ASIS 2011, ORLANDO -- Cyber jihad takes many electronic forms, says expert

Mon, 2011-09-19 05:35 PM

By: Mark Rockwell

Despite their aversion to the West, radicalized Islamists use western software and social media to spread their message in increasingly sophisticated ways, said a security expert at the ASIS 2011 show.

Many radical Islamist Web sites, said Jeffrey Bardin, chief security strategist at security consultancy Treadstone 71, use Vbulletin, a common commercial Internet forum software produced by subsidiaries of Internet Brands. The software is either bootlegged, or paid for with stolen credit card numbers, said Bardin, who has worked with the FBI to gather information on radicalized Islamist elements on the Web. He said Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s Anwar Al Awlaki has made using the Internet one of his “44 ways to support jihadâ€