New Palestinian Intelligence Agency provides tactical intelligence by garnering Big Data

  • Posted on: 24 July 2016

 

Ramallah-based agency RedCrow Intelligence provides Individuals and organizations with a new risk mitigation solution that links real-time alerts to maps, analyzing data information from social media and the open source; to determine geopolitical threat levels.

 

RAMALLAH – New company RedCrow Intelligence is developing in-house methodologies to collect and analyze the constant stream of data from publicly available sources like social and mass media, blogs, think tanks and official security apparatus, in order to build real-time maps of current and potential threats. This type of information is commonly known in the intelligence community as OSINT: Open-Source Intelligence.

Due to its instability, the Palestinian territories are particularly subject to sudden events like politically motivated attacks, military roadblocks, and impromptu rallies. By knowing in advance about current or potential threats in a given area, government organizations and NGOs can operate in the field quicker and more safely. Redcrow’s reports and alerts are delivered automatically from their online platform and also via SMS, email and mobile application, depending on the client’s requirements.

“We need to go beyond words,” said RedCrow’s CEO, Hussein Nasser-Eddin, who holds two Masters Degrees, one in Middle East politics and another in homeland security. “The difference between alerts and noise is the most challenging issue analysts face, so we are building a smart system to make the distinction easier.”

According to Laila Akel – COO, who specializes in SM Trend analysis, Social media and Twitter in particular, have become important sources of intelligence over the past years, both for governments and private agencies. “Our peculiarity,” she stated, “is that we are the first from the region to offer this service. We are specialized in this environment, its politics, culture and language.”

When collected and analyzed over longer periods of time, the intelligence gathered from the big data will also be used to generate analysis on a strategic level, to interpret trends of threat levels, ripple effects of certain events, and fluctuation of public opinion.

At this initial stage, RedCrow Intelligence is targeting its services to NGOs, embassies and diplomatic delegations in the Palestinian and Israeli areas, where the instability creates a suitable environment for a pilot project, before re-launching its service to the rest of MENA region in 2016.