March 6, 2015: Strategy Page

The U.S. recently revealed that in October Afghan and American commandos raided a remote village where a much-sought al Qaeda leader was reported to be hiding out. The raid was a success, but even more important than the al Qaeda leader was the capture of his laptop computer, intact. After years of fighting Islamic terrorists the U.S. has learned the importance of quickly examining such finds and exploiting information found.

For over a decade now the U.S. Department of Defense has urged American firms for help in developing better tools for quickly analyzing captured electronic data (cell phones, storage devices, and specialized military electronics). Since 2006 the military has been using similar tools developed for police departments. For example, in 2007 troops began taking a hacker analysis tool (COFEE, or Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor) with them on raids in Iraq. Microsoft developed COFEE for the police and military, followed by a similar tool that enables a non-hacker to analyze wireless network activity and determine which targets can be attacked with a variety of hacker tools and weapons. Since the late 1990s DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has been developing similar technologies. Details don’t get released, as that would aid potential targets.

In addition to data extraction and analysis devices the troops can carry with them on raids, there has also been an increase in the intel analysis capabilities at all levels (battalion up to the very top). This was the result of adapting tools (mainly software) and techniques from the commercial BI (Business Intelligence) industry, which has developed a lot of powerful research and marketing tools that have direct military application. This is all very geeky but the simple description is software that can quickly find patterns to huge quantities of data or activity. Thus the urgency with which troops grab enemy laptops or even large piles of paper records (even al Qaeda keeps lots of records). The troops know that quickly putting this stuff through a scanner followed by translation and analytics software will usually produce some new suspects to go after and often a current address as well.

The October raid was apparently rapidly exploited using these analysis tools in conjunction with huge databases of known Islamic terrorists and their methods. This led to a noticeable increase in similar raids for the rest of 2014. The military kept quiet about what was behind this spike and were relieved when most media pundits decided this was the result of a decision by the U.S. government to “unleash” American special operations troops in Afghanistan. When the military finally revealed the real reason behind all those additional raids they also described the October laptop as nearly as valuable as the computers and documents seized in the 2011 Osama bin Laden raid.

After October the data in that laptop led to more raids on al Qaeda and Taliban targets, mainly because the data identified a lot of key al Qaeda people and what they did. That provided links to the Taliban and other terrorist organizations. The people identified were usually already known and there was existing data on where they were. By using the BI tools on the new data a lot of new connections were uncovered which also provided a list of people who had key jobs (and probably carried around valuable information in their heads or in their electronics devices.) Capturing these people alive was particularly important because the October laptop contained data that made it easier to interrogate the captured terrorists (because the interrogators already knew the answers to many of the questions they were asking and thus could quickly determine if the subject was lying.)

Finally, the capture of this laptop came right after a new president was elected in Afghanistan, who quickly lifted all the restrictions his predecessor had placed on night raids. The laptop also contained a lot of data on al Qaeda operations in Pakistan and that led to more UAV reconnaissance and missile attacks on key al Qaeda personnel there.

Luxembourg Oct 09, 2014 - Spacewar.com (AFP)

The European Union and US Internet giants including Facebook and Twitter will work together to combat online extremism and have discussed steps to block gruesome beheading videos, officials said Thursday.

EU interior ministers and officials met representatives from the technology firms in Luxembourg on Wednesday amid growing alarm that Islamist material is encouraging young Muslims to fight in Syria and Iraq.

EU home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft had explained what they do to prevent showing the videos, "which according to their internal policies are totally against their principles".

But the Swede insisted that outright blocking of websites "is not the question".

She added: "There is urgency, but we should not rush into making laws or taking decisions without thinking."

In a later joint statement, Malmstroem and Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the two sides "agreed to organise joint training and awareness-raising workshops for the representatives of the law enforcement authorities, Internet industry and civil society".

- Jihadists using web to recruit -

Social media has become a powerful recruiting tool for jihadists, with the Islamic State group posting several videos online showing the grisly beheadings of Western hostages.

US Internet firms have sometimes been uneasy about blocking extremist material, seeing themselves as platforms rather than publications, and worrying about the implications for free speech, which is strongly protected under US law.

EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove, who was also at the dinner, said the US firms were "very eager to do their part" in what he called a joint public-private effort to combat extremism.

They discussed "how can we remove from the Internet illegal content, how can we use it proactively in order to counter their narrative," he said.

"Twitter has made the life of ISIL (Islamic State) quite difficult. That's the reason why they moved from Twitter to another social network," he added.

Around 3,000 Europeans have travelled to fight in Syria and Iraq, de Kerchove told AFP in September.

Officials worry some will return battle-hardened and ready to launch attacks in their home countries.

Many European parents have learned that their sons or daughters have left to fight or support jihad in Syria through messages posted on Facebook or Twitter.

Police officers who are worried that they might return to launch attacks in their home countries need such messages to determine where they are, a European official said.

The aim of cooperating with the social networks is to block the broadcast of messages and images of jihadist groups, something that must be done rapidly as the documents are duplicated quickly.

Facebook, the world's biggest social network with 1.3 billion user accounts, said it has barred "terrorist" groups from its site.

The firm intervenes when it becomes aware of accounts or content that violate user conditions, particularly in cases of calls to violence, according to Monika Bickert, Facebook head of global policy management.

The ministers were also looking into how to reinforce border checks to prevent jihadists leaving for the Middle East, and monitoring the return of those who might be preparing attacks.

However, the Schengen border-free zone, which applies to most EU countries, bars systematic checks, and the European parliament has blocked plans for a European Passenger Name Record system, a database that holds the itinerary of airline passengers.

06/06/2013 - JDD

Microsoft et le FBI ont lancé, avec le soutien de plus de 80 pays, une offensive contre l'un des plus importants réseaux informatiques de cybercriminalité au monde, soupçonné d'avoir volé près de 400 millions d'euros sur des comptes bancaires à travers le monde.

Les réseaux "botnets" Citadel ont permis à leurs exploitants de soutirer de l'argent à de nombreux établissements, parmi lesquels American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, PayPal, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Canada et Wells Fargo. Les botnets sont des réseaux d'ordinateurs, dits "machines zombies", infectés à l'insu de leurs utilisateurs par des logiciels malveillants. Pilotés par des serveurs distants, il sont utilisés pour envoyer des courriers indésirables ("spams"), diffuser des virus et commettre des crimes financiers.

Microsoft a annoncé mercredi avoir contribué à arrêter les opérations d'au moins mille botnets utilisant le logiciel Citadel, dont le nombre total est estimé à 1.400. Le FBI a de son côté déclaré à Reuters qu'il collaborait avec Europol et d'autres polices criminelles à travers le monde pour interpeller les exploitants de Citadel, dont l'identité est encore inconnue, même si l'agence américaine dit en être à un stade "assez avancé" de son enquête.

L'Australie, le Brésil, l'Equateur, l'Allemagne, les Pays-Bas, Hong Kong, l'Islande, l'Inde, l'Indonésie et l'Espagne figurent parmi les pays impliqués dans l'enquête.

La #Défense française a-t-elle capitulé devant #Microsoft et l’ #OTAN ? - #France #Defence #DIRISI @Nato http://t.co/7dCcR0dfNS

RP Defense (@RPDefense)April 17, 2013