In today's modern world, the internet is a widely used instrument. It is hard to fathom life without the internet because it has virtually changed every aspect of our lives. The internet has changed how we acquire knowledge, work, communicate/disseminate information, consume news, and deliver health care. Even if there are many positive aspects to consider, the internet is still a necessary evil. The internet is widely used by unscrupulous people, including terrorists. In the modern world, terrorism is technologically advanced and international. Terrorist organizations have taken advantage of the internet for different purposes. Modern terrorist groups are increasingly using the internet to further their activities via social networking sites (SNSs) and websites. This paper's principal focus is to explore the use of the internet by terrorist groups. They use this instrument to disseminate propaganda, communicate, raise funds, and recruit and train new members.
The Internet in General
The development of innovative technologies like computers orchestrated the unique integration of these technologies. In today's world, the internet is used for communication (Ogun, 2012). Internet users can communicate with each other, transact online, and access information on the internet (Ogun, 2012). Simply, the advent of the internet has provided people with the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas.
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Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes
As technology continues to advance, terrorist organizations are easily adjusting to the technological changes. Terrorists are increasingly using the internet for communication both with each other and the general population (Zuberi, 2018). Nearly all internet users have seen images of propaganda videos published by terrorists on their websites and rebroadcast on other global Internet networks. Governments, especially the U.S. and U.K. governments, have scaled up observation of websites owned by terrorist organizations. Still, their persecution of site operators is hampered by a wide range of factors, including the internet's inherent anonymity (Zuberi, 2018). The internet has so many loopholes and is vulnerable to terrorist exploitation.
The internet offers terrorist organizations the following benefits: easy access, no regulation or censorship, a vast amount of Internet users, the anonymity of communication, rapid dissemination of information, and interactivity (Ogun, 2012; Antinori, 2018; Zuberi, 2018). Besides, the internet provides a cheap, anonymous, geographically unbounded, and uncensored virtual haven for terrorist organizations (Ogun, 2012). Similarly, the internet creates opportunities for counterterrorism organizations to exploit. This tool also enables domestic and global counterterrorism organizations to counter terrorist use of the internet by discrediting their propaganda by promoting peaceful messages. This way, governments and counterterrorism organizations can prevent terrorist organizations from recruiting, training, fundraising, and disseminating propaganda.
Fund Raising
The internet is a critical tool for both domestic and global terrorism as it enables terrorist organizations to seek financial aid and acquire funds online (Gill et al., 2017). Terrorist financing is considered a form of money laundering, but this form of financing has a number of key characteristics. First, unlike business organizations, terrorist groups are not profit-motivated. The financial support sought by and provided to terrorists is used to inflict harm and encourage terror. Second, terrorist organizations rarely derive their finances from illegal sources, such as other crimes like fraud and drug trafficking.
The advent of the internet made it easy for terrorist organizations to seek financial support to finance their terrorist activities. A prime example is Al-Qaeda, a multi-national terrorist organization (Rudner, 2017). This terrorist organization uses the internet to raise funds from charities, front groups, and NGOs ("nongovernmental organizations"). Other terrorist organizations similarly use the internet to solicit funds from their financers. For example, in 2003, Hamas opened numerous bank accounts in London. It then sent over $20M to different Hamas organizations through the Internet (Ogun, 2012). Front groups publicize their bank accounts numbers to allow donors and sympathizers to donate or contribute to a particular cause or issue. A front group is an organization that supports terrorist organizations but operates publicly and legally. Front groups usually do not have direct ties to terror organizations. The advent of the internet has made it possible for individuals to send money to front groups via the internet, such as through credit cards.
Communication and Dissemination of Propaganda
The internet provides a new safe haven for terrorist organizations to communicate with each other and the public ( Aly et al., 2017) . Terrorist campaigns and messages usually target four audiences: supporters, the community that the terrorist group significances to serve, the enemy, and the international community. The message or propaganda disseminated by the terrorist organization depends on the target audience. But generally, when addressing supporters, the population that the terrorist group purports to serve, and potential recruit, the message is "pride, success, commitment, and vision" ( Ogun, 2012, 2016 ). Terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and other radical religious organizations use the internet in this direction.
When the intended audience is the enemy, the message is of threat and fear. The aim is to morally break down the enemy, lower the confidence of governments, and pressure decision-makers to accept the demands made by the terrorist group (Ogun, 2012). A prime example is the PKK ("Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan: Kurdistan Workers' Party") terrorist organization. The PKK often employs this technique to force negotiations with the Turkish government on the critical matters that the group seeks to be addressed. Other radical religious groups like Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, A-Shabaab, and Boko Haram use the internet in this direction.
Lastly, some messages and propaganda are intended to reach the international community. When addressing this audience, the message is intended to achieve political goals (Holt et al., 2015). This includes goals like "freedom, equal rights, self-expression, a free state, and liberation of prisoners," among many other goals (Ogun, 2012, 2017). However, most of the aforementioned radical groups do not plan to utilize the internet in this direction. For example, the aim of Al-Qaeda is to unite all Muslims, force the U.S., U.K., and other foreign countries' influence out of all Muslim states, and remove the presence of the U.S., U.K., and other foreign countries in the Middle East (Ogun, 2012). Through the use of the internet, terrorist organizations can communicate with their audience to further their terrorist acts and agendas.
A wide range of literature documents how convicted terrorists utilized the internet (Gill et al., 2017; Von Behr et al., 2013). Von Behr et al. (2013) interviewed and examined trial records of 15 terrorists convicted in the United Kingdom. Their analysis indicated the internet affords terrorists the opportunity of communicating and obtaining key information. The researchers suggested that the internet compliments in-person communication. Von Behr et al. (2013) concluded that terrorists' interactions, be they face-to-face or via the internet, are still crucial for radicalization.
