The Role Al Qaeda Plays in Cyberterrorism
One specific example of how Al Qaeda uses the internet to further their agenda is through an English-written online magazine called Inspire—which is run by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP); the online magazine is decently followed, provides information on Al Qaeda’s viewpoints as well as the jihadist movement, and commentates on the group’s kill list (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015). Because Al Qaeda’s Inspire does a great job at publishing content that resonates with likeminded individuals, they are victorious in “spreading the call for jihad” online (Rudner, 2017).
Another example of Al Qaeda’s success in the cyber realm is how effectively the terrorist organization reaches its target audience through film and on-the-ground reporting (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015). By recording their experiences at Arab Spring protests, videoing beheading executions (such as Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl’s death), and releasing several video games (targeted to the youths) that place the player in the role of a jihadist fighting against Jews, Westerners, and the U.S. military, Al Qaeda makes themselves more relatable, gives themselves some relevance, shows people that they are a force to be reckoned with, and attempts to normalize or justify their behavior—which is beneficial to the terrorist group’s survival (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015).
With their success at luring people online (especially the “homegrown” terrorists in Western societies) to accept as well as follow their radical jihadist views, Al Qaeda has become one of the poster children for not using the internet as simply an attack vehicle to fulfill their agendas (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015 and Rudner, 2017). In fact, Al Qaeda does not necessarily need to be the best at cyberattacks when their unregulated presence on the internet alone plays such a significant role in fostering violent Islamic extremism—more so than prisons, universities, and places of worship (Rudner, 2017).
Instead of primarily using the internet to implement cyberterrorist attacks, this terrorist group tends to use cyberspace more for communicating/spreading their jihadist agenda globally, cultivating support for their initiatives through social media or web forums, offering theological justification for actions of terror on online platforms, providing technical instructions and operational guidelines on the internet for their terrorist attacks, inciting violence through their media forums, engaging in online fundraising activities to support their cause, and web defacing their so-called enemies’ websites (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015 and Rudner, 2017).
Because of the terrorist organization’s limited cyber capabilities and the many ways Al Qaeda uses the cyber realm to further their ideology, criminologists such as Marjie Britz have had to create a more expansive definition for cyberterror to encompass the many ways organizations like Al Qaeda utilize technology to further their missions (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015). According to her, cyberterror is “the premeditated, methodological, ideologically motivated dissemination of information, facilitation of communication, or attack against physical targets, digital information, computer systems, and/or computer programs which is intended to cause social, financial, physical, or psychological harm to noncombatant targets and audiences for the purpose of affecting ideological, political, or social change; or any utilization of digital communication or information which facilitates such actions directly or indirectly” (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015). With this definition, scrappy cyberattacks and social media incitements can still be acts of cyberterror, which makes Al Qaeda fall under not only the terrorist organization category, but also the cyberterrorist category.
Source: http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/role-al-qaeda-plays-cyberterrorism
Another example of Al Qaeda’s success in the cyber realm is how effectively the terrorist organization reaches its target audience through film and on-the-ground reporting (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015). By recording their experiences at Arab Spring protests, videoing beheading executions (such as Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl’s death), and releasing several video games (targeted to the youths) that place the player in the role of a jihadist fighting against Jews, Westerners, and the U.S. military, Al Qaeda makes themselves more relatable, gives themselves some relevance, shows people that they are a force to be reckoned with, and attempts to normalize or justify their behavior—which is beneficial to the terrorist group’s survival (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015).
With their success at luring people online (especially the “homegrown” terrorists in Western societies) to accept as well as follow their radical jihadist views, Al Qaeda has become one of the poster children for not using the internet as simply an attack vehicle to fulfill their agendas (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015 and Rudner, 2017). In fact, Al Qaeda does not necessarily need to be the best at cyberattacks when their unregulated presence on the internet alone plays such a significant role in fostering violent Islamic extremism—more so than prisons, universities, and places of worship (Rudner, 2017).
Instead of primarily using the internet to implement cyberterrorist attacks, this terrorist group tends to use cyberspace more for communicating/spreading their jihadist agenda globally, cultivating support for their initiatives through social media or web forums, offering theological justification for actions of terror on online platforms, providing technical instructions and operational guidelines on the internet for their terrorist attacks, inciting violence through their media forums, engaging in online fundraising activities to support their cause, and web defacing their so-called enemies’ websites (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015 and Rudner, 2017).
Because of the terrorist organization’s limited cyber capabilities and the many ways Al Qaeda uses the cyber realm to further their ideology, criminologists such as Marjie Britz have had to create a more expansive definition for cyberterror to encompass the many ways organizations like Al Qaeda utilize technology to further their missions (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015). According to her, cyberterror is “the premeditated, methodological, ideologically motivated dissemination of information, facilitation of communication, or attack against physical targets, digital information, computer systems, and/or computer programs which is intended to cause social, financial, physical, or psychological harm to noncombatant targets and audiences for the purpose of affecting ideological, political, or social change; or any utilization of digital communication or information which facilitates such actions directly or indirectly” (Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., 2015). With this definition, scrappy cyberattacks and social media incitements can still be acts of cyberterror, which makes Al Qaeda fall under not only the terrorist organization category, but also the cyberterrorist category.
Source: http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/role-al-qaeda-plays-cyberterrorism
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