"Terrorist and other high value criminals aren't as dumb as they look! Don't get me wrong, they aren't smart either, they fall somewhere between a rock and a goat (which happens to be their best friend on a lonely night). Unfortunately, over time, even dumb asses learn a thing or two. These guys have become pretty creative over the past decade or so on how to communicate without detection or compromise. Most of the time, their advancements in technology and/or creativity are a direct response to some news breaking story about the technology or techniques used to catch them - very irritating to say the least!
So, I figure we should turn the tables and start exposing their techniques and technologies used to communicate covertly - ultimately exposing them! So let's get started with some of their not-so-secret communication techniques."
The Courier
The use of a courier has been around longer than pigeons. Osama Bin Laden had a courier, the best courier in the business, but look where that got his handler – dead, bagged, and keelhauled. Somebody call PETA - fish deserve better!
Using a courier is a fairly simple technique utilising a trusted source or asset to transport and deliver a message. This is not a very secure way of passing sensitive information for obvious reasons - mostly human error.
Here are just some reasons why couriers are not a good idea:
Couriers need direction - where to meet or pick up the information, where to take the information, how to hide the information, when to deliver the information and so on. As you can see, opportunities to fuck up are endless or worse - they lose the message with the gerbil in their rectum!
Couriers need money - money talks and so do couriers if the price is high enough. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain. They are couriers, their needs are simple. They want to make a dime and get high on Khat.
Couriers can be tracked - couriers are not the sharpest jambia in the belt. If you tell them not to talk - they will. If you tell them to go direct and don't stop - they will stop at four khat stands and one chai stand telling everyone along the way exactly where they are going. Their movements and intentions usually get them caught or unable to deliver the message... hmmmm.
The Saved Draft
The use of "saved drafts" is widely used by naughty husbands and wives having affairs, which prevents emails from ever being directly sent from your wife to me : ) Terrorists have been using this method as well. The idea is simple - one email account is opened and the user name and password given to multiple users. All users can log in, type a message, save it as a draft, and then log out. A different user can log in and read the messages left behind. Not once was a email sent and zero personal emails are attached.
Terrorists have taken this method to new heights. For example: they have put together 30-day communication plans that include a different email account for each day with 30 different user names and 30 different passwords. It goes like this:
Day 1 a message is saved as a draft - recipients then log in, read the message, delete it, and never return to that email address ever again.
Day 2 a different message is saved as a draft in a different email account with a different username and password - recipients log in, read the message, delete it, and never return to that email address ever again.
This process can go on and on. If you ask me, it's a pain in the ass - I have a hard enough time remembering my 4 digit pin on my iPhone!
Imagine trying to keep 30 different accounts, user names, and passwords straight - cheat sheet or not, what a nightmare!
The Virtual World
The use of Virtual Worlds, like Second Life, is now all the rage in covert communications for terrorists.
If you haven't heard of Second Life, that's okay, it's not widely known to people that actually have a life. Second Life allows you to create a "resident" avatar and then travel through a virtual world doing whatever you want. You can socialise, have sex with other avatars (be warned: you'll probably end up with some he-she sitting in China pretending to be a Hottie), buy and sell real estate, buy a Rolex, buy an island (like Hamas did). You can even buy an AK-47 and learn how to use it from other more knowledgeable Avatars (Hamas) - you can pretty much do anything in that world that you can do in this world.
Your avatar can be a human, animal, mineral, or even a vegetable: your choice.
Second Life has a GDP - Gross Domestic Product. Yes, like a country - roughly 0 million a year and growing. People are spending, making and losing real money in this world. You can convert any currency in the world to Linden Dollars - named after the company that developed Second Life. It has a no shit economy. There are Second Life entrepreneurs that are making a million dollars a year! Crazy!
Here are 3 advantages that Second Life and other Virtual Worlds provide terrorists:
- Virtual worlds provide secure voice, chat, IM, and video streaming from avatar to avatar or avatar to a group.
- Virtual worlds provide secure means of laundering money of all currencies through more ways than here in reality.
- Virtual worlds provide terrorist training camps with virtual lessons on how to use weapons and make explosives.
I think you get the point!
Concluding thoughts: These are just some of the techniques used by terrorists: some simple, some clever. We should always keep them off balance, keep them on the run. If you know of other ways these jack asses communicate - tell us, post it, and comment on it at SOFREP.com.
Be the Sheepdog,
Clinton Emerson
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Clinton Emerson was a Department of Defense employee for nearly 20 years. He currently provides personal travel safety awareness instruction for various branches of government, including the National Security Agency, and corporations. His military service, including multiple deployments during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, has been recognised with numerous awards for bravery and leadership.
Emerson holds a bachelor’s degree in security management from American Military University, is trained as a Special Operations medic, and is certified in the area of international protocol and business etiquette as a graduate of The Protocol School of Washington in Washington, D.C.
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