A look at the Online monitoring arm of Sudan's ruling National Congress Party.

1. Sudan’s National Congress Party’s
Online Monitoring Arm
A look at the numbers and objectives
July 2, 2012

2. The NCP Not the Sudan
✤ The government of Sudan does not appear to have a system in place
to monitor online activities
✤ The ruling party, however, appear to have a relatively large-scale
operation
✤ Distinction is important and begs the question of funding

3. Operations Room
✤ Employs a total of 210 individuals
✤ Spread across 5 different departments embedded in governmental
institutes + headquarters
✤ Operate on 77 computers. This is not a typo. Seventy-seven
computers for the 210 staff

4. Technology Used
✤ Very little information is available about the tools they use
✤ Appear to use site stats sites like Alexa.com to gauge popularity of
sites

5. Engagement
✤ Systematically troll the sites and then point out that ‘opposition’ site
admins remove content (comments, polls, etc) that doesn’t suit them
✤ All trolling is done manually with very little automation if any
✤ Create sites and generate as much traffic to them using their own
people
✤ Still unable to get a fraction of what opposition sites get

6. Conclusion
✤ The 210-strong division sees online threats as minor and made-up of
citizens in diaspora
✤ Dismisses diaspora as virtual only and unable to translate to action on
the ground
✤ The team is substantial and they take it seriously
✤ So should you.