Fighting Terror Online: The Convergence of Security, Technology, and the Law

To see the author talk about the book, Fighting Terror Online, click on the link ‘The Academic Channel,’ under ‘Related links’ on this webpage. The unprecedented events that have taken place in recent years have led legislators and governments throughout the world to reconsider and restructure their policies regarding security issues. Today, worldwide attention is

Terrorist Use of Internet: Possible Suggestions to Prevent the Usage for Terrorist Purposes

As new developments occur everyday in technology, terrorists are easily adjusting themselves to this change. In this new age of terrorism, terrorism is transnational, institutionalized, technologically advanced, and global. In this respect, today’s terrorist organizations are using the Internet for different purposes. The Internet has become the new and main source of communication in terms

Towards a Framework Understanding of Online Programs for Countering Violent Extremism

There is an emerging consensus that ideologically-based narratives play a central role in encouraging and sustaining radicalization to violence, and that preventing, arresting, or reversing radicalization requires some means by which to address the effects of these narratives. Countering violent extremism (CVE) is a broad umbrella phrase that covers a wide array of approaches that

Analyzing Terror Campaigns on the Internet: Technical Sophistication, Content Richness, and Web Interactivity

Terrorists and extremists are increasingly utilizing Internet technology to enhance their ability to influence the outside world. Due to the lack of multi-lingual and multimedia terrorist/extremist collections and advanced analytical methodologies, our empirical understanding of their Internet usage is still very limited. To address this research gap, we explore an integrated approach for identifying and

Code wars: Steganography, Signals Intelligence, and Terrorism

This paper describes and discusses the process of secret communication known as steganography. The argument advanced here is that terrorists are unlikely to be employing digital steganography to facilitate secret intra-group communication as has been claimed. This is because terrorist use of digital steganography is both technically and operationally implausible. The position adopted in this

Network Technologies for Networked Terrorists: Assessing the Value of Information and Communication Technologies to Modern Terrorist Organizations

This report analyzes terrorist groups’ use of advanced information and communication technologies in efforts to plan, coordinate, and command their operations. It is one component of a larger study that examines terrorists’ use of technology, a critical arena in the war against terrorism. The goal of the investigation reported here is to identify which network

Main Findings of GIFCT Tech Trials: Combining Behavioural Signals to Surface Terrorist and Violent Extremist Incidents Online

By Tom Thorley & Erin Saltman This article summarises a recent paper published in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism that forms part of a special issue on the practicalities and complexities of (regulating) online terrorist content moderation. The special issue contains papers that were presented at Swansea University’s Terrorism and Social Media Conference 2022. Technical

Weeda Mehran

Weeda Mehran, PhD (Cambridge), MSc (Oxford) is a faculty member at the Department of Politics & Co-director of the Centre for Advanced International Studies (CAIS) at the University of Exeter. Dr Mehran has formerly worked at the Global Studies Institute, Georgia State University, McGill University and Dublin City University (as aVox-POL visiting scholar). She has