There is a correlation between the creation of online extremist groups with terrorist attacks that may make it possible to predict forthcoming acts of terrorism through mathematical modelling, according to the University of Miami. The study was conducted by researchers from the university's School for Advanced International Studies and published in the journal PLOS ONE. When these online groups are shut down, their members disperse and multiply, typically forming other, smaller groups, a pattern which makes the identification of these aggregates, and those interacting with them, useful in determining the likelihood of an attack.
There is a correlation between the creation of online extremist groups with terrorist attacks that may make it possible to predict forthcoming acts of terrorism through mathematical modelling, according to the University of Miami. Ahead of attacks there is much higher activity among these online groups, described by researchers as the “spreading of a fever”. When these online groups are shut down, their members disperse and multiply, typically forming other, smaller groups, a pattern which makes the identification of these aggregates, and those interacting with them, useful in determining the likelihood of an attack.