Terrorists' new target: Hire unemployed techies

Bangalore: At the time of recession, when most of the top IT companies slashed lakhs of jobs; techies took another step to earn money and joined different terrorists groups across the world. Indian security agencies say that the recruitment of techies was maximum in 2009 when recession hit the world.

According to the research done by, European sociologists Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog, who surveyed over 400 terrorists, including 25 men involved in the 9/11 attack, found that 44 percent were engineers. Intelligence Bureau (IB) said that that recruiting techies for terror operations has become quite a common phenomenon world over. It was first started by the Al Qaeda when it undertook the 9/11 attack. However, the Lashkar was quick to pick up this plan and gradually the Students Islamic Movement of India and the Indian Mujahideen, too, followed suit.

Among all the terrorist groups, the tech cell of the Lashkar and the Al Qaeda is probably the most important wing. Al-Qaeda tops the list with over 400 techies while the Lashkar has nearly 200. These groups hire these engineers mainly for bombing, hijacking and also hacking operations. IB sources said that last year Laskar had picked up nearly 60 techies. Cadres in the sleeper cells have worked round the clock last year to pick up techies who were desperate and looking for jobs. Security experts say that the recruiters wait a long time until the person becomes desperate for a job. These groups take advantage commitments that these techies have and later with a blend of religious brainwashing they manage to attract them into the fold.

In the current situation, the bigger problem is that these terrorist groups may use them to launch a cyber war which is deadlier than any other form of an attack since it can cripple the entire economy.