The New Digital Age

CHAPTER 5

THE FUTURE OF TERRORISM

we’re acutely vulnerable to cyber terrorism: There is some overlap in tactics between cyber terrorism and criminal hacking, but generally the motivations distinguish the two. This is not unlike the distinction that is made between narco-trafficking and terrorism.

one of the greatest shared fears among American troops: Army captain (in Iraq) in discussion with the authors, November 2009.

The IED of 2009 was cheaper and more innovative: Ibid.

What was once a sophisticated and lucrative violent activity: One of the authors first learned about this while speaking on a panel with Jonathan Powers at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 2005. The authors have since corroborated this data point with additional anecdotes from civilian and military officials who have been working on or deployed in Iraq over the past decade.

“maker phenomenon”: Andy Rubin in discussion with the authors, February 2012.

Somalia’s al-Shabaab insurgent group on Twitter: Will Oremus, “Twitter of Terror,” Slate, December 23, 2011, http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technocracy/2011/12/al_shabaab_twitter_a_somali_militant_group_unveils_a_new_social_media_strategy_for_terrorists_.html.

Anwar al-Awlaki, the late American-born extremist cleric: “Profile: Anwar al-Awlaki,” Anti-Defamation League (ADL), updated November 2011, http://www.adl.org/main_Terrorism/anwar_al-awlaki.htm.

several successful and would-be terrorists cited him: Pierre Thomas, Martha Raddatz, Rhonda Schwartz and Jason Ryan, “Fort Hood Suspect Yells Nidal Hasan’s Name in Court,” ABC Blotter, July 29, 2011, http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fort-hood-suspect-naser-jason-abdo-yells-nidal-hasan/story?id=14187568#.UIIwW8VG-8C; Bruce Hoffman, “Why al Qaeda Will Survive,” Daily Beast, September 30, 2011, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/30/al-awlaki-s-death-nothing-more-than-a-glancing-blow-al-qaeda-stronger-than-everest.html.

“Even the most anti-Western religious figures in Saudi Arabia”: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud in discussion with the authors, February 2012.

“We pitched propaganda stalls outside the Motorola offices”: Maajid Nawaz in discussion with the authors, February 2012.

Colombian prison officials stopped an eleven-year-old girl: “Colombia Catches Girl ‘Smuggling 74 Mobiles into Jail,’ ” BBC, February 6, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12378390.

In Brazil, inmates trained carrier pigeons: “Pigeons Fly Mobile Phones to Brazilian Prisoners,” Telegraph (London), March 30, 2009, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5079580/Pigeons-fly-mobile-phones-to-Brazilian-prisoners.html.

local gang hired a teenager: Associated Press (AP), “Police: Brazilian Teen Used Bow and Arrow to Launch Illegal Cell Phones over Prison Walls,” Fox News, September 2, 2010, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/09/02/police-brazilian-teen-used-bow-arrow-launch-illegal-cell-phones-prison-walls/.

going rate for a contraband smart phone: Former member of a South Central Los Angeles gang in discussion with the authors, April 2012.

Afghanistan, a country with one of the lowest rates of connectivity in the world: “Mobile-Cellular Subscriptions” and “Percentage of Individuals Using the Internet,” International Telecommunication Union (ITU), ICT Data and Statistics (IDS), accessed October 19, 2012, http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/.

tens of thousands of political prisoners were killed there annually: The authors received this information during an unclassified briefing with prison staff, February 2009.

terrorist nerve center: Rod Nordland and Sharifullah Sahak, “Afghan Government Says Prisoner Directed Attacks,” New York Times, February 10, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/world/asia/11afghan.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=pul%20e%20charki&st=cse.

Following a violent riot in 2008 in the prison’s Cell Block Three: Description of the terror cell operating from Pul-e-Charkhi comes from Jared’s briefings (unclassified) and interviews during his visit to the prison in February 2009; see also Joshua Philipp, “Corruption Turning Afghan Prisons into Taliban Bases: Imprisoned Taliban Leaders Coordinate Attacks from Within Prison Walls,” Epoch Times, August 29, 2011, http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/corruption-turning-afghan-prisons-into-taliban-bases-60910.html.

