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When ISIS terrorists want to keep secrets, they are turning to an app called Telegram. It's "the new hot thing among jihadists," said Laith Alkhouri, director of Research at Flashpoint Global Partners.

The Berlin-based startup boasts two layers of encryption and claims to be "faster and more secure" than its competitor WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook. Users can securely message friends and send pictures and files. They can also create group chats with up to 200 members or opt for "special secret chats" where messages, photos, and videos will self-destruct.

ISIS is also using Telegram to broadcast big messages on the app's "channels," which are devoted to a variety of topics. It was on the official ISIS channel that the group said the Paris attacks would be the "first of the storm." ISIS also used Telegram to claim responsibility for downing a Russian airplane on October 31.

"A lot of people are now seeing Telegram advertised on ISIS supporter Twitter accounts," said Alkhouri. He said the official ISIS channel distributes between 10 and 20 ISIS statements and videos a day.

Some terror groups are using Telegram to fundraise. On certain jihadi-related channels, users are asked to donate and pick where their money would go. For example, users can pick out the type of weapons their money would be spent on. "You can choose whether to donate your money to an AK-47," Alkhouri said.

Because Telegram isn't yet widely known, there's less scrutiny. It launched in 2013 by brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, who has been dubbed "the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia."

Pavel Durov created the popular Russian social network Vkontakte, and fled Russia after refusing to hand over user data to the government, according to reporting by the New York Times. On Telegram's FAQ page, it says profits will never be a goal for the company. The company says it has "quite enough money for the time being."

Telegram is a reaction to what the makers of the app believe are shortcomings of other mainstream networks. "Big Internet companies like Facebook or Google have effectively hijacked the privacy discourse in the recent years," the site says.

A number of startups have popped up looking to make secure, encrypted communication mainstream -- a reaction to the revelations in the Edward Snowden leaks about the NSA's oversight of private communications. But now there's a debate: How much oversight should the government have? And how much privacy can be expected while still ensuring security?

While ISIS members often meet and relay their messages on social networks like Twitter, they often then "go dark," using apps with encryption.

"Encryption is one of many ways that an adversary, whether that's a criminal, a terrorist, a rogue nation, one of the many ways that they might use to hide their activities," former NSA Deputy Director Chris Inglis, said. Describing these kinds of Apps as an obstacle for the NSA.

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Two Air France flights bound for Paris from the United States were diverted for several hours on Tuesday following anonymous bomb threats, and more than 700 passengers and crew were safely taken off the planes, officials said.

Flight 65, an Airbus A-380 that departed from Los Angeles, landed safely in Salt Lake City, where passengers and crew were escorted into the terminal, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said. The Salt Lake Tribune, citing an airport official, said it was carrying 497 passengers and crew.

The FBI said in a statement that no evidence was found aboard the plane "which would lend credibility to the threats" against the flight. The airport said operations were not affected, and local Utah media including broadcaster KSL reported that passengers had been cleared to reboard and resume their journey.

Keith Rosso, a passenger who tweeted a photo shortly after takeoff from Los Angeles, said he was "thankful to everyone who has been working to keep everyone calm and make sure air travel is safe. Hope to be taking off again shortly."

A separate Boeing 777 that left Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., Flight 55, was diverted to Halifax International Airport in Nova Scotia, which said 262 passengers and crew members had safely disembarked.

In a brief statement, Air France said both flights had been the "subjects of anonymous threats received after their respective take-offs."

"As a precautionary measure and to conduct all necessary security checks, Air France, applying the safety regulations in force, decided to request the landings of both aircraft," the airline said in its statement.

It said authorities inspected the aircraft, passengers and luggage, adding: “An investigation will be led by the authorities to identify the source of the telephone call.”

Security officials have been on high alert since Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for attacks last week in Paris that killed 129 people. Russia has said the group was also responsible for the downing on Oct. 31 of a plane returning to St. Petersburg from the Sharm al-Sheikh resort in Egypt, killing all 224 on board.

