FBI Director James Comey told senators on Wednesday that one of the attackers who opened fire outside an exhibit of cartoon images featuring the prophet Muhammad in Garland, Texas, exchanged more than 100 electronic messages with "an overseas terrorist" beforehand, NBC News reported.
"[But], we have no idea what he said, because those messages were encrypted," Comey said during testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Comey pleaded for tech companies to change the design of smartphones and other electronic devices to allow for de-encryption of data under a court order.
Recent terror attacks, such as last month's coordinated bombings and mass-shooting in and around Paris, have renewed the debate around encryption. Apple and other tech giants have resisted calls from politicians and others to either provide a "backdoor" or loosen encryption standards.
"To protect people who use any products, you have to encrypt," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview last month with The Telegraph.
