Examining the Cyber Capabilities of Islamic Terrorist Groups

Project Description

Discussions between law enforcement, the private sector, and academia revealed that there is a lack of authoritative unclassified materials concerning the use of cyber technology by Islamic terrorist groups. To meet this need, the Technical Analysis Group prepared a report detailing how cyber technologies are exploited by these hostile groups. Our research presents clear, factual evidence that Islamic terrorist groups are using information technologies to facilitate propaganda, recruitment and training, fundraising, communications, and targeting operations.
The open source materials used in the report include court testimony, indictments, government reports, academic reports, actual information from websites associated with terrorist groups (both from the organization itself and from sympathizer and affiliated groups), Congressional testimony, and the open media. This document uses these materials to present a clear picture for those who require awareness- level training in this domain, and provides a starting point for further research and analysis.

The report has made a significant impact for American law enforcement. As of June 2004 over 2500 copies of the report have been downloaded from the ISTS web site, and over 1700 law enforcement and cyber security professionals have been briefed on the findings. Further, the report has been as a foundation for Federal Law Enforcement Training Center course on investigating terrorism fundraising.

• Project Lead: Andrew McPherson
• Documentation: Examining the Cyber Capabilities of Islamic Terrorist Groups Report