Monitoring online groups offers insight into ISIS attacks

New analysis identifies patterns in terrorists’ social network activity

Kobane, Syria

VIRTUAL TERROR  Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobane during a 2014 attack by Iraqi Kurdish forces on Islamic State fighters who had taken over the settlement. Researchers say a new computer model may be able to use patterns of pro-ISIS group formation on social networks to predict the timing of terrorist attacks.

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Social media supporters of the Islamic State, or ISIS, form online groups that may provide clues crucial to predicting when terrorist attacks will take place, a new analysis finds.