Boston Marathon Bombings: Dzhokhar and his brother (pictured) were not connected to any known terrorist groups, but were motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs. (Photo: Reuters)
IN PHOTO: Boston Marathon Bombings: Dzhokhar and his brother (pictured) were not connected to any known terrorist groups, but were motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs. Reuters

Canada has expressed concern that the profile of terrorism is changing with potential fighters in the country trying to join radical groups trying to tap online funding sources. Many potential terrorists wanting to join outfits like ISIS are trying to use the web to raise finance, it claimed and cited evidence that crowd sourcing is active and many potential terrorists have already netted as much as $10,000.

"It is a worrying trend," noted to Michael Peirce, Deputy Director at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Peirce raised the issue while testifying before the Senate's standing committee on national security and defence, reported Toronto Sun. Peirce told the Senate panel that "When we're talking about individuals, who are raising money for terrorist purposes within Canada, they may be relatively moderate sums up to $10,000, but the amount that an organisation raises can reach six figures".

As groups and individuals raise large amounts there is obscurity as to where the money will be going, Peirce explained that the money trail becomes difficult and proving the wrongdoing becomes all the more difficult. He said the risk will be that the terrorists will not necessarily disclose the "full purpose of raising funds and do it more under the cover of humanitarian aid." Though crowd sourced terrorism remains a threat, some say there is not much evidence to prove that it is rampant. "We are not aware of campaigns like this from Canadian jihadists," said Diana Yazidjian, who is the president of DFY Consulting, a company advising startsups for using crowd sourcing. Yazidjian said most crowdsourcing sites would remove any campaign where there is suspicion that the proceeds will go into terrorism.

Expert View

However, David Mallet, an expert said the online exposure of terrorists is a reality. But it has both good and bad sides. All terrorists, including lone wolves are seeking attention and using social media for it. This must be seen as a positive development as internet activity can be monitored for both content as well as for virtual connections, reported Abc news. The online presence helps in easy tracking of the terror merchants unlike the lone wolf of the Unabomber in the United States who remained untraceable for 20 years because he left no leads.

Today, lone wolves like Norway's Anders Breivik and small cells like the Tsarnaev brothers in Boston are traceable from social media postings before they committed the crimes. But the danger is that lone wolves are never alone and align with peers from rest of the world to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame. Since lone wolves operate on a small scale, they cannot inflict massive loss of life as is the case with other organised terror groups, Malet noted.