Terrorist Groups Use of Cloud Technology

Terrorist Group's Use Of Cloud Technology

After the 1980s there have been changes on a global scale that included post cold war developments. The changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union coupled with the technological change on the nations of the East caused structural and perceptional changes that were needed to make them competitive in high technology; which included everything from military to the service sector. There was advance of science and technology in the context of world affairs, however lopsided development led to religious fundamentalism and also the terrorist ethos.

The world was for a long time in dread of nuclear weapons, but these too have taken a different dimension. Nations, even rogue nations with nuclear power are not the threat but a fanatic group that succeeds in hijacking a nuclear missile, for example, is. Though science and technology have been blamed for environmental disasters, the proliferation of technology is also a provision of a means of violence, and computing and information technology could well be the next weapon. Under such a condition, with the world depending more and more on the IT infrastructure, is cloud computing a possible victim of the terrorist? Secondly can a terrorist outfit carry on their operations unmolested using cloud computing? What would be the possible outcome of such a situation? Can the world cope with the threat? The threat is not idle as will be shown in the analysis.

2. Thesis Statement:

The thesis follows the line of thinking that terrorists will look for any medium of information exchange, communication and financial operations and control of their militia, the criteria being that there should not be a source that can tap into their activities. Especially since the mobile phone used widely for its communications by Bin Laden was his organizations undoing and his death, it is likely that the other terrorists would seek medium that is safe from the intelligence agencies and can remain undetected for long. The cloud computing and grid systems are exactly that.

Therefore the thesis statement - "Terror groups utilize technology to advances to plan, fundraise, recruit, and promote their ideology while offering a degree of anonymity. Cloud computing/technology (the Cloud) is the latest advancement terror groups will seek to employ in future." This is supported by the fact that terror outfits operates exactly on the same model as the military. Take the LTTE for example which even had their planes. Tactics and methods of the terrorists show that this hypothesis will be proved true in the future. The reason is that terrorists think like soldiers and believe in strategy and using resources based on the goals objectives, intentions, and the method of executing. Naturally the strategy and tactics will use the methods that are most practicable. The crude way that the terrorists have used to spread terror has been the use of "arson; bombs in vehicles; remote controlled explosions; 'Molotov cocktails'; biological and chemical materials disseminated offensively; grenades; gun attacks (hand and automatic); mortar attacks; attacks with rocket launchers; knife attacks; machete attacks; hijacking of vehicles and aircraft; and so on."

The use of mobile technology by the Al Qaeda was effective insofar as it resulted in the September attacks, and the organization was also exposed by their mobile use. The internet is being used by many organizations and many countries allow these groups to conduct affairs anonymously. Therefore as the technology improves the masterminds of these organizations also look to use these methods and technology as fast as possible and try to adapt faster than regular business. Especially the technology that is safe, secure and free from leaks. The cloud is just that. It is secure and encrypted and protected. The information revolution caused advances in the technology of communication and organization with the advent of cyberspace. With the modern methods of data processing especially online, there has come about the existence of a "virtual society" also called the global community wherein all the persons of the globe can access the resources of the net with little outlay. Therefore the community now is the force behind the business, government, military and international perceptions. It was observed far back in 1999 that "as cyber space evolves, the terrorists are becoming interested in this new medium"

There is scope for spreading ideology, gaining adherents, control of the cadres and passing of encrypted information. Therefore we cannot brush aside the possibility of cloud becoming their new haven. There is also historical evidence to prove this fact.

3. Historical (terror groups use of technology)

Taking terrorism as an organized crime it can be seen that terrorism is a result of an economic need or as seen in the case of Al-Qaeda as a religious fundamentalism. Such organizations receive shelter and funds domestically and the major source of funds are drug dealing and other criminal activities like kidnapping, extortion, money laundering, smuggling and even counterfeit currencies.

Organizations like OMshinrikyo in Japan or the Al Qaeda use religious grouping and use of religion to create terrorists or criminal outfits. That crimes against the U.S. especially would occur cannot be ruled out. This has been due to the hatred by the impoverished nations against the United States and other capitalist nations which translates to the fact that wealth is held in developed countries while all other places are impoverished. Such a notion of the wide spread misery in the undeveloped countries which is attributed to the actions of the Western nations seem to get wide support for the terrorists and in some places they also enjoy legitimacy.

The terrorist will exist in nations that are in antipathy to the U.S. Or the developed nations. So some community will always find support from governments that fund terrorists. The Department of the Treasury issued a 'Terrorist Assets Report,' in December 2004 and this report showed that the United States succeeded in blocking funds to the tune of ten million dollars.

