• "White collar terrorism" refers to a emerging trend where educated professionals use their expertise, social status, and access to institutional resources to facilitate or execute terrorist activities. 
• This phenomenon contrasts sharply with the traditional view of radicalization, which often focused on the disenfranchised or economically vulnerable.

• Perpetrators: Typically well-educated individuals, such as doctors, engineers, or IT professionals, often from urban, middle-class backgrounds.
• Motivation: Primarily driven by ideology and online radicalization, rather than solely by socio-economic grievances.
• Methods: Operatives weaponize their specialized skills, such as technical, medical, or digital expertise, for planning and executing high-impact, strategically planned attacks. They use encrypted platforms for communication and may plan sophisticated methods like modifying drones for weaponization.
• Funding: Operations are often self-funded using legitimate personal income, which helps bypass traditional financial intelligence monitoring systems designed to flag illicit money transfers (e.g., hawala).
• Detection Challenges: These individuals are hard to detect because they have "clean skins" (no prior criminal record or known links to terror networks) and strong social integration, making traditional profiling methods less effective. 

• The term has recently gained prominence in Indian counter-terrorism vocabulary following a series of arrests and investigations into a terror module linked to a blast in Delhi.
• Authorities uncovered a network involving several medical professionals who allegedly used their positions and resources to provide logistical support, store explosives, and plan attacks. 
   

• Combating white collar terrorism requires "smarter surveillance," advanced AI analytics, strict employee vetting, and targeted intelligence gathering over conventional methods.
• Existing deradicalization models often need adjustment to address the ideological motivations of educated, opportunity-rich professionals. 

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