ISIS May Be Using Phone Apps to Communicate: Officials

Intelligence officials told NBC News of a new challenge in preventing terror attacks like those that occurred in Paris on Friday: ISIS may be using phone apps, encryption, and video games in order to keep their communications secret.

The U.S. Army-affiliated Combating Terrorism Center found that Islamic State members use as many as 120 platforms, including messaging apps like Telegram or Whatsapp and video games like Second Life, an online virtual world created in 2003. 

According to Paul Rosenzweig, a cyber consultant and former deputy assistant in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. officials have been concerned about terrorist groups using these new platforms since they’ve existed.

Their use, said Rosenzweid, is inevitable. “We are going to have to get used to living in a world where both the bad guys and the good guys have unbreachable communications systems,” he said.

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