Actual Problems of Development of Extremism and Terrorism in the Field of Information and Telecommunication Technologies

The purpose of this study is to study the emergence and ways of development of digital extremism and terrorism. It has been established that extremism creates the necessary prerequisites for the emergence and conduct of terrorist activities, and it can be said that it is connected with terrorism both directly and indirectly. The conducted research allows us to say that already today about 80% of such crimes are carried out with the help of digital technologies. It can also be concluded that an extensive layer of extremist crimes simply turns out to be beyond the attention of criminological statistics, which is due to a number of factors: insufficiently well-developed methods for detecting criminal activity on the Internet; lack of specialists involved in ensuring IT security; insufficiently high qualifications and practice among employees of IT organizations. In addition, the actions of extremists and terrorists, both single criminals and organizations, are transnational, and within the framework of progress in the field of IT technologies, they significantly affect economic and political foundations. Criminals are trying to use maximum opportunities to spread ideas of hatred, superiority based on race, religion or nationality, and carry out extremist activities. A huge number of sites have been registered on the network, which are not only official platforms for such organizations, but are also used to spread false perceptions of real events, as well as fake information, fundraising, and publishing reports on actions taken.

It is concluded that organizations conducting terrorist and extremist activities skillfully take advantage of the growing discontent of citizens, socio-economic problems and political tensions caused by the pandemic. Also, the increase in the percentage of people mastering the virtual space indirectly affects the growth of criminal activity. Terrorists and extremists make extensive use of the Internet, and their level of competence in dealing with digital technologies is steadily increasing. Many similar organizations place special emphasis on the use of social networks and messengers for mass mailings containing illegal information (for example, aimed at attracting supporters, mastering legalization, fraud).