Mystery surrounds silencing of key al Qaeda websites
By Adam Levine, with reporting from Barbara Starr, Jamie Crawford and Santiago Melli-Huber
Key al Qaeda online forums have fallen silent in the past two weeks, leaving terrorism experts to wonder the cause and whether a key communications mode of the terror group and its affiliates has been purposely undermined.
The sites, where al Qaeda posts messages and jihadists and wannabe jihadists post messages and discussions regarding their ideology and loyalty, started disappearing on March 23, said Aaron Y. Zelin, a researcher in the Department of Politics at Brandeis University. Zelin also maintains the website Jihadology.net.
The outages were first reported by the Washington Post. No entity has claimed responsibility and U.S. officials contacted by CNN would not comment.
The online al Qaeda ecosystem starts with the different branches of al Qaeda - like al Qaeda central in Pakistan, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula based in Yemen or al Qaeda in Iraq - which produce messages through their own media production wings that are distributed by an entity known as al-Fajr Media, which then redistributes them to the various forums, Zelin explained.
"It is an authentication process" so the forums know the al Qaeda communications are legitimate since they come from the same media group, Zelin said.
But the messages have grown silent, with the last communication from any of the core al Qaeda groups being a message from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on March 23, the same day the first sites went dark.
Zelin said five key sites, including Ansar al-Mujahidin Arabic Forum and Shamukh al-Islam, both stopped operating on March 23. Another, al-Fida', stopped working on March 25, and two others followed on March 28 and March 30, according to Zelin.
Two, al-Mujahidin Arabic Forum and Shamukh al-Islam, are back and operating, Zelin said, and as a result there has been an increase in traffic because they are "filling the vacuum." Posts on the sites have asked about the problems and the moderator, Abu Sa'd al-'Amili, has tried to to address some of the concerns by posting two essays about the outages.
Interestingly, Zelin noted, al Qaeda in Somalia continues to broadcast new messages, but even though it has pledged affinity to al Qaeda, it does not use the same system for distributing messages.
Zelin speculated the outage could be tied to the recent arrest of Mudhar Hussein Almalki in Spain. Almalki maintained the Ansar al-Mujahidin Forum, according to a Spanish police document provided to CNN. The police document alleges Almalki ran the site and oversaw who could access it, spread information to jihadists and maintained private chat rooms to "carry out meetings with others to give out instructions," according to a translation of the document.
A U.S. official said the United States has been aware of the al Qaeda websites being down and finds it "of interest to us."
Spanish police allege Almalki was a "prominent member" of al Qaeda's propaganda arm, "following the guidelines and instructions of the terrorist organization."
The disruption of the sites is a "big deal," said Will McCants, a former State Department counterterrorism official and currently a fellow at the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University. One site, Shamukh al-Islam, is a flagship for al Qaeda supporters and one of the first places the terror group's propaganda is distributed, McCants said. Its stoppage is "very crippling."
McCants said it is hard to say why the sites are not working and whether they will come back. Some al Qaeda supporters on the sites still operating are speculating they were taken down, but "unless you are the guy at the top of the food chain," it is really impossible to know. McCants said if the site administrators had taken the sites down themselves they probably would have explained that to their followers, as has been the case in the past.
McCants said it will take time for other message conduits to emerge.
The widespread outages "sound very much like a covert activity to me," said CNN National Security Analyst Fran Townsend. Townsend was Homeland Security Adviser to President George W. Bush. Townsend said even if the United States was not responsible, there are other governments who could have disabled the sites.
In 2010, the British government was believed to be behind a temporary shutdown of the online publisher of Inspire, the Yemeni al Qaeda's English language magazine.
"When you have several go out it sounds like a denial of service attack," Townsend said. "It is not an accident they all go out."
Townsend said there is a perennial debate in the counterterrorism wings of the government over when to allow forums like these to continue operating in order to monitor the messages and when to try to stop them from operating. The decision, if there was one in this case, would be a "very deliberate" one, Townsend noted, perhaps to throw off terror planning.
The hope in interrupting the forums would be to make jihadists communicate in a way that can be better tracked, Townsend explained, like couriers or phones.
The goal for a government would be to push them to communications "where you think they have a better chance" of monitoring, Townsend said.
The move carries risks if you cannot figure out where the communications have shifted to, Townsend noted.
The online forums can be a valuable source for al Qaeda recruitment and fundraising.
