Inspire Magazine Email and Encryption Key Comparison
September 30, 2011 in Documents
One of the more interesting aspects of Inspire magazine is its use of a public key encryption system for communication based upon a program called Asrar al-Mujahideen. The fundamentals of using this program are explained in the first issue of Inspire magazine. Throughout the first six issues of the magazine the same four email addresses are listed alongside a public key for use with the Asrar al-Mujahideen program. In the September 2011 issue there is a different public key listed, though the email addresses remain the same. All four email addresses used are associated with free email providers located in the United States. All of the providers log IP information for users of their services and the suggested program used for encryption does not take any steps to hide the sender’s identifying information. Though the guide to using Asrar al-Mujahideen in the first issue of Inspire does recommend sending messages with the program from a neutral location, such as a coffee shop, subsequent issues do not reinforce this concept. In fact, some issues of the magazine only “recommend” using encryption. Thus, the authors of Inspire magazine appear to be delivering their supposed supporters and potential aspirants directly into the hands of a carefully logged and easily subpoenaed evidence trail.
Thanks to Mikko Hypponen for first noting the change in public keys.
Update May 3, 2012: Issue 9 of Inspire magazine again changes the public encryption key.
Issue 9
Email addresses:
inspire11malahem@gmail.com
inspire2magazine@yahoo.com
inspire22malahem@fastmail.netPublic key:
#---Begin Al-Ekhlaas Network ASRAR El Moujahedeen V2.0 Public Key 2048 bit--- pyHAvqTp3Mxye8vscUGr+92wvuhK6eyL9QBseQ4gsX3Fcnr2xO ERLLpA5w+rjkZENPNR61Xf0fYNPSRyUpDXamNXzfDVF4upScX8 ufGGgxZeTaz6m3kwS6A87nayVakI83NK7eXp+Ugc1Jm1Nxq3lq 8suJvXA/ft3KgsHyeumaORsbM382mJ3PTXt3Z88La49Kw3hYL5 6lYP7G4/FS9lAxn2mzKfPKay2tcKKpdfDK+RSNgDhbWaCdbjw5 5kVMcoR5knEN3lqD/cd8WM7XvmkbF4+gmuqKC5NPtz5/bNPIMS QncdyFQlHU7IKILJiNbvpx/XZYzrRFRFHqi+kOX8edDthD5+cW dCv0WQw3lMbn3iKCJKasLe9e9IARPGBKqz9ubkwcSZntmB+9gr c5hRRb+/SembIh6RBNucNYd22oGnenmBenM2O/sRzkHhg0R7Oi 1zdR5Qn8CcUxKzO2OebPaTOxpFtdizzvBciLjyE9mV45M4Qspf 56QSWTDFinhNZGDW3WWkRp4fCsV2Mr8M9wvNHan+2QISsdBj #---End Al-Ekhlaas Network ASRAR El Moujahedeen V2.0 Public Key 2048 bit---
Issues 7-8
Email addresses:
inspire11malahem@gmail.com
inspire2magazine@yahoo.com
inspire22malahem@fastmail.netPublic key:
#---Begin Al-Ekhlaas Network ASRAR El Moujahedeen V2.0 Public Key 2048 bit--- pyHY2q3DSBasVBCwh13bFtgFu+t4ioqKkBmXxYOy96mp5RKO7C u2zLT87G7jzSw3X5UZg87ew9Z60a4X/XShrNuqE6dLioT3c84d PMDOyPiA4wSNN/btukSvnw6gdjygH+lm0SxJmnOH+Sxjd9piZZ VTxSsj20/KQbhzPCj/QacCZDW9sCY2iybKnfOp0lU2WNr+O264 Sr36krjbxZ8Oj8+G7QJUMq0w0m/e9d/uNIFRJSQccWhHErUBO+ xDBCm4g1zoFr3Rc4d9hRoFOwUdGEyxIX95L8V3A8LCA1F+HJ+4 cLPeujgzgqyhqPNrO+FS2nqUV11QRJl/1Ljfa/FTYZQydwDVSI VoXKxaKIjK4eqdI+9MJNjQzax/gbrw2wsuVukEooY1htj2b5eX esM46n5+ugixB18AM6DMDtbyLhciiGyw685/MYfiwYZXowfvdV Dkrj/ybql8bQgzq//QzXkrbVqCwn9d4J2wTktbiWoOu+zdg07B jbWCJr+nfStEo/Qo+Hx3BDu3VhIptj/aAXxPVhgLg9q3Hur8ln XJKIvi4fUF0A== #---End Al-Ekhlaas Network ASRAR El Moujahedeen V2.0 Public Key 2048 bit---
