Calling extremists: a cyber sting awaits
Tom Allard, National Security Editor
February 27, 2007
THE Australian Federal Police, assisted by the military's signals intelligence arm, is setting up bogus jihadist websites to track extremists who use cyberspace to recruit followers and plan attacks.
The undercover operation, disclosed yesterday by the federal police commissioner, Mick Keelty, is an assault by security agencies on arguably the most powerful weapon of the global jihadist movement, the internet.
Mr Keelty said police were working closely with foreign governments, as well as the Defence Signals Directorate.
"We have actually worked with some foreign countries through our undercover program, establishing our own websites, if you like, to capture some of the activities that are going on on the internet," he told a security conference in Sydney.
The program employs methods similar to those used to track child pornography and financial fraud.
The reason for setting up hoax jihadist websites is to trace people who contact them, and then work back to see who those people are in contact with. The hope is that software will identify patterns of communication between extremists, and uncover networks of terrorists.
The international dimension to the program was vital because most jihadist websites were located overseas, Mr Keelty said.
"The internet does pose a problem," he said. "It has for some time. It's been actually quite an education these past five or six years to see how quickly terrorists have adopted new technologies."
Mr Keelty said a team of security agents was "walking the beat" on the internet around the clock, in conjunction with US and British authorities.
Cyberspace is awash with extremist websites, blogs and chat rooms. Some raise funds, others post recipes for explosives, the latest extremist theological tract or sophisticated propaganda aimed at attracting recruits and demoralising the West. One terrorist expert observed yesterday: "There is now a terrorist training camp in everyone's living room."
Violent extremists use the internet to plan, command and control terrorist acts. "Not only can you communicate very quickly, you can communicate very effectively and you can communicate without anybody knowing," Mr Keelty said.
Modelling by the Federal Government shows a terrorist attack that succeeded in blowing up a passenger jet would have a devastating impact on the economy, costing $22.5 billion and almost 150,000 jobs in a year. The secretary of the Department of Transport, Michael Taylor, who released the study, said extremists clearly remained fascinated with launching spectacular attacks using aircraft.
The scenario modelled by the department's economic arm involved a single jet aircraft exploding soon after take-off on a domestic route, killing all 184 passengers. It assumes that all airports around the country would be shut for 24 hours following the attack.
Its impact in the first year would be $22.4 billion, slicing about 2 per cent off gross domestic product and costing 146,000 jobs. Over two years, the cost would rise to $30.1 billion.
Most of the losses would occur due to a downturn in tourism. Domestic travel and international visitors would both decline.
Delays resulting from increased security inspections of passengers and vehicles would cost $4.2 billion. Export losses would cost about $805 million.
The department will not release the full report. It said its analysis was based on the impacts of the September 11, 2001 attack and the Bali, Madrid and London bombings.
