[Infowarrior] - Scientists Use the "Dark Web" to Snag Extremists and Terrorists Online

[Richard Forno]

Press Release 07-118
Scientists Use the "Dark Web" to Snag Extremists and Terrorists Online

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=110040&org=NSF

September 10, 2007

Terrorists and extremists have set up shop on the Internet, using it to
recruit new members, spread propaganda and plan attacks across the world.
The size and scope of these dark corners of the Web are vast and disturbing.
But in a non-descript building in Tucson, a team of computational scientists
are using the cutting-edge technology and novel new approaches to track
their moves online, providing an invaluable tool in the global war on
terror.

Funded by the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies,
Hsinchun Chen and his Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of
Arizona have created the Dark Web project, which aims to systematically
collect and analyze all terrorist-generated content on the Web.

This is no small undertaking. The speed, ubiquity, and potential anonymity
of Internet media--email, web sites, and Internet forums--make them ideal
communication channels for militant groups and terrorist organizations. As a
result, terrorists groups and their followers have created a vast presence
on the Internet. A recent report estimates that there are more than 5,000
Web sites created and maintained by known international terrorist groups,
including Al-Qaeda, the Iraqi insurgencies, and many home-grown terrorist
cells in Europe. Many of these sites are produced in multiple languages and
can be hidden within innocuous-looking Web sites.

Because of its vital role in coordinating terror activities, analyzing Web
content has become increasingly important to the intelligence agencies and
research communities that monitor these groups, yet the sheer amount of
material to be analyzed is so great that it can quickly overwhelm
traditional methods of monitoring and surveillance.

This is where the Dark Web project comes in. Using advanced techniques such
as Web spidering, link analysis, content analysis, authorship analysis,
sentiment analysis and multimedia analysis, Chen and his team can find,
catalogue and analyze extremist activities online. According to Chen,
scenarios involving vast amounts of information and data points are ideal
challenges for computational scientists, who use the power of advanced
computers and applications to find patterns and connections where humans can
not.

One of the tools developed by Dark Web is a technique called Writeprint,
which automatically extracts thousands of multilingual, structural, and
semantic features to determine who is creating 'anonymous' content online.
Writeprint can look at a posting on an online bulletin board, for example,
and compare it with writings found elsewhere on the Internet. By analyzing
these certain features, it can determine with more than 95 percent accuracy
if the author has produced other content in the past. The system can then
alert analysts when the same author produces new content, as well as where
on the Internet the content is being copied, linked to or discussed.

Dark Web also uses complex tracking software called Web spiders to search
discussion threads and other content to find the corners of the Internet
where terrorist activities are taking place. But according to Chen,
sometimes the terrorists fight back.

"They can put booby-traps in their Web forums," Chen explains, "and the
spider can bring back viruses to our machines." This online cat-and-mouse
game means Dark Web must be constantly vigilant against these and other
counter-measures deployed by the terrorists.

Despite the risks, Dark Web is producing tangible results in the global war
on terror. The project team recently completed a study of online stories and
videos designed to help train terrorists in how to build improvised
explosive devices (IEDs). Understanding what information is being spread
about IED methods and where in the world it is being downloaded can improve
countermeasures that are developed to thwart them.

Dark Web is also a major research testbed for understanding the propaganda,
ideology, communication, fundraising, command and control, and recruitment
and training of terrorist groups. The Dark Web team has used the tools at
their disposal to explore the content and impact of materials relating to
"virtual imams" on the Internet, as well as terrorist training and weapons
manuals.

Dark Web's capabilities are also being used to study the online presence of
extremist groups and other social movement organizations. Chen sees
applications for this Web mining approach for other academic fields.

"What we are doing is using this to study societal change," Chen says.
"Evidence of this change is appearing online, and computational science can
help other disciplines better understand this change."

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Dana W. Cruikshank, NSF (703) 292-8070 dcruiksh at nsf.gov

Program Contacts
Maria Zemankova, NSF (703) 292-8930 mzemanko at nsf.gov

Principal Investigators
Hsinchun Chen, Artificial Intelligence Lab, University of Arizona (520)
621-6219 hchen at eller.arizona.edu

Related Websites
Dark Web Project Web Site: http://ai.arizona.edu/research/terror/index.htm
NSF's Division of Information & Intelligent Systems (IIS):
http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=IIS

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that
supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and
engineering, with an annual budget of $5.92 billion. NSF funds reach all 50
states through grants to over 1,700 universities and institutions. Each
year, NSF receives about 42,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes
over 10,000 new funding awards. The NSF also awards over $400 million in
professional and service contracts yearly.