Jared Cohen - The New Digital Age

attacks would be reduced if Israel apologized for its “genocide”: Yaakov Lappin, “ ‘I Want to Harm Israel,’ Saudi Hacker Tells ‘Post,’ ” Jerusalem Post, January 16, 2012, http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=253893; Saar Haas, “ ‘OxOmar’ Demands Israeli Apology,” YNet, January 16, 2012, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4176436,00.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter.

“badge of honor that I have been personally targeted”: Danny Ayalon’s Facebook page, posts on January 13 and 16, 2012, accessed October 20, 2012, https://www.facebook.com/DannyAyalon.

DARPA approved eight contracts: Austin Wright, “With Cyber Fast Track, Pentagon Funds Hacker Research,” Politico, December 7, 2011, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70016.html.

“democratized, crowd-sourced innovation”: Statement by Dr. Regina E. Dugan, submitted to the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities of the House Armed Services Committee, United States House of Representatives, March 23, 2010, www.darpa.mil/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=542.

“There is a sense among many that hackers and Anonymous are just evildoers”: Regina Dugan, in discussion with the authors, July 2012.

lack of Internet access in a large urban home: Mark Mazzetti and Helene Cooper, “Detective Work on Courier Led to Breakthrough on bin Laden,” New York Times, May 2, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/02reconstruct-capture-osama-bin-laden.html; Bob Woodward, “Death of Osama bin Laden: Phone Call Pointed U.S. to Compound—and to ‘The Pacer,’ ” Washington Post, May 6, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/death-of-osama-bin-laden-phone-call-pointed-us-to-compound—and-to-the-pacer/2011/05/06/AFnSVaCG_story.html.

But when Navy SEAL Team Six raided his home: Joby Warrick, “Al-Qaeda Data Yield Details of Planned Plots,” Washington Post, May 5, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/al-qaeda-data-yields-details-of-planned-plots/2011/05/05/AFFQ3L2F_story.html.; Woodward, “Death of Osama bin Laden,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/death-of-osama-bin-laden-phone-call-pointed-us-to-compound—and-to-the-pacer/2011/05/06/AFnSVaCG_story.html.

Mumbai attacks: Hari Kumar, “India Says Pakistan Aided Planner of Mumbai Attacks,” New York Times, June 27, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/world/asia/india-says-pakistan-aided-abu-jindal-in-mumbai-attacks.html; Harmeet Shah Singh, “India Makes Key Arrest in Mumbai Terror Plot,” CNN, June 26, 2012, http://articles.cnn.com/2012-06-26/asia/world_asia_india-terror-arrest_1_fahim-ansari-ujjwal-nikam-sabauddin-ahmed?_s=PM:ASIA; “Mumbai Attacks ‘Handler’ Arrested in India,” Agence France-Presse (AFP), June 25, 2012, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gydBxOITFOjQ_gOjs278EF2DTvIQ?docId=CNG.1ec8f11cdfb59279e03f13dafbcd927a.01.

To better understand the role that technology played in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, we spoke to Prakash V. Shukla, who is a senior vice president and the chief information officer for Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, which operates the Taj Mahal Hotel. He explained, “It was very clear from reviewing CCTV footage these individuals had never been to the Taj. However, they knew exactly where things were in the hotel, they knew how to get around, etc. The old part of the hotel was built over [a] hundred years ago, therefore we didn’t have floor plans. Combination of the Taj website, Google Maps gave one a fairly good idea of the layout of the hotel. The website also describes the location of premium rooms, which are located on upper floors. It was very easy for them to plan attacks of high-profile targets like the Taj, Oberoi, the train station, etc. This, augmented with Hedley’s reports from actual reconnaissance work in India, gave the terrorists a fairly good idea of the locations. From the time attacks started, the terrorists immediately moved to the old wing (premium) of the hotel and started moving towards the upper floors. Satellite radios were procured. Along with several money transfers using electronic fund distribution. In India, several prepaid SIM cards were procured.”

High-profile terrorist attacks on commercial hotels will have implications for how the hospitality industry deals with security. In speaking with Shukla, we learned that “the hotel industry is going the way of the airline industry. The same measures that the airlines have taken in terms of scanning baggage, doing reference checks on passengers, are being carried out in the hotel industry. Taj, specifically, has a team from Israel who has consulted with us for over four years in creating a security architecture to prevent these types of attacks. In 2008, we had security but the guards were unarmed. We learned that the police were woefully inadequate to handle the situation, and by the time the NSG teams and the Marcos teams arrived it was already over twelve hours. The overall security architecture has several components. Profiling: Guests are profiled from incoming-arrivals list and security agencies are notified of the arrivals; walking in, guests are profiled, and each of our security folks [is] trained to observe individuals entering the hotel; all baggage is screened; disaster-planning drills are conducted on regular intervals; staff has been trained to observe; we now have armed security personnel who are in civilian clothes; all hotel security staff has gone through a month training in Israel on handling of firearms and handling of situations. We have spent [a] significant amount of money to put these measures in place, and we feel that our target would be harder than [the] rest of the hotel industry, and therefore we feel fairly confident that our hotels may not be retargeted. However, having said that, this is a dynamic situation. Whilst we grow in sophistication so do our enemies, and we have to constantly innovate and keep improving the security.”

The gunmen relied on basic consumer technologies: Jeremy Kahn, “Mumbai Terrorists Relied on New Technology for Attacks,” New York Times, December 8, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/world/asia/09mumbai.html; Damien McElroy, “Mumbai Attacks: Terrorists Monitored British Websites Using BlackBerry Phones,” Telegraph (London), November 28, 2008, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3534599/Mumbai-attacks-Terrorists-monitored-coverage-on-UK-websites-using-BlackBerry-phones-bombay-india.html.

electronic trail: “Global Lessons from the Mumbai Terror Attacks,” Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), November 25, 2009, http://www.investigativeproject.org/1539/global-lessons-from-the-mumbai-terror-attacks.

described a top al-Qaeda commander who was exceptionally cautious: A Navy SEAL Team Six member in discussion with the authors, February 2012.

Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout was kidnapped: “Canadian Amanda Lindhout Freed in Somalia,” CBC (Ottawa), last updated November 25, 2009, http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2009/11/25/amanda-lindhout-free.html.

her former captors: Author conversation with Amanda Lindhout, July 2012.

It is estimated that more than 90 percent of people worldwide: Technology / Internet Trends October 18, 2007, Morgan Stanley (China Mobile 50K Survey), 7. Posted on Scribd, http://www.scribd.com/doc/404905/Mary-Meeker-Explains-The-Internet.

Osama bin Laden’s compound contained a large stash of pornographic videos: Scott Shane, “Pornography Is Found in bin Laden Compound Files, U.S. Officials Say,” New York Times, May 13, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/world/asia/14binladen.html.