Abstract
Cyber(terrorism) threats posted via social media are capable of devastating, real-world effects, including miscommunication and rumors, panic, and financial loss. This manuscript details a case study of the cyber(terrorism) threat that occurred at The University of Alabama on September 21, 2014, referred to as the Authur Pendragon incident. The Authur Pendragon threat led to a week of fear, social media hyperactivity, and the propagation of rumors, all of which reached beyond The University of Alabama campus. A timeline of the event, which includes social media posts, official University responses, and mass media coverage, are presented followed by an analysis of the case from both a socio-psychological and communications perspective. Recommendations for managing cyber threats and rumor mongering are provided as well as future research suggestions.
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Notes
- 1.
There is no consensus on the definition of a cyberterrorist threat, and the authors are not arguing whether or not the case presented is a cyber threat vs. cyberterrorism threat. Therefore, the authors will use cyber (terrorism) threat to denote this distinction.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Visual Timeline of Cyber Threat and Communications
Appendix 2: Collection of Pendragon Threats and Related Texts
2.1 Section 1 Pendragon Threats
Image 1: Original Threat
Image 2: Second Threat
2.2 Section 2 Cell Phone Threats
Image 1: 1st Anonymous Cell Phone Threat
Image 2: 2nd Anonymous Cellphone threat
2.3 Section 3 University of Alabama Emails
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2.4 Section 4: Social Media Posts
Image 1: Crimson White First Tweet
Image 2: Texas A&M student tweet
Image 3: GroupMe social media screenshot post
Image 4: #Pray4bama Trending on twitter
Image 4 Cont
Image 5: Arthur Pendragon conspiracy theory on Yik Yak
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Seigfried-Spellar, K.C., Flores, B.M., Griffin, D.J. (2015). Explanatory Case Study of the Authur Pendragon Cyber Threat: Socio-psychological and Communication Perspectives. In: James, J., Breitinger, F. (eds) Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime. ICDF2C 2015. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 157. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25512-5_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25512-5_11
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