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| Southeast Asia |
| JI uses internet to recruit, raise cash, not to conduct cyber attacks |
| 2006-05-23 |
| SOUTHEAST Asian extremist groups have turned to the internet to recruit people and raise funds but they have not yet been able to mount cyber attacks, a security expert says. Rohan Gunaratna, head of the political violence and terrorism centre at Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, said regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) used the internet extensively to spread its propaganda. "It will take a very long time for Southeast Asian groups to develop the capability to attack the internet," he said. "Instead of attacking the internet, they are using the internet." He was in Malaysia to address Southeast Asian security officials on US-backed training on counter-terrorism, including cyber-terrorism and suicide bombing. A Malaysian counter-terrorism official told the meeting that the threat from cyber attacks in the region was real but offered no information of any specific threat. "The threat is real. It's not the question of how or what, but it is only of when," said Yean Yoke Heng, deputy head of the Malaysian-based South East Asia Regional Center for Counter Terrorism. "We need a better coordination ... to be better prepared to face any cyber attacks by hackers, by terrorist groups," he said. Malaysia announced recently that it would set up a centre that provides an emergency response to cyber attacks on the economy or trading system of any country. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said companies such as Symantec, Trend Micro and Kapersky Lab had agreed to be key partners. Mr Gunaratna, who has written books on al Qaeda and JI, played down the possibility of such attacks by regional militant groups. "There are no groups in Southeast Asia that are capable of attacking the internet at this point of time," he told reporters. "But there are a number of terrorist groups that are using the internet very effectively to distribute propaganda, to recruit, to raise funds and to coordinate terrorist attacks," he said. They included JI, al Qaeda's franchise in Southeast Asia. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 rohan gunaratna is a phoney expert who has been exposed. He was only an expert on the Tamil/sri Lankan situation and that translated to 'terrorism expert' (in tamil tiger terrorism) when he had a useful idiotarian quote for SBS or the ABC when they wanted to support the Religion Of Peace. He hasn't got a F*****G clue. |
| Posted by: anon1 2006-05-23 10:37 |