Issues 1-6
Email addresses:
inspire1magazine@hotmail.com
inspire11malahem@gmail.com
inspire22malahem@fastmail.net
inspire2magazine@yahoo.comPublic key:
#---Begin Al-Ekhlaas Network ASRAR El Moujahedeen V2.0 Public Key 2048 bit--- pyHAvNeRKLqFHJG+LA5hZfEYlSJCYB6zeKc5Bq1F5EwjBuJyt0 9cMJHoSdEv98hVymwhLsOgLzigJHPTfxA0Ani7EWNaZx1hLaRm /hBmHErTQ6hZFuBiqnZ1WCEf5NbM7r8iKc0JEkryxlT8jehgIo C2e0/uG35q1cmRudP4eanVKfikQnojeEz3D1bD3iKWZNx7HBhL 2z6YOtfG8sFb8AyjXv8SEHaRHGO37uwlD8UNguxIRwanb5yEYP bD1bc4XFfy8JJgRNY8xWqAOwDZAciQ9MykgLZDoxxk/fBxm+Ni x+VRQsxDk9BDg6OYw4hcgqhu1yWItz6858NA9rl7Y2ki78bMZP J9HXAD3J6OiW9dKXYLE4mhwpe0C9iqfsDNhwepvawL0K8R8sZj 3MnlUAwm8hLjEX794qGPD2cPonp3lxICMddtQRSR3sN23bJOLF /OOZhU9Shqv3k0rA4YfT3XoqLoeprXucHzXFRX0CCQOdrnFQzG +49YV1YeTPpv7TtHvLoYxbsI31ieOPogM7/rKXvQRRzZFstkxA == #---End Al-Ekhlaas Network ASRAR El Moujahedeen V2.0 Public Key 2048 bit---
Explanation of Asrar al-Mujahideen software from first Issue of Inspire magazine:
Related posts:
- Inspire Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Magazine Issue 7, September 2011
- Complete Inspire Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Magazine
- Inspire Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Magazine Issue 6, July 2011
- Inspire Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Magazine Issue 5, March 2011
- Media Perpetuates Myths About “Virus Attack” on Inspire Magazine
- Inspire Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Magazine November 2010 Special Issue
- Inspire Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Magazine Issue 4, January 2011
- (U//FOUO) DHS-FBI “Inspire” Al-Qaeda Magazine Second Edition Warning
Fascinating! Thanks! A quick google also reveals:
“one downside of using this custom tool to cipher messages is that the encrypted messages always start with the unique text: “#—Begin Al-Ekhlaas Network ASRAR El Moujahedeen V2.0 Public Key 2048 bit—” giving away that the user is likely an Al-Qaeda supporter since this encryption software is not publicly available for download.”
Just from reading the article, it appears to me that it was written by an American. There is no broken english at all.
Yeah I’ve always thought Inspire was written either by CIA assets as a honeypot for American radicals or an already radicalized US insurgent. It would be more probable for the writer to be of UK origin seeing as they seem to have a higher density of radicalized individuals, but I see no evidence of localization to that area based on meter, sentence structure or spelling differences.
Either way, the implementation of a public-key infrastructure with a program integrity function is rather sophisticated and kind of scary.
I’d describe the grammar and sentence structure of at least some of the articles – including the one shown above – as fluent, educated, and British-influenced, but not actually British. To me, it seems more indicative of someone from, or educated in, India or Pakistan. Or, for that matter, Canada or Australia. ;)
What about someone educated in Israel?
