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Frighteningly, a young tech-savvy generation of would-be terrorists has identified ways in which to exploit social media and dubbed themselves the modern martyrs of terrorism.
Using social media as a fast and easy way in which to recruit and engage a threatening following, these radicals lay bare their views and generate hundreds of shares on Instagram, thousands of retweets on Twitter and video viewings.
Social media can be manipulated to be used in many different situations. According to UK security officials, about 400 Britons have travelled to Syria to fight since the war began and over half have returned. Dozens have been arrested under Acts of Parliament. The Home Office states that a huge proportion of them, from across the UK, use social media.
On top of this, the ubiquitous use of free messaging services such as WhatsApp and Internet phone services like Skype and Viber renders tracing communications a significant challenge for the authorities.
A prime example of this was when London experienced terrible riots back in 2011. Rioters were communicating with each other via BlackBerry Messenger. This made it incredibly difficult for the police service to track and trace where the next attack was being planned, in turn demonstrating that methods of communication have moved ahead of relying on tapping phone lines.
Police forces across the UK, as well as the Home Office and GCHQ, need to be well versed in social media and how they can overcome these challenges by engaging with it rather than resisting it.
David Evans of TINYg discussed ‘The business case for counter-terrorism’ at IFSEC International 2014
Citizens are now using the Internet to share information and mobilise communities to report crimes and using this data to combat crimes.
Tom Wingate, Public Order Engagement Lead for the Metropolitan Police Service, will take part in the panel session ‘Social Media – A Crime Fighting Tool?’ on 18 June in the Safe Cities Academy at IFSEC International and discuss how to embrace social media.
Wingate will be joined by Professor Dr. G. Keith Still FIMA FICPEM, Mike Bouldin (Manager – Public Safety, NICE Systems) and Hagai Segal, Counter-Terrorism Analyst and Lecturer at New York University, London.
Despite the obvious organisational risks that terrorist activities can present, challenges are still encountered at multiple levels in driving a business case for mitigating the risk. These can be operational, change-related, commercial or a matter of perception.
The potentially fatal consequences of terrorist activity in relation to any organisation or individual can be disastrous, even irrevocable.
David Evans of TINYg will discuss ‘The business case for counter-terrorism’ on 19 June at IFSEC International’s Risk & Security Management Theatre. This seminar is intended to provide a meaningful basis for the submission of a business case that provides risk mitigation capability while also addressing the potential commercial or philosophical pitfalls that may be encountered in its submission.
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Counter-Terror and Social MediaFacebook and Twitter serve as both a communication and recruiting tool for would-be terrorists, but also as a means of identifying terrrorist threats for the security services.
Natasha Marsh
IFSEC Insider | Security and Fire News and Resources
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Raj S1
April 29, 2014 8:55 pm
With greater interoperability and the use of algorithms in artificial intelligence/ machine learning there is a viable case to apply these analytics in social media. With the London riots there are existing datasets to create
behavioral patterns to spot potential disorder. If the same has been done with counter terror then we need to apply the outliers to the algorithms. Any manual search can be automated but with machine learning the search can be deeper and more proactive or even predictive.
johnfromcontactsecurity
April 29, 2014 10:50 pm
As a resident in Australia, practicing under New South Wales Statutes, I would love to attend the Counter -terrorist Sessions. However, pressure of work precludes this. Is there any way that persons like myself can obtain a copy of these lectures.Unfortunately, we are finding that there is no lack of work in the “crime industry”and Lectures such as these are an essential for countries like mine, where it is only a matter of time before these thugs who refer to themselves as martyrs spread their wings to other countries, and preparedness is the simplest way of attempting to lessen the… Read more »
With greater interoperability and the use of algorithms in artificial intelligence/ machine learning there is a viable case to apply these analytics in social media. With the London riots there are existing datasets to create
behavioral patterns to spot potential disorder. If the same has been done with counter terror then we need to apply the outliers to the algorithms. Any manual search can be automated but with machine learning the search can be deeper and more proactive or even predictive.
As a resident in Australia, practicing under New South Wales Statutes, I would love to attend the Counter -terrorist Sessions. However, pressure of work precludes this. Is there any way that persons like myself can obtain a copy of these lectures.Unfortunately, we are finding that there is no lack of work in the “crime industry”and Lectures such as these are an essential for countries like mine, where it is only a matter of time before these thugs who refer to themselves as martyrs spread their wings to other countries, and preparedness is the simplest way of attempting to lessen the… Read more »