Thursday, December 11, 2008

Tech Savvy Terrorists

According to a new Reuters article, Mumbai security forces acknowledged shortcomings in their defense technologies and the surprising familiarity and ease of use of advanced technology by the gunmen. The sophisticated use of GPS, Google Earth, Skype, satellite phones and Blackberries made it increasingly difficult for Mumbai police and gave the gunmen the edge. The gunmen reportedly planned their operation using Google Earth, a highly detailed world map feature offered by Google for free. Lawyers in Mumbai are now trying to ban Google Earth because the incredible details could be 'security hazards' and are extremely sensitive. Also, the use of satellite phones along with the use of Skype made it difficult to track telephone conversations. E-mail communications before the operation were done through multiple servers making it also difficult for Indian forces to track.

This new tech savvy quality of the enemy is indeed very scary. The best way to fight this is probably not by banning the technology (that's just like saying: "lets go back to the stone age so that there are no more guns!"), but by improving classified technology used by the security team. But there is no one answer and it is incredibly hard to solve this as someone would have by now if it were that easy.

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