VIRTUAL TRAINING

INTERNET HAGANAH.com ^ | 04 December 2008 | INTERNET HAGANAH.com

[Cindy]

I've received a number of inquiries lately about jihadi use of virtual worlds (e.g. SecondLife) for the purpose of training or planning terrorist attacks. I haven't seen any sign of this, and frankly we should be so luckily that they would engage in that kind of activity on the public Internet.

I *have* seen signs of jihadi use of virtual spaces for training, just not online.

[mnehring]

The new ‘in thing’ in corporate education is using virtual worlds like Second Life for training. I use some of the tools used to create Second Life characters and worlds to create components to use within training tools (such as avatar guides). I’ve attended several ‘virtual conferences’ on Second Life..

I don’t see at all why they couldn’t or wouldn’t use this. It is easy to hide activity on there, unlike a forum, it isn’t archived in a way that is easily accessible. You can also create virtual models of buildings and neighborhoods that could be used for planning. The way the Second Life world is set up, it would also be easy to hide.

[Cindy]

Yes, I have been following the Second Life discussions for awhile.

[mnehring]

I’ll post some images tonight of how corporate uses Second Life for conferences.. I’ve grabbed many screen shots from these virtual conferences.

[mnehring]

..this may be a lose lip item, but the DOD also has a virtual world, almost identical to second life, that they use to train soldiers. They can quickly create virtual neighborhoods to help with planning and ‘walk through’ strategy.

[I see my hands]

To:

[Cindy]

.

[Cindy]

stepping back time...

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,22161037-28737,00.html?from=public_rss

“Virtual terrorists”

“Hunted in reality, jihadists are turning to artificial online worlds such as Second Life to train and recruit members, writes Natalie O’Brien | July 31, 2007”

Article from: The Australian

SNIPPET: “Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside al-Qa’ida, says it is a new phenomena that, until now, has not been openly discussed outside the intelligence community.

But he says security agencies are extremely concerned about what home-grown terrorists are up to in cyberspace. He believes the dismantling and disruption of military training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan after September 11 forced terrorists to turn to the virtual world.”