Return-Path: <sentto-279987-4962-1026353739-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Wed, 10 Jul 2002 19:19:12 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 642 invoked by uid 510); 11 Jul 2002 02:15:07 -0000 Received: from n31.grp.scd.yahoo.com (66.218.66.99) by all.net with SMTP; 11 Jul 2002 02:15:07 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-4962-1026353739-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com Received: from [66.218.67.193] by n31.grp.scd.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 11 Jul 2002 02:15:39 -0000 X-Sender: fc@red.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_7_4); 11 Jul 2002 02:15:38 -0000 Received: (qmail 894 invoked from network); 11 Jul 2002 02:15:38 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.218) by m11.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 11 Jul 2002 02:15:38 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (12.232.72.152) by mta3.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 11 Jul 2002 02:15:32 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id g6B2Fw219574; Wed, 10 Jul 2002 19:15:58 -0700 Message-Id: <200207110215.g6B2Fw219574@red.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 19:15:58 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [iwar] Militants wire Web with links to jihad (fwd) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Status: No, hits=2.7 required=5.0 tests=DEAR_SOMEBODY,RISK_FREE,FREE_MONEY,DIFFERENT_REPLY_TO version=2.20 X-Spam-Level: ** Militants wire Web with links to jihad By Jack Kelley, USA TODAY Jihadunspun.net supports a holy war against the West. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan =97 One Web site urges Muslims to travel to Pakistan to= "slaughter American soldiers." Another solicits donations to buy dynamite= to "blow up Israeli Jews." A third shows new videotape of Osama bin Laden= and promises film clips of American casualties in Afghanistan. As the= United States and its allies hunt them in caves, mountains and jungles,= al-Qaeda, Hamas and dozens of other militant Muslim groups are= increasingly turning to the Internet to carry on their jihad, or holy war,= against the West, U.S. law enforcement officials and experts say. It has= become one of al-Qaeda's primary means of communication, they say. The= groups use their Web sites to plan attacks, recruit members and solicit= donations with little or no chance of being apprehended by the FBI or= other law enforcement agencies, officials say. This new cyber-battlefield is allowing al-Qaeda and other groups to stay= "several steps ahead" of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, a senior U.S. law= enforcement official says. Most of the information on the Web sites is written in Arabic and= encrypted, or scrambled. The encrypted data is then hidden in digital= photographs, which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to find or read,= officials say. The groups regularly change the addresses of their Web= sites to confound officials. By Ahmed Jadallah, Reuters Hamas gunmen march in Gaza last month. A Web site linked to the militant= Islamic group solicits donations for weapons: from $3 for each bullet to= $12,000 for a rocket-propelled grenade. "Under the present circumstances of the global war against terrorism, the= Internet has become a vital tool and, obviously, an easy one to exploit,"= says terrorism analyst Reuven Paz of the International Policy Institute= for Counter-Terrorism, an independent think tank based in Herzliya,= Israel. It's "the most efficient way (for terrorists) to spread their= message on a daily basis." U.S. officials have little doubt that al-Qaeda and other militant groups= are using the Web to set up terrorist attacks against the United States.= They tell USA TODAY that Abu Zubaydah, 30, a Palestinian who was arrested= in Pakistan last March and is suspected of being bin Laden's operations= chief, used a Web site to plan the Sept. 11 attacks and to communicate= with the terrorists who hijacked jets and flew them into the World Trade= Center and Pentagon. Earlier this year, officials say, they found nearly 2,300 encrypted= messages and data files in a password-protected section of an Islamic Web= site that had been downloaded onto Zubaydah's computer. The messages began= in May 2000, peaked in August 2001 and stopped Sept. 9, two days before= the attacks, officials say. They declined to identify the Web site. Volume of messages doubles Lately, al-Qaeda operatives have been sending hundreds of encrypted= messages that have been hidden in files on digital photographs on the= auction site eBay.com. Most of the messages have been sent from Internet= cafes in Pakistan and public libraries throughout the world. An eBay= spokesperson did not return phone calls. The volume of the messages has nearly doubled in the past month, indicating= to some U.S. intelligence officials that al-Qaeda is planning another= attack. Tuesday, al-Qaeda spokesman Suliman Abu Ghaith told an Arabic newspaper= that the group's suicide militants were "ready and impatient" to attack= U.S. targets in America and around the world. Since Sept. 11, the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency say they have= hired dozens more Arabic-speaking analysts and mathematicians to interpret= and decode the information on the Web sites. They add that there's little they can do to stop the terrorist groups from= using the Web to communicate. There are no laws directly regulating the= sites or preventing them from operating. Instead, officials must persuade= the companies that host the sites to shut them down. But as soon as a= terrorist site is taken off one Web server, it often appears on another,= officials say. In the past five weeks, al-Qaeda's Arabic Web site, alneda.com, has emerged= on three different servers, in Malaysia, Texas and Michigan. The site was= eventually removed from the servers after the Web hosting companies, which= say they often don't screen or translate the sites, received complaints= from the public and law enforcement agencies. U. S. officials are= expecting the site, which began operating in January, to re-emerge soon. "The U.S. enemy, unable to gain the upper hand over the mujahedin on the= battlefield, has since Sept. 11 been trying to gag the world media," said= a statement posted on alneda.com last week. "The more the United States= tries to stifle freedom of expression, the more determined we will become= to break the silence. America will lose the media war, too." Hatred, hidden messages There are dozens of suspected terrorist Web sites, many of which were= started after the U.S.