October 5, 2008
by Dani Reshef
The cyberspace was a main tool for the Global Jihad in indoctrination, communication, guidance, propaganda and recruiting of young Muslims to the cause of Jihad.  Footage of successful terror attacks all over the world, hostages begging for their life, beheading of infidels, distributing of alleged atrocities committed by infidels are posted on regular basis on the web.

In the operational dimension all kinds of manuals provide a professional knowledge base to spontaneous cells and self-made Jihadist worldwide, including the West. Through the web they learn how to produce ,assemble, and to detonate bombs and where to place these ieds for maximum damage and how to select the targets. 

The most damaging usage of the web in the Western Democracies is the potential of recruiting of new cadres, without any previous criminal record, to the calling of the Jihad. Such cells were recently uncovered in Saudi Arabia (see - Saud 09.11.08), Israel (see - Beer Sheva 08.22.08) and in almost all Western Democracies (see - .U.K Cyber cell)  

The method of recruiting  activists through the web can be and is exploited by many intelligence agencies as a means to penetrate terror organizations and to plant their own agents, pretending to be devoted Muslims, in the Global Islamic terror networks. Special units with the right technological expertise and profound knowledge of Islam, developed the skill to pretend as a UK citizen from Kashmiri Indian descent, Canadian resident originally from FATA region in Pakistan or an original Palestinian from Hebron living in USA and to became virtual members in terror networks.

On Saturday 10/04/2008, it became known to the public that British security agencies have taken the fight against terror online, running their own Web sites and as well as helping moderate Muslim groups.

The Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism was created to coordinate operations targeting Al Qaida on the web, The Independent Newspaper said. The agency also tries to counter terrorist sites on the Web.

One young man, Hamaad Munshi, who recently became the youngest person convicted in Britain on terrorist charges, first began getting information on bomb-making online, in 2005, when he was only 15. The judge who sentenced him, on 08/19/2008, said Hamaad Munshi had been exposed to warped and pernicious ideas. Hamaad Munshi was sentenced, on 09/20/2008, to two years in a young offenders' institution (see - Aabid Hussain Khan's case).

* Related topic -  Cyber Jihad