After Paris, ISIS Moves Propaganda Machine to Darknet
Less than a day after the horrific attacks in Paris, Daesh took the Al-Hayat propaganda machine to the Darknet and published a new video celebrating the Paris attacks.
Al-Hayat is one of the most known sources of ISIS propaganda, providing media agencies around the world with original video content from Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) members.
The Al-Hayat group consists of numerous sites across the Internet, of which the Ansar Khilafah blog and the Shamikh forum are the biggest.
In a series of blog posts and messages sent to its users right after the ISIS Paris attacks, Al-Hayat has informed members that the agency's Shamikh forums will be moving their operations entirely to the Dark Net.
The new website is a collection of propaganda by Al-Hayat Media Center, the media division of Daesh. It hosts the usual anti-Western iconography, as well as songs (Nasheeds) and poems for mujahids in various locations.
The website also contains translations from the recent statement issued by Daesh claiming credit for the Paris attacks in English, Turkish, and Russian.
In a post on the Shamikh forum (a known jihadi bulletin board), someone posted the new address and instructions for reaching it.
The post explained that the new Al-Hayat hub was needed, because other websites were removed almost as soon as they are registered. The hope is that by existing on the Darknet, Daesh can thwart most efforts to shut them down.
Over the years, there have been several claims made that Daesh had propaganda and recruitment hubs on the Darknet, but no one has ever published proof of those claims or explored how the propaganda machine operates in public.
"The site mirrors many of the other standard bulletin boards that the jihadi’s have had over the years replete with videos and sections in all languages. Given that this site has popped up today in the Darknet just post the attacks in Paris, one has to assume that an all out media blitz is spinning up by Al-Hayat to capitalize on the situation," Terban wrote.
In the hours after the public started to realize the scope of the attacks on Paris, intelligence officials, lawmakers, and pundits focused on Daesh's use of Telegram as a means of communication with supporters and active members.
In a story by the New York Times, later removed without explanation [archive], the situation in Paris was used to reignite the encryption debate.
The story focused on comments from European officials who were "briefed on the investigation" that said the Paris attackers had used encrypted communications, adding that authorities have a hard time monitoring such channels.
"Intelligence officials have been pressing for more leeway to counter the growing use of encryption," the story added.
But newspaper of record isn't the only agency attempting to turn the terror attacks in Paris into a tool to remove privacy.
The Snooper's Charter is draft legislation that if passed would require ISPs and telecom companies to maintain records of each user's Internet browsing activity, including social media, email, VoIP, gaming, and mobile phone messaging services, while storing this data for up to 12 months.
"In the coming weeks the government’s surveillance bill will be passing through the Commons. If we truly believe in standing in solidarity with Paris, we must let it pass. We must demand it passes," the Telegraph article states.
In September, the Washington Post published a story detailing comments made by the intelligence community's top lawyer, Robert S. Litt, who wrote in an email to colleagues that, while "the legislative environment is very hostile" towards efforts to weaken encryption, "it could turn in the event of a terrorist attack or criminal event where strong encryption can be shown to have hindered law enforcement."
During a Face the Nation broadcast, Mike Morell, former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, opened the door for more fighting about encryption by stating that a public debate was needed.
As the newly launched Daesh propaganda portal proves, terrorists and criminals will always find away around laws and law enforcement efforts such as bulk collection.
Bulk record collection and weakened encryption will do nothing to stop terrorism. Using the attacks in Paris as an excuse to do both of those things is insulting to the good men and women who died this weekend.
