Anonymous apps under fire
Privacy tools that frustrate spy agencies exploited by terrorists
Spy agencies say they are stymied by terrorists’ use of encryption apps.
WASHINGTON — Islamic State militants and their followers have discovered an unnerving new communications and recruiting tool that has stymied U.S. counterterrorism agencies — instant messaging apps on smartphones that encrypt the texts or destroy them almost immediately.
In many cases, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies can’t read the messages in real time, or even later with a court order, because the phone companies and app developers say they can’t unlock the coded text and don’t retain a record of the exchanges.
“We’re past going dark in certain instances,” said Michael Steinbach, the FBI’s top counterterrorism official. “We are dark.”
The little-known hole in U.S. surveillance capabilities was not mentioned during the recent congressional battle over the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of U.S. landline and cellphone data. Lawmakers ultimately agreed to scale back that program due to concerns it violated Americans’ privacy.
FBI officials now want Congress to expand their authority to tap into messaging apps like WhatsApp and Kik, as well as data-destroying apps like Wickr and Surespot, that hundreds of millions of people — and apparently some terrorists — have embraced because they guarantee security and anonymity.
The FBI estimates that 200,000 people around the world see increasingly sophisticated “terrorist messaging” each day from Islamic State zealots via direct appeals, videos, instruction manuals and other material posted on militant Islamist social media sites.
The group’s recruiters then troll Twitter, Facebook and other sites to see who is reposting their messages and invite them to text directly on encrypted or data- destroying apps. That’s when FBI agents fear they may miss critical clues about potential plots.
The issue has created another tense standoff between national security officials and social media companies that are reluctant to change their software to give more access to law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
In a June 1 speech, Apple CEO Tim Cook fiercely defended his company’s decision to encrypt the content of Facetime and iMessage communications. He took aim at government officials who have asked Apple and other companies to create a backdoor key to encrypted messages.
“Let me be crystal clear,” Cook said. “Weakening encryption or taking it away harms good people that are using it for the right reasons. And ultimately, I believe it has a chilling effect on our First Amendment rights and undermines our country’s founding principles.”
Cook spoke through a remote video feed at the annual awards dinner for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a watchdog group based in Washington.
At a congressional hearing Wednesday, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said Kik, WhatsApp, Wickr and Surespot are among the messaging apps that extremists are using to avoid detection. Officials from those four companies did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
“These tactics are a sea change for spreading terror, and they require from us a paradigm shift in our counterterrorism, intelligence and our operations,” McCaul said.
Steinbach, the FBI’s counterterrorism chief, told the same hearing that the FBI wants to be able to take a court order to a company and request access to either stored text messages or ongoing communications in terrorism cases.
“We’re talking about going before the court, whether the criminal court or the national security court, with evidence, a burden of proof, probable cause, suggesting a crime has been committed or, in our case, that there’s a terrorist,” he said.
“We’re not looking at going through a back door or being nefarious,” he said.
“We are imploring Congress to help us seek legal remedies toward that as well as asking the companies to provide technological solutions to help that,” Steinbach said.
Public demand for apps that guarantee security and anonymity is growing.
Secure apps are popular with business executives concerned about the threat of corporate espionage, human rights activists operating in authoritarian countries — and teenagers simply seeking to evade their parents.
Kik claims more than 200 million users in 230 countries, including what it says is 40 percent of American youth. An eight-page “Guide to Law Enforcement” on Kik’s website states, “The text of Kik conversations is ONLY stored on the phones of Kik users involved in the conversation. Kik doesn’t see or store chat message text in our systems, and we don’t ever have access to this information.”
Those features can frustrate law enforcement and intelligence authorities trying to track suspected terrorists and spies.
“These tactics are a sea change for spreading terror, and they require from us a paradigm shift in our counterterrorism, intelligence and our operations.” — Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security