LONDON: The British government said on Sunday that its security services must have access to encrypted messaging applications such as WhatsApp, revealing it was used by the killer behind the Parliament attack.
Khalid Masood, the 52-year-old Briton who killed four people before being shot dead in a rampage in Westminster on Wednesday, reportedly used the Facebook-owned service moments before the assault.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd told Sky News it was “completely unacceptable” that police and security services had not been able to crack the heavily encrypted service.
“You cannot have a situation where you have terrorists talking to each other — where this terrorist sent a WhatsApp message — and it cannot be accessed,” she said.
Police said on Saturday that they still do not know why Masood carried out the attack and said it was likely that he acted alone, despite a claim by Daesh.
“There should be no place for terrorists to hide,” Rudd said in a separate interview with the BBC.
“We need to make sure that organizations like WhatsApp — and there are plenty of others like that — do not provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other.”
She said end-to-end encryption was vital to cybersecurity, to ensure that business, banking and other transactions were safe — but said it must also be accessible.
“It is not incompatible. You can have a system whereby they can build it so that we can have access to it when it is absolutely necessary,” she told Sky News.
Rudd said she did not yet intend to force the industry’s hand with new legislation, but would meet key players on Thursday to discuss this issue, as well as the “constant battle” against extremist videos posted online.
“The best people — who understand the technology, who understand the necessary hashtags — to stop this stuff even being put up, not just taking it down, are going to be them,” she told the BBC.
US authorities last year fought a legal battle with tech giant Apple to get it to unlock a smartphone used by the perpetrator of a terror attack in California.
The FBI’s own experts ended up breaking into the device.
Social media giants are also coming under pressure over extremist content posted on their sites.
Germany this month proposed fining social networks such as Facebook if they fail to wipe illegal hate speech from their sites.
Google has faced a boycott by companies whose adverts appeared alongside extremist content on its Internet platforms, particularly its video-sharing site YouTube.
UK targets WhatsApp encryption after London attack
UK targets WhatsApp encryption after London attack
Russian soldiers ‘helped to repel Niger airport attack’
- Niger’s junta accused Benin, France and Ivory Coast of sponsoring the attack on the airport, which also houses a military base
MOSCOW: Russian soldiers helped to repel an attack on Niger’s main airport in the capital Niamey last week which was claimed by Daesh militants, Moscow said on Monday.
Niger’s ruling junta earlier said “Russian partners” helped to fend off the rare assault on the capital, which saw 20 attackers killed and four army
soldiers wounded.
“The attack was repelled through the joint efforts of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s African Corps and the Nigerien armed forces,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
BACKGROUND
Niger’s ruling junta earlier said ‘Russian partner’ helped to fend off the rare assault on the capital, which saw 20 attackers killed and four army soldiers wounded.
“Moscow strongly condemns this latest extremist attack,” it added.
Daesh said it staged the attack and released a video of events through its propaganda agency Amaq. The video shows several dozen attackers with assault rifles firing near a hangar and setting ablaze one plane before leaving on motorbikes.
Niger’s junta accused Benin, France and Ivory Coast of sponsoring the attack on the airport, which also houses a military base.
Junta chief Abdourahamane Tiani visited the Russian military base to express “personal gratitude for a high level of professionalism,” the ministry said.
Russia rarely comments on its military activity in the Sahel region, where Moscow has been increasing its influence in a region that has seen a series of coups.
Facing isolation since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has tried to build new military and political partnerships in Africa.
Apart from Niger, Russian troops or military instructors have been reported to be deployed in Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic and Libya.
Russia’s African Corps has taken over from the Wagner paramilitary group across the continent.
According to Moscow, the corps helps “fighting terrorists” and “strengthening regional stability” in the Sahel.
