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The Impact of the Internet on Terrorism and Violent Extremism

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Cybersecurity in the Age of Smart Societies

Abstract

The Internet has a significant impact on both the process and planning behind cyber and physical acts and attempts to mitigate these threats. This paper aims to highlight the ways in which the Internet is used in both of these processes by drawing upon the attractiveness of the Internet to terrorist organisations and how they, therefore, use it to their advantage. Instances where the Internet has been used for threats or acts of terrorism and extremism are elaborated with examples. The paper also aims to explore how the Internet and intelligence can be used in the process of countering these online threats. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most discussed phenomenon in relation to cyber security and countering cyberterrorism due to the increased technological advancements in this field. To this end, the paper briefly draws upon this use of AI in organisations such as the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) and the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and outlines how this should be the focus of many governments in protecting their national security. The discussion of this paper revolves around the potential issues and impacts of the Internet in both the methods of conducting these attacks and in countering them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Sciences, Department of Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy, Swansea University, Richard Price Building, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK

    Georgina Butler & Reza Montasari

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  1. Georgina Butler
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  2. Reza Montasari
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Correspondence to Georgina Butler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. London Campus, Northumbria University, London, UK

    Hamid Jahankhani

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© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Butler, G., Montasari, R. (2023). The Impact of the Internet on Terrorism and Violent Extremism. In: Jahankhani, H. (eds) Cybersecurity in the Age of Smart Societies. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20160-8_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20160-8_24

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-20159-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-20160-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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