The incidents did not appear to be causing flight delays or cancellations elsewhere.

According to data on flight tracking website flightradar24.com, flights operated by both Air France and other airlines appear to be taking off and landing normally at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

In another story, gunfire and explosions shook the Paris suburb of St Denis early on Wednesday as French police surrounded a building where a Belgian Islamist militant suspected of masterminding last week's attacks in the French capital was believed to be holed up.

Two assailants were killed, including a woman who detonated a suicide bomb, a source close to the case said, adding that the police operation was continuing to flush out two other suspects.

The target of the raid, which filled the streets of St Denis with heavily armed police and soldiers, was Islamic State militant Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was initially thought to have orchestrated the Paris attacks from Syria, police and justice sources said.

A judicial source said police had originally been hunting other suspects in St Denis, but now believed he was one of those barricaded in the building.

Shooting began at about 4.30 a.m. (10.30 p.m. ET) and police Special Forces of the RAID unit were still involved in exchanges of fire three hours later, witnesses said.

"The operation is still under way. It's not over," local Member of Parliament Mathieu Hanotin said on France Inter radio. "Everyone must stay indoors. There are still gunmen holed up in the apartment."

Three police officers and a passerby were injured in the assault. A police source said three suspects had been arrested so far with security forces still trying to "neutralize" two more at the scene close to the Stade de France stadium which was one of the targets of last Friday's attacks.

The coordinated series of bombings and shootings killed 129 people, the worst atrocity in France since World War Two. Investigators soon linked the attacks to a militant cell in Belgium which was in contact with Islamic State in Syria.

The third event occurred lately when a soccer game between Germany and Netherlands which German Chancellor Angel Merkel was due to attend in Hanover was called off two hours before its scheduled start on Tuesday over fears of a planned bombing.

The match was due to have been held four days after the deadly attacks in Paris on Friday, when suicide bombers targeted the soccer stadium where Germany were playing France.

"We had received specific indications that an attack with explosives was planned," Hanover Police President Volker Kluwe told NDR state broadcaster. "We took them seriously and that is why we took the measures."

"We do not know if these people, who had planned something for the stadium, had planned something else so we try to have a presence throughout the city," he said

Police vans with loudspeakers ordered fans to leave the Hanover stadium and heavily armed officers positioned themselves outside the arena.

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Russia is offering $50 million for information that would lead to those responsible for planting a bomb on a plane that blew up over Egypt, killing 224 people.

The reward offered by Russia is one of the highest ever placed on wanted terrorists. It is double the amount that was offered by the U.S. government for information about Osama bin Laden.

Metrojet flight 9268 crashed over the Sinai region of Egypt two weeks ago. The passenger jet was brought down by a bomb estimated to contain 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of explosives, Russia's Federal Security Service said Tuesday.

"We will search wherever they may be hiding. We will find them anywhere on the planet and punish them," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement.

The Russian government is offering the unusually high reward to anyone who can lead the investigators to those responsible for bringing the plane down.

Russia has previously offered a bounty of $10 million for two Chechen rebel leaders. The highest reward offered by the FBI was $25 million for al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

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Anonymous hackers declare war on Islamic State after Paris attacks

Anonymous, a loose-knit international network of activist hackers, is preparing to unleash waves of cyber-attacks on Islamic State following the attacks in Paris last week that killed 132 people, a self-described member said in a video.

A man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask appeared on a video posted to YouTube and said the Islamic State militants who claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks were "vermin" and Anonymous would hunt them down.

"These attacks cannot remain unpunished," the man said, speaking in French.

"We are going to launch the biggest operation ever against you. Expect many cyberattacks. War has been declared. Get ready," the man said, without giving details of what the attacks would involve. "We don't forgive and we don't forget."

The video posted to YouTube had attracted more than 1.1 million views by 09:30 et on Monday. Anonymous is an international network of activist computer hackers which has claimed responsibility for many cyberattacks against government, corporate and religious websites over the past dozen years.

