Wikileaks: Online infiltrators often take credit for terrorist attacks
Analysts at an Israeli company that infiltrates online forums to identify terrorists often claim responsibility for attacks to bolster their credibility, according to a recently-leaked cable from the U.S. Department of State.
The March 2008 cable -- part of a massive release this month by Wikileaks -- described a meeting between staff at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv and executives of Hazard Threat Analysis (HTA), a private firm that specialized in Internet-based counter-terrorism intelligence gathering. HTA renamed itself Terrogence several years ago.
Many of the company's analysts are former members of Unit 8200, a signal intelligence group in the Israeli Defense Force, the country's armed forces, the cable noted. "[The] staff is employed by HTA to develop online identities (avatars) in discussion groups used by potential terrorists to actively solicit information useful to their clients," the cable stated. "Some of these identities have been maintained for as long as two years."
