France's Online War Has A New Cyber Security Cell

France has declared what some are calling a war on terror in the wake of the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and Hyper Cacher market, and a number of the battles are expected to be waged online. The government has announced new policies aimed at preventing cyber attacks by Islamist hacking groups and online recruitment by extremist groups targeting French youth.

France has created its first cybersecurity crisis cell to complement its existing armed forces. The country has also doubled-down on an existing law that allows the shutdown of websites deemed to be "sympathizing with terror," extending it to social-media posts, evidenced, most notably, by the recent arrest of French comedian Dieudonne M'bala.

The French army's new cybersecurity crisis cell was established because of recent, "unprecedented" breaches. Roughly a dozen officers are working out the army's Center for Planning and Executing Operations, or CPCO, around the clock. For now, the branch is focused on gathering and synthesizing information linked to Islamist extremists as well as ensuring the protection of the country's defense systems, military personnel told Le Monde.

Sabrina, who asked her last name not be published, is a 28-year-old practicing Muslim who, since the attack at the Charlie Hebdo office, has had two Facebook posts removed, presumably by administrators. Both posts stated she was offended by the Charlie Hebdo cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad and expressed her refusal "to be Charlie."

The online crackdown stems from the belief the Internet plays a role in sparking radical thinking in France and is partially responsible for what Parisians call "bourrage de crane," which literally translates to "stuffing the skull" -- brainwashing. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve warned this week about "social networks, used for recruitment more than ever, as points of contact and for the acquisition of techniques necessary to carry out an act."

The swift rise of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria was in part achieved because of its vigourous social-media campaigning, used for both recruitment and a tsunami like dissemination of its propaganda. Since then, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, has stepped up its own online presence to maintain its position in the terrorist group hierarchy. AQAP claimed responsibility for the attack at Charlie Hebdo while the Hyper Cacher gunman reportedly pledged allegiance to the militant group known as ISIS.

Several of France's largest French-language news outlets were taken temporarily offline following a report from Zataz.com of 19,000 "hostile" situations on French websites after the attack at Charlie Hebdo. In the past week, the websites of some French municipalities also reportedly were taken down and replaced with a flag similar to the one used by the Islamic State group. The United Islamic Cyber Force claimed responsibility for the attack on its Twitter account.

http://www.ibtimes.com/frances-online-war-terror-sympathizers-extremists