The internet and terrorism: pathways towards terrorism & counter-terrorism

The internet and terrorism: pathways towards terrorism & counter-terroris

Understanding the Radicalization Process of U.S. Homegrown Terrorists

Radicalization is an aspect in the development of homegrown terrorists; however, researchers have been unable to establish a path to radicalization, uncover how individual and social factors influence radicalization, and identify how the Internet and social media mediate this process. The purpose of this case study was to explore individual and environmental factors that contribute to the radicalization of U.S. homegrown terrorists and identify interventions. Conversion theory was used to develop an understanding of the radicalization of U.S. homegrown terrorists. Data were derived from interviews of local and state law enforcement, military antiterrorism officers (AT), and security personnel from military installations in Eastern North Carolina. Data were analyzed applying content directed and In Vivo coding. The study results helped formulate recommendations on interventions to stem radicalization, identified the news media as a gateway for radicalization, and suggested the incorporation of perspectives from other radicalization-related theories into the conversion theory radicalization model to examine known cases of homegrown terrorists and test its viability as a model to understand radicalization. The results of this study could bring about positive social change by improving relationships and collaboration between law enforcement and community stakeholders, which might generate strategies that could exert greater influence in dissuading individuals from becoming radicalized

A contemporary insight into Islamist extremist radicalisation and an exploration of the effectiveness of prevention and reformative strategies

The threat of Islamist extremism has become a major concern for many countries, requiring the development and implementation of effective de-radicalisation strategies. The focus of this study is to provide a contemporary insight into the radicalisation process of Islamist extremists and the effectiveness of the Prevent strategy as a de-radicalisation approach. The research methodology involved conducting a survey with 46 Prevent practitioners throughout the UK regions of the Counter Terror Commands. The design of the survey implemented a series of open-ended and closed-ended questions to gather first-hand experiences and insights. This created both qualitative and quantitative elements to the research with respondents being given the opportunity scale questions in order of their perceived importance and then elaborate on their answers with the free-text questions. The results of the study revealed several key themes and identified areas where the Prevent strategy could be improved. Specifically, the results identified prominent demographics of individuals being radicalised, the most significant locations being used to do so and new tactics employed by radicalisers and extremist groups. The study presents key findings regarding the sites of radicalisation and the platforms utilised by Islamist extremist recruiters to engage with and motivate individuals towards terrorism. It is noted that there has been a shift from traditional in-person interactions towards the online space, where new platforms, such as gaming, have emerged as a potential high level threat due to their difficulty to monitor. Recommendations are made to utilise new technologies to stay ahead of young, enterprising individuals. The findings suggest that the Prevent strategy is effective, but better communication is required to highlight successes and to gain the societal approval required due to being a voluntary service. Additional policy and procedural recommendations are made to enhance the program's efficiency and effectiveness. The limitations of this study are that it presented from a Prevent policing practitioner perspective only. Future research should consider surveying individuals who have been referred to the Channel program to provide a rounded perspective. The findings provide key discoveries and valuable information for policymakers and practitioners to assist in combating Islamist extremism and developing effective de-radicalisation strategies

Contemporary Perspective on Terrorism: A Literature Review

Terrorism is taking on more and more varied forms, acts, and networks as a result of changes in worldwide, so that international organizations and civil society play a significant role in the battle against terrorism. Counterterrorism includes law enforcement, deradicalization efforts, and threat detection all done concurrently and collaboratively. As international organizations, the UN and Interpol prepared the legal framework, offered technical assistance, and supported the worldwide response. It is advised to use technology, cooperate across sectors, and reinforce deradicalization and preventative methods in order to maximize effectiveness. Global organizations must strengthen cross-border reactions and policy coordination in order to stop radicalization and boost civil society participation in educational initiatives. The role of financial institutions in preventing the funding of terrorism must also be considered. Governments and security agencies at both the national and international levels must enhance cyber security, keep an eye out for online content that encourages terrorism, and invest in the development of detection and monitoring technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), which functions as a virtual police force

