Android is the most popular operating system among terrorists

While Apple’s iOS has taken the majority of the market share in education, government, and the enterprise, Google’s Android has managed to become the most popular mobile platform among members of Al-Qaeda. Though I don’t think Google will be boasting about that statistic.

A new report from Recorded Future, an intelligence firm based on Massachusetts, examined the terrorist organization’s changes in encryption follow the Snowden leaks, noting that 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.”

Both Al-Fajr and GIMF have released new Android apps in the aftermath of the Snowden leaks, which revealed to the public how widespread the United States government’s spying programs are. Al-Fajr and GIMF are advertising their apps as using the “latest technological advancements” in order to evade detection.

The download page for GIMF’s Tashfeer al-Jawwal app, which is available on Android and Symbian phones, advises viewers to “take your precautions, especially in the midst of the rapidly developing news about the cooperation of global companies with the international intelligence agencies, in the detection of data exchanged over smartphones.”

Read more about the story at Ars Technica.