Tracing terror videos on the Net

People often ask me whether the authorities can trace people connected to terrorism by investigating the online videos produced by Iraqi insurgents and Al Qaeda. 

Perhaps surprisingly, much of infrastructure used to distribute this material is based in the USA. This gives organisations like the CIA, FBI and NSA valuable opportunities to trace where the videos are coming from.

Identifying the perpetrators however, is not straightforward. The videos could have been uploaded in one of the hundreds of thousands of cybercafes across the world. The website used to distribute the videos could be a transient resource that exploits the anonymity and instant availability of free webspace.

Some sites are solid and even have their own domain names, but even if the owners of such sites can be identified, the authorities still have to assess what connection (if any) the registered owners have to the groups whose videos they host.

That said, it is worth a look at how to trace the owners of these sites, identify where they are based and which Internet service providers they use.

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Please note, the layout of some screengrabs in this tutorial have been altered for reasons of clarity, space and explanation. The hosting details are accurate at the time this report was written (February 2006) but may change at a later date. We do not suppose or allege that any of the sites or services mentioned in this report are connected with illegal activity.