[Air-L] ISIS & Boko Haram

Seda Gurses seda at nyu.edu
Fri Apr 10 06:40:44 PDT 2015


thanks robert for the inquiry and the others for the responses. robert, i hope you will share offline responses you may get on the list, too.

i am interested in how cybersecurity research is being shaped, and a lot of it is justified through current “attacks on the cyber”. so, if it is ok with robert, i would like to join this thread and say i would appreciate any references to studies that look at different cyberattacks, like the one on sony, from a critical perspective.
thank you,
seda




On Apr 10, 2015, at 9:07 AM, Maura Conway <maura.conway at dcu.ie> wrote:

> 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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