Paris terrorists may have used Playstation 4 to secretly plan attacks

Gaming console cited as a favorite device for terrorists planning incognito evil

Jason Silverstein | NY Daily News - November 16, 2015

 

The terrorists who plotted the massive attack in Paris may have used an unlikely tool for their evil plot: Playstation 4.

Days before the shootings and bombings that left at least 129 people dead in the French capital, Belgian federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon specifically cited the gaming console as a favorite device for terrorists planning incognito evil.
“PlayStation 4 is even more difficult to keep track of than WhatsApp,” he said, according to Quartz.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton has said the Paris militants, some of whom lived in Belgium, used encryption technology to secretly plan their assaults. Bratton did not name any specific devices, but a Forbes contributing writer noted that Sony’s Playstation 4 fits the profile of a perfect product for terrorist talk.

The newest Playstation, which is now the biggest selling game system in the world, allows players to chat in private gaming parties that are monitored with much less scrutiny than more obvious technology, like cell phones and computers. The terrorists also could have used the game themselves to communicate, writing messages or giving signals that even the most eagle-eyed authorities would have a hard time detecting.