Research Roundup Newsletter: November 2022

NCITE (National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education) is the Department of Homeland Security\u27s center of excellence for terrorism prevention and counterterrorism research. They are a federally funded academic consortium based in Omaha, Nebraska. Their newsletters covers the current news, activities, and updates of the center and the latest in counterterrorism research. The Research Roundup specifically highlights research and resources on timely counterterrorism topics

The Role of Social Media in the Expansion of Jihadist Terrorism in the United States

The purpose of this case study was to understand the role social media plays in the expansion of jihadist terrorism in the United States for sixteen participants at the sites: the Mary Lynch building in Columbia, Maryland, and a Club House conference room in Hanover, Maryland. The theories that guided this study were Social Structure and Social Learning Theory (SSSL) and Social Identity Theory (SIT). Jihadist terrorism has a symbiotic relationship with the tenets of Social Structure and Social Learning Theory, which postulates that criminal behaviors are learned through social interactions. Danielle and Klein (2018) contended that Aker’s Social Structure and Learning Theory focused on integrating both micro and macro approaches (Danielle & Klein, 2018). This integration illustrated some fundamental variables which suggested that a learning process contributes to crime and deviant behaviors. Felty (2019) emphasized that Social Identity Theory rests on the assumption that individualities are socially constructed. This process facilitates the creation of self-worth and, most importantly, an identity based on group association (Felty, 2019). This framework was appropriate in exploring jihadist terrorism and social media as the phenomena’s core principles illustrated a correlation among group association, individual identity, and behaviors. Semi-structured interviews were the primary data collection source. Scholarly articles, government websites, and textbooks were used as secondary sources. Colaizzi’s (1978) seven-step data analysis method and the ATLAS.ti website were the data analysis methods employed in the study

21st Century Radicalization: The Role of the Internet User and Nonuser in Terrorist Outcomes

This study examines differences between users and nonusers of information communication technologies (ICTs) within the pre-incident planning processes for domestic terrorist movements operating within the United States. In addition, this study is the first quantitative exploration of the prevalence, types, and purposes of ICT use within terrorist movements, specifically environmental, far-right, and Islamic extremist movements. Using officially designated federal terrorism investigations from the American Terrorism Study (ATS), we analyzed extracted evidence of ICT usage among individuals (n =331) engaged in the pre-incident planning processes as members of terrorist movements between 1995-2011. While we find significant differences in terrorist ICT use across terrorist movements, our findings suggest that demographics are not a strong predictor of usage. We find the highest prevalence of usage among Islamic movements. However, evidence of online radicalization or recruitment was found predominantly among environmental movements. We conclude with a discussion of these findings and their implications for counterterrorism policy

Malevolent Creativity & the Metaverse: How the immersive properties of the metaverse may facilitate the spread of a mass shooter’s culture

The innovation of the Metaverse heralds a new milestone in the Information Age as investors move forward with the plan to bring the metaverse to fruition. The metaverse will offer a heightened experience in terms of interactivity, economics, and platform, while paving the way for greater immersion through virtual reality and augmented reality technologies. It is likely that as the metaverse develops, gaming will offer a unique social experience through its features such as virtual worlds. Based on this, it is important for policymakers to look at extremist subcultures that will operate in the metaverse through these virtual features. Due to the role played by fringe subcultures in facilitating the recent mass shooting event in Buffalo, this article aimed to examine the main features of the metaverse and how its immersive properties could influence the creation of future metaversal subcultures that could act as a gateway towards future mass shooting incidents. To that end, it applied the model of malevolent creativity to the extremist use of online spaces to gain insight on how such properties could aid online extremists towards mobilization. Results show that the concatenation of malevolent creativity, innovation, and subcultural extremism may bridge the gap between ideation of mass shootings and mobilization. Based on this, the implication of this research suggests that tech entrepreneurs for the metaverse should be mindful of the risks that disconnection from the real-world society can create for young, isolated users and aim to implement safeguards in integral areas of the metaverse seven-layer chain, such as spatial computing, discovery, and the creator economy

