The U.S. Army has identified Twitter, a popular micro-blogging service, as a potential vehicle for terrorists to plot destructive schemes. Global Positioning System maps and voice-changing software were also listed in the draft report by the 304th Military Battalion.
The Federation of American Scientists has posted the report, which examines mobile and Web technologies and how they could be used by terrorists, on its Web site. The Army based its report on Open Source Intelligence.
According to the report, Twitter has become a social-activism tool for socialists, human-rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and send messages to broader audiences.
Three Deadly Tweets
The report described scenarios in which terrorists could leverage “potential adversarial use of Twitter,” including detonating explosives and planning ambushes.
Scenario One: Terrorist operative A uses Twitter with (or without) a mobile phone camera/video function to send and receive messages from the rest of his cell. Operative A also has a Google Maps-Twitter mashup of where he is under a code word for his cell that can be viewed from members’ mobiles. The members receive near-real-time updates on how, where and how many troops are moving in order to conduct an ambush.
Scenario Two: Terrorist operative A has a mobile phone for Twitter messaging and taking images. Operative A also has a separate mobile phone that controls an explosive device or a suicide vest for remote detonation. Terrorist operative B has the detonator and a mobile to view A’s tweets and images. This may allow B to select the precise moment for remote detonation based on near-real-time movements and images sent by A.
Scenario Three: Operative A finds U.S. [soldier] Smith’s Twitter account. Operative A joins Smith’s tweets and begins to elicit information from Smith. This information is then used for a targeting…