Encryption

Manhattan DA: Smartphone Encryption Foiled 120 Criminal Cases

Investigators of the Paris attacks revealed recently that the terrorists used the encrypted apps WhatsApp and Telegram to communicate and coordinate beforehand. This follows reports from San Bernardino that authorities discovered two smashed cellphones at the scene of the rampage that killed 14 people, and they recovered a third one from the body of the female terrorist.

We don’t know what—if any—evidence was obtained from the devices in San Bernardino, but let’s hope they are not late-model smartphones. If they are, the FBI would have a much harder time learning details of the plot or warnings of where and when radical jihadists might strike again. Already, the FBI is concerned that it doesn’t know the contents of 109 messages that a terrorist exchanged with an ISIS operative in Syria before opening fire at a Prophet Muhammad cartooning conference in Garland, Texas.