Technology-savvy militants are latest worry of Indian intelligence agencies

With militants using advanced technology to evade detection, tech-savvy terrorists have become the latest worry for the Indian intelligence agencies. According to an article in The Hindu, terrorists have started using technology by which mobile communications can be sent without using mobile phone networks, making it more difficult for the intelligence agencies to gather evidence against them. [caption id=“attachment_2430390” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sajjad Ahmed. Image courtesy: PTI[/caption] The technology was prompted by Hurricane Sandy, which hit the United States in 2012, according to The Hindu report. This is enabling militants to have phone conversations without using mobile networks. Tapped conversations are an important source of information for intelligence agencies. The use of advanced technology by terrorists is a source of worry in other parts of the world as well. An article in the UK-based newspaper The Telegraph says that terrorists may be using ‘off-the-shelf’ secure communications technology and software to encrypt voice and text messages. Terrorists could also use peer-to-peer networks and cloud computing, which allows material to be stored on the internet rather than on computers, to communicate with each other, the report added. According to an ABC news report, al-Qaeda is recruiting persons who are familiar with technology to produce documentaries and digital content. The report quotes a man who works with the organization’s production company as saying that several recent recruits are ’not farmers, or illiterate people’, but PhDs and professors. After the arrest of Pakistani terrorist Sajjad Ahmed last month, it was revealed that the Lashkar-e-Taiba was using Y-SMS for communication, as reported by Pune Mirror. The technology involves attaching a radio set to a mobile phone without a SIM card, as mentioned in the report. Recently, Burhan Wani, a leader of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen was reported to have used a video message to issue a call to join the organization, as reported by The  Quint. India Today in a report recently quoted a police official saying that the internet is a “tap running 24/7” which the police has no control over. The Jammu and Kashmir police had reportedly found that more than half of the youngsters who had joined militancy had been radicalized on the internet.