The Westminster attacker’s online communications have now become the core of the investigation around the terror raid with security forces keen to ascertain if he was receiving instructions from a jihadist master moments before he unleashed carnage.
Khalid Massod was on WhatsApp at 2.37pm on Wednesday, approximately two minutes before ploughing into people on Westminster Bridge and four minutes before he was shot dead by armed officers outside the Palaces of Westminster, the MailOnline exclusively revealed yesterday.
Now, Masood’s messages with others on the encrypted messaging service have prompted police to up their search for jihadist associates of the killer.
Pictured: A screengrab of Khalid Masood’s WhatsApp profile taken on Thursday by MailOnline shows the attacker was active in the app on his iPhone moments before he ploughed into innocent people on Westminster Bridge
Masood being lifted into an ambulance after being shot, moments after messasing Whatsapp contacts. His communications have now become the core of the investigation around the attack
Theories include that the 52-year-old was receiving a final bit of advice from a terror master, seeking religious authority for the attack or saying goodbye to his associates.
On Friday, Metropolitan Police Assistant Deputy Commissioner Mark Rowley said the investigation would look at whether Masood ‘acted totally alone inspired by terrorist propaganda, or if others have encouraged, supported or directed him’.
However investigators will not be able to access the messages without breaking into his phone as WhatsApp is an ‘end-to-end’ encryption messaging service.
This means communications sent on the Facebook owned app are visible only to the person who has sent them and the individuals that were meant to receive.
The system works by using a ‘lock’ to secure messages between individuals or in a group chat.
This lock is paired with a distinct ‘key,’ which only the sender and the recipients will have.
The California based company updated the app in April last year with ‘end-to-end’ encryption amid a heightened international debate over how much access law enforcement should have to digital communications.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg hailed the addition as an ‘important milestone for the WhatsApp community’ however cyber law expert Pavan Duggal said the feature can only benefit terrorists.
Duggal told The Quint: ‘WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption provides more encouragement to terror groups to be more bold in their communications in coded languages which can then be transmitted without the fear of being cracked on the way. ‘
Daily Mail online
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