Recruiting Terror: Al Qaeda’s Internet Recruiter - Captured

Posted by Jim Stroud

April 2, 2006

Until late 2005, the Internet hacker who called himself “Irhabi 007″ — “irhabi” is Arabic for “terrorist” — was a key enabler of Abu Musab Zarqawi’s Internet recruiting and propaganda efforts outside Iraq. He is now in custody in the United Kingdom. It turns out “Irhabi” is a 22-year-old West Londoner fluent in Arabic and English whose rather unremarkable combination of Islamist sympathies and technological aptitude ended up making him indispensable to the world’s most dangerous terror network.

The story of how and why he was apprehended, just now trickling out thanks to researchers at the Washington-based SITE Institute, suggests a mix of technological savvy and old-fashioned gumshoeing to fight the Internet jihad.

“Irhabi 007″ made his mark in al Qaeda message forums helping insurgents and propagandists spread videos and multimedia, tighten Internet security and hack Web sites. It’s not yet clear to what extent he aided al Qaeda outside forums and Web sites. But his role as teacher and Web expert was extolled by his cohorts; he offered a “Seminar on Hacking Websites” and is said to have demonstrated it on sites run by the state of Arkansas and George Washington University. “You are one of the top people who care about serving your brothers,” one admirer wrote on a message forum. “Carry on serving jihad and its supporters.”

The intelligence community apparently knew about “Irhabi” long before he was apprehended and followed his work with interest. But for reasons not yet clear, Western governments did not stop him.

Want more? Read: Al Qaeda’s secret agent — online

READ: al qaeda, Terror, Terrorism, recruiting,strategy