Android is Al-Qaeda’s favorite mobile operating system

A new report by intelligence firm Recorded Future examined Al-Qaeda’s changes in encryption in response to the Snowden leaks, noting “an increased pace of innovation, specifically new competing jihadist platforms and three major new encryption tools from three different organizations – GIMF, Al-Fajr Technical Committee, and ISIS – within a three to five-month time frame of the leaks.”
The report noted that Al-Fajr and GIMF have both released new Android apps since the public exposure of the widespread nature of American spying, with the apps being advertised as using the “latest technological advancements” in order to evade detection.

Terrorist group al Qaeda and its offshoots are developing encryption software for the Android platform, according to a report, Friday, from Big Data intelligence firm Recorded Future. The group appears to be betting on Android as its development platform. In early June the Al-Fajr Technical Committee, an al Qaeda organization, released a new Android encryption application according to Recorded Future. At about the same time, the Global Islamic Media Front, a propaganda organization associated with al Qaeda, released a new version of its encryption application for Android. From 2007 to 2013, the main encryption software for al Qaeda was called Asrar al-Mujahideen, which means Mujahideen Secrets. Since November 2013, several different encryption apps have been developed by offshoots of al Qaeda, according to an April report from the nonprofit Middle East Media Research Institute that explores the Middle East through its media. Google’s Android operating system accounted for 85% of all smartphones shipped during the second quarter, according to a recent report from research firm Strategy Analytics.