Western Resistance: US: Plans to Counter Internet Jihad

« UK: Muslims Warned of Mecca Health Risks | | US: On Mustering the Will to Win »

October 27, 2005

US: Plans to Counter Internet Jihad

A proposed law was presented in the US yesterday (Wednesday 26) which would make it more difficult for terrorist operations to be carried out online. Al-Qaeda has been using the internet for some time, and other jihadists have followed suit. The proposed law, claims Yahoo News would increase the time that public access cybercafes would keep records of Internet connection data. The group al-Muhajiroun has employed internet cafes in Pakistan to organise and convey information.

The director of SITE, the Institute of the Search for International Terrorist Entities, Rita Katz, warns against the methods employed by terrorists on the internet. One technique involves the "dead letter box" - someone creates an email account, gives its password to various members of a cell, and leaves messages in a draft state. Other members access these drafts, which are never sent. This method was employed by Khaled Sheikh Mohammed in preparation of the September 11 attacks upon America.

The Washington-based SITE institute director has said of the internet: "Everything is there, it replaces the training camps." SITE monitors Islamist sites continually.

Another group which does the same is the Terrorism Research Centre, which acts for the US government. Rebecca Givner-Forbes, an intelligence analyst for TSC says that the most common method employed by cyber-terrorists is to have password-protected online message boards to which only members have access.

One of the main drawbacks to the hunt for cyber-terrorists is that many of these use Arabic, which makes it hard for non-Arabic speakers to see what is being related. Also the ability for internet sites, once brought down, to re-emerge a few days later on another domain.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 27, 2005 7:31 AM