Beware of Twitter: US Intelligence Labels Tweets as a Terrorist Tool

Posted 10/28/2008 at 10:06am | by Paul Lilly

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According to the U.S. intelligence community, terrorists might be turning to web 2.0 tools for their nefarious plans, including a specific reference to the popular Twitter social messaging service. Most of the report, which was published by the U.S. Army's 304th Military Intelligence Battalion, focuses on cell phone use, but a section titled Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter: A Red Teaming Perspective points out how terrorists could use Twitter to plot their schemes.

"Extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by hacktivists and activists for surveillance," the report warns. "This could theoretically be combined with targeting."

The reports lays out three different scenarios in which Twitter could be used for evil, including one in which a cyber terrorist operative could find a Twitter account belonging to someone serving in the U.S. Army. Information derived from the hacked account could then be used "for a targeting package (targeting in this sense could be for identity theft, hacking, and/or physical."

Does the report have a legitimate cause for concern? Give it a read, hit the jump, and let us know what you think.

Image Credit: Twitter