Recruitment
Terrorist organizations not only use the internet to solicit donations and communicate but also to recruit new members ( Çeliksoy & Smith, 2019) . Terrorist groups recruit supporters to commit terror acts. Recruitment is crucial to supply members to the terror groups. Terrorist organizations often recruit new members through their websites and social media platforms ( Çeliksoy & Smith, 2019) . The recruiter and the volunteer meet on these SNSs platforms. Terrorist organizations can conduct various tests via the internet, such as confidence tests, before accepting a volunteer. The internet gives these organizations and supports/volunteers the ability to upload documents, video files, and broadcast radio (Holt et al., 2015).
Besides using the internet to recruit new members, terrorist organizations use the internet to collect data about the individuals who surf their websites. The organizations then use the information collected to identify and contact individuals who seem to be highly absorbed in the organization's cause. In addition, recruiters may utilize more interactive technologies available on the internet to roam online platforms, such as social media platforms like Facebook, to identify receptive members of the public, especially the youth ( Çeliksoy & Smith, 2019) . Prime examples of interactive Internet technologies that can serve as vehicles for identifying and contacting potential recruits are electronic bulletin boards and user nets.
After identifying potential recruits, terrorist groups then contact the selected groups, such as by e-mail. Regardless of the response, the recruiters usually continue sending messages and videos by e-mails until most of the members are convinced to join. Besides, terrorist organizations often use the internet to mobilize activists. How activists responded to the arrest of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of PKK, clearly illustrates this ( Ogun, 2012 ). Following Ocalan's arrests by the Turkish Security Forces, activists or sympathizers responded through demonstrations immediately.
Training
Terrorist groups offer occupational training to new members through their websites since they can watch training materials, such as videos, online (Holt et al., 2015). The terrorist organization can either provide these materials on their own websites or direct the trainees to other websites where the materials are available. The advent of the internet has given terrorist organizations, supporters, and operators a much easier means of acquiring information. In this regard, the internet played a crucial role in Al-Qaeda's adaptation strategy. It helped this radical group to successfully execute the 9/11 attack. The leader of the 9/11 conspiracy, Mohammed Atta, used the internet to obtain critical information about U.S. intelligence (Ogun, 2012).
Gill et al. (2014) conducted a study to determine the extent to which terrorists engaged in online training. Of the 119 participants examined, 81% interacted virtually and learned aspects of their attacks through the internet. Comparative analyses showed Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorists were highly likely to learn through the internet than other radical groups. This indicates that the internet is a crucial tool for training.
In another study, Gill and Corner (2015) examined how the internet altered the way terrorists (offenders) learned via the internet. The researchers found that, since the advent of the internet, terrorists adapted swiftly to this change. This instrument changed terrorists' means of radicalization and learning. The researchers concluded that the internet acts as a substitute for other forms of training and communication. The researchers also found that the youth were highly likely to engage in online training than older terrorists.
Overview of Terrorist Organization's Websites
In today's world, nearly all active terrorist groups have websites, some having more than one website. Besides, in order to appeal to a wider audience, these organizations use more than one language. Despite the diversity of terrorist websites, they have some specific characteristics. First, terrorist websites are colorful and well-designed. Secondly, these websites have visually arresting graphic content. In most cases, terrorist websites are designed to appeal to young people since this generation is addicted to the internet.
Cyberterrorism
Cyberterrorism is a new breed of terrorism that is troubling in the modern world. As the name suggests, cyberterrorism is the convergence of cyberspace and terrorism ( Akhgar et al., 2014 ). This new form of terrorism is on the rise, and nations, corporations, and organizations ought to defend themselves against this new threat. The world already has vast experience and proven experience to combat mainstream terrorism. But the big question is: is the world prepared to combat terrorism in the new arena – cyberspace? ( Akhgar et al., 2014 ). Cyberterrorists make use of the internet to attack computers, networks, and the information stored therein. Terrorist organizations use this information to further their terrorist activities, such as to intimidate governments or the public to further certain political goals. In addition, terrorist organizations conduct cyberattacks to cause violence against people or property or cause harm to generate fear ( Akhgar et al., 2014 ). In serious cases, cybercriminals can attack sophisticated systems or critical infrastructures to cause death, explosions, and plane crashes. Thus, just like mainstream terrorism, cyberterrorism can lead to serious impacts.
Mainstream terrorism and cyberterrorism share a number of key characteristics. First, they are conducted by terrorist organizations or unscrupulous people with similar motivations to inflict harm and encourage terror. Secondly, they both make use of the internet. Just like mainstream terrorism, the internet provides a cheap, anonymous, geographically unbounded, and uncensored virtual haven for cybercriminals.
To sum up, this paper delved into discussing the use of the internet by terrorist organizations. The internet is a critical tool for terrorists. The internet offers terrorist organizations a new type of front or a perfect digital environment for conducting terrorist activities. Terrorist organizations have taken advantage of the internet to further their terror activities, such as communicating with each other and other people, recruiting new members, raising funds, and training recruits. Before the advent of the internet, terrorists used to communicate through acts of terror and hope that acts of violence explain their cause or ideological justification. In the modern world, terrorist organizations can disseminate information and propaganda straight by the media via the internet, as it is easy to access and unregulated. Thus, efforts are required to prevent the internet usage of terrorists. Local, regional, and global cooperation must be institutionalized to create a check mechanism. The institution will be responsible for monitoring terrorist websites and website hosts. Besides, governments and organizations need to be proactive in fighting the ideologies and radicalization processes that terrorist organizations pursue via the internet.
References
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