Parisian terrorists did not rely on encryption, but simply used disposable phones

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    All over the world, the echoes of the terrorist attacks in Brussels are already heard, and the European secret services are only summing up the investigation of last year’s tragedy in Paris. In particular, the pattern of terrorists following the principles of information security became known, thanks to which they managed to avoid detection by the authorities.

    Well-organized attacks demonstrate the soundness of the work of terrorists and point to professionally organized actions. The attacks were successfully carried out, not least thanks to well-constructed communications. Their construction was necessary for coordination across a wide-spread network - at the moment the authorities have already arrested 18 people from six different countries in Europe.

    Now in the US there are heated debates about whether the FBI has the right to require mobile device manufacturers to embed backdoors into encryption systems and decipher information from criminals' phones. Apple CEO Tim Cook with all his narrow chest protects the privacy of users, and in this he is supported by Google, which is responsible for Android phones.

    But these battles do not seem as critical as we might have thought. It turns out that Parisian terrorists did not rely on encryption from any manufacturer whatsoever - they simply used one-time prepaid phones. Such phones in connection with the investigation of crimes have already found literally whole boxes.

    Hot on the heels it was reported that the police found the phone of one of the terrorists who communicated with their contacts via ordinary SMS. Now, according to the results of the investigation, it became known that the attackers also did not hesitate to use the phones taken by them from the victims in order to cover their tracks even more.

    Terrorists activated one-time prepaid phones immediately before use, and then quickly disposed of them. On the disposable phones found, investigators also found pictures with images and diagrams of objects attacked by terrorists.

    Thanks to GPS and preserved data on the movement of phones, investigators were able to detect several places that served as bases for terrorists, and everywhere they found a large number of disposable phones, including spare ones, which they did not have time to use.

    According to the report, which was not found on any of the phones - this is e-mail, online chat logs or other traces of Internet communications. Apparently, the attackers did not rely on these means of communication, and were able to organize everything with simple calls and SMS.

    The facts obtained cast doubt on the justification of the anger of the authorities of various countries , aimed at modern encryption methods accessible to everyone.

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