Online Social Networks and Terrorism: Threats and Defenses

Abstract

Over 1 billion active users of online social networks are evidence of the enormous growth of these technologies. Although the majority of online social network users use such services for ordinary social interactions, a very small number may possibly be misusing them for terrorism. In this chapter, we first provide the background, definition, and classification of terrorism. Second, we discuss how some terrorists may be using online social networks to: (1) recruit new members to a terrorist organization and maintain the loyalty of their existing sympathizers; (2) plan attacks and share information about them; (3) gather intelligence; (4) train recruits for specific attacks; (5) raise funds for their causes; (6) propagate fear amongst the enemy population; and (7) engage in counterintelligence to uncover undercover agents. Third, we discuss several mechanisms to detect terrorists using online social networks, including: (1) keyword-based flagging; (2) sentiment analysis; (3) honeypots; (4) social network analysis; (5) facial recognition; and (6) view escalation. We show that the keyword-only flagging mechanism used by US Department of Homeland Security to detect terrorists is potentially effective, but certainly produces a large number of false positives, making it possibly less efficient in practice. Finally, we propose the use of targeted advertisements to rehabilitate possible radicals using the online social networks.

Legal Notice: The content of this chapter are meant only to provide researchers and security personnel with information about threats of the use of online social networks for terrorism and how to counter those threats. It is in no way meant to help anyone do anything unethical or illegal.