“Malware, phishing campaigns, DDoS attacks are all things I have seen,”
May 14, 2016 7:34 AM Subscribe
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About How ISIS Uses The Internet by Sheera Frenkel [Buzzfeed] They talk on Telegram and send viruses to their enemies. BuzzFeed News’ Sheera Frenkel looks at how ISIS members and sympathizers around the world use the internet to grow their global network.
“Many of the world’s major intelligence agencies are trying to figure out just how ISIS uses the internet. As the jihadi group continues to attract supporters around the globe, the need for them to safely communicate online has grown. While the vast majority of the group’s fighters in Iraq and Syria are probably not using the internet for much more than sending photos to their family WhatsApp groups, U.S. intelligence believe a small unit within ISIS is leading the group’s cyber ambitions, which range from working with hackers to launch cyberattacks against their enemies, to publishing manuals that help their supporters mask their online communications and defend themselves from those hunting them.”
For another take on this story, the Reply All podcast has two episodes about what Rukmini Callimachi has learned from stalking ISIS people online: 33 and 62.
Also relevant, the Syrian Electronic Army, a pro-Assad group of hackers who got briefly famous a few years back defacing websites. What's particularly striking is the group may have grown out of Assad's own computer club from the 1990s.
The Internet is no longer some other thing, it's part of daily life for everyone, including despots and terrorists.
posted by Nelson at 7:48 AM on May 14, 2016 [9 favorites]
Also relevant, the Syrian Electronic Army, a pro-Assad group of hackers who got briefly famous a few years back defacing websites. What's particularly striking is the group may have grown out of Assad's own computer club from the 1990s.
The Internet is no longer some other thing, it's part of daily life for everyone, including despots and terrorists.
posted by Nelson at 7:48 AM on May 14, 2016 [9 favorites]
Great share Nelson. I listened to that episode a few weeks ago and it was fascinating. Reply All is one of my favourite podcasts.
posted by Fizz at 7:53 AM on May 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Fizz at 7:53 AM on May 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears...in...rain."
- I was reminded of this. and am not sorry.
posted by Mezentian at 7:57 AM on May 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
- I was reminded of this. and am not sorry.
posted by Mezentian at 7:57 AM on May 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
More Rukmini Callimachi on longform. She might be the only person in the entire media who sounds like they know what they are talking about with regard to terrorism. I cannot think of one other offhand and would be very interested in learning of more.
posted by bukvich at 8:27 AM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by bukvich at 8:27 AM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
And are they redditors or prefer 4chan?
9gag.
posted by Fizz at 8:58 AM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
9gag.
posted by Fizz at 8:58 AM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
NATO's funders want Assad to fall clavdivs. Did you not get the memo? Vladimir Putin explains it in a two minute soundbite.
posted by bukvich at 9:13 AM on May 14, 2016
posted by bukvich at 9:13 AM on May 14, 2016
This all seems like cargo cult encryption, just grabbing off the shelf stuff. I doubt they have any real crypto developers.
It's an odd dichotomy, promoting a medieval ideology with modern technology. You can't have both, eliminating 'the west' also means losing all the cool toys.
posted by adept256 at 9:14 AM on May 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's an odd dichotomy, promoting a medieval ideology with modern technology. You can't have both, eliminating 'the west' also means losing all the cool toys.
posted by adept256 at 9:14 AM on May 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's an odd dichotomy, promoting a medieval ideology with modern technology. You can't have both, eliminating 'the west' also means losing all the cool toys.
I'm less confident in that viewpoint than I used to be.
posted by daisystomper at 9:27 AM on May 14, 2016 [7 favorites]
I'm less confident in that viewpoint than I used to be.
posted by daisystomper at 9:27 AM on May 14, 2016 [7 favorites]
Anon US official: "Their skills are improving day by day. We need more cyber bombs"
Anon opsec guru: "Their tech docs are whack"
War college prof: "I can't BELIEVE they wrote these tech docs! WOW!"
Anon guy: "I almost got some malware from some email this one time"
Jordanian official: "They can tweet and youtube, and other stuff as well"
Anon US official: "Yeah we don't mind capturing all that traffic"
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:31 AM on May 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
Anon opsec guru: "Their tech docs are whack"
War college prof: "I can't BELIEVE they wrote these tech docs! WOW!"
