Terrorists Use of Cryptography and Data Encryption

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A tactic that underpins terrorist group's success is to blend in with the local populace. Terrorists wear no distinguishable uniforms. Use false identities. Hide from view inside protected sanctuaries such as mosques. As stated by a leading researcher and scholar on internet use by terrorists, “With over 1.4 billion persons on the internet… it is not surprising to find terrorists among that population” (Denning 2010, 1). Terrorist groups use the internet and other modern technologies for various reasons. By means as video, text and images terrorists will for example, learn, communicate and conduct business (Denning 2010, 1-2). Malign actors use cell phones, the internet and video recorders for a wide range of activities to train, issue propaganda and to conduct reconnaissance among other purposes according to a recent Rand study. (Don et al., 2007, 9).

Modern telecommunications technologies make possible extremists to pitch their dogma globally. As Zanini and Edwards stress, modern network communications enable terrorist the freedom to operate worldwide from most any country (2001, 38). Consequently, terrorists must protect their digital information. That is a need to secure and hide within and mingle among the digital populace in order to protect their freedom of action. Two inexpensive, practical means, steganography and encryption, allow terror associations to hide and secure their digital information that protect their freedom of action.

Purpose

The USSS faces many challenges. Cryptography, policy, legal, ethical and organizational represents such challenges. This paper claims that terrorist groups’ will use old ways with new means to protect their communications; hence, the terrorist’s goal to protect th...

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Information age.” Published 2001 by the RAND Corporation.

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