WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Jihadi Web sites carry technically accurate information and advice about how to surf anonymously, avoid mobile phone surveillance and defeat polygraph tests.
A recent analysis of several membership forums run by Islamic extremists and their supporters, conducted by the Jamestown Foundation, found warnings about "electronic methods that security services use to penetrate jihadi networks ... (and) security gaps in mobile communications ... giving real examples of cases where security forces tracked jihadi militants using the mobile phone system."
In one of the forums, wrote analyst Abdul Hameed Bakier, postings explained how mobile phones can be tracked; but "refutes the misconception that powered-off mobile phones can still be remotely activated as a listening device," citing an operation in the Palestinian Territories in which the Israelis planted listening devices in mobile phones.
He said training material on the Web forum included operational security procedures for using anonymous SIM cards and pay-as-you-go phones, such as not using them repeatedly from the same locations.
Other postings warned of the use of so-called voice-print technology -- which can identify a speaker as a target just from the characteristics of their voice. Another Israeli operation was cited, this time against four members of the al-Qassam Brigade at Gaza beach. Using voice-print technology, the Israelis were "able to intercept their calls and pinpoint their location even though they were using different numbers and fake names."
Another Web site contains advice on how to beat a polygraph or lie detector test.
Bakier said the postings were "thorough and scientific."
