Shining Light on the “Going Dark” Phenomenon: U.S. Efforts to Overcome the Use of End-to-End Encryption by Islamic State Supporters

The article discusses the challenge law enforcement agencies face when criminals and terrorists use end-to-end encryption messaging applications to communicate. End-to-end encryption means messages can only be decoded by the sender and recipient, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to investigate potential leads. The article focuses on the Islamic State (IS) and their use of encrypted messaging applications to communicate with U.S.-based supporters. Despite the challenges, the U.S. government has been successful in identifying and disrupting violent plots by U.S.-based supporters of IS through the use of traditional law enforcement tools. The remainder of the article provides details on IS external attack planners’ use of encrypted messaging applications and offers quantitative findings related to the use of encryption by U.S.-based supporters of the group. It also provides insight into the government’s methodology in combating the “going dark” threat and the potential costs and limitations of these techniques. The article concludes that “going dark” threats will persist, and it is essential for authorities to adapt to these challenges.



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