There seem to be purposeful mistakes in the grammar and spelling of some articles in the publication, as if to give them a more unpolished authenticity. The disjointed structure of some sentences seems to indicate a native speaker of Semitic languages, such as Hebrew, but is obviously fluent in English. Also, the tone of the content, reveling in the usage of the word “terrorist” has always seemed odd. After all, they don’t recruit people by saying they’re a bunch of murdering psychopaths . . . they have an ideology.
The original issue with the cupcake recipes is still the biggest indicator to me. Who would have access to a pre-release terrorist magazine? In fact, I honestly think that if it wasn’t for media coverage there wouldn’t have even been any more issues of Inspire after that. 3 pages of content and then 64 pages of gibberish that’s actually cupcake recipes by a person named Dulcy Israel? The reported death of Samir Khan in Yemen could also potentially be a cover for the cessation of any further issues of the magazine. The most recent issues have had less and less content in each release.
I agree there are purposeful mistakes in grammar and spelling. But what are we to make of it’s feminine design?In Arab society, such colors and designs as INSPIRE has displayed would be wholly unacceptable. Then there is the slang; a cold diss ? a come to jihad production? The Creative Suite graphics are not so widely developed in the United States, but I have noticed them in Australian media. All this may be attempts to hide the true origins.
But even more telling, is that the individual who has very poor Arabic skills, who created an afterthought header on page 7 of Inspire 6, wrote the eulogy that was published on Shmikh. His use of the Arabic words for “comrade” and “revolutionary”, I believe, reveal him to be a communist secularist, leftover from the Soviet influence on Yemen. The absence of proper Islamic Quranic citation prove he is not a salafi. And why wouldn’t a salafi eulogize Awlaki? And why would an author of Inspire be a secularist? And have poor Arabic skills?
I have gone from believing INSPIRE to be an intelligence agency to a rogue contractor, type of project….to simply not knowing. The only thing I am quite certain of, is that it is not about AQAP or an Islamic state in Yemen.
What would motivate Awlaki to label the secessionist movement with a big AQAP in bold type, and ally with KGB trained comrades? And who would fund it ? (not the Russians…nahhh).
A true Yemenite knows foreign occupation would resolve nothing.
And since nothing really useful has come from Team Awlaki, it’s still a big puzzle.
Did the Arab spring derail the true intentions?
Was this a Creative Dance just to encourage the mass production of thousands of predator aircraft? (now that would be lame).
Even Yemeni’s don’t know.
Hell, they didn’t even know Awlaki!
Who knows?
@Public Intelligence
Has anyone ever done a study on the telemetry of this magazine? How does PI get it? I think there are so many possibilities as to how or where it was created that we will never know, but on further inspection there are clues that it might be created by the Mossad. The flags include the Desert Eagle (pointed out by P.I. in a previous post) and the cupcakes incident including Dulcy “Israel” as the author.
Then again it could just be a honeypot for idiot domestic jihadists. There is absolutely no possible way to authenticate the creator of the magazine or the cryptography program. For all we know this supposed “cryptography” program is in fact a rootkit and sends all pertinent data on your computer straight to a server in Virginia. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get my hands on it to disassemble it or analyze network traffic produced by it so it’s impossible to tell. (P.S. I love the Colt SP1)
One strange thing though is that the issue after the cupcake perpetuates the idea that the PDF got hit by a “virus”. Now obviously the media sees any type of malware or obfuscation as a “virus” so it seems this was just done for attention. But the magazine itself perpetuating this thought only plays further to that, if it had a legitimate creator as technologically experienced as the later issues presume then it would have explained how they just replaced the data. Maybe their are multiple creators?
All of it is rather confusing and be it made by some alphabet-soup agency or some dude with a laptop in a cave- it’s creepy.
Interesting discussion. For those unaware of the article published by McAfee Labs on one of the earlier Inspire issues, I would advice to check this publication :
Odd Magazine: Disinformation at Play ?
http://blogs.mcafee.com/mcafee-labs/odd-magazine-disinformation-at-play
Fascinating the comments made here. New to the site. This will now be a regular read. The insights into determining the writer of Inspire is remarkable.