Story highlights FBI Director James Comey reiterated the need for the intelligence community to have access to encrypted data to detect national security threats

The problem of suspects "going dark" continues to be a challenge for the FBI

Washington (CNN) Following reports that the Paris attackers used encrypted phone applications to communicate, FBI Director James Comey reiterated on Wednesday the need for the intelligence community to have access to encrypted data in order to detect threats to national security.

While ISIS has been known to recruit members using social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, Comey warned that potential attackers are being directed through communication platforms to which authorities have no access, even through warrants and wiretaps.

"The threat posed to us by the group called ISIL, the so-called Islamic State, which, in the United States we talk about what they've been doing here, the recruiting through social media, if they find a live one, they move them to Twitter direct messaging. Which we can get access to through judicial process," Comey said during a cybersecurity symposium at The Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

"But if they find someone they think may kill on their behalf, or might come and kill in the caliphate, they move to a mobile messaging app that's end-to-end encrypted."

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