"It is a first screen for them," Townsend explained, noting that there have been cases of codes and signals being posted.
@natlsecuritycnn on Twitter
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It is interesting, They probably just found other means to communicate. You always have to change things up. When the main highway is
empty it may be a bad thing.
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Internet censoring by overseas countries probably came to a peak during the Arab spring and may have disrupted them. Either that someone has decided that the Internet tax in other countries is a great way for them to balance their budgets.
Duh, the false flag guy at Childish Ignorant Adults (CIA) is on vacation, there will be some updates when he gets back.
Al Qaeda has websites and yet they can't catch them.
The Mexican drug lords control one of the largest economies in Mexico, Forbes gets their financial information, and yet, they can't catch them.
But pirate a few songs and the Feds are knocking at your door ready to arrest you and take your computer.
Something isn't right here.
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they are silence cause they are in planning stages geez if i was your mother i would be degraced at your behaviour can you not see that every bomb is causing earthquakes GIVE PEACE A CHANCE ITS THE END RESULT ANYWAY n our creator can also be our destroyer too so watchout maybe your next bomb our creator will destroy you one can pray about it anyway causes disgraceful ppl like you dont deserve to WALK ON OUR CREATORS LAND
With cheap smart-phones – they may be having their own app al-together....or something on that lines – which gives mobility.
They're communicating with neutrinos.
Hi Jim. Still on that project? Strange universe, no?
Because all you retards post your bullshit jerkoff comments that no one reads, and you block bandwith....Go jerk off in peace and leave the internet alone please.
Wow, someone has anger issues. Come on, lighten up. This topic has a lot of jokes just waiting to be told about it.
Hmm, maybe the same people who ran btjunkie and megaupload also ran the al quaeda site. Hmm, think about it...
I would not be surprised one bit
c'mon people aren't that stupid
They gave up because they have finally learned that God can only save the soul of a human being if such person believes the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. They also learned that Mohammed was just another man who did not perform any miracles as Jesus did; therefore, God was never with the former. Bur welcome to Christianity and to the Kingdom of God for eternal life. Now, let there be peace amongst the nations...
jesus certainly couldn't perform a miracle of saving himself this is why he cried like b!atch to daddy to save him from death and he was heard because of his SUBMISSION
hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission
jesus is an utter joke
So, if Jesus is the son of god, does that mean god did Mary? Did Joseph get to watch, or was this done behind his back?
Here is a hint. Whatever you do, do not drink the kool-aid.
So are you saying that if all the people of the earth converted to Christianity, there would be peace on Earth and we would all live in Utopia at that point? There would be no fighting amongst the people? uh huh!
Their dear leader is feeding the fish thanks to the brave Navy Seals who shot him in the head on orders from President Barack Obama, and they do not have sense enough to think for themselves. As far as I know, not a single Republican gave any credit or thanked our President for ridding the world of this fanatic. To hell with the Republicans and the elephant they rode in on.
M.K., In fact, it was Obama that congratulated former president Bush. The team that found Osama was commissioned and gave there working orders from the Bush administration and this is why the GOP didn't heap praise directly on Obama.
It was because of Pres Bush. Even Obama can admit it – why can't you?
Cyber-drone attacks.
GIVE US THE LINKS TO THE WEBSITES SO AMERICANS CAN UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WERE TRULY ATTACKED ON 9/11!
GIVE US THE LINKS TO THE WEBSITES SO AMERICANS CAN UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WERE TRULY ATTACKED ON 9/11!
GIVE US THE LINKS TO THE WEBSITES SO AMERICANS CAN UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WERE TRULY ATTACKED ON 9/11!
GIVE US THE LINKS TO THE WEBSITES SO AMERICANS CAN UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WERE TRULY ATTACKED ON 9/11!
Give yourself your meds.
Repeating the same thing over and over again is called "insanity." Take you medications.
They gave up because they have finally learned that God can only save the soul of a human being if such person believes the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. They also learned that Mohammed was just another man who did not perform any miracles as Jesus did; therefore, God was never with the former. Bur welcome to Christianity and to the Kingdom of God for eternal life. Now, let there be peace amongst the nations.
How do you know that he never performed miracles? How do you know that Jesus ever did anything. I mean of course other than your bible saying so of course. You can't use the bible as proof because you cannot prove the bible as a reliable resource. It is kinda like wikipedia.
