Internet terrorism

Linda Spence, just as a number of other ordinary individuals received an email from eBay asking to verify her account information. 35-year-old lady had no idea it was a counterfeit eBay site used by the global jihad to find out the sensitive information and use it for the terrorist purposes.

The information Linda Spence unwittingly entered appeared in the hands of a young man located in the United Kingdom. 21-year-old biochemistry student Tariq al-Daour, who is said to be the brains behind the terrorist’s cell, used stolen money in a black market to support bombing attacks against targets in the United States, Europe and Middle East.

Tariq al-Daour, together with 24-year-old law student Wassem Mughal and Moroccan-born Younes Tsouli,23 was found guilty this week to a terrorism charge of using the internet to incite murder. This trio used computer viruses such as Trojans to steal money from credit card accounts and set up a network of forums and websites. The contents of these webs included various tutorials on computer hacking and bomb-making, videos of beheadings and suicide bombing and much other useful or simply interesting information concerning terrorism.     

Moreover, free young men propagated and recruited new members to Islamic terrorist groups and criminal activity using internet. This group of people is also related with al-Qaeda. A counterterrorism expert Evan Kohlmann said that these three students “were operating an online dating service for al-Qaeda”.

Although Tariq al-Daour, Wassem Mughal and Younes Tsouli at first refused to confess they committed crimes through the internet, this past week they pleaded guilty. They admitted the fact of encouraging others to become terrorist and murdering innocent people. Three convicts also used to steal money and purchase items that jihadists might find useful in the battle field.  The trial certainly found them guilty and sentenced three men to prison from six-and-one-half to ten years.

Peter Clarke, head of SYCTC (Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command) said: “This is the first successful prosecution for inciting murder using the internet, showing yet again that terrorist networks are spanning the globe.”    

United Kingdom is not the only country that has terrorist problems. Bosnian authorities have recently arrested two young men who had 44 pounds of explosives and a compromising video that was meant to be seen after the attack of 19-year-old Swedish Mirsad Bektasevic and 21-year-old Abdul Cesur. The target of two young terrorists was supposed to be held in Europe, the exact location is unknown, but the reason of this act, as they claimed in the video, is “to punish nations that had aided in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Both terrorist were sentenced to more than 13 years in prison.

These arrests in U.K. and Bosnia are a great example of a world-wide terrorism network. Mirsad Bektasevic, a Bosnian terrorist had a phone number of one member from the trio in U.K. Younes Tsouli. This Moroccan born man stole card numbers and identities using the internet to host websites. Tsouli helped in creating an online network used by jihadists. They used internet to exchange information, recruit new members and even to plan attacks. Tsouli was compromised after information as clips of the U.S. Capitol grounds, the World Bank building and fuel tank storage facilities in the Washington metropolitan region.

Two men were arrested in U.S. and 17 men in Canada. Some of them were somehow connected with Tsouli, others simply communicated on jihadists message board. Canadian terrorists were charged for attempt to destroy targets in Canada.

As Tsouli took care of propaganda and was something similar to ideological leader of this world-wide terrorist network, al-Daour took care about finance and logistics. They used Trojan horses and phishing to steal money and purchase such things as global positioning satellite devices, night-vision goggles, sleeping bags, telephones, survival knives and tents which would be (and is) very useful for jihadists in their fight with America. They also bought plane tickets using different credit cards at various airlines.

When the trio was sentenced this cyber activity wasn’t the main factor. It’s really hard to prove these men, just like a number of others, used internet to support terrorists because authorities don’t have proper resources to track professional hackers.

Internet enables men who haven’t even been to Iraq but see themselves at war with society and want to join large terrorist groups. It is now possible to become a part of these small societies and help people at battle field, provide them with equipment; recruit new members to the group; plan attacks and teach others to make bombs. The main problem concerning internet terrorism is that terrorists are always one step further that authorities. Moreover, authorities don’t have enough resources and people to track every possible cyber criminal activity. However, they must continue to study internet as an essential background in the war on terror.     

Source : Washington press

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