by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 24, 2016 | Initiative
New research is being used to try to determine, via an algorithm, the links between “chatter” in extremist groups’ online places and their “real world” terror attacks.
The Washington Post reports:
“The study, published last week by the journal Science, identifies hardcore pro-Islamic State groups on social media by searching for key words, such as mentions of beheadings, and zeroing in on specific community pages and groups. These groups trade operational information, such as which drone is being used in an attack or how to avoid detection, as well as fundraising posts and extremist ideology.”
To read The Post’s article, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 17, 2016 | AI World Society Summit
The Guardian reports that “‘Anonymous’ has launched another wave of hacking attacks against Islamic State (ISIS), taking over social-media accounts associated with the group and giving them an LGBT-flavored makeover.”
“The loose hacking collective, which grew out of the infamous 4Chan forum in the late 2000s, announced its war on ISIS in 2015, taking control of almost 100 twitter accounts following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris that year.”
“Now, after the murder of 49 people in a gay club in Orlando, Florida, a hacker who goes by the name WauchulaGhost says he has taken control of more than 200 accounts belonging to ISIS supporters. This time, rather than simply lock the users out of the accounts or report them to Twitter, the cybervigilante has given the accounts a gay-friendly makeover.”
ISIS members say they hate gay people, and they treat them with great brutality. But some ISIS people are (self-hating) gays themselves.
To read the full story, please hit this link
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 16, 2016 | AI World Society Summit
Reynoldo Gonzalez, whose daughter Nohemi was among the 130 people murdered by Islamist terrorists in Paris last November, is suing Google, Facebook and Twitter, saying that the companies gave “material support” to extremists in violation of the law.
Mr. Gonzalez filed the suit on June 14 in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California. The suit asserts that the companies “knowingly permitted” the Islamic State to recruit members, raise money and spread “extremist propaganda” via their services.
For more information, hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 16, 2016 | Initiative
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, said on June 16 that the United States and its allies have made gains against Islamic State but that the the group will change its tactics to make up for lost territory.
“To compensate for territorial losses, ISIL (Islamic State) will probably rely more on guerrilla tactics, including high-profile attacks outside territory it holds,” Mr. Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
He also said that there are more ISIS fighters now than there were al-Qaida fighters at that terror group’s height.
For more information, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 10, 2016 | Initiative
(June 13th, 2016) As the Islamic State continues to suffer more and more losses of territory and fighters, growing numbers of Western jihadis are trying to quit the ISIS and go back home. But Western security officials have a difficult time in ascertaining who might want to return home to engage in Islamic terrorism and not to resume a peaceful and law-abiding life.
For its part, ISIS, which is losing ground in Syria, Iraq and Libya, is trying to stop some of the thousands of foreign volunteers who have joined its ranks from going home.
“They sense that we have entered the final stage. Many are starting to send us messages to know how they can return,” France’s national intelligence coordinator, Didier Le Bret, told Agence France-Presse.
But many of those who want to defect are “prevented by Daesh (ISIS) policy, which considers those who want to leave Syria {and other places where ISIS operates} as traitors to be immediately executed,” he said.
For more details, hit this link.