Anon guy: "I almost got some malware from some email this one time"
Jordanian official: "They can tweet and youtube, and other stuff as well"
Anon US official: "Yeah we don't mind capturing all that traffic"
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:31 AM on May 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
Did you not get the memo?
From Putin or Assad? Well, they may reiterate that point. Why is ISIS not being bombed day and night. Knowing how the enemy communicates is importent. But enough is enough. If anything, this article shows how much the world has let ISIS evolve even to the point of wing-nut theories about some vast religious war.
I mean it fells like 1947 and we're still hearing about the Nazis regrouping in Warsaw.
posted by clavdivs at 10:02 AM on May 14, 2016
From Putin or Assad? Well, they may reiterate that point. Why is ISIS not being bombed day and night. Knowing how the enemy communicates is importent. But enough is enough. If anything, this article shows how much the world has let ISIS evolve even to the point of wing-nut theories about some vast religious war.
I mean it fells like 1947 and we're still hearing about the Nazis regrouping in Warsaw.
posted by clavdivs at 10:02 AM on May 14, 2016
It's an odd dichotomy, promoting a medieval ideology with modern technology. You can't have both, eliminating 'the west' also means losing all the cool toys.
I'm less confident in that viewpoint than I used to be.
Daisystomper, do you mind expanding on this comment. I'm interested in what you mean. Do you believe that ISIS is evolving their position towards these types of issues? If you have any articles or anything that talk about this issue, I'd love to read them.
posted by Fizz at 10:06 AM on May 14, 2016
I'm less confident in that viewpoint than I used to be.
Daisystomper, do you mind expanding on this comment. I'm interested in what you mean. Do you believe that ISIS is evolving their position towards these types of issues? If you have any articles or anything that talk about this issue, I'd love to read them.
posted by Fizz at 10:06 AM on May 14, 2016
I suppose they mean there are many who would welcome a theocratic America.
posted by adept256 at 10:10 AM on May 14, 2016
posted by adept256 at 10:10 AM on May 14, 2016
Could people other than "the West" develop cool toys? Could the Russians? Are there non western technology specialists out there? We don't know but it could be a possibility? There is so much open source courseware online these days that anyone with a connection and even a smartphone could learn how to code. Maybe?
posted by infini at 10:10 AM on May 14, 2016
posted by infini at 10:10 AM on May 14, 2016
I wonder why NATO isn't bombing the hell out of ISIS.
The Trump Imperative, call it.
Why? Because civilians, I expect. This isn't the 1940s, the west tries to avoid leveling cities. That could change again, of course.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:29 AM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
The Trump Imperative, call it.
Why? Because civilians, I expect. This isn't the 1940s, the west tries to avoid leveling cities. That could change again, of course.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:29 AM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
It's an odd dichotomy, promoting a medieval ideology with modern technology. You can't have both, eliminating 'the west' also means losing all the cool toys.
I'm less confident in that viewpoint than I used to be.
I am reminded of how back in the 1980s some people were saying that post-revolution Iran would not be able to govern itself for the same reason: they celebrated a medieval ideology and rejected Western technology. Yet they somehow managed to pick bits and pieces of each and become a formidable regional power, on the threshold of building their own nuclear weapons.
posted by Triplanetary at 10:34 AM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm less confident in that viewpoint than I used to be.
I am reminded of how back in the 1980s some people were saying that post-revolution Iran would not be able to govern itself for the same reason: they celebrated a medieval ideology and rejected Western technology. Yet they somehow managed to pick bits and pieces of each and become a formidable regional power, on the threshold of building their own nuclear weapons.
posted by Triplanetary at 10:34 AM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
Could people other than "the West" develop cool toys? Could the Russians? Are there non western technology specialists out there?
The virus warrior: a start-up tale... Eugene Kaspersky
posted by Mister Bijou at 10:39 AM on May 14, 2016
The virus warrior: a start-up tale... Eugene Kaspersky
posted by Mister Bijou at 10:39 AM on May 14, 2016
Could the Russians?
They did.
But that's not quite what you meant. In other words, that's a great question.
Indigo, the "but what about civilians" question is the relevant point in the history of warfare.
For example, the anienct Khmers often took families with them but not onto the battle feild, a tradition that was still practiced in the 20th century. There are many reasons, the main, to remove them from harm as to how that worked out, history records this.
