VoIP and tech's murky role in Mumbai attacks

Reports out of Mumbai claim the 10 member Lashker-e-Taiba terrorist attack group was steeped in off-the-shelf consumer technology.  The FBI is reportedly assisting Indian intelligence agencies in deciphering "Internet telephony signatures" originating in Pakistan.

Terrorist controllers/handlers in Pakistan used VoIP to communicate with the Mumbai attack cell, with calls flowing out of Pakistan to satellite phones carried by the group. Conducting traffic analysis - number of calls, type of calls, frequency, and length - on the communications stream between Pakistan and Mumbai seems to have occurred, but it is not clear if Indian authorities have access to any media streams - the actual verbal conversations -- of calls. 

The FBI is apparently providing support to trace back when calls started coming in to the cell phone. While not being publicly discussed, it is likely that a United States National Security Agency "vacuum cleaner" system sucked up the broadcasted satellite phone conversations in some form; it is unknown if the communications were encrypted end-to-end, but if they were, it would provide an additional complication to learning the substance of the communications between Lashker-e-Taiba and its Mumbai cell.

Players on both sides of the terrorist equation - both attackers and defenders - are aware of the use and application of off-the-shelf technologies for attacks. In October, a short report by the U.S. Army 304th Military Intelligence open source intelligence team examined the potential use and application of mobile phone and VoIP technologies by terrorist groups. While the media generally obsessed over the application of Twitter, the report also highlighted the use of GPS, software to change voices in conjunction with VoIP calls, and Google Maps.

For more:
- The Economic Times of India briefly discusses FBI involvement in VoIP cracking.
- Ars Technica and the media fetished on Twitter as a terrorist tool, but the U.S. Army report highlights other technologies as well.

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