You still don't know or understand why?
Saying it loud don't make it right!
Nothing wrong viewing the site perhaps everyone can learn more but this is not going to happen because more and more controls are being placed on what you and I can read, watch, or listen too such as Press TV no longer brodcasts to the UK and Germany wants it off all EU TV so much for freedom of choice and or freedom of speach
Coz they know their a$$ can be toasted anytime...US drones are getting each of them one by one
Al-Qaeda? Aren't those the same guys the U.S trained back in the day...
no such thing as Al-Qaeda network, but there is something called the C.I.A. ....
wake up americans.
Sorry, I don't take anyone seriously who uses tired catch phrases like "wake up America" to emphasize a point. Carry on solider.
soldier
Take your own advice and call me in the morning.
And read "Ghost Wars" if you really want to wake up.
Pakistan does not have the Internet in Prison. That is where Bin Ladens women are at.
They are too busy giving obama advise on how to run the country.
Maybe they did not pay there internet bill
Interest has flagged due to a historically low number of virgins.
If all the key websites are silent then they have something big in the pipes or moving a key asset and do not want any information at all to get out and compromise their operation. Most likely they have gone back to paper couriers to move information.
You are right – they have got the Arab Spring in their pipes: still going strong! Their most successful operation to date – must have all their resources committed. Nobody spared, even "Internet fighters", who were the key to that operation.
If the sites were being suppressed via denial of service attacks then nobody would be able to access them to see that the forums are empty. I have a bad feeling about this one – it wouldn't surprise me a bit if they're trying to limit their online footprint in order to reduce the chance of a planned operation being compromised, like when the printer cartridge bombs were flown out of Yemen and there was a tip that prevented the devices from reaching the US
They are not silent, I hear drones in their background....
The CIA has handed over the baton and now they are being controlled by the New World Order. A secret weapon should only be used when necessary...
The sudden and unexplained lack of communication throughout a network is never good. Now's the time to keep a good watch of your surroundings...
take heed from this.look at your surroundings and over your shoulder at all times. it sounds like to me that they are planning something.remember when germany attacked at the battle of the bulge they hid themselves in the arden forest then opened up on the allies.when things go silent thats just a common sense thing to be aware.im with you space cadet
Or because Bin Laden is dead no one thought of paying the ISP for their sites...........just a thought............;)
you, know these people have been fighting amongst them selves for a long time. they hate each other,but one thing they hate all together is the u.s.a !! if they don't like us , then don't come over!!!!! why , come here to cause strife? sure , christians were a bitch in the past. meadiaval past, templar speaking. we are not killing in the name of god anymore.
Maybe they have lost interest in killing everyone(not likely),or they have all martyred themselves off,inshallah(god willing).Hopefully the latter
All staff too buisy making news for CNN as Syrian activists and posting on CNN forums...
They're all being redirected to Obama2012 dot com
The CIA, forgot the new material....and propaganda.
Wait, next week someone will start airing harry potter books, at the rythm of one chapter per week, on those Al-Qaida forums. That would be so hillarious. A record for *defacing a site*.
The websites are probably being redesigned in New Delhi by the Indians.
What's your point? Half of the web sites in this world are developed in India!!!
The websites have been redesigned with MicroSoft enterprise technologies;
and since then they've been too busy fixing problems.
Or, do you suppose that like Bin Laden before them, they choose to communicate in more arcane ways, by cell phones purchased with cash, by dead drops and the like? That way, the public postings, for the sites of which this article speak are indeed public ones, are no longer necessary.
They forgot to pay the web hosting company
More likely the web hosting company refused to be paid in goats anymore.
quiet before the storm??
That is exactly what I was thinking...especially since they just had that post about terrorism returning to NYC...almost like they purposely shut it down to keep any more information of getting posted by someone who has a big mouth.
So they can spend millions organizing / financing / funding terror attacks, but can't spare $9.95 to pay their hosting bill for the month? Shameful.
some paki must have blown himself up near the computer server.....
They seem to prefer to do it in Bombay while you pussies are hiding in your bunkers scared..... get the drift ramesh kunjar?
another brain washed idiot Pakistani celebrating suicide bombers
They switched to Facebook.
They probably just gave up.
Maybe they didn’t pay Go Daddy their hosting fee.
Did't they like my commercials?
