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A grave intelligence failure marked multiple catastrophic terrorist attacks in recent weeks in Egypt, Beirut and Paris. Brussels is in lockdown, braced for a Paris-style attack, while a firestorm of controversy blazes over social media's encrypted instant messaging apps. And a Canadian technology company is caught in the crossfire.

Whether those responsible for the ISIS attacks actually used communication by untrackable encrypted instant messaging remains unclear. We know that at least some in Paris didn't. Data on a discarded cell-phone found in a trash-bin outside the Bataclan led authorities directly to the safe-house where attack leader Abdelhamid Abaaoud met his doom.

Oddly, supporters of blanket encryption apps consider this evidence in their favour, when it actually points to the opposite conclusion. Had the attackers encrypted all their communications, per standard ISIS instructions, Abaaoud and his co-conspirators would still be at large instead of chilling at the morgue.

ISIS won't make that mistake again.
Encryption robs investigators of indispensable wiretap powers

Encryption technology is now so powerful that it can't be unlocked even by the host under court order, and is freely available on a number of smartphone apps that all the kids use. Messenger platforms such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Telegram sprouted up following the well-worn Facebook path of making their owners rich by designing hook-up apps.

The thing is, these apps also inadvertently immunize malicious users like ISIS and child predators from lawful investigation. Authorities have now been robbed of indispensable wiretap powers that they've possessed since the invention of the telephone.

That's not a good thing, because we have nothing to replace it. There's simply no investigative substitute for the ability to intercept extremist communications in real-time as attacks are planned. Increasingly, authorities are seeing subjects "go dark," meaning they've accessed encryption messaging software and their communications can no longer be tracked.

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What authorities seek is that encrypted messaging apps code in a "key" that allows police (operating under warrant) t​Kik's special offering goes beyond encryption technology; designed to target a teens without their own mobile accounts, it requires no registration to a cell-phone number. This also, it turns out, enables untraceable connection to anonymous cell phones. No registration is required beyond setting up a user name. As the Middle East Media Research Institute reports,

Anyone can now communicate securely via an untraceable throwaway smartphone, purchased online, including on Amazon. Installing an encrypted messaging app such as Kik... takes a few moments, and after that, chatting securely and secretly with an Islamic State (ISIS) fighter... is one click away.

Reached for comment on the above, Kik media representative Rod McLeod confirmed that malicious users could access the app via an untraceable device, but wouldn't characterize that as a system vulnerability.

"A lot of people look at that as kind of a bad feature, especially law enforcement," he said, "but we’ve received a lot of feedback saying that having a username instead of giving a phone number makes you feel safer."

Right. Especially if you're a terrorist.

http://www.nationalobserver.com/2015/11/23/opinion/frightening-isis-encryption-methods-have-surprising-canadian-connection

And here we are blaming the Muslims when we have a home grown capitalist laughing all the way to the bank making his fortune on a system that fits right into the terrorists communications needs.

Is this not aiding and abetting?

From what I understand this was put out in Waterloo, the capitalist capital of computer hardware and software.

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WhatsApp Inc., was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, both former employees of Yahoo!