Customer Reviews

Terror on the Internet: The New Arena, the New Challenges

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Weimann's book is a good antidote to those oft-hysterical screeds on cyberterrorism. These might proclaim that nefarious scoundrels could launch attacks across the Internet, to disable power plants or chemical refineries. While not impossible, the technical obstacles are vast. Such fears are really warmed-over Y2K hysteria, transferred to terrorism after the Y2K bust and the events of September 2001.

Instead, Weimann points to more prosaic uses of the Internet by terrorists. [Sorry to disappoint some potential readers.] These mundanities involve communication between cell members, propaganda and fund raising. The first two are shown to be far easier than in the pre-Web era. Anonymous email accounts and an increasingly deep global reach of cybercafes and other Internet access points give what can be effectively anonymous communication. This reach of the Internet is true in developed countries and in the major cities of developing countries. Terrorists can operate in both, as is already known.

The use of a website to spread a terrorist message, to enemies and supporters, is also amply documented in the book. Far safer and more effective to those groups than having a smarmy member pass out flyers in bad neighbourhoods.

One conclusion is that for purely pragmatic reasons, terrorists have little incentive to attack the Internet itself. It's simply too useful to them.

I had heard that the various terrorist organizations around the world were using the Internet as a communications medium. But until I saw this book I never realized just how widespread that use is. The book says that they have identified some 4,300 web sites belonging to terrorist organizations. It further says that to keep the sites up they change URLs and hosting companies every few days. That would make sense as keeping it up very long would attract counter terrorist organizations pretty rapidly. The book does not give the URLs of very many sites, but if they change frequently, it wouldn't make sense to list expired URLs.

There seem to be three main uses of the Internet:

o to distribute information. The old days of publishing phamplets and the like are replaced by web sites that can be moved around from country to country with the speed of light. The new URLs could well be posted on the site. If you have a site hosted in Tahiti and run it for three days, then you shift it to Kenya it would be hard to track. The information on the site could be anything from a video of Osama to instructions on how to make a bomb.

o Research for Targets. I suspect a lot of companies, organizations and the like have their disaster plans on the net, a map on how to get to them, all kinds of stuff useful to a terrorist.

o Inter organization communications. If I am travelling I often go to a public library somewhere to check my e-mail. So do they.

Then there is the risk of cyber-terrorism. Beyond the normal malicious hackers, there's the opportunity for terrorists to do the same sort of thing with viruses and worms. This appears to be a potential use rather than a real one -- so far.

This is a frightening book. It clearly shows the result of a lot of research, and discusses things that the terrorists know but that the rest of us need to know.

This is a comprehensive study of the Internet, how it is used by terrorist group--not just Islamic terrorists or al-Qaeda, but also the IRA, and South American terrorist groups as well--and what measures are being taken to combat the growing use of the Internet by terrorists. Perhaps the most valuable portion of the book is the discussion of civil liberties and tracking/surveillance of the Internet. Mr. Weimann does an excellent job of pointing out the problems inherent on both sides of the issue, but does more than that--he offers solutions to the questions he raises. A bit outdated, the Patriot Act update was not yet passed by Congress when this book went to press. Many of the concerns of Internet surveillance were addressed in the Patriot Act update of 2006. Still, a great resource for the average thinking person who wants to be reasonably informed on the dangers facing our country. Politically neutral.

Good book to get a clear picture of how terrorists now use the Internet as a central part of their operations. Weimann is a well-respected scholar who cleary has his finger on the pulse of modern terrorism.

This is a scary book about the ways terrorists are using the Internet. It is very interesting, well documented, well-written (easy for people like me who are not sophisticated Internet users) and very alarming. The author knows well the dark sides of the Net and guides the readers to the darkest virtual streets modern terrorists take when using the cyberspace. The book is loaded with examples from various terrorist groups (all are now on the Net) and relates the findings to the framework of communication studies and psychological warfare. What to do about it? Well, read the book's last chapters...
I highly recommend this book though it left me troubled and scared.
Michael Wise

Terrorist websites have increased from several hundred a few years ago to over 5,000 at this time - and that only counts those documented by strict criteria. Hezbollah has cartoon websites targeting children that depict beheadings and advocate all the atrocities committed by adult terrorists. Al Queda and others have websites targeting women. Throughout the web, messages from various organizations glorify suicide attacks.

These websites are used for recruitment, distribution of literature, manuals, instructions, fund-raising, car-bombs, use of missiles - any needs of the organization. A jihad on-line encyclopedia is available, and participants may come and go with anonymity.

Chat rooms contain debates between members of different organizations - which certainly open the door for counterterrorism efforts. These sites are monitored by government agencies from many countries.

All methods of censoring these sites run the risk of damaging our civil liberties, although this is not a problem for some countries.

The author covers the material well and ends with a caveat and a recommendation. Caveat - that this is a psychological war over minds and hearts. Recommendation - that we be proactive by producing anti-terrorism websites. Most young people participating on terrorism websites never see another version of life and truth.

Mr. Weimann from Israel wants American government control over access to certain Internet websites so that terrorists won't be able to communicate; or perhaps the real reason is to block Moslem news and propaganda so that we will be exposed only to Israeli-slanted news and propaganda. That way the US can continue to support Israeli efforts at ethnic cleansing from all the land which they say God promised them. Still not convinced? Mr. Weimann is a fellow at the ironically-named United States Institute for Peace, a neocon thinktank.