange messages with Australian Sevdet Besim, 18, over the plot to attack the Anzac Day parade in Melbourne.
Seemingly convinced his messages would remain secret from the security services, he discussed the logistics of the atrocity and the possible killing methods.
It was only by chance, when the police arrested the schoolboy over another matter and seized his phone, that the Melbourne terror plot came to light.
In May, the Mail revealed how encrypted mobile phone apps such as Telegram were central to attempts by Islamic State recruiters to target vulnerable teenagers in Britain and prime them for a life of jihad. The apps – used by millions of teenagers on smartphones and tablets – have been developed so users can send messages without them being read by authorities. The security services blame the Edward Snowden leaks for an alarming rise in secret messaging apps used by terrorists. The programs are seen as a sinister reaction to the Snowden leaks, which revealed how State agencies attempt to spy on i nternet histories, emails, text and call records and passwords. Users can download them for free on internet stores run by Apple and Google to send messages which can be opened only by a sender with a private key. If authorities try to intercept messages, they are met with jumbled text. The scandal came to light after an undercover Daily Mail reporter spent a month posing online as a British Muslim schoolgirl. As a result, a plot to lure a 16-year-old British girl to Syria to become a jihadi bride was foiled by police, following a tip-off by this newspaper.
In the aftermath of our revelations, the apps’ owners refused to crack down on the IS recruiters who use them, insisting private communications were a ‘human right’ for everyone – even terrorists.
But MPs and campaigners reacted angrily, demanding legal changes to ban apps which are impossible for security services to access.
Home Secretary Theresa May said: ‘With every day that passes, the police and security services are losing capabilities to disrupt terrorist plots and keep us safe.
‘Rapid changes in technology, and particularly the increasing importance of internet communications, means that communications data is not always available when it is needed. It is vital that responsible companies work with responsible governments to combat the abuse of their services so that law enforcement and intelligence agencies can keep us safe from paedophiles, terrorists and organised criminals.’