Terrorists are using playstation 4 to plan their attacks

What about the Xbox Live network? Why is it just PS4?

Before you know it, they'll be claiming they're using Tinder to communicate.

a reply to: 5StarOracle
Well cutting or intercepting communication is vital to thwart attacks.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Before you know it they'll be claiming they're using Tinder to communicate.

No I believe they use that to find sexslaves ..

Ok, just to keep things kind of open here. Here is some background on the state of play here as according to This Kotaku Feature

Last Friday (Saturday morning in Australia), Islamic State terrorists attacked several locations in Paris, France, killing more than 120 people and injuring hundreds more. Over the weekend, as more information emerged, reporters and analysts began to speculate that the terrorists used an unlikely tool for coordination: the PlayStation 4. As it turns out, that was all based on a reporting mistake.

Anyone can log into a PS4 and use Sony’s online service, PlayStation Network, to communicate by text or voice with others on the platform. The service is both easy to use and difficult to track, which would presumably make it perfect for people who want to plan criminal activity. There’s been no proof, however, that ISIS used PS4s to plot out what happened last week, despite the wave of media reports this weekend.

So, as I understand it, there is nothing but pure speculation at work here...

So why have so many people linked the PS4 to last week’s attacks? The speculation appears to have started with a rather silly Forbes article titled “How Paris ISIS Terrorists May Have Used PlayStation 4 To Discuss And Plan Attacks.” The article, which has over 475,000 pageviews and theorizes that a terrorist could also “spell out an attack plan in Super Mario Maker‘s coins and share it privately with a friend,” reports that a Belgian official drew links between the PlayStation and the Paris attacks.

Forbes originally wrote:

The hunt for those responsible (eight terrorists were killed Saturday night, but accomplices may still be at large) led to a number of raids in nearby Brussels. Evidence reportedly turned up included at least one PlayStation 4 console.
Belgian federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon said outright that the PS4 is used by ISIS agents to communicate, and was selected due to the fact that it’s notoriously hard to monitor. “PlayStation 4 is even more difficult to keep track of than WhatsApp,” he said.

Forbe's article they are referring to

They then add that;

What Forbes missed was that Jambon actually made those comments on November 10, three days before the Paris attack. Jambon was speaking in the broader context of Belgium’s security weaknesses, not drawing a connection between the PS4 and last week’s terrorism.

And as for the PlayStation 4 that Forbes says was found in the raids? Turns out that was an error, which they have since edited out.

So there we have it I guess. Mind you, this does not exactly discount that it's a possibility to use game's consoles, pc's, phones, games, etc in organising terror plots. I guess technology is bad in the wrong hands, like so many other things it seems - such as features that Forbes runs... At least the Ops link was more accurate.

I'd think jumping on a random local wifi and setting up a TeamSpeak server would work. The gaming is clever cause tye known port is used for a legit service.

originally posted by: capragenus

originally posted by: muSSang

Terrorists could be using the Sony PlayStation 4 games console to communicate with each other because it is so hard to monitor

KEYWORD here is COULD!
They Could also be communicating by carrier pigeon.

But hey just in case lets spy on everyone and intercept those nasty pigeons.

No one will every suspect the pigeon!

I don,t think ISIS uses pigeons
us105fm.com...
www.cnsnews.com...

a reply to: 0bserver1
Didn't know David, Benjamin and Barack had a ps4.

Thinking that PS4 coms are secure is as laughable as it can get. The platform is surveilled since it was connected to the internet. It's probably safe to say that not only 3letters agency, but also average hackers could break sony comms, after all they should be easier to break than the credit cards that have been hacked 2 years ago.
If there was really no way to intercept PSN comms there wouldn't be a single ps4 in the west.

This sounds like a scam to enforce additional surveillance and criminalize youngsters playing. Perfect to scare the bigot parents in some "free" country and ban encryption worldwide.

a reply to: 0bserver1

This has been known for a while.

The terrorists have been using any social media platform at their disposal to communicate. For a while, it was thought they were using online MMOs too.

Anything that provides a space to get online and chat is fair game to be used and their are enough of them available that they are going to be difficult to track despite the NSA's wiretracking everyone everywhere.

It's not so much how many and where they communicate but cracking the chat codes they are using.

a reply to: MystikMushroom
Probably because xlive you have to pay for and playstation you can play for free.

This is actually old news.

Now i am not blaming the OP for this but rather the OP's source, after a major terrorist attack the media all scramble for something to write about even if that means dragging up old stories as if they are new. Intelligence services have known about this vulnerability for quite some time and it has been reported on before so its not a new thing. What is interesting is that there are other reports saying this may have been how the Paris attackers communicated.

I mentioned this on another thread, the UK is trying to introduce a "Snoopers" bill to catch out terrorists yet this kind of communication is not covered, it just goes to show how terrorists will always find work arounds in cyberspace.

a reply to: Mastronaut

I don't think anyone believes they are "secure" rather realize it would be easy to hide code words among all the chatter. Think of all the first person shooters, GTA5 worldplay... you'd hear a lot of hardcore slang being used just as a regular gamer. Now imagine tossing out code words that mimic this typical chatter, but have meaning elsewhere.