Agie responded to a joking request for his phone number: Mullah Akbar Agie in discussion with Jared Cohen, February 2009.

Shortly thereafter, a series of cyber attacks crippled: “Anonymous (Internet Group),” New York Times, updated March 8, 2012, http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/anonymous_internet_group/index.html.

vowed to take revenge on any organization: Sean-Paul Correll, “Operation: Payback Broadens to Operation Avenge Assange.” Pandalabs (blog), December 6, 2010, http://pandalabs.pandasecurity.com/operationpayback-broadens-to-operation-avenge-assange/; Mathew Ingram, “WikiLeaks Gets Its Own ‘Axis of Evil’ Defense Network,” GigaOM (blog), December 8, 2010, http://gigaom.com/2010/12/08/wikileaks-gets-its-own-axis-of-evil-defence-network/.

A string of global investigations followed: U.S. Department of Justice, “Sixteen Individuals Arrested in the United States for Alleged Roles in Cyber Attacks,” national press release, July 19, 2011, http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/sixteen-individuals-arrested-in-the-united-states-for-alleged-roles-in-cyber-attacks; Andy Greenberg, “Fourteen Anonymous Hackers Arrested for ‘Operation Avenge Assange,’ LulzSec Leader Claims He’s Not Affected,” Forbes, July 19, 2011, http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/07/19/anonymous-arrests-continue-lulzsec-leader-claims-hes-not-affected/; “Hackers Arrested in US, NL and UK,” Radio Netherlands Worldwide, July 20, 2011, http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/hackers-arrested-us-nl-and-uk.

he told The New York Times via e-mail: Somini Sengupta, “Hacker Rattles Security Circles,” New York Times, September 11, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/technology/hacker-rattles-internet-security-circles.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

Boasting aside, Comodohacker was able to forge: Ibid.

compromised the communications: Ibid.

He said he attacked: Ibid.

declared that he was “one of the strongest haters of Israel”: “I Will Finish Israel Off Electronically: Ox-Omar,” Emirates 24/7, January 22, 2012, http://www.emirates247.com/news/world/i-will-finish-israel-off-electronically-ox-omar-2012-01-22-1.438856.

a file that contained four hundred thousand credit-card numbers: Chloe Albanesius, “Hackers Target Israeli Stock Exchange, Airline Web Sites,” PC Magazine, January 16, 2012, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398941,00.asp.

most of these were duplicates: Isabel Kershner, “Cyberattack Exposes 20,000 Israeli Credit Card Numbers and Details About Users,” New York Times, January 6, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/world/middleeast/cyberattack-exposes-20000-israeli-credit-card-numbers.html.

He claimed to represent a group of Wahhabi hackers: Jonathon Blakeley, “Israeli Credit Card Hack,” deLiberation, January 5, 2012, http://www.deliberation.info/israeli-credit-card-hack/.

“It will be so fun to see”: Ehud Kenan, “Saudi Hackers Leak Personal Information of Thousands of Israelis,” YNet, January 3, 2012, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4170465,00.html.

the websites of Israel’s El Al Airlines and its stock exchange were brought down: Isabel Kershner, “2 Israeli Web Sites Crippled as Cyberwar Escalates,” New York Times, January 16, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/world/middleeast/cyber-attacks-temporarily-cripple-2-israeli-web-sites.html.

attacks would be reduced if Israel apologized for its “genocide”: Yaakov Lappin, “ ‘I Want to Harm Israel,’ Saudi Hacker Tells ‘Post,’ ” Jerusalem Post, January 16, 2012, http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=253893; Saar Haas, “ ‘OxOmar’ Demands Israeli Apology,” YNet, January 16, 2012, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4176436,00.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter.

“badge of honor that I have been personally targeted”: Danny Ayalon’s Facebook page, posts on January 13 and 16, 2012, accessed October 20, 2012, https://www.facebook.com/DannyAyalon.