Should we accept that these assholes hide behind families and worse, other people's families. So, perhaps we limit bombing and form a coalition of a million solders and just get this shit over with. If you suggest to leave them alone to hid behind civillians, because: Children. Then that is allowing a greater evil to spread.
posted by clavdivs at 11:12 AM on May 14, 2016
They did.
But that's not quite what you meant. In other words, that's a great question.
Indigo, the "but what about civilians" question is the relevant point in the history of warfare.
For example, the anienct Khmers often took families with them but not onto the battle feild, a tradition that was still practiced in the 20th century. There are many reasons, the main, to remove them from harm as to how that worked out, history records this.
Should we accept that these assholes hide behind families and worse, other people's families. So, perhaps we limit bombing and form a coalition of a million solders and just get this shit over with. If you suggest to leave them alone to hid behind civillians, because: Children. Then that is allowing a greater evil to spread.
posted by clavdivs at 11:12 AM on May 14, 2016
Yet they somehow managed to pick bits and pieces of each and become a formidable regional power, on the threshold of building their own nuclear weapons.
The question is: could they have done so without the presence of the U.S. and Russia having already developed the technology and industrialized the tools necessary to reproduce it? It seems like a safe position to say that theocratic regimes don't prioritize the sort of research and funding of invention that leads to being a global technology leader. They can duplicate what others do, but they don't invent much themselves, and at times their ideology is deeply counterproductive--just as in the Soviet Union, certain fields like psychiatry and agricultural science suffered from having the needs or prerogatives of communism imposed on them.
posted by fatbird at 11:20 AM on May 14, 2016
The question is: could they have done so without the presence of the U.S. and Russia having already developed the technology and industrialized the tools necessary to reproduce it? It seems like a safe position to say that theocratic regimes don't prioritize the sort of research and funding of invention that leads to being a global technology leader. They can duplicate what others do, but they don't invent much themselves, and at times their ideology is deeply counterproductive--just as in the Soviet Union, certain fields like psychiatry and agricultural science suffered from having the needs or prerogatives of communism imposed on them.
posted by fatbird at 11:20 AM on May 14, 2016
I wonder why NATO isn't bombing the hell out of ISIS.
I say we go massive, sweep it all up. we should invade iraq to destroy the nexus of islamic terrorism.
posted by ennui.bz at 11:21 AM on May 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
I say we go massive, sweep it all up. we should invade iraq to destroy the nexus of islamic terrorism.
posted by ennui.bz at 11:21 AM on May 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
This type of post reminds me that we always see The Other as doing this or that but somehow ignore that we too in the U.S. might be doing similar things and perhaps even in a more sophisticated manner. In wars, the enemy does this and that which is horrific, but somehow when we do the same things, it never is made public. As for the use of electronics, we are at present hitting ISIS regularly
posted by Postroad at 12:57 PM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Postroad at 12:57 PM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
Postroad, your comment makes me wonder whether this tendency might create the situation where the observers are then 'surprised' by outcomes due to not having questioned these assumptions in the first place.
posted by infini at 1:30 AM on May 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by infini at 1:30 AM on May 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
Postroad, save the trope, it's old and useless. If you want to compare and contrast, like some frrikken poly-sci 101 exercise that's fine.
Fuck these ISIS figures. When they can tweet out death wish lists against a great Iman that lives 30 miles from me, it's personal.
posted by clavdivs at 10:46 AM on May 15, 2016
Fuck these ISIS figures. When they can tweet out death wish lists against a great Iman that lives 30 miles from me, it's personal.
posted by clavdivs at 10:46 AM on May 15, 2016
Have you seen this clavdivs?
This week, IS tortured and killed Khaled Asaad, the antiquities chief of Palmyra. He was decapitated at a public square, and his body was hung from a Roman column in one of the ruins to the restoration of which he had devoted more than fifty years of his life. He was 81 years old.
(That link is nine months old but it's a blog well worth reading.)
posted by bukvich at 11:49 AM on May 15, 2016 [2 favorites]
This week, IS tortured and killed Khaled Asaad, the antiquities chief of Palmyra. He was decapitated at a public square, and his body was hung from a Roman column in one of the ruins to the restoration of which he had devoted more than fifty years of his life. He was 81 years old.
(That link is nine months old but it's a blog well worth reading.)
posted by bukvich at 11:49 AM on May 15, 2016 [2 favorites]
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