Countering Terrorist Activities In Cyberspace

No single nation, culture or religion can achieve peace and security at home while ignoring the terrorist threats posed to others globally. This book presents lectures and a keynote speech delivered as part of the NATO Advanced Training Course (ATC) Countering ISIS Radicalisation in the Region of South-East Europe (CIRACRESEE), held in Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia, in April 2017. The main objective of the five-day ATC was to provide participants from the integrated security sector with information and knowledge about global trends with regard to the uses of cyberspace by ISIS, as well as accentuating the importance of the resulting social and technological challenges. An in-depth analysis of how these trends are influencing the region was also performed. The course topic was addressed from strategic/political, legal and technical perspectives, and participants were engaged in creating future regional policy proposals to counter ISIS use of cyberspace by engaging political, strategic, legal and technical components. The 12 selected lectures presented here provide readers with a comprehensive analysis from a socio-cultural, organizational and technological perspective. Among the authors are well-known academics and security professionals with internationally proven expertise in their areas of work, and the book will be of interest to all those working in the field of counter-terrorism.

What are cyber threats? This book brings together a diverse range of multidisciplinary ideas to explore the extent of cyber threats, cyber hate and cyber terrorism. This ground-breaking text provides a comprehensive understanding of the range of activities that can be defined as cyber threats. It also shows how this activity forms in our communities and what can be done to try to prevent individuals from becoming cyber terrorists. This text will be of interest to academics, professionals and practitioners involved in building social capital; engaging with hard to reach individuals and communities; the police and criminal justice sector as well as IT professionals.

Terrorist use of the Internet has become a focus of media, policy, and scholarly attention in recent years. Terrorists use the Internet in a variety of ways, the most important being for propaganda purposes and operations-related content, but it is also potentially a means or target of attack. This book presents revised versions of a selection of papers delivered at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on ‘Terrorists’ Use of the Internet’ held in Dublin, Ireland in June 2016. One aim of the workshop was to nurture dialogue between members of the academic, policy and practitioner communities, so the 60 delegates from 13 countries who attended the workshop included representatives from each of these. The participants encompassed a wide range of expertise (including engineering, computer science, law, criminology, political science, international relations, history, and linguistics) and the chapters contained herein reflect these diverse professional and disciplinary backgrounds. The workshop also aimed to address the convergence of threats. Following an introduction which provides an overview of the various ways in which terrorists use the Internet, the book’s remaining 25 chapters are grouped into 5 sections on cyber terrorism and critical infrastructure protection; cyber-enabled terrorist financing; jihadi online propaganda; online counterterrorism; and innovative approaches and responses. The book will be of interest to all those who need to maintain an awareness of the ways in which terrorists use the Internet and require an insight into how the threats posed by this use can be countered.

This is the first book to present a multidisciplinary approach to cyberterrorism. It traces the threat posed by cyberterrorism today, with chapters discussing possible technological vulnerabilities, potential motivations to engage in cyberterrorism, and the challenges of distinguishing this from other cyber threats. The book also addresses the range of potential responses to this threat by exploring policy and legislative frameworks as well as a diversity of techniques for deterring or countering terrorism in cyber environments. The case studies throughout the book are global in scope and include the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. With contributions from distinguished experts with backgrounds including international relations, law, engineering, computer science, public policy and politics, Cyberterrorism: Understanding, Assessment and Response offers a cutting edge analysis of contemporary debate on, and issues surrounding, cyberterrorism. This global scope and diversity of perspectives ensure it is of great interest to academics, students, practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders with an interest in cyber security.

