Al Qaeda scales up tech enabled operations as it eyes pan-India footprint

New Delhi, Jan 14 Al Qaeda has been using high-end technology to carry out operations in India, which has made investigations more challenging. Probe agencies have found that servers are being hosted in multiple countries to carry out propaganda and radicalise the people.

An Intelligence Bureau official stated that the outfit is targeting the entire country and seeks to disseminate content to every corner of India. Unlike the Islamic State, which has decided to target people down South only, Al-Qaeda has bigger plans. The official added that the idea behind the outfit is to proceed slowly and steadily, without engaging in any major operation. The operations are very low, so the detection is very hard.

Investigations clearly suggest the scale at which the outfit is operating, and the trends are extremely dangerous. Recent investigations show that Al Qaeda has set up its servers in Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, and Pakistan. Each one of these servers is being used to deliver content to the Indian audience, another official said.

While tracking down these servers has been a major challenge for the security agencies, the scale at which the outfit is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for its India operations is more worrying. Officials pointed out that the outfit has been exploiting AI to spread its ideology, recruit, and also carry out disinformation campaigns against India.

It has been using the available open source AI tools. The use of deepfakes has gone up considerably. AI is used to digitally create the faces of former leaders such as Osama Bin Laden and Anwar Al-Awlaki to deliver the latest messages. Following the death of these persons, Al Qaeda has struggled to find a leader for their cadre. For long, this had slowed down their operations, and the worst department to be hit was radicalisation and recruitment.

Those who were being targeted by the outfit did not show much interest, as the group did not have an inspirational leader. Experts say that the use of deepfakes largely solves this problem for the outfit, as it appears to be working for them when it comes to radicalisation and recruitment.

The expert also added that this is something that the Indian agencies must watch out for, as the technology is being used in a very dangerous manner. Worse, it is working well for the outfit, the experts also warn.

Al Qaeda in the Sub-Continent (AQIS) was created with the specific task of expanding operations in India. However, that plan never took off as was intended. Since the last couple of months, the activity of this group has gone multi-fold online. It appears to be targeting a much wider audience than the Islamic State has been doing in India.

Intelligence assessments suggest that Al Qaeda has a much wider audience in India compared to all other terror groups. This is largely due to the founder of the terror group, Osama Bin Laden. He still is a hero figure for many, and this is what is being exploited majorly by the outfit for its operations in India, an Intelligence Bureau official said.

When it comes to India, it has been taking a calculated approach. The intention is to penetrate as deeply as possible into society. The next step would be to plan the attacks and then execute them, another official added. For the Indian agencies, the biggest challenge would be to deal with this outfit and handle the scale at which it is using technology.

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