Threat Intelligence company, Recorded Future, has published a detailed report to demonstrate that members of Al-Qaeda have adopted new encryption applications for the first time. The firm also linked the event to the Snowden revelations. The revelation based on the document leaked by Edward Snowden on the NSA surveillance programs have had also a serious impact on the methods of terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda. The use of encryption is very diffused within the terrorist groups to protect their communication and information, in 2011 Deutch Intelligence revealed that militants in Germany were using a self-developed encryption tools to secure communication with cells operative in Pakistan.”]
Source: http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/24978/cyber-crime/al-qaeda-encryption-tools.html