Backdoor Plots: The Darknet as a Field for Terrorism

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Backdoor Plots deals with al-Qaeda’s proliferation on the Internet, particularly on the hidden, Darknet. The Darknet sites and networks cannot be accessed by regular means, allowing them to serve as a platform for Internet users seeking anonymity through encryption. This has caused an issue for those law enforcement and government agencies attempting to monitor the Darknet. The authors argue that there is a need to illuminate the use of the Darknet by global terrorist groups in order to incentivize the development of capabilities and tools to monitor it, much as others have done with the regular Internet.

This article is particularly useful for researchers, law enforcement and other practitioners who wish to learn the basics about terrorist use of the Darknet, and what can be done to combat this phenomenon.

Full article is available here >>

Yoram Schweitzer, Yotam Rosner, Aviad Mendelboim, and Sean London

September 2013