Digital Fingerprints Detail Alleged Terror Suspects Trail
Details from the digital fingerprints left behind by alleged terror suspect Najibullah Zazito provided much of the evidence authorities needed to make the arrest according to an article on ZDnet. The report explains how the FBI was able to use the digital path left behind to track down the evidence that ultimately led to Zazi’s indictment.
From ZDnet
As you read the indictment and order for permanent detention you can almost picture the various connected databases and monitoring techniques at work. Simply put, Internet surveillance and information technology sleuthing played a big role in the Zazi case. FBI agents arrested Zazi in Colorado.
Jeffrey Knox, an assistant U.S. attorney, tells the tale in the permanent detention document.
Here’s a look at the key linchpins where IT crossed paths with detective work.
The Customs databases…
Zazi flew from Newark Liberty International Airport to Peshawar, Pakistan on Aug. 28, 2008. Something triggered in a database, given that Zazi, 24, was going to Peshawar, known as a terrorism hotbed.
Pakistan email accounts…
Here’s where the surveillance kicked in. Knox notes in the order for detention:
Zazi is associated with three email accounts (”Email Account 1,” “Email Account 2″ and “Email Account 3″) that were active during his time in Pakistan. One of the accounts is directly subscribed to Zazi, and all three accounts contain slight variations of the same password. The government will establish at trial that these accounts were used in furtherance of Zazi’s efforts to manufacture explosive devices. Among other things, during a consent search of two of the three accounts, agents found jpeg images of nine pages of handwritten notes containing formulations and instructions regarding the manufacture and handling of different kinds of explosives. Based on email header information, these images had been emailed to Email Accounts 2 and 3 in early December 2008, while Zazi was in Pakistan. As discussed below, the same notes were transferred onto Zazi’s laptop computer in June 2009.
Customs databases again…
Zazi flew back to the U.S. via JFK International Airport in Queens on Jan. 15, 2009.
You are your Internet search history..
