[Air-L] ISIS & Boko Haram

[Maura Conway]

Hi Robert, Richard, and All,

I'm not familiar with any substantive research on the cyber attack
capabilities of particular violent extremist groups, albeit a lot of ink
has been spilled recently by journalists on IS' alleged capabilities.

I have written rather a lot on so-called 'cyberterrorism,' but only treat
capabilities minimally and instead tend to focus upon other issues--like
theatricality, etc.--that are probably more important from a terrorism, as
opposed to a technology, perspective.

You may nevertheless be interested in a couple of my papers:

My most recent is 'Reality Check: Assessing the (Un)Likelihood of
Cyberterrorism' (2015)' at http://doras.dcu.ie/20060/

A condensed version of my position is 'Against Cyberterrorism' (2011) at
http://doras.dcu.ie/16237/

I guess it's clear enough where I stand!

Best,
Maura



On 10 April 2015 at 13:32, Richard Forno <rforno at infowarrior.org> wrote:

>
> (early morning, un-caffeinated response follows)
>
> Only with a semi-interested curiosity from time to time in case I get
> asked by a journalist. ;)   Most cyberattacks and hacktivism incidents
> these days don't rile my feathers anymore, even if the media falls over
> itself to 'report' (or more accurately, 'speculate') on them.   (And don't
> get me started on the 'politics of cyber', either.)
>
> As always, the issue with tracking and/or reporting on these things  is
> attribution[1] unless otherwise immediately claimed or confirmed by a known
> and semi-trustworthy authority --- ie, the leader or some other credible
> spokesperson known to speak on behalf of BH or ISIS or whomever. Sure,
> someone can claim to be from Group X but in actuality are a lone wolf
> and/or hold no formal association with the group they claim to be "from".
>  They may simply be "aspirational" supporters in one way or other.
>
> In terms of media reporting of such incidents, my own nonscientific view
> is that nearly all reporting on cyber whodunits is speculation and/or
> flat-out wrong for at least 48-72 hours, if not longer.
>
> There are some independent groups that follow this stuff as a professional
> service to clients - including the media I believe.   I can dig up some
> links if that'd be helpful when I can.
>
> That's a long-winded answer to your question that I probably could've said
> "Kinda, sorta, yeah, maybe" and saved the bandwidth.  :)
>
> -- rick
>
> [1] A *huge* problem for the security services, military, and even
> politicians who flail about trying to point fingers at whatever they can.
>
> --
> It's better to burn out than fade away.
>
> > On Apr 10, 2015, at 7:27 AM, nativebuddha <nativebuddha at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Anybody else out there tracking the alleged "cyberattack" capabilities of
> > ISIS and Boko Haram?
> >
> > -robert
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-- 


*Dr. Maura Conway*
*Senior Lecturer in International Security *School of Law and Government
Dublin City University
Glasnevin
Dublin 9
Ireland

Tel. +353 1 700 6472
E-Mail. maura.conway at dcu.ie
Skype. galwaygrrl

Twitter: @galwaygrrl

Website: http://doras.dcu.ie/view/people/Conway,_Maura.html

**********

VOX-Pol Project on Violent Online Political Extremism

Website: http://www.voxpol.eu

Twitter: @VOX_Pol

-- 


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