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Terror groups using cyber space to lure Indian youths

By R Dutta Choudhury

GUWAHATI, Oct 18 - Dealing with the growing use of cyber space by terrorists and anti-India forces has become a major challenge for the security agencies as the global terrorist organisations are no longer using conventional methods of recruitment and training and are more into the use of cyber space. Moreover, India has to deal with the �advanced persistent threat� of cyber attacks at least from two neighbouring countries.

Highly placed security sources told The Assam Tribune that it is becoming increasingly difficult for terrorist organisations to send their own people to different places to motivate youths to join the outfits and then to set up organised training camps, and that is why they are increasingly using cyber space for such activities. In fact, Pakistan has now been forced to shift the camps of terrorist outfits towards Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and near the border with Afghanistan as maintaining such camps in the mainland would attract attention of the international community.

Giving instances of terror groups attracting youths through cyber space, the sources said that one of the ideologues of the Al Qaeda, Anwar Al Awlaki had brought out an internet magazine called Inspiration to indoctrinate youths to join the outfit.

With the help of the magazine, he imparted training to youths and even taught them to make bombs. He ran a series called �how to make a bomb in your mother�s kitchen�.

In that series, he gave thorough training on making bombs by using locally available materials. In fact, a few elements of the Students� Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) made bombs by using locally available materials by learning the tricks from the series and they triggered off one blast in Patna just before Narendra Modi was to address a public meeting in 2014. Awlaki was later killed in a drone strike by the US.

Sources said that the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group is also extensively using cyber space. The sources pointed out that it is now not possible for the outfit to send their own people to different countries to recruit youths and then set up well-organised training camps and that is why, they are using cyber space. They first publish propaganda material by using cyber space and then use encrypted chat platforms to chat with potential recruits and try to indoctrinate them. Training of recruits is also carried out through cyber space and as the conversations between the handlers and recruits are mostly through encrypted chat systems, it has become a major challenge for the security agencies to detect them.

Sources said that some youths of India went to Afghanistan�s Khorasan province unit of the IS Caliphate after getting indoctrinated through cyber space. However, the exact number of such people is not yet known. The terrorist outfit is also trying to create a Hind province of the IS Caliphate comprising India and Bangladesh, the sources added.

Meanwhile, India is also facing advanced persistent threat of cyber attacks from China and Pakistan, which has emerged as a challenge for the security agencies. As all walks of life including the banking system, civil aviation, railways, etc., are controlled by computers, any major cyber attack on any such system can be disastrous. The security agencies are on their toes to deal with any such attack as innumerable attempts are being made by the neighbouring countries to target the computer systems of India, the sources added.

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