Former NSA contractor turned renegade whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has tweeted that the latest video purportedly released by the Islamic State doesn’t get encryption right. The video, titled “Kill Them Wherever You Find Them,” begins with a screen supposedly showing an email being unencrypted.
Journos: The #ISIS video’s “encrypted email” is confirmed fake. If any official responds as if it’s real, push back. pic.twitter.com/fKHAAk1SAa
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 24, 2016
Snowden then wonders if IS finds the current attempt by the FBI to gain access to encrypted private email advantageous.
Does #ISIS see advantage in West limiting access to strong security? Juxtaposing “spooky” fake crypto with anti-crypto Cameron implies yes.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 24, 2016
More likely the video is an elaborately produced fake designed to coincide with an effort by the US government to force tech companies to provide keys or a backdoor to encrypted communication.
The US government began its attack on encryption as early as May, 2014. In September of that year FBI director James Comey criticized technology companies for introducing encryption on their devices and said that in a “post-Snowden world… this is an indication (some corporations) go too far.”
Following the Paris and San Bernardino attacks Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee tech companies need to rethink their business models and come up with a “solution” allowing the government to bypass encryption.
Following Comey’s testimony House Homeland Security Chair Rep. Michael McCaul warned “ISIS now has developed their own encrypted app. This is a serious issue for the FBI and Homeland Security, for law enforcement. You can’t see what see what the terrorists are communicating, you can’t stop that threat.”
The 17-minute professionally produced video that shows the alleged Paris attackers engaged in beheading and warns of attacks to come was first put online by the SITE Intelligence Group.
SITE Intelligence Group consists of Rita Katz and two “senior advisers,” one of whom is Bruce Hoffman, the Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency at the RAND Corporation and former director of the RAND’s Washington DC office. In 2003 and 2004, SITE received financial support from the US government. Also in the early 2000s SITE was on contract providing consulting services to the FBI.
SITE has the miraculous ability to ferret out practically all jihadi videos, including those supposedly produced by al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
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