-led war on terrorism began last fall. Most of the= Web sites are written in Arabic. All carry statements that express hatred= for the United States and its allies and fatwas, or religious rulings,= that call on militant Muslims to kill Americans and attack U.S. interests.= USA TODAY examined many of the sites and had the information there= translated from Arabic into English. Among the most prominent sites: Azzam.com, a site that U.S. officials believe is linked with al-Qaeda, is= urging Muslims to travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight "the= Jewish-backed American Crusaders," or U.S. soldiers. It gives such= travelers tips on how to avoid raising suspicions of employers, diplomats= and police. "If you are working, either resign from your job and take a year off or= request unpaid leave from your employer. Many large companies offer unpaid= leave to their employees for periods ranging from two months to one year.= That way you can fulfill your obligation (of jihad) and not have to give= up your job," the site says. U.S. officials say azzam.com contains encrypted messages in its pictures= and texts =97 a practice known as steganography. They say the hidden= messages contain instructions for al-Qaeda's next terrorist attacks.= Mathematicians and other experts at the National Security Agency at Fort= Meade, Md., are using supercomputers to try to break the encryption codes= and thwart the attacks. At least one known al-Qaeda operative has accessed the site, European= officials say. German intelligence agencies, which broke into the site= last fall, found an e-mail address for Said Bahaji, a suspected member of= the al-Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, that planned parts of the Sept. 11= attacks. Bahaji, who was last seen in Germany, has since disappeared. Almuhajiroun.com, an English-language Web site also linked to al-Qaeda,= urges sympathizers to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.= The Web site, which pictures Musharraf, refers to him as "the American= puppet." It calls U.S. troops in Pakistan and Afghanistan "soldiers of= Satan." "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and= strive to make mischief in the land is only this: that they should be= murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on= opposite sides or they should be imprisoned," the site says in apparent= reference to Musharraf. Qassam.net, a site U.S. officials believe is linked to the militant Muslim= group Hamas, is appealing for donations to purchase AK-47 rifles, dynamite= and bullets "to assist the cause of jihad and resistance until the= (Israeli) occupation is eliminated and Muslim Palestine is liberated." It= recommends donations of $3 per bullet, $100 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of= dynamite, $2,000 for a Kalashnikov assault rifle and $12,000 for a= rocket-propelled grenade. Donors are asked to send an e-mail to an address on the Web site. Recently,= they received a response telling them to transfer money to "Ahmed Mohammed= Ali, Elbatech Bank, account no.: 38926/9/510 Arab bank =97 Gaza branch =97= Palestine." The account name and number appear to change every 48 to 72= hours. "Dear Donor: Please tell us the field in which you prefer your= money to be spent on such as: martyrdom attacks; buying weapons for the= mujahadeen; training the youth; or inventing and developing missiles,= mortars (and) explosives," the e-mail said. U.S. officials say they are monitoring the site, which is hosted by an= American company, to see who is using it to donate to Hamas. They say they= intend to prosecute those Americans who contribute. Until the site was taken down, alneda.com carried a warning from Abu Ghaith= saying the United States should "fasten its seat belt" and prepare for= more terrorist attacks. The site, which featured the words "No pride= without jihad," also contained encrypted information that directed= al-Qaeda members to a more secure site where instructions for attacks were= given, U.S. officials say. Other Internet sites, including jihadunspun.net, offer a 36-minute video of= bin Laden, with four minutes of previously unaired footage; pictures of= President Bush with his head in the sights of a gun; and other propaganda. Not all the Islamic Web sites are calling for a jihad against the United= States. The alsaha.com site has hosted chat rooms where members criticize= bin Laden and al-Qaeda for their misuse of Islam. "(Bin Laden) is a= disgrace to our religion and has made a mockery of everything we believe,"= said one comment posted on alsaha.com. "He is not an Islamist; he is a= terrorist who deserves to be killed. God bless and protect America!" Easy to set up It's easy for terrorists to set up a Web site, officials and experts say. In the case of alneda.com, al-Qaeda members used a made-up name, "The= Center for Islamic Studies and Research," a bogus street address in= Venezuela and a free Hotmail e-mail account to contact a Web hosting= company in Malaysia called Emerge Systems, U.S. intelligence officials= say. The group then wired $87 to a Malaysian bank to pay for the cost of= the Web site for a year. "Internet communications have become the main communications system among= al-Qaeda around the world because it's safer, easier and more anonymous if= they take the right precautions, and I think they're doing that," former= CIA counterterrorism chief Vince Cannistraro says. But al-Qaeda operatives now are urging their members to use caution. Just= before alneda.com was pulled off its server, it warned its members that= the site was probably being monitored by the FBI, CIA and Customs Service.= It promised to e-mail members the new address of the Web site once it was= in operation. It also told them they could find the address in chat rooms= on other terror sites, such as Hamas' qassam.net. "We strongly urge Muslim Internet professionals to spread and disseminate= news and information about the jihad through e-mail lists, discussion= groups and their own Web sites," says a statement on azzam.com. "The more= Web sites, the better it is for us. We must make the Internet our tool." http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/07/10/terrorweb.htm -- This was sent to you from http://theMezz.com To Subscribe/Unsubscribe go to http://techPolice.com http://www.theMezz.com/cybercrime/archive ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Free $5 Love Reading Risk Free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/TPvn8A/PfREAA/Ey.GAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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