So far, funding is achieved by smuggling and trafficking in drugs. The drug trafficking is a source that brings funds that then flowed into all the nations monetary system along with generally legitimate funds mostly by buying and dealing with real estate and also vehicles. The recent changes in technology have facilitated growth of a new type of global crime syndicates. The changes in technology and means of global banking have also given the criminal better avenues at operation. This can be exemplified by pointing to the rising cyber crimes, and use of sophisticated computers and machines in white collar crimes and the rising incidents of mobile phone and other gadget misuse. These would intensify and funds can be transferred in anonymity if the cloud is not policed or accountability created. Technology today is digital, and involves computers and other communication devices and involves audio, video and other facilities, and involve at present video conferencing, scanning and generally telemetries and other content delivery features.

Thus cloud computing will enhance these facilities and make the work of the terrorist easier with regard to communication and creating ill will to nations of their choice will thus become easy because of the wider reach and broad cast abilities that the technology can confer. There is a positive chance that the terrorist will succeed in adapting technology in their activities. Examples are that the Om Shinrikyo used Zarin, a gas that was sophisticated in manufacture and Al-Qaeda used planes and internet for coordination must not be forgotten. If cloud computing is to be, then there must be a possibility of policing it properly. This makes it necessary to bring about a global consensus on the use of the cloud and accountability. So why is the cloud computing different from the already existing systems and how does the system offer more anonymity? For that the cloud computing has to be examined in detail.

4. Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is simply the use of the network resources on the internet in such a way that the existing infrastructure is used by many from sites and data and processing is done via the internet without having any infrastructure installed at the premises. This means that not only data but any communication device, any software can be used based on the service provider and the cloud which consists of these borrowed resources spread across the globe can be used not only by businesses but by groups on the go. This makes the movement of people easier from place to place and they can access the data from anywhere. Thus fugitives, secret societies and the terror groups need not have specific place or infrastructure created but can be spread out across the globe and access the same information form anywhere.

This makes pinning them difficult and enlarges their reach. There are two parts in the concept of communication - they are the grid and cloud computing. The grid is the infrastructure or network that brings about the possibility of sharing resources and exchanging information, storing information and processing it, all on the grid. Thus cloud computing is a method of harnessing a grid of hardware, software and storage mediums that can function as the 'cloud' into which the users send, process, store or retrieve information. Cloud computing can be defined as a method of providing applications and services over the internet along with the software, hard ware and data centers, and infrastructure that makes the work of the users virtual with no storage or processing requirements from them. The cloud computing can take the form of grid computing, utility computing, and cloud computing. The objectives of these types are the same but the architectures differ.

The cloud computing environment is used as the basic platform not only to avail of the services it offers but can also be used to host services on behalf of clients. These companies and entities that agree to host and conduct the maintenance of the infrastructure for the clients have no direct control of the client data or the operations involved. Monitoring functions in the cloud can only be related to the changes in the data and other aspects of the client's requirement and this need be done in real time. Though this is a great feature of the cloud, monitoring the activities inside the cloud is not a possible thing.

The cloud offers many advantages that are good for all people and is also suited to be misused with impunity.

5. Advantages of the Cloud

Does the 'cloud' centralize the operational aspects of decentralized terror groups? The advantages to any group will follow the general advantages of the cloud, and the internet to be more precise. The terms of service is such that the vendor's network take care of the components necessary and the service can be used easily as it has low barriers to entry, is scalable, and the resources can be used by a vast number of users simultaneously and the services are all device independent. These features make it attractive with the additional feature that even the software can become a 'service'.

These features are mostly used for customer resource management, video conferencing, IT services, accounting, web and web analytics, web hosting and content creation. This is what is called the software as a service SaaS model, and SaaS offers many benefits like the user familiarization with the web and the requirement of lesser staff, and customization of the software solution to the specific needs are some of the larger features. There is also the availability of more band width and the disability of this type of cloud computing is that there are not enough open source applications to meet the demand.

Does the 'cloud' centralize the operational aspects of decentralized terror groups? Information technology was behind the network groups, terrorists and they will in future use this as a weapon and the bigger the organization gets; it will depend more and more on the IT facilities available. Information flow becomes quicker, and the IT source also can be used to make proper judgments and decisions.

The Middle Eastern groups for example have used the technology for disseminating propaganda, gathering members and giving out religious and motivational commands to the cadres. They already have used satellites, the World Wide Web, and all infrastructures available. Arab Afghans have adopted technology -- they have computers, data storage and all networking equipments even atop the mountains of Afghanistan. They are using well trained engineers and have their own way of using anonymously -- the GUI software for the purpose.

a. Plan: The planning can be done using MIS systems that are available in the cloud and subscribing to it can create a system that not only shows the movement of economies, but also can help the terrorist devise their strategies.

b. Fundraise: While the conventional banks may become efficient and money laundering may become impossible the terrorist may devise some other method to transfer funds and this is a nebulous area where much research is required. It is a fact that accounts of the terrorists cannot be audited in the cloud, and they may safely receive payment through round about routes that may not come to scrutiny.

c. Recruit: The recruitment of the cadres can be done by front end processes that can ensure total anonymity of the cadres such that investigations may not reveal the persons. Lastly the terrorist may also conduct official meetings and briefings on a global scale, all in seconds, without intervention.

d. Promote Ideology: The web is already being used for this purpose and it can be extended more effectively to the cloud.

e. Anonymity: The cloud offers total anonymity and fictitious names and entities can be used to any purpose as verification is not possible for all cases. These are advantageous to the groups in maintaining secrecy and anonymity.

