Lone Wolves in Cyberspace

Abstract

Lone-wolf terrorism has been regarded as a serious threat to public safety in recent years. Moreover, the phenomenon appears to be increasing at an alarming rate. However, the gap between the perceived threat of lone-wolf terrorism, on the one hand, and the almost exclusive scholarly focus on group-based terrorism, on the other hand, indicates the need for more conceptual and empirical examinations of the lone-wolf terrorism. One perspective highlighted in this article is the use of online communication platforms. Lone-wolf terrorism has been regarded as a serious threat to public safety in recent years. After reviewing the role of these platforms for lone-wolf terrorists in general and for the “new” al-Qaeda, in particular, the paper concludes with proposed potential counter-terrorism measures applicable to this new arena.

Keywords

• Lone-wolf, Communication, Internet, Social media, Open-Source Jihad, al-Qaeda