Terrorists go digital, using iPhones, Google to coordinate attacks

In Egypt, the GPS utility on the iPhone has been banned from the general public and is restricted to military use.

The restrictions stem from fears Cairo has that terrorists can utilize the mapping tool to coordinate attacks, and Apple, which developed the popular gadget, has acquiesced and removed GPS devices from iPhones sold in Egypt.

Their fears are not unfounded. Last month terrorists attacking Mumbai used Google Earth to plan the blitz, according to findings from India's security services.

Colonel (Res.) Moshe Maroko, who was head of an Israel Defense Forces technological unit in the 1980s, is not surprised by terror organizations' increasing use of sophisticated technological devices freely available to anyone.

"Any technological invention that was originally made for military use over time becomes available on the civilian market," Maroko said.

Like computers or the Internet, GPS - the initials stand for Global Positioning System - was originally developed by the United States Army for its own purposes. Over time, the U.S. decided to loosen restrictions on its usage and make it available to everyone with only a few limitations.

The decision to introduce the device to the public was made after much deliberation due to fears that hostile factions might make use of them. Some 10 years ago - before the September 11, 2001 attacks - U.S. intelligence and security forces drew up a nightmarish scenario in which terrorists navigated an unmanned boat laden with explosives toward New York City's harbor using a GPS device. Only recently, Defense Minister Ehud Barak repeated his fear of this scenario, which might also affect Israel.

Though some restrictions remained in place, U.S. authorities reached the conclusion that use of the technology could not be denied the public.

Washington has banned the sale of images from civilian satellites with an accuracy of less than two meter's resolution.

"But a two meter resolution is sharp and clear enough," Maroko said. "Identifying objects of up to two meters is sufficient to give users much valuable information."

The nuclear reactor at Dimona or the base near Beit Shemesh where, according to foreign media outlets, Israel is storing its Jericho ballistic missiles, can be clearly seen using Google Earth's two-meter resolution.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, hijackings by Palestinian terror organizations led by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were routine. Still, few terror experts predicted something on the scale of the hijackings that occurred on September 11, 2001 when terrorists turned civilian aircraft into flying bombs. Al-Qaida has since been at the forefront of technological usage. Its operatives use the Internet and e-mails, turning them into one of their key tools for seeking recruits, disseminating their ideas and transmitting coded messages.

No sign of surrender

"The relative ease of sending coded messages on the Web greatly affects intelligence services," Maroko said. "Contact with agents is easier, but so is the work of terrorists."

Many Israeli companies started by former members of Israeli intelligence units have developed successful deciphering systems to defend information security.

Palestinian terror organizations have also learned from Al-Qaida. In the past they have used e-mails to track Israelis targeted for assassinations and have blown up explosives using cellular phone remote-operated devices.

But Maroko is optimistic and doesn't concede that terrorists have won in the technology arms race.

"We haven't lost yet," he said. "In my day, we faced some intelligence challenges that seemed lost that we found original solutions for."