As became apparent after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, terrorist groups are increasingly using the Internet as a communication and propaganda tool where they can safely communicate with their affiliates, coordinate action plans, raise funds, and introduce new supporters to their networks. This is evident from the large number of web sites run by different terrorist organizations, though the URLs and geographical locations of these web sites are frequently moved around the globe. The wide use of the Internet by terrorists makes some people think that the risk of a major cyber-attack against the communication infrastructure is low. However, this situation may change abruptly once the terrorists decide that the Net does not serve their purposes anymore and, like any other invention of our civilization, deserves destruction.Fighting Terror in Cyberspace is a unique volume, which provides, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of terrorist threats in cyberspace along with state-of-the-art tools and technologies that can deal with these threats in the present and in the future. The book covers several key topics in cyber warfare such as terrorist use of the Internet, the Cyber Jihad, data mining tools and techniques of terrorist detection on the web, analysis and detection of terror financing, and automated identification of terrorist web sites in multiple languages. The contributors include leading researchers on international terrorism, as well as distinguished experts in information security and cyber intelligence. This book represents a valuable source of information for academic researchers, law enforcement and intelligence experts, and industry consultants who are involved in detection, analysis, and prevention of terrorist activities on the Internet.

ICT plays a crucial role in the pursuit of modernization in the countries of Slovenia, Croatia, Albania and Bulgaria, which form the South Eastern European (SEE) region., The quest for Euro-Atlantic integration and the undeniable necessity for direct foreign investment have encouraged the SEE countries to invest in the development of cyber technology, and it has become the dominant area for social, economic and political interaction within the region. This has had both positive and negative consequences. This book presents the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Training Course (ATC), held in Ohrid, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in December 2014. The ATC addressed serious concerns about terrorist use of cyber technology in South Eastern Europe, which not only has the potential to destabilize regional efforts to create a platform for increased development by creating a breeding ground for the training of extremists and the launching of cyber attacks, but also represents a direct and indirect threat to the security and stability of other NATO partner countries. The book will be of interest to all those involved in countering the threat posed by terrorist use of the Internet worldwide.

The war on terrorism has not been won, Gabriel Weimann argues in Terrorism in Cyberspace, the successor to his seminal Terror on the Internet. Even though al-Qaeda's leadership has been largely destroyed and its organization disrupted, terrorist attacks take 12,000 lives annually worldwide, and jihadist terrorist ideology continues to spread. How? Largely by going online and adopting a new method of organization. Terrorist structures, traditionally consisting of loose-net cells, divisions, and subgroups, are ideally suited for flourishing on the Internet through websites, e-mail, chat rooms, e-groups, forums, virtual message boards, YouTube, Google Earth, and other outlets. Terrorist websites, including social media platforms, now number close to 10,000. This book addresses three major questions: why and how terrorism went online; what recent trends can be discerned—such as engaging children and women, promoting lone wolf attacks, and using social media; and what future threats can be expected, along with how they can be reduced or countered. To answer these questions, Terrorism in Cyberspace analyzes content from more than 9,800 terrorist websites, and Weimann, who has been studying terrorism online since 1998, selects the most important kinds of web activity, describes their background and history, and surveys their content in terms of kind and intensity, the groups and prominent individuals involved, and effects. He highlights cyberterrorism against financial, governmental, and engineering infrastructure; efforts to monitor, manipulate, and disrupt terrorists' online efforts; and threats to civil liberties posed by ill-directed efforts to suppress terrorists' online activities as future, worrisome trends.

Cyberwarfare can be used to describe various aspects of defending and attacking information and computer networks in cyberspace, as well as denying an adversary's ability to do the same. Some major problems encountered with cyber attacks, in particular, are the difficulty in determining the origin and nature of the attack and in assessing the damage incurred. A number of nations are incorporating cyberwarfare as a new part of their military doctrine. Some that have discussed the subject more openly include the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China. Many of these are developing views toward the use of cyberwarfare that differ from these of the United States. Cyberterrorism is also an issue of growing national interest. Many believe terrorists plan to disrupt the Internet or critical infrastructures such as transportation, communications, or banking and finance. It does seem clear that terrorists use the Internet to conduct the business of terrorism, but on closer inspection, however, it is not clear how or whether terrorists could use violence through the Internet for political objectives.