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
a reply to: Mastronaut

I don't think anyone believes they are "secure" rather realize it would be easy to hide code words among all the chatter. Think of all the first person shooters, GTA5 worldplay... you'd hear a lot of hardcore slang being used just as a regular gamer. Now imagine tossing out code words that mimic this typical chatter, but have meaning elsewhere.

That's the easiest language to intercept and decode, those kind of games are n°1 priority for security agencies since the 90s.
People are profiled and something as complicate as this plan couldn't just be said in simple code that wouldn't be decyphered. So they could AT BEST communicate some update, but they couldn't really rely on PSN.

And tbh so far there is not a single reason to believe that a group that has access to military devices of the last decade would resort to use such methods for the operation. I can see how they would use PSN to recruit, but not to plan and detail the execution.

a reply to: Mastronaut

So I see claims, but can you back any of this up?

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
a reply to: Mastronaut

So I see claims, but can you back any of this up?

Nor do the OP, so who's the burden? The day they prove PSN was used for the attacks I'll try harder. So far the only alleged suspect with a PS4 was released and wasn't charged.

I can only suggest you officially from point n°14:

14. Are we monitoring PSN?
14.1. Yes but we can't monitor all PSN activity and we make no commitment to do so. However, we reserve the right in our sole discretion to monitor and record any or all of your PSN activity and to remove any of your UGM at our sole discretion, without further notice to you. Your use of PSN and our community features may be recorded and collected by us or sent to us by other users as described in 13.1. Any information collected in this way, for example, your UGM, the content of your voice and text communications, video of your gameplay, the time and location of your activities, and your name, your PSN Online ID and IP address, may be used by us or our affiliated companies to enforce these Terms and the SEN Terms of Service, to comply with the law, to protect our rights and those of our licensors and users, and to protect the personal safety of our employees and users. This information may be passed to the police or other appropriate authorities. By accepting these Software Usage Terms, you expressly consent to this.

I guess the possibility that comms are eaily accessible to secret service is very high.

a reply to: 0bserver1

All agencies need to keep an eye on all online game players.

Horror and thriller movies, where one only watched others role playing with the viewers hand kept to themself, if not feeding popcorn to the owner or holding another's hand, was looking up at a huge fence.

Everyone who engages in video gaming, simulated warfare, simulated murdering, is now on the fence.

Everyone who plays against characters acted by a real person is now looking down that fence.

Anyone who puts their knowledge gained from online role playing engaging in murder, into real time action, is now on the other side of the fence.

All online gamers who role play murder are fence sitters. And because they are, every single one needs to be watched. In fact, why monitor them at all because we can't even develop a program to monitor their chats because all red flag words and sentence structures ARE ALL PART OF THE GAME. Since that is the case, shut them all down and outlaw them. There is no human right or Constitutional right to them. Incarcerate those who developed them and charge them for inciting war crimes and crimes against humanity. Charge those derranged gamers addicted to their gaming crack so bad they game underground after being outlawed, with misdemeanors, and throw them in the psych ward to deprogram them so they can intergrate back into society. These simulated acts in gaming were designef for professional use only. That's it.

I predict an onslaught of attacks and minimal back up for expressing this. But know this. When I feel this passionately about something It's because I am right. If there is any sense left in anyone on here who games still. . . .Get out now.

Who knows if these games were made to round up everyone involved for inciting war. Tricked you with candy. Some blood candy.

Repent to your God or your own heart in sincere sorrow. Ask for change to bring out the positive in humanity. You have to want this or it's game over... if you want it to be game over you are harboring traits that involve terrorism and that makes you mentally sick. Denial of this is part of the disease. Face yourselves. No excuses. This is it.

a reply to: Mastronaut

Accessible, yes, but again I don't think they're able to hear too much out of the chatter without leads.

So I'm taking a middle approach. I don't buy the they're just barbarians hiding in caves or whatnot, but also not the opposite extreme of their network being the same class as a major power nation. I think they're using gurella-like tactics of not doing what the enemy expects, and basically hiding in plain sight. It's how I'd do it.

I used to keep my car thrashed, never wash it, had junk next to the gold, never robbed or stolen. My approach is to not use flashies, like cryptic messages in this case, just be an average slob nobody, and fly under the radar. Who knows though? This isn't my field of expertise. I'm just a low-level smooth

Using any form of digital or electronic communication seems dumb these days to me.

See this is why i Play on the x box. I also dont do chat on x box live because there is too high a chance of getting screwed over.

originally posted by: Brotherman
a reply to: MystikMushroom
Probably because xlive you have to pay for and playstation you can play for free.

Umm Actually...... x box live SOME options that use dto be pay are now free. I watch youtube now on live all the time and its way faster than my PC on that. You only have to pay tp play multiplayer,and sinc ei dont do that much its no big deal. Better security as well.