Technology’s Impact on Terrorism

The development of technology has a significant impact in the world of terrorism. The internet is an entry point for the spread of radicalism and terrorism, which targets new targets to be recruited as their followers.

A researcher from PAKAR, the Center for the Study of Radicalism and Deradicalization, Taufiqurrahman, said that technology that can be easily accessed by members of terrorist networks provides many conveniences ranging from recruiting to making bombs.

“In the past, new members had difficulty learning  how to make bombs, now it is enough to access social media. There are many quick and easy methods to assemble bombs (on social media),” he said.

According to Taufiq, the thing that needs to be watched out for is access to technology, which ultimately makes it easier for terrorist networks to find followers. They spread radical ideas, poisoning the minds of their targets with information disseminated on various digital platforms.

Taufiq gave an example on remote recruitment that has been carried out using internet access in recent years. Currently, terrorist members who are in Central Java can recruit new members who are in Aceh and in other areas on different islands. Recruitment that used to be slow because they had to go through a face-to-face process and was limited to a certain recitation environment in the same city they participated in can now target anyone without regional boundaries.

Taufiq said that the handling of terrorism in Indonesia by the Special Anti-terror Detachment 88 was good in terms of arrests and anticipation in the field. However, the recruitment and planning of terrorism attacks through social media is still not optimal, even though their activities are very massive on social media.

Currently members of terrorist networks are more flexible and secure in communicating with an end-to-end encryption system so that the contents of the conversation cannot be revealed, including to the Police. In fact, according to Taufiq, ISIS has an application called ANM mujahid which has its own encryption pattern with a pattern that is difficult to trace and only ISIS itself knows about it.

“The lack of human resources, especially in the field of information technology, is the main reason the government has difficulty monitoring the activities of terrorist groups in Indonesia,” said Taufiq.

According to Taufiq, monitoring on social media should get more attention from the Government considering that the recruitment of new members is increasingly being carried out through social media. In addition, funding patterns that used to be more conventional are also following technological developments. This is exemplified by Taufiq with credit card hijacking carried out by the Imam Samudra terrorist network to buy weapons.

Seeing the phenomenon of the increasingly massive spread of radicalism through social media, the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) continues to prevent radicalism which is the forerunner of acts of terrorism. BNPT is currently carrying out holistic prevention that is carried out from upstream to downstream. From upstream means doing various things related to terrorism prevention while from downstream means carrying out law enforcement efforts related to terrorism. To enforce the law, BNPT puts forward strategies ranging from national preparedness to ideological preparedness.

According to the results of a survey conducted by the BNPT and the Nazarudin Umar Foundation in 2020 it was recorded that out of 250 million Indonesians, 87.8% were in the moderate category and 12.2% were in the radicalism potential index group.

Director of Prevention of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), Brigadier General (Pol) Nur Wahid said, terrorism is the same as the Covid-19 virus that is currently infecting the world. Dealing with it is almost the same as dealing with the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Countering terrorists is carried out by means of national preparedness and ideological preparedness, people who belong to the moderate group must be given an ideological vaccine in the form of national values ​​and Pancasila values ​​with a religious approach.

“BNPT continues to provide ‘vaccines’ to the moderate group so that their immune system can improve and avoid exposure to radicalism. It should be emphasized again that terrorism is not related at all to any religion. Terrorism is a false and distorted understanding of religion,” explained Nur Wahid.

Furthermore, Nur Wahid revealed, BNPT continues to make counter-radicalism efforts so that radical ideas do not develop further, this is evident from the decline in the spread of radicalism in cyberspace. In 2019, the radicalism potential index group reached 38% in 2020, it has decreased now to only 12.2%.

The index group for the potential for radicalism is a group that is not aware that they are starting to be exposed to radicalism. The characteristics of this group are that they are anti-Pancasila, already understand intolerant interpretations, anti-art and culture and anti-legitimate government. Groups like this will continue to be monitored and provided with assistance as well as a re-understanding of the values ​​of Pancasila and nationalism through a religious approach.

Since November 2018 the Anti-terror Detachment 88 team under the BNPT has succeeded in thwarting terrorist acts by arresting more than 1350 terrorism suspects. In 2021 arrested 364 terrorists and in 2022 arrested several terrorist groups in Maluku, Yogyakarta and Central Java.

Regarding the current development of technology and terrorism, BNPT assesses that technological developments facilitate all processes of acts of terrorism, from recruitment to funding. In the past, the recruitment process for terrorist members was carried out directly by visiting potential victims, then the oath of allegiance must also be carried out directly.

In addition, members must know each other and meet physically, now technological developments have changed that pattern. The recruitment process can be done faster through social media, the oath of allegiance can be done online, the selection of prospective new group members is done online and of course there is no need to know each other first.

The massive spread of radicalism as the forerunner of terrorism is indeed a challenge for BNPT to further improve coordination between BNPT and other government institutions related to this matter, such as Kominfo and other state institutions. Technological developments also affect the funding system, if in the past conventional funding was carried out with the mode of donation of infaq (charity) boxes, fundraising for Palestine, raising funds for conflict-prone areas.

Now terrorist financing is more sophisticated through digital media, either through cryptocurrency transactions or online under the guise of money laundering. To break the supply chain of logistics and funding, BNPT continues to collaborate with several parties such as PPATK, BUMN and entrepreneurs who are vulnerable to being a tool to get money from terrorist groups under the guise of donations for Islamic boarding schools and so on.

Ahmad El-Muhammady, terrorism expert from Malaysia who studies radicalization phenomenon in Malaysia explains how the online platform is used as a recruitment tool. According to him, there are three phases of online recruitment; open recruitment, induction, and operation.

The first phase, open recruitment which is done openly through Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. The purpose is to get as widest of an audience as possible.

El Muhammady, who interviewed more than hundred terrorism convicts said that there was a former terrorist who said that he is not really surprised if TikTok will also be used as a tool for recruitment and to spread extremist messages.

“In the past, one group quite well known (Gagak Hitam) also made use of Telegram application to share videos and pictures, and to recruit new members” he added.

In the second phase, which El Muhammady calls the induction phase, potential recruits would be inducted into a smaller cell in a closed group in the Telegram and Whatsapps. They will be able to join the group by invitation only. Screening is done to ensure the candidate is not part of sting operation by the authorities.

Gagak Hitam group was the best example of how induction process occurs. It was created by a Malaysian in Syria was used to recruit, to pledge allegiance to ISIS and to donate funds. There were 30 to 40 members inside the groups, and around 30 of its members pledged to ISIS. Due to extensive surveillance by the police, all Gagak Hitam members were arrested.

The third phase is the operation to conduct an attack against certain target. The operation is actually the outcome from intensive discussions, planning in the Telegram and Whatsapps group that they created. According to El-Muhammady, Telegram group is attractive because it is secured, convenient for sharing ideas and materials. “Plus, it is free of charge.”

Early detection is possible provided that it is done by a well trained person or an expert for this case. “Mostly, people can’t detect it, it can only be done by the expert,” said  El Muhammady.

Furthermore, he added, at least there are three indicators we can observe; cognitive, verbal expression, and action or behavioral. Cognitive indicators can be detected through ideas or concepts expressed by the terrorist. Verbal indicators are observed when a person expressed verbally what he or she believed about certain things. It also can be done through writing, posting or symbols that they use. Last indicator is behavioral or the action, the action of support such as physically involved in terrorist act or violence.

“Early detection and intervention is important to prevent advanced radicalization. But violent extremism groups always improvise their ways by finding novel methods to recruit and operate. To succeed, we need to have a growth mindset to understand the current trend of radicalization,” El Muhammady explained.