6. Disadvantages of the Cloud

Currently cloud service providers are not regulated and are turning into ungovernable mammoths and the failure of banks show that the failure of these service providers can also occur. The logic is that if a financial institution like the bank without warning these service providers can collapse, leaving the world economy and cloud users in chaos, it can also be the subject of a terrorist attack, by way of cyber terrorism which can paralyze many nations altogether.

Therefore governments ought to bring in regulations to safeguard and provide security to these entities. Though the steps for entering such technology is still not achieved by terrorists the advantages to them is tempting while the cloud can be used by them, the disadvantage is that law enforcement authorities cannot use, or monitor these cloud activities and being vast it requires the involvement of international agencies and all nations.

7. Case Study

Far back in 1959 in his book The Future of Man, "the French Jesuit philosopher Teilhard de Chardin (1959) described a thinking layer of the earth" and a "collective global energy" that would move "social man towards ever greater interdependence and cohesion."

This became true today by the use of the borderless electronic media that is the internet. Teilhard was talking of a true world community what later, Marshall McLuhan, called a "global village."

The emergence of this global information infrastructure or GII may well be the realization of Teilhard's intoxicating vision. The information "superhighway" caused globalization and this also spawned a new type of techno savvy criminal. There was a spate of crimes including money laundering. The first one was "an audacious theft of 1 million credit card numbers from numerous e-commerce sites which stretched across twenty states. This disturbing incident, announced by law-enforcement authorities in March 2001, was described by the FBI as the largest organized criminal attack on the internet to date."

FBI found the hackers and pointed out the security flaws, and the vulnerabilities in the Windows NT operating system.

It can be shown that there will be vulnerabilities in the cloud models as well. There are many such crimes that are called cyber crimes and these are often in the news. These crimes often are fund creating techniques employed and such high-profile cyber crimes also point to the net's vulnerability such that Wall Street proclaimed that the internet was under "Under Siege." The terrorist can bring down the whole system and this was shown when cyber terrorists had "temporarily paralyzed some of the country's biggest web sites through a denial-of-service attack. The technique is relatively simple, but the results can be catastrophic. Denial of service now joins a long list of other weapons that "black hat" hackers or crackers."

Thus not only that the cloud can be used by them, but the terrorist may also attempt to destroy clouds in an attempt at spreading chaos. To guard legitimate users and also to see that the cloud does not become a source of use for ill meaning persons, there must be a global agency that can monitor the cloud. Each nation must evolve its own method. The U.S. which is the most targeted has to find means of looking up this new threat. The existing agencies may be developed for this assignment.

8. USG Response

The over exploitation by terrorists have made the law enforcement agencies eager to see that the web and all technologies are regulated. This is to prevent future attacks. Computer resources are being widely used for nefarious purposes that can turn into threats for the nation. So there ought to be proper legislation such that where a cloud user is suspected the law must be able to intervene.

The question then is how it can be brought about? Is the United States Government -- USG prepared to respond to the potential threats the 'cloud' will provide to terror groups? The answer is yes, provided the laws are amended. There are many efficient agencies, but are mostly fragmented and with diverse roles and jurisdictions that overlap one another. Thus the FBI, CIA, State Police and other intelligence services, the military and other organizations are all involved in national security. The problem came with the changes that occurred in the rest of the world and the nature of the enemy. From being a rogue nation that was the threat, the future threat may come, as was shown by the Al-Qaeda, from small but determined fanatic organizations that may target the U.S. As their enemy. One organization that can be allowed to police the cloud can be the National Homeland Security as they dealt with the technology and homeland security. There are checks and balances for this organization. Looking back it is seen that there were three commissions, the National Commission on Terrorism called the Bremer Commission, the Hart -- Rudman Commission, and the Gilmore Commission created for the purpose which was a result of dissatisfaction that the previous Clinton Administration's policies lacked in combating terrorism.

The Department of Homeland Security is charged with the task of a study that will be comprehensive in all vulnerability assessments for the whole nation and take the issues up with the other concerned organizations. The 'Homeland Security' paradigm will see to it that the Homeland Security has a new Advisory system that will issue relevant warning and information to installations and communities at risk of terrorist acts -- with this extending to the private sector, individuals state and local authorities and the federal government.