Volume 4
How to Fight ISIS Recruitment on Social
Media
By: Jen Dunham, Solution Architect, SAS
Today’s world is drastically different than it was
just 10 or 20 years ago,
as are the conflicts that
plague it. The Internet
has fueled the globalization of war, with the
battles for hearts and
minds waged on Twitter
and other social media
platforms just as surely
as they are being fought on battlefields that snake their way
through Syria and Iraq. The Islamic State has proven that, in addition to their capabilities for brutality, torture and murder, they
have a talent for social media. They continue to attract shocking
numbers of new recruits with videos whose polished production
quality contrasts sharply with revolting content.
Using tactics similar to online child predators, the social media
arm of ISIS attracts new followers to their banner every day
by befriending and connecting with vulnerable individuals, then
slowly transitioning to take advantage of them. This includes
Western teens and young adults. In fact, 62 Americans attempting to join ISIS or similar militant groups have been identified
through public records or news stories, and that number only
represents the cases we know about. As we seek to contain
and eliminate radical Islamist agendas on all fronts, the war online is proving to be just as important as the war on the ground.
But, instead o f being fought by soldiers, this war is being fought
by intelligence analysts.
May 2016 Edition
of that data that is the problem. It is humanly impossible for an
intelligence analyst to keep up with the rate of data generation seen on platforms like Twitter or Facebook. Instead, they
must rely on advanced analytics that use complex algorithms
to intelligently sort and parse that data. Developing analytics
expertise requires extensive education, thus data experts represent only a small, specialized group within the Intelligence
Community. So, how do we get more intelligence analysts in
the online fight against ISIS here and now?
The answer is to operationalize analytics. Data driven insights
can only be achieved when the onus of the analysis is lifted
from the individual and tool and applied holistically and expertly through automation of advanced analytics. Combining
analysis through data mining, anomaly detection, predictive
analytics and network analytics is a highly effective, yet highly
technical solution that many Intelligence organizations do not
have the depth of expertise to comprehensively implement.
However, automating common processes and advanced analytics complements the invaluable human talent that is already
in place and allows the intelligence analyst to more efficiently
complete their day-to-day functions with greater speed and
precision. This unlocks the full potential of an analyst’s skill
set, allowing the analytical technology to facilitate their operations instead of complicate them. In order to stay ahead of the
growing ISIS influence online, we need our best and brightest
in the fight doing what they do best. And we need the technology that makes that possible.
Jen Dunham is a Solution Architect in SAS’s Security Intelligence Global Practice. She worked formerly as an all-source
intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army.
To Fight ISIS Recruitment on Social Media, We Must Operationalize Analytics
With the massive amount of content generated online growing
by the second, the job of the intelligence analyst is more difficult
than ever. The challenge for a modern intelligence analyst is not
the collection of information. Since ISIS is trying to spread their
message to as many people as possible, relevant communications are largely in the public domain. It is the sheer enormity
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