Knowledge Discovery for Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement

Based on cutting-edge research, this volume presents a new approach to knowledge discovery in adversarial settings—a timely and important topic for a range of professionals. Focusing on the four main applications areas (prediction, clustering, relationship discovery, and textual analysis), it discusses opportunities for concealment and recommends tactics that can aid in detecting them. Designed for professionals working in law enforcement and intelligence, social policymakers, and researchers in knowledge discovery, the book reviews technologies that are currently available and describes their effectiveness in dealing with these issues.

Most of the research aimed at counterterrorism, fraud detection, or other forensic applications assumes that this is a specialized application domain for mainstream knowledge discovery. Unfortunately, knowledge discovery changes completely when the datasets being used have been manipulated in order to conceal some underlying activity. Knowledge Discovery for Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement operates from the premise that detection algorithms must be rethought to be effective in this domain, and presents a new approach based on cutting-edge analysis for use in adversarial settings.

Reveals How Criminals Conceal Information

This volume focuses on four main forms of knowledge discovery: prediction, clustering, relationship discovery, and textual analysis. For each of these application areas, the author discusses opportunities for concealment that are available to criminals and reveals some of the tactics that can aid in detecting them. He reviews what is known about the different technologies for each area and evaluates their effectiveness. The book also supplies a preview of technologies currently under development and describes how they will fit in to existing approaches to knowledge discovery.

Provides Proactive Formulas for Staying One Step Ahead of Adversaries

While all knowledge-discovery systems are susceptible to manipulation, designers and users of algorithmic systems who are armed with the knowledge of these subversive tactics are better able to create systems to avoid these vulnerabilities. This book delineates an effective process for integrating knowledge-discovery tools, provides a unique understanding of the limits of the technology, and contains a clear presentation of the upsides and pitfalls of data collection. It is a powerful weapon in the arsenal of anyone confronting the increasingly sophistic