So let me get this straight...dangerous terrorist organizations are using communications mediums that can be easily traced and infiltrated on the internet for plotting and planning...really? CIA...this is the best you can do? Even your old buddy Anderson Cooper could come up with a better story line....What's a matter? JJ Abrams or Jerry Bruckheimer aren't around to write you up a storyline like the Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman fiasco?
You know all you need to know and you're not going to get any more.
May be b'coz many of them seem to have joined CNN, MSNBC either as hosts are as contributors!
yeap, pls close it down
I think they are silent because the only members o Al-qaeda that knows about websites is on Exams or dead.... come on cnn... give us a break, all is conspiracy to you? i have not updated my facebook since december how about that??? As the video from Michael Moore "brief history of amercia" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqh6Ap9ldTs
al-Qaeda is finished, this is just part of the death throes.
The war planet Mars goes forward on April 14, 2012. Let's watch the US, Israel/Iran, Al Queda and North Korea satellite launch.
First the mysterious graphic about NY, now this. This media must be prepping the masses for the upcoming excuse to invade Iran.
A bit worrisome indeed. Often times things go silent pending an action of some sort so nothing gets out in relation to the operation. It is a well know denial of information tactic. Hopefully not the calm before the storm as another poster put it!
No mystery here, infidels.
We're simply on Spring Break.
lol springbreak .
Spring break eh? So you are all screwing goats?
Celebrating Passover???
Their websites are silent cause it's hard to make love to a goat and type at the same time!
They're giving us the silent treatment?
The calm before the storm?
"Mystery surrounds silencing of key al Qaeda websites"
CIA must have lost funding.
The mullah saw his shadow so it means another 2 weeks of Arab Spring.
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Maybe al-Zawahiri met Charlie Sheen at a Turkish bath house and they are playing "Platoon" at Charlie's house.
"Take the pain! Take it!"
Never trust a grown man that wears a diaper on his head. Hunting season should always be open for these al qaeda pigs! Shoot them all in the head, put their worthless rotting carcasses in a mass grave with pigs intestines and burn them all to hell!!!!
"The hope in interrupting the forums would be to make jihadists communicate in a way that can be better tracked, Townsend explained, like couriers or phones."
You mean to tell me a guy on a camel with a sachel is easier to track than an internet forum? My 'BS' meter just went off.
No, that was the sound of your last brain cell popping.
Because death worshippers aren't the brightest bulbs on the tree but just bright enough to know investigators can find them using the IP address and put them in a box and ship them to a country where they get their karma. In other words, who cars
$10 says someone forgot to pay the monthly server bandwidth bill. Don't you just hate it when that happens?
Don't you love seeing the same joke for the umpteenth time?
Al Qaeda means the database, as in CIA database of its useful Arab operatives including Tim Osman aka Osama bin Laden, the real teerorists are the Elite banking cartels that run America through the unconstitutional Federal Reserve which is a private central bank and not part of the Federal government, dont be deceived! 911 was an inside job, look who profitted....
LOL. Weak troll.
I lkie the way you think.
dang it all dude, i told you to take your meds like a good boy. you don't want to go back to shock therapy now, do you?
someone takes there vitamins
False flag time yet?
Spring is here, I bet the powers that be are just itching to start a war!
Time for a nap ...
If this is indeed an ominous sign, more likely than not, it means something big is in the works.
Or it means "the calm before the storm".............
Or some twit forgot to pay their electric bill.
They're a bunch of cheeky buggers aren't they, half their stuff downloads from San Jose, in Costa Rica 🙂
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Bangalore, India...rather.
Meet you half way, lets compromise on "Hot Springs Resort, Antarctica"
For any attack to be successful, the details of the attacks will be known to a point and then there will be a com out. I think they may be trying something in the near future but closing all windows we look into prior.
Maybe no one paid the ISP bill? Or they might just be using Comcast and they are suffering a "temporary outage" Comcast users enjoy for weeks at a time.
Th3J3st3r ?
The site operators simply could have pulled the sites if they thought there had been a compromise at any point in the network.
Alqaeda forgot to pay their cable bill so they got disconnected and can't post anything anymore! Lol
they are planning an attack against the US
Ever think they took them (the websites) down purposely? Great way to make us feel smug & complacent before a major action.
Good point; I felt completely comfortable almost immediately. Forgot all about 9/11. Tricky little bearded men...