Just like the rest of the planet, terrorists in the 21st century are making use of the Internet to communicate – both amongst themselves and with the world at large.
In response, governments have amped up their online surveillance measures using various strategies, including metadata collection and other controversial tactics.
As a result, citizens – and their privacy – can find themselves caught in the crossfire. To get an understanding of this issue, it’s helpful to understand how terrorist groups actually use the Internet.
Here are some of the top ways that terrorist groups communicate, and what governments are doing in response.
##1. Message Boards Perhaps the oldest mode of correspondence, the humble message board is used by everyone from vintage doll enthusiasts to hardline extremist networks.
Favoured for their ability to be self-hosted, tightly controlled and customised, these forums provide a private haven for group members to foster relationships, share ideas and organise offline activities.
While some message boards run on the Tor network, a part of the Deep Web, others are run relatively above ground. As with many illegal sites, these forums will often be shut down frequently – either by law enforcement, or as a tactic to evade authorities.
The remaining user base will often spring up in a new corner of the Internet, causing debate as to whether shutting down these sites is an effective strategy when they are found. Law enforcement may instead infiltrate these communities, using them as information sources.
##2. Private Chat Apps## Many popular messaging apps like iMessage and WhatsApp have allowed worldwide communication between members of terrorist groups. These apps make use of encryption, and their popularity makes any effort to monitor them a very difficult and often concerning prospect.
Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook have resisted handing over user messages to law enforcement or intelligence agencies, leaving governments in countries like the UK to create legislation forcing them to do so. Such laws are highly complicated to enforce, with many companies simply moving their offices to less restrictive locales.
As well, issues of ‘backdoors’ in encryption used by agencies like the NSA are subjects of intense controversy and debate, including the issue of whether or not they’re even an effective strategy. Most recently, tech heavyweights have voiced disapproval of US government speculations to place counter-terrorism backdoors in encryption algorithms – citing that such weaknesses could be exploited by anyone, not just law enforcement.
##3. Social Media## Social platforms such as Twitter can serve as PR outlets, allowing threatening messages to reach a wide audience (and the press) at warp speed. They’re also key recruitment platforms, where young audiences can quickly access online propaganda and make contact with seasoned members.
Law enforcement can easily monitor public social networks like Twitter – which is often the intent of terrorist groups.
However, terror campaigners may also use deliberately circumspect language to blend into the Twittersphere, or even blatantly celebrate extremist values: sharing memes, jokes and videos in an effort to recruit younger followers.
##4. Steganography## Delving deeper, online terrorist activity can even verge on Hollywood-level advancement.
The technique of steganography allows messages to be hidden within seemingly innocent images and videos, which can then be shared on publicly-accessible sites without the need for encryption. The intended audience of the message can then decode the video or image easily, without raising any suspicion.
Government agencies are increasingly employing and training more experts in this field, who can tell at a glance whether an image or video clip contains the hallmarks of a hidden message.
Once aware of what to look for, these videos and images can be quickly found and removed. In some jurisdictions, being in possession of steganographic content can even be considered a criminal offense.
##5. VoIP and Gaming Networks## Bizarrely, even the Sony Playstation 4 game console has been theorized to have been used by ISIS in 2015 due to the difficulty to monitor activity on its live gaming network, which includes chat and voice functionality. “PlayStation 4 is even more difficult to keep track of than WhatsApp,” stated Belgian federal home affairs minister, Jan Jambon.
Specifically, its VoIP (Voice Over IP) system intended for gamers is much more difficult to monitor than traditional cellular networks, and in many cases is not able to be easily traced. Additionally, in-game chat can be a recruitment channel for young potential militants.
It’s clear that better security and privacy, while beneficial for millions, also has an unfortunate side effect: namely, the potential for horrific abuse. While governments are trying to clamp down on nefarious activities, many of their measures have a net effect of privacy reduction for the average user.
Tune in next week for part two, where we focus on Cyber Terrorism: how hacking and data breaches can be the result of online terrorist activity.
