AST Digital Magazine May 2016 | Page 14

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 14