ISIS is using the PlayStation 4 network to recruit and plan attacks because it is 'more secure than WhatsApp' intelligence experts warn, as special forces are deployed on the streets of London with Britain on terror alert.
The move is the biggest security response since the 2005 London bombings and comes after the sickening attacks in Paris on Friday night - the deadliest in Europe since the Madrid bombings in 2004 - that left at least 129 people dead.
In Belgium, which appears to be at the heart of the terror plot, officials believe terrorists are using consoles to communicate.
Belgian Minister of Home Affairs Jan Jambon said intelligence agencies have discovered evidence of jihadis using the games consoles to exchange messages with a special, hidden recruitment channel.
He said: 'Playstation 4 is even more difficult to monitor than WhatsApp.'
ISIS fanatics are also said to be using a 'cyber caliphate' - protected by their own encryption software - where they plan their next attacks.
Meanwhile, special forces have been deployed to some of the capital's landmarks and busiest spots in the aftermath of the Paris atrocities.
Eighty-nine people were killed after gunmen burst into the Bataclan concert hall and took hostages before security forces stormed the hall.
People were shot dead at restaurants and bars at five other sites in Paris. At least 352 people were injured, of which 99 are critical. ISIS has claimed responsibility.
It is believed two of the bombers were carrying Syrian and Egyptian passports. At least two others are thought to be French while several could also be Belgian.
Last night it emerged French detectives questioned one of the jihadis behind Friday's terror attacks as he crossed the Belgian border and let him go after he showed them his ID card.
Officers pulled over Salah Abdelslam on Saturday morning on the A2 motorway between Paris and Brussels in a hired car used in the attacks.
Detectives soon discovered their blunder when they found Abdeslam had rented a hire car abandoned near the scene of the massacre inside the Bataclan theatre.
However, by the time they alerted Belgian authorities, he had abandoned the car in the jihadi stronghold of Molenbeek in Brussels - the so-called 'den of terrorism' - and disappeared.
An international manhunt has been launched.
At least one of the attackers is believed to have passed through Greece as a refugee.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that around 250 jihadists have returned to France from Syria - but the number coming back to Britain is almost double that.
Experts have also said there are as many as 2,000 people 'of interest' in the UK to MI5 and security services.
Speaking on Newsnight, BBC Correspondent Richard Watson said: 'In France, ten people per week for the last five months have travelled to Syria and many of them have come back.
'In the UK, 760 people are assessed to have travelled out to Syria. Sixty people are assessed to have died fighting in Syria and half are back in the UK already.
'There are 2,000 people of interest in the UK to MI5 and security service. The question is how do you keep tabs on 2,000 people?'
He also explained how the ISIS fanatics were using a 'cyber caliphate' - protected by their own encryption software - where they plan their next attacks.
He said messages between ISIS supporters following the French attacks urged them to 'act when you're ready', 'wait for the word' and that the UK was 'very hot' with police action so said they should 'bide your time and wait until your safe'.
Another security expert has said the government is 'two or three steps' behind ISIS terrorists who are using encrypted computer software and 'burning' messages to avoid detection.
Large numbers of ISIS fighters are young, highly educated Westerners who are fighting the holy war with sophisticated backgrounds and training with digital technology.
Militants' use of Twitter and Facebook allows them to target an entire new generation of young possible recruits, while the beheading videos of James Foley and Steven Sotloff were created using skilled video and audio editing techniques.
Security Expert Will Geddes told MailOnline: 'They are using various different encrypted messaging apps [such as Kik, Surespot, Wickr and Telegram] that cannot be hacked even by secret services.
'The messages they send also have a burn time which means they will be deleted after a certain time so will not show up on a phone.
'This allows them to remain under the threshold of detection and it's becoming increasingly difficult for security services.
'Security services have to get permission from the app if they want to access the data, but many of the apps have an obligation where they need to notify the user that a request for communication has been made.
'This gives them a heads up and they can then move to another app. We are two or three steps behind them.'
He added: 'These messages will include details of the planning stage but then, more critically, when they are at the last stage in preparations for attack and seeing whether everyone is in position.'
The Investigatory Powers Bill, which was published in draft form a fortnight ago by Home Secretary Theresa May, will force internet firms to hand over to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ messages sent on apps and other encrypted services.
The escalating threat posed by ISIS was highlighted in a speech last month by MI5 chief Andrew Parker who warned the group wanted their attacks to kill a maximum number of people.
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