The mobile messaging service Telegram, created by the exiled founder of Russia’s most popular social network site, has emerged as an important new promotional and recruitment platform for Islamic State.
The service, set up two years ago, has caught on in many corners of the globe as an ultra-secure way to quickly upload and share videos, texts and voice messages. It counts 60 million active users around the world.
A new feature of Telegram that was introduced in September has become the preferred method for Islamic State to broadcast news and share videos of military victories or sermons, according to security researchers. The group used Telegram to claim responsibility for the Paris attacks, which left 129 people dead, and the bombing of a Russian airliner over Egypt last month, which killed 224.
Islamic State has made Telegram its media mouthpiece in the face of increasingly aggressive efforts to block the group from Twitter and other mainstream social media platforms.
Alex Kassirer, a counter-terrorism analyst with the New York-based private intelligence firm Flashpoint, said that IS uses Telegram broadcast channels to send releases aimed at recruitment, inspiration and motivation.
IS now has three- or four-dozen channels on Telegram functioning as a kind of press release service, said Rita Katz, director of Bethesda, Maryland.-based extremist monitoring service SITE Intelligence Group. Some channels attract tens of thousands of followers, she said, adding that IS then counts on followers using Twitter to spread its messages.
Unlike Twitter, which has shut down thousands of accounts tied to IS for violating company rules, so far Telegram has let the jihadists operate without fear of being turned off or traced, Katz said.
“The channel feature completely changed the position of Telegram in the online jihadist movement,” Katz said.
Kassirer also said that Jihadi groups seem to be able to operate uninterrupted on Telegram.
Telegram, which did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
Shortly after the first version of this story was published, Telegram said in a posting on its site that it had moved to block IS channels.
After hackers acting under the banner of Anonymous, the loose-knit collective of activist hackers, said on Saturday they were preparing to disrupt Islamic State sites, an IS-affiliated account on Telegram responded by releasing instructions on how not to get hacked, according to a tweet by an activist group called Ghost Security.
ANTI-SOCIALIST TIRADE
Telegram was set up by the two brothers who founded VKontakte, a Russian social networking site inspired by Facebook that counts more than 100 million active users.
Pavel Durov, 31, the frontman, and his brother Nicolay, 34, the technical talent, lost control of VKontakte to businessmen with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014, after battling the government over demands that it block Russian opposition leaders and turn over information about Ukrainian protesters.
The brothers left Russia and moved to Berlin to continue running Telegram, which they fund themselves. Telegram says on its website that making profits will never be one of its goals, and if it runs out of money it will ask for donations and charge for nonessential add-ons.
The main appeal of Telegram is that it allows users to send strongly encrypted messages, for free, to any number of a user’s phones, tablets or computers, which is useful to people who need to switch devices frequently. It has group messaging features that allow members to share large videos, voice messages or lots of links in one message, without detection by outsiders because this service does not run through the computing cloud.
Security services would in principle need to have physical possession of a user’s device to break the keys to the encrypted chats.
Security analysts say the Islamic State's young, digitally sophisticated recruits likely use a variety of tools and platforms, as well as couriers and face-to-face meetings, to plan operations.
"There are countless alternatives," said Hassan Hassan, an expert on Islamic state with UK foreign policy think tank Chatham House and co-author of the book "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror."
He said Telegram’s appeal to Islamic militants comes both from its technical features for media-sharing and also its perceived independence from government controls.
Experts say IS followers recently fled from Surespot, another encrypted messaging service, after reports emerged the U.S.-based firm had received a national security subpoena from U.S. authorities.
Telegram's 60 millions users are equal to the total number of customers of all the other highly encrypted services available, including Signal, Silent Circle and Wickr.
The Durov brothers are inspired by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's battle against widespread Internet surveillance and their own run-ins with Russian authorities, Pavel Durov said in an interview with the website Mashable earlier this year.
On his VKontakte profile, Pavel Durov describes himself as libertarian, individualistic and with a laissez-faire world view.
Pavel Durov is known for making outrageous retorts to criticism of his activities on social media.
When a Russian legislator called for the country’s security service to consider banning Telegram because of its role as a propaganda platform for Islamic State, Pavel Durov responded on his VKontakte account that the government might just consider banning words. “There’s evidence that they’re being used by terrorists to communicate,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, Pavel Durov commented on the Paris attacks on his Instagram and Facebook accounts: "I join all those who mourn deaths in the most beautiful city of the world. I think the French government is as responsible as ISIS for this, because it is their policies and carelessness which eventually led to the tragedy. They take money away from hardworking people of France with outrageously high taxes and spend them on waging useless wars in the Middle East and on creating parasitic social paradise for North African immigrants.
“It is a disgrace to see Paris in the hands of shortsighted socialists who ruin this beautiful place. I hope they and their policies go away forever and this city will once again shine in its full glory – safe, rich and beautiful. Vive la France!"
Reuters
Thu Nov 19 2015
An Islamic State flag flies over the custom office of Syria's Jarablus border gate as it is pictured from the Turkish town of Karkamis, in Gaziantep province, Turkey August 1, 2015. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/files
Konflik Asia Barat: Ringgit dijangka kekal sekitar 4.78 berbanding dolar AS minggu depan
Ringgit mungkin diniagakan dalam julat yang sama sekitar RM4.78 berbanding dolar Amerika Syarikat (AS) minggu depan, susulan situasi di Asia Barat.
