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'Hacking Apps' Could Be Best Way To Disrupt ISIS

By Stan Bush

DENVER (CBS4)- A video on YouTube from hacker group Anonymous claims the organization has disabled more than 20,000 online accounts related to the terrorist organization ISIS in the wake of Friday's attack in Paris. One professor in Denver believes it could be the best way to disrupt the terror group's network.

In the video, a masked spokesman says Anonymous will hunt down all ISIS accounts and emails and expose them to the public.

The intelligence community says ISIS has been communicating in secret using encrypted smart phone apps like Telegram, which allow users to text without being intercepted.

Steve Beaty, a professor of computer science at Metro State University of Denver, says hacking those apps may be the best chance to disrupt the terrorist network, "If we can find bugs in Telegram we can use those to expose their communication."

ISIS Communication  (1)
CBS4's Stan Bush interviews Metro State Professor Steve Beaty (credit: CBS)

Beaty says ISIS has been able to significantly grow their global recruiting network using the TOR Network, more commonly referred to as the "Dark Net." Unlike the internet most people use, dark net operates from person to person, making users virtually impossible to trace. Originally created for encrypted naval communication, dark net is frequently used for drug trafficking and the recruitment of terrorists.

Beaty says it is too vast to be able to cut ISIS off at the head.

"There are tens of thousands of different streams keeping it active on the dark net," says Beaty.

Stan Bush is a general assignment reporter at CBS4. His stories can be seen on CBS4 News at 10. Read his bio and follow him on Twitter @StanBushTV.

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