McClatchy: Cyberspace — the final frontier in the war on terror

[babylonsister]

Cyberspace — the final frontier in the war on terror
By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Saturday, September 22, 2007



WASHINGTON — The report detailing the supposed vulnerability of the Army's Stryker armored vehicles to rocket-propelled grenades appeared on a password-protected terrorist Web site in the summer of 2006.

Terrorists discovered it on the Web site of a think tank, downloaded it to their own site and urged fellow mujahedeen to study it and use what they learned in attacking the U.S. combat vehicles in Iraq.

Though the report has been discredited, its posting on a jihadist Web site shows how cyberspace has become an increasingly important front in the war on terror.

From "Jihad University" to "Terrorists 007" to 5,000 or more other sites, terrorists are using the Internet to spread propaganda, recruit members, raise money, offer training and instruction and plan operations.

The National Security Agency, the CIA, the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency, other U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies and some private contractors are fighting back, cracking terrorist passwords, monitoring suspicious Web sites, cyberattacking others and sometimes planting bogus information.

Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill and independent experts, however, think the U.S. could be doing a better job to counter the threat.

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