Project CT-Tech

Timeframe: 2022 - 2024
Budget: EUR 5 million
Donor: European Union

The situation

As new technologies become available for legitimate use, there is an increased risk that terrorist groups will exploit them for their own aims.

There is a real danger that foreign terrorist fighters will use their tactical experience from battlefields and conflict zones to exploit vulnerabilities in emerging technologies to plot and/or carry out terrorist attacks in the future.

Extremist groups rely on the Internet and social media platforms to communicate and coordinate their activities. They use them to recruit new members, promote their presence via photos and video, and raise funds.

Social media platforms are also widely used to identify targets and plan and conduct attacks, as well as to circulate manuals on bomb making and how to distribute chemical and biological weapons.

Law enforcement agencies in INTERPOL member countries need to consider new technologies in two ways:

• Understand and address the ways in which terrorists use new technologies.
• Adopt new technologies themselves in order to anticipate and react to terrorist-related challenges and activities.

About the Project

Working jointly with the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), INTERPOL will assist member countries to implement counter-terrorism strategies aimed at combating terrorists’ exploitation of new and emerging technologies. Activities will enhance operational, investigative and analytical capabilities.

Project activities

Activities under Project CT-Tech include:

• Conducting a needs assessment on current threats and their connection to new and emerging technologies;
• Increasing international cooperation for counter-terrorism investigations in relevant fields;
• Producing manuals to highlight good practices for seizures and cooperation with ICTs.
• Developing webinars, e-learning modules and applied learning sessions on facial recognition, open source intelligence (OSINT) and Dark net/virtual assets;
• Running training courses and regional working group meetings on the use of INTERPOL’s biometrics capabilities;
• Delivering training on collection, preservation and use of digital evidence in prosecutions.