DARPA approved eight contracts: Austin Wright, “With Cyber Fast Track, Pentagon Funds Hacker Research,” Politico, December 7, 2011, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70016.html.

“democratized, crowd-sourced innovation”: Statement by Dr. Regina E. Dugan, submitted to the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities of the House Armed Services Committee, United States House of Representatives, March 23, 2010, www.darpa.mil/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=542.

“There is a sense among many that hackers and Anonymous are just evildoers”: Regina Dugan, in discussion with the authors, July 2012.

lack of Internet access in a large urban home: Mark Mazzetti and Helene Cooper, “Detective Work on Courier Led to Breakthrough on bin Laden,” New York Times, May 2, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/02reconstruct-capture-osama-bin-laden.html; Bob Woodward, “Death of Osama bin Laden: Phone Call Pointed U.S. to Compound—and to ‘The Pacer,’ ” Washington Post, May 6, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/death-of-osama-bin-laden-phone-call-pointed-us-to-compound—and-to-the-pacer/2011/05/06/AFnSVaCG_story.html.

But when Navy SEAL Team Six raided his home: Joby Warrick, “Al-Qaeda Data Yield Details of Planned Plots,” Washington Post, May 5, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/al-qaeda-data-yields-details-of-planned-plots/2011/05/05/AFFQ3L2F_story.html.; Woodward, “Death of Osama bin Laden,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/death-of-osama-bin-laden-phone-call-pointed-us-to-compound—and-to-the-pacer/2011/05/06/AFnSVaCG_story.html.

Mumbai attacks: Hari Kumar, “India Says Pakistan Aided Planner of Mumbai Attacks,” New York Times, June 27, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/world/asia/india-says-pakistan-aided-abu-jindal-in-mumbai-attacks.html; Harmeet Shah Singh, “India Makes Key Arrest in Mumbai Terror Plot,” CNN, June 26, 2012, http://articles.cnn.com/2012-06-26/asia/world_asia_india-terror-arrest_1_fahim-ansari-ujjwal-nikam-sabauddin-ahmed?_s=PM:ASIA; “Mumbai Attacks ‘Handler’ Arrested in India,” Agence France-Presse (AFP), June 25, 2012, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gydBxOITFOjQ_gOjs278EF2DTvIQ?docId=CNG.1ec8f11cdfb59279e03f13dafbcd927a.01.

To better understand the role that technology played in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, we spoke to Prakash V. Shukla, who is a senior vice president and the chief information officer for Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, which operates the Taj Mahal Hotel. He explained, “It was very clear from reviewing CCTV footage these individuals had never been to the Taj. However, they knew exactly where things were in the hotel, they knew how to get around, etc. The old part of the hotel was built over [a] hundred years ago, therefore we didn’t have floor plans. Combination of the Taj website, Google Maps gave one a fairly good idea of the layout of the hotel. The website also describes the location of premium rooms, which are located on upper floors. It was very easy for them to plan attacks of high-profile targets like the Taj, Oberoi, the train station, etc. This, augmented with Hedley’s reports from actual reconnaissance work in India, gave the terrorists a fairly good idea of the locations. From the time attacks started, the terrorists immediately moved to the old wing (premium) of the hotel and started moving towards the upper floors. Satellite radios were procured. Along with several money transfers using electronic fund distribution. In India, several prepaid SIM cards were procured.”

High-profile terrorist attacks on commercial hotels will have implications for how the hospitality industry deals with security. In speaking with Shukla, we learned that “the hotel industry is going the way of the airline industry. The same measures that the airlines have taken in terms of scanning baggage, doing reference checks on passengers, are being carried out in the hotel industry. Taj, specifically, has a team from Israel who has consulted with us for over four years in creating a security architecture to prevent these types of attacks. In 2008, we had security but the guards were unarmed. We learned that the police were woefully inadequate to handle the situation, and by the time the NSG teams and the Marcos teams arrived it was already over twelve hours. The overall security architecture has several components. Profiling: Guests are profiled from incoming-arrivals list and security agencies are notified of the arrivals; walking in, guests are profiled, and each of our security folks [is] trained to observe individuals entering the hotel; all baggage is screened; disaster-planning drills are conducted on regular intervals; staff has been trained to observe; we now have armed security personnel who are in civilian clothes; all hotel security staff has gone through a month training in Israel on handling of firearms and handling of situations. We have spent [a] significant amount of money to put these measures in place, and we feel that our target would be harder than [the] rest of the hotel industry, and therefore we feel fairly confident that our hotels may not be retargeted. However, having said that, this is a dynamic situation. Whilst we grow in sophistication so do our enemies, and we have to constantly innovate and keep improving the security.”