Since the attack on French weekly Charlie Hebdo last January, which led to the deaths of 17 victims, Anonymous activists have waged an online vigilante campaign to force the shutdown of Twitter profiles suspected of belonging to ISIS supporters.

The group says it has identified more than 39,000 suspected ISIS profiles and reported them to Twitter. It claims to have had more than 25,000 of these accounts suspended, while nearly 14,000 more on the targeted list remain active, according to a list posted to a site calling itself Lucky Troll Club.

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Many experts are not surprised that Islamic terrorists targeted France in attacks that killed at least 129 people and injured hundreds more in Paris.

Attackers used guns and bombs at several sites across Paris on Friday the 13th of November, including the Stade de France and the Bataclan concert hall, where a shooting rampage and hostage situation left about 89 people dead. Eight attackers have died, seven after killing themselves, and authorities are now searching for accomplices.

In a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, ISIS called Paris "the capital of prostitution and vice". The terrorist group also stated that France and "all nations following in its path" are "at the top of the target list for the Islamic State”. Under President Francois Hollande, France launched its first airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria in September.

Witnesses at the Bataclan said the gunmen shouted in French, "This is because of all the harm done by Hollande to Muslims all over the world”. Another witness confirmed this to CNN, telling the news network the attacker who shouted that statement sounded like a native French speaker.

Unnamed French police officials told The Associated Press that authorities have identified one of the suicide bombers as "a young Frenchman flagged in the past for links with an Islamic extremist activity." Expert think the attack could have been a pointed warning to France to cease strikes in Syria.

It could be "to say to France, 'If you continue to bomb our positions, there's going to be more of the same and you had better leave off or more of your civilians will die”. One more reason could be that although ISIS' greatest enemy is the United States, it’s extremely difficult to get operatives into this country."

Paris might also be a more fruitful recruiting ground for ISIS than cities in some other western countries. France has all kinds of suburbs, but the word for them, banlieues, has become pejorative, meaning slums dominated by immigrants.

"Inside the banlieues are the cités: colossal concrete housing projects built during the postwar decades, in the Brutalist style of Le Corbusier. Conceived as utopias for workers, they have become concentrations of poverty and social isolation. The cités and their occupants are the subject of anxious and angry discussion in France."

After the attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo earlier this year, which was carried out by Al Qaeda operatives, local activists in a Paris banlieue was worried that it would divide France even more. "I fear for the Muslims of France," one woman wrote on an activist's Facebook page, "The narrow-minded or frightened are going to treat all Muslims like terrorists, the woman said. This can cause isolation for Muslims in Paris's suburbs.

Still, authorities haven't determined who specifically carried out the France attacks this week. And it's likely that foreign terrorists played a significant role. Anything is possible, but the complexity of the attacks, the armaments that they had suggests that it's not merely inspiration or activating a local cell. It suggests that at least some of the people had training in a theater of war or in ISIS-controlled territory.

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A French official suspects Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a 27 year-old Belgian of Moroccan origin as the mastermind behind the attack, says he is believed to be linked to the ferocious attacks on Paris.

The official, who has direct knowledge of the investigation, was not authorized to be publicly identified as speaking about the ongoing probe.

Abaaoud was identified earlier this year as the leader of a Belgian jihadist cell that was dismantled by local police, The Guardian reported in January.

“According to Belgian media, the group’s suspected leader, Abaaoud, spent time fighting alongside Islamic State (Isis) in Syria.” “He was known to security forces after appearing in an Isis video, at the wheel of a car transporting mutilated bodies to a mass grave."

An unnamed source close to the French investigation told Reuters that Abaaoud is currently in Syria. "He appears to be the brains behind several planned attacks in Europe," the source said.

Seven people are in custody in Belgium suspected of links to the attacks and an international arrest warrant has been issued for a Belgian-born Frenchman believed involved in the attacks and who is still at large.

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