Terror threat

Hybrid warfare: Lone-wolf attacks ordered via WhatsApp or Facebook, German spy chief says

Lone-wolf terrorist attacks in Europe are ordered and orchestrated through social media platforms like Facebook or WhatsApp, which creates a type of “hybrid warfare,” chief of German domestic intelligence believes.

Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, said that potential attackers presumably receive orders from foreign terrorist leaders through encrypted instant messaging systems.

The details of what he described as “hybrid warfare” were disclosed at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday, according to Deutsche Welle. Attacks are ordered through social media or messengers such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram, while“perpetrators themselves are safe and not recognized.”

“We are concerned about the new type of perpetrator who seems to be acting alone,” the news agency quoted Maassen as saying.

“This scenario is especially challenging for security authorities - as is the uncovering of sleeper cells,” he added.

According to the BfV, the internet is the main platform for various radicals. Radical propaganda, videos of attacks, and manuals on terrorist activities proliferate online. The internet becomes fertile soil for everything related to terrorism, from initial radicalization and recruitment to communication and management of potential perpetrators.