The gunmen relied on basic consumer technologies: Jeremy Kahn, “Mumbai Terrorists Relied on New Technology for Attacks,” New York Times, December 8, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/world/asia/09mumbai.html; Damien McElroy, “Mumbai Attacks: Terrorists Monitored British Websites Using BlackBerry Phones,” Telegraph (London), November 28, 2008, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3534599/Mumbai-attacks-Terrorists-monitored-coverage-on-UK-websites-using-BlackBerry-phones-bombay-india.html.

electronic trail: “Global Lessons from the Mumbai Terror Attacks,” Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), November 25, 2009, http://www.investigativeproject.org/1539/global-lessons-from-the-mumbai-terror-attacks.

described a top al-Qaeda commander who was exceptionally cautious: A Navy SEAL Team Six member in discussion with the authors, February 2012.

Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout was kidnapped: “Canadian Amanda Lindhout Freed in Somalia,” CBC (Ottawa), last updated November 25, 2009, http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2009/11/25/amanda-lindhout-free.html.

her former captors: Author conversation with Amanda Lindhout, July 2012.

It is estimated that more than 90 percent of people worldwide: Technology / Internet Trends October 18, 2007, Morgan Stanley (China Mobile 50K Survey), 7. Posted on Scribd, http://www.scribd.com/doc/404905/Mary-Meeker-Explains-The-Internet.

Osama bin Laden’s compound contained a large stash of pornographic videos: Scott Shane, “Pornography Is Found in bin Laden Compound Files, U.S. Officials Say,” New York Times, May 13, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/world/asia/14binladen.html.

Secretariat of Public Security compound in Mexico City: Venu Sarakki et al., “Mexico’s National Command and Control Center Challenges and Successes,” 16th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium in Quebec, Canada, June 21–23, 2011, http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a547202.pdf.

TIA was designed and funded to aggregate all “transactional” data: Dr. John Poindexter, “Overview of the Information Awareness Office.” Remarks as prepared for the DARPATech 2002 Conference, August 2, 2002. Posted by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/poindexter.html.

provision to deny all funds for the program: Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2004, S.1382, 108th Cong. (2003), see Sec. 8120; Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2004, H.R.2658, 108th Cong. (2003) (Enrolled Bill), see Sec. 8131.

some of its projects later found shelter: Associated Press (AP), “U.S. Still Mining Terror Data,” Wired, February 23, 2004, http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2004/02/62390; Michael Hirsh, “Wanted: Competent Big Brothers,” Newsweek and Daily Beast, February 8, 2006, http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2006/02/08/wanted-competent-big-brothers.html.

An estimated 52 percent of the world’s population is under the age of thirty: “Mid-Year Population by Five Year Age Groups and Sex—World, 2011,” U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base, accessed October 20, 2012, http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/informationGateway.php.

“What defeats terrorism is really two things”: General Stanley McChrystal, interview by Susanne Koelbl, “Killing the Enemy Is Not the Best Route to Success,” Der Spiegel, January 11, 2010, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/spiegel-interview-with-general-stanley-mcchrystal-killing-the-enemy-is-not-the-best-route-to-success-a-671267.html.

With more than four billion videos viewed daily: Alexei Oreskovic, “Exclusive: YouTube Hits 4 Billion Daily Video Views,” Reuters, January 23, 2012, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-google-youtube-idUSTRE80M0TS20120123.