TorchStone’s Threat Intelligence Methodology: Introduction to the Social Media Threat Continuum

TorchStone's protective intelligence draws on proven analytical frameworks for understanding and assessing threats, including one developed by our very own Senior Vice President of Protective Intelligence, Scott Stewart: the Social Media Threat Continuum. This model was built to help better understand and contextualize the threats emanating from social media-fueled leaderless resistance movements.

The continuum starts with grievance, the starting point from which threats flow, and can progress through public denouncement, doxing and harassment before escalating to physical attack. Because threats don't always move in a linear progression, and different actors within a movement often carry out different stages at once, we treat the continuum as an elastic guide for helping place threats in context, not a rigid framework. It's this kind of proprietary, field tested methodology that sets TorchStone apart.