Terrorists have changed methods since Snowden leaks: UK official

[Zorro]

Terrorists have substantially changed their methods of communication since leaks by former U.S. intelligence operative Edward Snowden, hindering intelligence agencies' efforts to track them, a senior British security official said on Tuesday.

"The Snowden effect has been a very, very severe one," Stephen Phipson, a director at Britain's Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT), told a London security conference.

Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, caused international uproar last June when he disclosed details of the extent of surveillance and electronic intelligence gathering by his former employers and by the British equivalent GCHQ to the Washington Post and Britain's Guardian newspaper.

"Our adversaries, the terrorists out there, now have full sight of the sorts of tools and range of techniques that are being used by government," he said. "I can tell you data shows a substantial reduction in the use of those methods of communication as a result of the Snowden leaks."

http://news.yahoo.com/terrorists-changed-methods-since-snowden-leaks-uk-official-115438952--sector.html

[Warpy]

1. Good, slow them down

and make them more reliant on runners who can be paid to snitch and snail mail whose delivery is uncertain in much of the world and complicated codes that are difficult for them to remember but which most of the world's security agencies can crack before the ink dries.

If you can't stop them, slowing them down is the next best thing.

[brush]

3. Seems the ariticle says Snowden's leaks didn't help but hurt the fight against terrorist

I've always said Snowden should have stopped at revealing info on domestic info gathering (and be hailed as a legitimate whistle-blower) and stayed away from revealing details of our international covert operations.

He didn't. Now there's proof that his leaks qued terrorists to change their methods of avoiding detection.

There are two parts to the Snowden leaks story but his supporters don't want to deal with the fact that Snowden revealed details of his own country's international covert operations, which borders on, and quite possibly crosses the line into sedition.

[Warpy]

4. Information on domestic spying pretty much blew the gaffe

on what the NSA was doing internationally. Snowden only confirmed what most people suspected.

[brush]

5. The article says he apparently provide details on operations . . .

that helped international terrorists avoid detection.

It's pretty clear on that. Again, Snowden should have stuck to revealing 4th admendment privacy violations of US citizens and stayed out of the international covert arena. Not smart, and won't help his chances to ever come back here as a free man.

[DRoseDARs]

2. Unless they're resorting to quantum entanglement comms, I fail to see your point Phipson.