From Alert to Action: How CSI-NY Prevented a Synagogue Attack with Flashpoint

On a Friday afternoon, just hours before Shabbat services at Central Synagogue in Manhattan, a Flashpoint alert caught the attention of CSI analysts. A social media user with a small following posted a chilling message:

“TOMORROW PULL UP TO SHABBAT AT THE CENTRAL SYNAGOGUE 6PM”

“IF YOU TRY TO KILL ME AGAIN TODAY IN NYC WHEN I PULL UP TO SHABBAT I WILL KILL YOU FIRST AND CONDEMN YOU TO HELL”

The clock was ticking.

A Community Under Threat

Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has reported a dramatic 360% rise in antisemitic incidents. 

The Community Security Initiative of New York (CSI-NY) faces the critical challenge of protecting the city’s Jewish community from this escalating wave of antisemitic threats. With attacks on the rise, CSI-NY relies on real-time intelligence to detect, assess, and act—before threats become attacks.

The Daily Reality for the CSI-NY Team

Online threats are a constant reality for CSI-NY, with the team processing over 1,000 alerts daily. Analysts must meticulously examine each alert for potential threats, relying on a combination of experience, contextual cues, and user profile analysis to determine the credibility and specificity of the threat. The team assesses details like time and day, source information, and nuanced language to differentiate between genuine threats and benign statements. The team requires tools that help them quickly find potential threats amidst vast quantities of data. 

While CSI-NY’s primary mission is safeguarding New York’s Jewish community, their investigations often uncover threats to organizations and religious groups worldwide, allowing them to alert authorities across jurisdictions proactively.

Echosec: The First Line of Defense

“We needed a tool that could cut through the noise and give us real-time visibility into the online spaces where extremist content proliferates. Echosec does exactly that.”

CSI-NY Analyst

Echosec, Flashpoint’s geospatial Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) platform, provides CSI-NY with real-time access to geo-enriched, open-source intelligence from social media, chat platforms, forums, and beyond—allowing them to detect, investigate, and act on threats targeting the Jewish community.

Key Features Utilized:

• Near Real-time Alerts: Echosec’s automated alerts notify the CSI-NY team of posts containing specific keywords and phrases related to potential threats.
  • In this case, the post directly mentioned the name of the synagogue. 
• Location & Keyword Search: The platform allows analysts to search for posts based on location and keywords, enabling them to identify threats targeting specific institutions quickly.
  • This particular post mentioned the locations “NYC” as well as “Central Synagogue” which made it immediately actionable. 
• Deep Dive Investigations: The team uses Echosec and Flashpoint Ignite to conduct and manage in-depth investigations. Analysts can examine user profiles, cross-reference information with other platforms, and build comprehensive threat assessments.

Race Against Time

With Friday evening Shabbat services approaching, the CSI-NY team needed to act fast. Using Echosec, they:

• Confirmed the threat’s credibility by analyzing the user’s profile and online behavior.
• Gathered critical information about the suspect, including their location and potential access to weapons.

Once the credibility of the threat was confirmed, they immediately alerted the NYPD, providing them with the information needed to take immediate action.

A Coordinated Response

Working closely with law enforcement, CSI-NY helped coordinate a rapid response. Just hours before the start of services, the suspect was intercepted at the Lincoln Tunnel—preventing a potentially devastating attack.

“Echosec has now stopped two attacks against synagogues in New York, in two years. It gives us visibility into threats, whether it’s from a tiny account or a large one. Other tools—most of which examine high-level sentiment and trends—probably wouldn’t have caught this.”

CSI-NY Analyst

The Value of Proactive Security

This incident highlights the critical role of real-time data to support physical threat intelligence and protect vulnerable communities. Flashpoint empowers organizations like CSI-NY to proactively identify and mitigate threats, ensuring the safety and security of the people they serve.

Flashpoint combines a comprehensive, industry-leading technology suite with deep human expertise. Echosec, Flashpoint’s geospatial OSINT platform, provides customers with always-on alerts and insights, enhancing situational awareness to protect people, locations, and assets worldwide.Learn more about how Flashpoint helps protect organizations and communities by visiting flashpoint.io.