@article{ref1,
title="Mock terrorists decisions' concerning use of the internet for target selection: a red-team approach",
journal="Psychology, crime and law",
year="2018",
author="Romyn, David J. and Kebbell, Mark R.",
volume="24",
number="6",
pages="589-602",
abstract="In this study we sought to identify which locations appear more, or less, attractive to a terrorist in planning an attack and to investigate what attributes of those locations influence preferences. A sample of undergraduate university students (N = 147) were given the role of terrorists, and provided with five potential attack locations, including a pedestrian mall, a shopping center, a train station, a university and an airport. After using the Internet to learn about the target locations, participants placed the locations in rank-order from most to least preferred as targets and indicated why they had selected those targets. <br><br>RESULTS showed both a clear rank-order of target preferences: locations perceived as being more crowded were more preferred, while locations with a greater security presence were less preferred. <br><br>RESULTS also demonstrated a moderate positive correlation between the amount of online information viewed for a specific location and the preference for that location as a terrorist target, where participants who viewed more online content for a particular location were more likely to also prefer that location as a terrorist target. <br><br>FINDINGS from this study can potentially be used to reduce the likelihood of a terrorist attack occurring on specific locations, by altering the publicly available information on that location regarding the security and how crowded that location is.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1068-316X",
doi="10.1080/1068316X.2017.1396332",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2017.1396332"
}