UK Struggles To Keep Tab On Cyber Stage Of Terror

UK Struggles To Keep Tab On Cyber Stage Of Terror

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Paz Shabtai

While around 250 Jihadists have returned to France from Syria, England is reported to expect almost double that. As of now, MI5 and British security services have 2,000 people of interest around the UK.

Speaking on Newsnight, BBC Correspondent Richard Watson said: “In France, ten people per week for the last five months have travelled to Syria and many of them have come back. In the UK, 760 people are assessed to have travelled out to Syria. Sixty people are assessed to have died fighting in Syria and half are back in the UK already.

“There are 2,000 people of interest in the UK to MI5 and security service. The question is how do you keep tabs on 2,000 people?”

The problem of keeping a close eye on all people of interest in a country is not just due to the large numbers, but also because, with ISIS being quite the veteran in using the internet for its propaganda, they use the internet to keep themselves hidden while organizing attacks.

A group called Cyber Caliphate has been a cause for concern prior to the Paris attacks last Friday. Earlier this month the group hacked tens of thousands of Twitter accounts in retaliation for the drone attack that killed a British Islamic State extremist and posted details of more than 54,000 Twitter accounts, including passwords online.

Watson said that the Jihadist Cyber Caliphate is protected by their own encryption software – where they plan their next attacks and where messages between ISIS supporters following the French attacks urged them to ‘act when you’re ready’, ‘wait for the word’ and that the UK was ‘very hot’ with police action so said they should ‘bide your time and wait’.

The problem seems to be not only people returning from Syria to Europe and calling for Jihad in private internet forums, but the ISIS speciality: Inciting Muslims to help the cause. Without the access of the government to these online forums, obtaining proper intelligence seems like a lost cause.

To answer this threat, an Investigatory Powers Bill, which was published in draft by Home Secretary Theresa May, will force internet firms to hand over to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ messages sent on apps and other encrypted services.

Although a start, this hardly seems an adequate response on its own and the UK government, as well as the rest of its allies, would do well to implement better cyber security in handling this cyber threat before it turns physical.