Subsidi diesel bersasar: MOF dapatkan pandangan industri logistik mengenai skop, syarat
Ketua Setiausaha Perbendaharaan Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican telah mengadakan perbincangan bersama industri logistik mengenai pelaksanaan program subsidi bersasar bagi diesel pada Jumaat.
Zidane berminat jadi jurulatih Manchester United
Legenda bola sepak Perancis itu dikatakan memantau dengan teliti situasi Erik ten Hag di United walaupun telah mencapai persetujuan dengan Bayern.
Allahyarham Tun Hanif Omar legenda PDRM - Razarudin
Tan Sri Razarudin Husain menyifatkan Allahyarham Tun Mohammed Hanif Omar sebagai legenda besar dalam bidang kepolisan negara.
Tun Hanif Omar dikebumi di Makam Pahlawan
Jenazah Allahyarham akan dimandikan dan disembahyangkan di Masjid Negara terlebih dahulu.
'Ayah letak tugas, kerjaya nombor satu' - Anak Tun Hanif
Allahyarham Tun Mohammed Hanif Omar meletakkan kerjaya yang melibatkan keselamatan rakyat serta negara sebagai perkara paling utama ketika hayatnya.
KPN ucap takziah kepada keluarga Tun Hanif Omar
Razarudin mewakili keluarga Sang Saka Biru mengucapkan takziah kepada keluarga bekas KPN Tun Mohammed Hanif Omar.
Sofia Jane raih anugerah Pelakon Wanita Terbaik di Festival Filem Asia ke-21
Secara keseluruhan naskhah arahan Badrul Hisham Ismail itu juga berjaya merangkul Anugerah Most Original Film.
Mesir, rakan usaha dapatkan gencatan senjata di Gaza
Mesir sedang berusaha mendapatkan satu gencatan senjata di Semenanjung Gaza dengan sokongan Amerika Syarikat (AS) dan Qatar, kata Menteri Luar Mesir, Sameh Shoukry pada Jumaat.
MediaTek lancar cip Dimensity 6300 dengan teknologi 6nm
Ia dihasilkan dengan teknologi 6nm TSMC dengan konfigurasi dua teras Cortex-A76 sehingga 2.4GHz dan enam teras Cortex A55 sehingga 2.0GHz.
Indeks pelopor Malaysia catat 108.4 mata pada April - Perangkaan
Indeks Pelopor Malaysia terus menyusut kepada negatif 2.7 peratus, mencatatkan 108.4 mata pada April 2023 berbanding 111.4 mata pada bulan yang sama tahun sebelumnya.
68 maut letupan berhampiran sekolah di Kabul, ramai masih hilang
Kematian akibat serangan bom di luar sebuah sekolah di Kabul, Afghanistan meningkat kepada 68 orang, kata pihak berkuasa pada Ahad.
Majlis Keselamatan PBB sokong inisiatif gencatan senjata diketuai Malaysia
Tempoh 90 hari gencatan senjata tersebut bermula pada 1 Julai, hari di mana resolusi tersebut dimeterai.
Seorang warga Indonesia didakwa miliki item berunsur keganasan
Irwanzir yang bekerja sebagai buruh binaan di Balik Pulau didakwa melakukan kesalahan itu di belakang rumah yang beralamat di Hadapan Kanan, 352 Mukim C, Permatang Pasir Balik Pulau pada 6 Jan lalu.
Jenayah perang: Tindakan Trump maafkan tentera AS amat memalukan
Tindakan Donald Trump ampun tiga tentera AS terlibat jenayah di Iraq dan Afghanistan dikutuk. United Kingdom turut didesak ambil tindakan kes bunuh libatkan tenteranya.
Bekas anggota kumpulan Ukays, Akel Zainal disahkan terbunuh di Syria
Bekas anggota kumpulan rock Ukays, Wan Mohd Aquil Wan Zainal Abidin yang menyertai kumpulan militan Daish di Syria disahkan terbunuh dalam serangan udara di negara itu, awal tahun ini.
Penglibatan wanita sebagai penyerang bunuh diri membimbangkan - Polis
Penglibatan golongan wanita di rantau Asia Tenggara dalam kegiatan kumpulan militan Daesh sebagai penyerang bunuh diri semakin membimbangkan ekoran mereka mempunyai suntikan semangat baharu.
Hubungan jenayah dan terrorisme di Malaysia
Serangan-serangan sebegini hanya akan dapat dilaksanakan jika mempunyai dana yang cukup untuk membeli bahan-bahan membuat letupan.
Lelaki dipenjara 36 bulan galak keanggotaan, miliki bahan berkaitan pengganas
Mohamad Azmin Shah Sharifudin dihukum penjara 24 bulan bagi kesalahan menggalakkan keanggotaan dalam kumpulan pengganas.
Polis tangkap sembilan suspek terlibat aktiviti Daish
Dalam operasi di sekitar Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Sabah dan Kelantan itu, tiga warga asing dan enam rakyat Malaysia yang berusia antara 17 hingga 56 tahun ditahan.