AVERTING THE NEXT ATTACK: LAW ENFORCEMENT STRATEGIES TO DISRUPT FOREIGN-INFLUENCED TERRORISM IN THE HOMELAND

Local law enforcement agencies have an important role in protecting the homeland from a variety of threats, including the threat from foreign-influenced terrorism. The role in which local law enforcement has in the fight against this threat is often confusing and challenging, as roles vary from one agency to another. This thesis explores how local law enforcement can strengthen its role in disrupting foreign-influenced terror in the homeland. A comparative analysis and case study methodology was used to explore the extent of the threats faced from terrorist organizations’ exerting foreign influence to further attacks inside the United States. This thesis finds that the threat of foreign-influenced terrorism remains high and that local law enforcement agencies must be prepared to prevent and disrupt terror activities. Social identity theory is critical in understanding why individuals gravitate toward groups and ideologies that inspire violence toward innocent people. This thesis recommends that local law enforcement standardize nationwide terrorism training, build on relationships throughout the homeland security enterprise, embrace the philosophy of community-oriented policing and apply it toward prevention and the disruption of foreign-influenced terrorism, and enhance information-sharing capabilities.Civilian, Kern County Sheriff's OfficeApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Exploring Cyberterrorism, Topic Models and Social Networks of Jihadists Dark Web Forums: A Computational Social Science Approach

This three-article dissertation focuses on cyber-related topics on terrorist groups, specifically Jihadists’ use of technology, the application of natural language processing, and social networks in analyzing text data derived from terrorists\u27 Dark Web forums. The first article explores cybercrime and cyberterrorism. As technology progresses, it facilitates new forms of behavior, including tech-related crimes known as cybercrime and cyberterrorism. In this article, I provide an analysis of the problems of cybercrime and cyberterrorism within the field of criminology by reviewing existing literature focusing on (a) the issues in defining terrorism, cybercrime, and cyberterrorism, (b) ways that cybercriminals commit a crime in cyberspace, and (c) ways that cyberterrorists attack critical infrastructure, including computer systems, data, websites, and servers. The second article is a methodological study examining the application of natural language processing computational techniques, specifically latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic models and topic network analysis of text data. I demonstrate the potential of topic models by inductively analyzing large-scale textual data of Jihadist groups and supporters from three Dark Web forums to uncover underlying topics. The Dark Web forums are dedicated to Islam and the Islamic world discussions. Some members of these forums sympathize with and support terrorist organizations. Results indicate that topic modeling can be applied to analyze text data automatically; the most prevalent topic in all forums was religion. Forum members also discussed terrorism and terrorist attacks, supporting the Mujahideen fighters. A few of the discussions were related to relationships and marriages, advice, seeking help, health, food, selling electronics, and identity cards. LDA topic modeling is significant for finding topics from larger corpora such as the Dark Web forums. Implications for counterterrorism include the use of topic modeling in real-time classification and removal of online terrorist content and the monitoring of religious forums, as terrorist groups use religion to justify their goals and recruit in such forums for supporters. The third article builds on the second article, exploring the network structures of terrorist groups on the Dark Web forums. The two Dark Web forums\u27 interaction networks were created, and network properties were measured using social network analysis. A member is considered connected and interacting with other forum members when they post in the same threads forming an interaction network. Results reveal that the network structure is decentralized, sparse, and divided based on topics (religion, terrorism, current events, and relationships) and the members\u27 interests in participating in the threads. As participation in forums is an active process, users tend to select platforms most compatible with their views, forming a subgroup or community. However, some members are essential and influential in the information and resources flow within the networks. The key members frequently posted about religion, terrorism, and relationships in multiple threads. Identifying key members is significant for counterterrorism, as mapping network structures and key users are essential for removing and destabilizing terrorist networks. Taken together, this dissertation applies a computational social science approach to the analysis of cyberterrorism and the use of Dark Web forums by jihadists