Al Qaeda Wants to Be Friends

An insider's tour of the electronic jihad in the Facebook era.

BY JARRET BRACHMAN | OCTOBER 12, 2010

Another al Qaeda web forum, the al-Mojahden Electronic Network, is a primary dissemination point for al Qaeda-related media. This forum is the first major al Qaeda-affiliated website to launch Facebook pages. It tends to be among the most "techie" in focus, hosting multiple forums on technical aspects of waging violent jihad, including pirating software and showing off homemade al Qaeda propaganda images. The number of participants on this forum, however, is noticeably less than those of some less tech-focused al Qaeda web forums.

 

Jarret Brachman is a professor at North Dakota State University and managing director of Cronus Global, a security consulting firm.

 

JKOLAK

9:55 AM ET

October 12, 2010

Providing support to

Providing support to terrorist organizations is illegal. Somebody needs to press charges against Facebook and YouTube.

 

DPSCHNEIDER

2:37 PM ET

October 13, 2010

Stop the Presses!

Wow, jihadis use the internet! Someone better tell CIA and DOD!