Guwahati: Bangladesh-based terror group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) has shifted from end-to-end encrypted chat apps to the ‘Dark Web’ to communicate with their operatives so that their content cannot be indexed by search engines as it requires special software or authorization to access, police said.
According to top Assam police officials, terror groups have shifted from end-to-end encrypted chat apps to the ‘Dark Web’ to communicate with each other so that their content cannot be indexed by search engines as it requires special software or authorization to access.
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The official made this revelation after the arrest of a woman, identified as Jahura Khatun, for her link with the ABT from Naeralga in Lower Assam’s Dhubri district.
“During the interrogation, it was revealed that the ABT members use ‘Dark Web’ or ‘Dark Net’ to provide information to fellow terrorists, to recruit and radicalise to spread propaganda, to raise funds and to coordinate action,” said Dhubri SP Abhijit Gurav.
Gaurav said that the dark web refers to content that isn’t indexed by search engines and that requires special software or authorization to access.
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Dark web content lives on the dark net, a part of the internet accessible only to particular browsers or through specific network configurations.
He said the operational team of police recovered two mobile handsets from the arrested woman – one of them was extensively damaged in the fire as one of her family members threw it to the fire at the time of her arrest.
The damaged mobile was also seized from which the police experts found vital clues to their links with fellow members through unknown apps.
Gaurav said that the evidence collected from the mobile, shows that Khatun, who has been remanded to judicial custody, was communicating with ABT members through the Dark Web or the Dark Net.
They do not use mobile calls but chat apps to communicate. These chat apps found are unheard of. They are peer-to-peer encrypted chat apps and are more sophisticated and beyond end-to-end encrypted chat apps.
He said that they also use VPN (a virtual private network), which is the easiest and most effective way for people to protect their internet traffic and keep their identities private online.
“VPN is a technology that encrypts one’s internet traffic on unsecured networks to protect his online identity and hide his IP,” the SP further added.
He said that the terror groups can use the Dark Net for fundraising and money transfers using virtual currencies and other crypto-currencies.