MyHack, developed by People Against Violent Extremism and supported by the Australian government, encourages young Australians to come up with online solutions to counter Islamic State group (IS) propaganda.

The three-day ‘hackathon’ event begins September 23, and is being held in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs which have seen a spate of raids including an operation that police claim foiled an IS-inspired Anzac Day attack.

The coordinator for MyHack Australia, Abdullahi Alim, says the program aimed to promote social cohesion as well as combat the growing problem of home-grown radicalisation.

… Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, who heads Singapore’s International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, says Australia’s jihadi network is based mostly online and has a few hundred sympathisers and supporters.

“Since the declaration of an Islamic caliphate by the group in Syria and Iraq, we have seen the proliferation of blog sites, websites, Facebook, Twitter accounts and exploitation of other social media,” he says.