BANGALORE - While militant and terrorist groups
have been using the Internet for almost a decade, its
growing popularity as a meeting place for terrorist
groups over the past few years has made cyberspace a key
battleground in the "war on terror". Far from successful
at "smoking out terrorists" from their hideouts in the
mountains and caves of Afghanistan, counter-terrorism
strategists are finding the task of tracking terrorists
and their activities in cyberspace even more daunting.
There has been a sharp increase in the number of
militant groups using the Internet for their activities.
In 1998, about half of the 30 militant groups that were
labelled terrorist organizations by the US maintained
websites. By 2000, almost all terrorist groups had
established their presence on the web. According to
Gabriel Weimann, senior fellow at the Washington-based
United States Institute for Peace (USIP) and professor
at the Haifa University in Israel, the number of
terrorist-run websites has increased by 571% over the
past seven years.
The Internet has become the
terrorists' preferred choice of communication for the
same reasons it is popular among people in general: it
is quick, inexpensive and easily accessible. What makes
it particularly attractive to terrorists is that it
gives access to huge audiences spread across the world,
provides anonymity and is hard to police or regulate.
Not only have the number of terrorist websites
increased, but also the uses to which terrorists put the
Internet have diversified. Its use as a propaganda tool
is perhaps the most overt. Terrorist websites typically
outline the nature of the organization's cause and
justifications for the use of violence. The Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) website, for instance,
carries accounts of the LTTE's "freedom struggle", the
legality of its demand for an independent Tamil Eelam
and the legitimacy of its armed struggle. The website
carries interviews given by LTTE leader Velupillai
Prabakaran and his speech on "Heroes Day". It also
carries press releases that provide the media with its
take on events in Sri Lanka.
But use of the
Internet as a propaganda tool is just the tip of the
iceberg. Terrorists are using the Internet as a weapon
in psychological warfare, to raise funds, recruit,
incite violence and provide training. They also use it
to plan, network and coordinate attacks. Thomas
Hegghammer, who researches Islamist websites at the
Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, says that "in
a sense, [the Internet has] replaced Afghanistan as a
meeting place". Groups with links to al-Qaeda used
the Internet as a weapon in psychological warfare in the
recent spate of kidnappings and beheadings that they
carried out. Gruesome videos of the killing of Daniel
Pearl and the beheadings of Nick Berg, Paul Johnson, Kim
Sun-il and others were posted on the Internet. By doing
this, the terrorists were able to reach out to a global
audience, and in the process amplify many times over the
terror generated by a single terrorist incident.
The "heroism" of the fighters, their
"sacrifices" and their "martyrdom" are recurrent themes
on which militant websites focus. These are aimed at
motivating others to join the cause and also to
encourage donations. It is said that while websites play
an important role in motivating youngsters to contribute
in one way or another to the cause, they stop short of
actually recruiting through the web.
Women and
children are targeted by these websites, too. Mothers
are exhorted to send their sons to battlefields. One
website - Princess Taliban - details the many ways women
can help the jihad cause, including reading the proper
bedtime stories to prepare their children for a future
as combatants.
Several websites incite violence
and provide know-how, even online training in terror
tactics. In an interview with ABC's Lateline reporter
Tony Jones, former Reuters journalist Paul Eedle, who is
studying radical Islamic websites, compared the Internet
with a training camp. He drew attention to two
fortnightly magazines, one general political and the
other specifically military, being developed by al-Qaeda
in Saudi Arabia. Explaining the significance of these
online training magazines to al-Qaeda, Eedle pointed
out: "They have to replace their physical bases in
Afghanistan somehow and so long as there is a small
number of highly trained people to lead groups, then
these detailed manuals of writing how to write recipes
for explosives are all crucial."
The Palestinian
militant group Hamas has been providing online training
in bomb-making for several years. The module consists of
14 lessons, including the production of a belt filled
with explosives used often by suicide bombers. Those who
show lack of commitment by missing a class are not
allowed to continue with the course.
"The
Terrorist's Handbook", "The Anarchist Cookbook" and the
"Mujahideen Poisons Handbook", which provide detailed
instructions on how to construct bombs and concoct
homemade poisons, are posted on several militant
websites.
