September 5, 2008: While al Qaeda, and Islamic terrorism in general, is
described as having "thousands (usually 5,000+) of web sites," nearly
all of these are basically fan sites. There are only a few sites that actually
conduct the business of terrorism. These sites are under heavy attack by
anti-terrorism hackers, as well as being closely watched many intelligence agencies, and a few private
anti-terrorism organizations. This is one of the most important battles in the
war on terror, and it takes place in near-total secrecy. The reason for this is
that the terrorists are desperate to protect their secret communications, and
the counter-terror operatives are determined to discover those secrets,
preferably without the terrorists knowing they have been compromised.
Islamic terrorists have been reaching out to their supporters on the
Internet, openly asking for ideas and information. This is a dangerous thing to
participate in. If the local police catch someone sending suggestions or
information to terrorist groups, it can get you arrested and jailed. Apparently
it does put a lot of people on the police radar, and has eventually led to
arrests. But the counter-terrorism police usually wait until the terrorist
wannabes actually get close to actually doing something dangerous. Most of the
terrorist helpers are inept and not energetic, or capable enough to actually do
anything dangerous.
The terrorists have access to some Internet talent, but nothing like the
resources available to the counter-terror organizations (especially those in
the West, particularly the American NSA.) Apparently the most worrisome aspect
of all this is terrorists gaining access to the resources of criminal gangs
specializing in Internet crime. In the last few years, Internet crime has
become big time, and very professional, with the big money attracting well
funded, well led, and ruthless criminal organizations. These are often based in
Eastern Europe (especially Bulgaria and Russia) and China. In general, the
gangs don't want to get involved with terrorism, as the governments that
tolerate the gangs, tend to be very hostile to Islamic terrorism. But the
gangsters are greedy, and it's believed that some of them have been selling
technology and services to terrorists, after precautions have been taken to
conceal the source of the stuff. But the gangster grade software and techniques
leave clues, and apparently the counter-terrorism investigators have picked up
on this.
The details of this decade old battle won't come out for a while. But
when the story is told, it will be spectacular.
