Future Projections and Recommendations Terrorist groups will persevere, protract and expand their online campaigns and activities. The utilisation of emerging technological platforms and communication technologies will be a constant as they strive to be undetected in recruitment and operational planning. These online platforms would increasingly be encrypted and include other channels such as online gaming programmes. This is worrying, as observed in the phenomenon of family radicalisation that led to the Surabaya bombings in May 2018. Small, closed and personal links in encrypted platforms would be harder to detect. While encrypted platforms are used at the later stages of recruitment, communication, creation of cell and plotting of attacks, public and open online platforms remain viable for the radicalisation of fresh recruits and maintenance of a support base. Terrorists will continue to use public and open online platforms as the main conduit for propaganda dissemination. Most materials in public channels would be subtle and absent from a terrorist identity at face value. Narratives and symbols will be divorced from the blatant call for violence and shielded with political commentaries and fake news. This is an effort by terrorists to secure their presence in social media. It is difficult to remove such presence since there are no distinctive and clear links to terrorism and incitement to violence. When it comes to countering terrorism and extremism, a key solution suggested by many security analysts is to strengthen collaboration among a myriad of agencies, companies and institutions. This holds true in the context of tackling online terrorism and extremism too. Companies working in communication and information technology and social media need to continue and expand their cooperation to share insights, knowledge and information on how best to tackle terrorists’ exploitation of their technologies. An example of such a collaboration was observed in December 2016 when Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft pledged to work together in creating ‘a database of unique fingerprints known as ‘hashes.’ The four technology giants then went on to create the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) which promises to generate information sharing and best practices. Upcoming technological and communication platforms should also be guided and encouraged to join existing counter-terrorism efforts such as GIFCT before entering the market. Terrorists and their supporters have always shown their dexterity in keeping up with the latest technology. Preventive measures in this regard could help thwart the online extremist landscape. At its core, countering online extremism and terrorism requires both online and real-world engagements aimed at inoculating individuals from being vulnerable to terrorist ideologies. Such counter ideology, counter or alternative messages and community engagement efforts require not just a whole-of-government approach, but a wholeof society approach. Sectors from the media, education, psychology and security departments, among others, need to collaborate in producing and disseminating counter materials. Community leaders, educators, neighbours, friends and family members play important roles to ensure that these messages are not just understood and tolerated, but accepted and practiced in the real world. Ms. Nur Azlin Mohamed Yasin is Associate Research Fellow at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 17 — ISSUE 5/2018