Another manual distributed through the
Internet is "The Encyclopedia of Jihad". Prepared by
al-Qaeda, it provides detailed instructions on how to
establish an underground organization and execute
attacks. A recent edition of the al-Qaeda's publication
al-Battar - or "The Sword" - provides a comprehensive
guide to kidnapping, suggested hostage-taking methods,
potential targets, negotiating tactics and directions on
how to videotape the decapitation of victims and post
the video on the web. Incidentally, this online
information was posted ahead of the recent spate of
kidnappings and beheadings in West Asia.
Speaking at the New American Foundation in
Washington last week, Weimann pointed out that the
Hezbollah site provides links to downloadable games.
"These games are training children to play the role of
terrorists, to be suicide bombers and to actually kill
political leaders," Weimann said.
The Internet
has been described as a virtual Afghanistan, where
terrorists can meet, discuss and plan their operations.
Terrorists have been hiding pictures and maps of targets
in sports chat rooms, on pornographic bulletin boards
and on web sites. Encrypted messages are being sent in
pictures on websites - a practice known as steganography
- containing instructions for terrorist attacks.
In a USIP-published report "How Modern Terrorism
Uses the Internet", Weimann points out that al-Qaeda
used the Internet extensively while planning and
coordinating the September 11 attacks. Thousands of
encrypted messages were posted in a password-protected
area of a website. By accessing the Internet in public
places and sending messages via public e-mail the
operatives preserved their anonymity. He also describes
how Hamas militants and sympathizers "use chat rooms to
plan operations and operatives exchange e-mail to
coordinate actions across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon
and Israel". Instructions in the form of maps,
photographs, directions and technical details of how to
use explosives are often disguised by means of
steganography, which involves hiding messages inside
graphic files. Sometimes, however, instructions are
delivered concealed in only the simplest of codes.
Mohammed Atta's final message to the other 18 terrorists
who carried out the attacks of September is reported to
have read: "The semester begins in three more weeks.
We've obtained 19 confirmations for studies in the
faculty of law, the faculty of urban planning, the
faculty of fine arts, and the faculty of engineering."
(The reference to the various faculties was apparently
the code for the buildings targeted in the attacks.)
But experts like Hegghammer reject the view that
militants use the Internet to plan and coordinate
attacks. He believes that the sort of planning required
for attacks is done in secret "very, very carefully".
The Internet, he argues, is used mainly to share ideas
and spread propaganda.
While it is the use of
the Internet by Islamic militants that has grabbed the
attention of intelligence agencies and counter-terrorism
officials over the past several years, the Internet is
being used by an array of groups with very different
ideologies, including American white supremacist and
militia groups, anarchists and groups with secessionist
ambitions like the self-proclaimed "Republic of Texas".
They, too, incite violence and provide input on
bomb-making.
Fighting a losing
battle Counter-terrorism experts find themselves
in the deep end in their "war on terror" in cyberspace.
The rapid pace at which information technology is
advancing makes it hard to fight terrorists. Several
Islamist militant groups might be using medieval methods
of violence, such as beheading, but the skill with which
they are using the Internet indicates that their feet
are firmly placed in the 21st century.
Shutting
down websites does not help, as they re-emerge quickly
on different servers. It is difficult to catch moving
targets. Weimann describes terrorism on the Internet as
"a very dynamic phenomenon: websites suddenly emerge,
frequently modify their formats, and then swiftly
disappear - or, in many cases, seem to disappear by
changing their online address but retaining much the
same content".
Not only is the task of
intercepting encrypted messages and images on the
Internet's estimated 28 billion images and 2 billion
websites a tough one, but also interpreting it is
difficult as it is impossible to read an encrypted
message without cracking the encryption's code. Cracking
a code is time-consuming. However, a highly encrypted
message crossing the net can sometimes grab the
attention of security sleuths who are then likely to
crack it. This has prompted several militants to opt for
low-tech, text only messages, as these are unlikely to
catch attention.
Analysts are suggesting that
instead of engaging in a futile effort of closing down
websites, counter-terrorism strategists should simply
listen to what is being discussed in cyberspace - in the
chat rooms and discussion rooms. The discussion rooms
provide intelligence on attacks, but more importantly,
on how ideology and opinion is shaping in the larger
Muslim community. Hegghammer argues: "That is where you
really get the early signs of the ideological
developments, which are later going to affect us, or
might affect us, physically."
Governments and
counter-terrorism experts are doing their best to keep
up with the terrorists. But barring major technological
advances, the cat and mouse game going on in cyberspace
is likely to continue, with the mouse remaining elusive.
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