Mark Saunokonoko
ISIS has a strong presence on social media to identify prospective supporters and qualified supporters who can be groomed and mobilised to execute attacks. Source: Michael S. Smith II - www.terrorismanalyst.com
Islamic State has quickly proven itself a formidable actor in cyberspace.
Slick propaganda, promoting emigration to the so-called caliphate and repeated calls for attacks, are a hallmark of the group's cyber operations.
The world watched on, horrified, as beheading videos and other inhumane methods of savagery, sometimes employing young Muslim children as executioners, became synonymous with ISIS.
And now a new trend that may hint at a devastating development in ISIS tactics has emerged across the group's encrypted message channels and vast online networks, according to a US counter-terror analyst.
Over the past six months, ISIS has ramped up a proliferation of graphic images and videos of dead and injured Muslim children hit in military strikes against the group, Michael S. Smith, a US counter-terror analyst, told nine.com.au.
Michael S. Smith speaking on Fox News about Islamic State's actions in the cyber domain. Source: Michael S. Smith II - www.terrorismanalyst.com
Smith, a US Congressional advisor who specialises in observing and penetrating ISIS' cyber activities, described the shift as a significant "pivot".
"Photo packets and major videos" of catastrophically wounded kids and civilians were being distributed on a daily basis by highly organised ISIS news channels, Smith said.
He called the tactic a "passive means of stimulating interest in certain types of attacks”.
A line can be drawn towards the recent attack on the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England - a venue packed with young fans and teenagers, mostly girls.
Smith did not buy into the "bunk" theory that battlefield defeats and the recent shrinking of the so-called caliphate was directly linked to the dramatic rise of lone wolf attacks in the West.
Islamic State's appeal for attacks in the West during Ramadan
An example of an infographic dispersed across ISIS channels via Telegram. Source: Michael S. Smith II - www.terrorismanalyst.com
About a year ago, ISIS began to emphatically call on supporters to wage jihad at home, when barriers to emigrating to the self-styled caliphate were becoming very high, Smith said.
"They have been calling on attacks in Australia, the US and Europe since (the northern hemisphere) Fall of 2014, and they have been very explicit in describing the types of targets."
Smith has been able to successfully join encrypted Telegram channels operated by ISIS in the darker reaches of the web.
ISIS uses Telegram, an encrypted message tool, to disperse information, similar to the way Reuters and Associated Press operate their legitimate news feeds.
Telegram is the critical entry point of Islamic State's propaganda, including beheadings, jihad tactics, calls for violence and claims of terror attack, onto the web.
Torrent of material distributed daily by Islamic State
Official ISIS channels such as Amaq News Agency and Nashir News then feed that content to subscribers who will proliferate it across common platforms such as Twitter, Google Drive and YouTube, for consumption by a much wider audience.
One of Smith's major concerns in the cyber domain is what he claimed is "massive corporate irresponsibility" by the American tech firms, primarily Alphabet, which governs YouTube and Google Drive, and Twitter.
He said these companies must do more to stop Islamic State "exploiting their technology to manage the most aggressive and effective global recruitment and incitement campaign".
In the wake of the Manchester attack, UK Prime Minister Theresa May also accused Silicon Valley's tech giants of failing to act strongly enough against online terror networks.
Twitter shut down a massive 636,248 accounts linked to "violent extremism" between August, 2015 and December, 2016. Source: AFP
When contacted by nine.com.au, a Twitter spokesman pointed to the "proactive technological steps we're already taking with regards to countering violent extremism".
Between July and December last year, a total of 376,890 accounts were suspended for violations related to promotion of terrorism, the Twitter spokesman said.
He pointed out that 74 percent of those accounts were surfaced by technological tools, and only 2 percent had been flagged by government agencies.
Twitter shut down a massive 636,248 accounts linked to "violent extremism" between August, 2015 and December, 2016.
Alphabet chief executive Larry Page needs to do more to stop ISIS hijacking Google Drive and YouTube, Michael S. Smith, a counter-terror analyst, told nine.com.au. Source: AFP
A Google spokesman also rejected the criticism over its policies, telling nine.com.au the California-based company had "a strong track record of taking swift action against terrorist content".
Like Twitter, Google highlighted it had terminated accounts run by terrorist organisations.
Smith, though, said Twitter and YouTube simply deleting users' accounts is hopelessly inadequate.
"This is not a new phenomenon," he said.
"They're avoiding the discussions [about changes to policies] as best they can."
The head of Michael S. Smith transposed into a beheading scene by what he calls 'ISIS fan boys'. Smith is a US Congressional advisor on Islamic State's cyber operations. Source: Michael S. Smith II - www.terrorismanalyst.com
Smith would like to see both companies blocking people who operate Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) which mask the location of users.
Wikipedia does not allow anyone using a VPN to edit its pages, Smith said.
He believed it would be easy for big "technology innovators" such as Twitter, Facebook and Alphabet to do the same.
A "pain threshold" has been met, and it is time for leaders in the unregulated technology industry to take overdue and responsible action, Smith said.
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