The Wall Street Journal ran a fascinating story on Monday about the encryption methods employed by radical Islamist activists. The details emerged in the ongoing UK trial of Rajib Karim. The article is a reminder that there is more to online jihadism than what we see published on radical websites.
Archive for the ‘technology’ Category
Jihadi Encryption
Posted: 9th February 2011 by Thomas Hegghammer in Europe, Recruitment, tactics, technology, Terrorism trials, U.K.1
Quilliam Report
Posted: 27th September 2010 by Thomas Hegghammer in Better Know a Forum, Ideological trends, Jihadi media, propaganda, Recruitment, technologyThe Quilliam Foundation, a London based think tank, has released a very interesting new report by Muhammad Ali Musawi titled Cheering for Osama: How Jihadis Use Discussion Forums. It is one of the best introductions to the world of online jihadism that I have seen. It also points out some recent forum trends that should [...]
In a remarkable story, the Washington Post reported today that Saudi intelligence and the CIA operated a honeypot jihadi forum for years until it was shut down by the US military in 2008. The news here is obviously not that intelligence services run jihadi forums, but that US agencies wage cyberwarfare on each other. Since [...]
Annual Jihadi Cyberbattle Sees Return of Ikhlas
Posted: 11th September 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Better Know a Forum, technologyLike last year, this year’s 9/11 anniversary is the occasion of a major cyberbattle over jihadi forums. At least three of the top jihadi discussion forums – Faloja, Shouraa, Shumukh – have been down for the past couple of days, and I bet my left arm they have been hacked for the occasion. Other big [...]
Falluja Analytics
Posted: 11th May 2009 by Scott Sanford in Better Know a Forum, Iraq, Jihadi media, Recruitment, technology[Editor's note: I am pleased to introduce another new contributor, Scott Sanford, who is a graduate student at George Washington University specialising in jihadism in the levant. Scott has guest blogged for Jihadica in the past, but now he is joining us on a more regular basis.] “What is the Secret of the Falluja [...]
Many of you who follow al-Qaeda may not be familiar with FFI, but you’re doubtless familiar with the excellent work of its members (e.g. Lia, Hegghammer, and Nesser). However, FFI has a secret weapon who only insiders know: Anne Stenersen. Anne is an outstanding Arabist (and Russianist) and has an unfair amount of knowledge about [...]
How to Raid Wikipedia
Posted: 1st July 2008 by Will McCants in AQ Leadership, Iraq, technologyTags: Abu `Umar al-Baghdadi, Wikipedia
The title of al-Faruq al-`Iraqi’s post on Ekhlaas is more exciting than the content. Faruq, like countless corporate PR offices, has discovered that Wikipedia entries can be edited by users (although it seems much easier to do on Arabic Wikipedia). As proof, he points readers to his addition of two sections (“supervisory positions” and “the [...]
Jihadi Observations Raid
Posted: 19th June 2008 by Will McCants in propaganda, technologyTags: bluetooth propaganda
Ekhlaas member Battar16 is calling others to participate in the awkwardly titled “Jihadi Observations Raid.” The object of the raid is to blast text messages (the “jihadi observations”) to people on their cell phones using Bluetooth. Battar16 has supplied two messages to kick off the campaign: The first, “Know the Truth” by the prolific Jihadi [...]