Isis app: Islamic State launches Android app for news and recruitment

Islamic State (Isis) has launched a new app for Android devices that allows its supporters to receive the latest news and videos from the terrorist group. The Nasher app was discovered by US consultancy SITE Intelligence Group.

The app catalogues the latest photos, written reports, radio news bulletins and video releases concerning IS, however it is not available through the Google Play Store. Instead, IS supporters need to download the app's code in order to run it on their smartphones or tablets.

Supporters of IS have previously been able to keep up to date with the latest news from the group through social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. A clampdown by tech companies, as well as online campaigns waged by hacktivists, have made this method of communication and propaganda distribution more difficult.

Translation: Nasher App (Isis news - photographs and publications) Straight to your phone

One of the most prolific campaigns against IS online has been undertaken by Ghost Security (GhostSec), an organisation loosely affiliated with the amorphous collective Anonymous. GhostSec claims to have taken down more than 100 IS websites and around 57,000 IS social media accounts that are used for recruitment and propaganda purposes.

GhostSec has also been credited by counter-terrorism experts with thwarting terrorist attacks on New York and Tunisia. By monitoring IS activity online, GhostSec was able to pass intelligence to the relevant authorities in time for the threat to be nullified.

"It is my understanding that data collected by the group, and presented to law enforcement by me, was helpful to authorities in Tunisia, who disrupted a suspected Islamic State cell around 4 July," Michael Smith, an adviser to the US Congress and co-founder of national security firm Kronos Advisory, told IBTimes UK in July.

IS supporters have previously attempted to launch their own social network, however it was knocked offline soon after it was introduced.