Cyber-terrorism

From Free net encyclopedia

Terrorism
General
Definitions
Conventions
Counterterrorism
Lists
Organizations
Incidents
Types
Nationalist
Religious
Left-wing
Right-wing
State
State sponsored
Racist
Narcoterrorism
Anarchist
Political
Eco-terrorism
Tactics
Hijacking
Assassination
IED (bomb)
Car bombing
Suicide bombing
Kidnapping
Bioterrorism
Nuclear terrorism
Cyber-terrorism
Configurations
Fronts
Lone-wolf
edit this box

Cyber-terrorism is the use of computers and information technology, particularly the Internet, to cause harm or severe disruption with the aim of advancing the attacker's own political or religious goals.

A distinction is made between terrorists that use available technology and the pure cyberterrorists [1].

As the Internet becomes more pervasive in all areas of human endeavor, individuals or groups can use the anonymity afforded by cyberspace to threaten citizens, specific groups (i.e. members of an ethnic group or belief), communities and entire countries.

As the Internet continues to expand, and computer systems continue to be assigned more responsibility while becoming more and more complex and interdependent, sabotage or terrorism via cyberspace may become a more serious threat.

There is also a train of thought that says cyberterrorism does not exist and is really a matter of hacking or information warfare. Some disagree with labeling it terrorism proper because of the unlikelihood of the creation of fear of significant physical harm or death in a population using electronic means.

Contents

[edit]

Cyber-terrorism and the media

Public interest in cyber-terrorism began in the late 1980s. As the year 2000 approached, the fear and uncertainty about the millennium bug heightened and interest in potential cyberterrorist attacks also increased. During this period, many statements were made by US government officials about an "Electronic Pearl Harbor" being imminent, or even underway. Commentators noted that many of the facts of such incidents seemed to change, often with exaggerated media reports.

More recently, the high profile terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001 lead to further media coverage of the potential threats of cyberterrorism in the years following. Mainstream media coverage often discusses the possibility of a large attack making use of computer networks to sabotage critical infrastructures with the aim of putting human lives in jeopardy or causing disruption on a national scale either directly or by disruption of the national economy.

Authors such as Winn Schwartau and John Arquilla are reported to have had considerable financial success selling books which described what were purported to be plausible scenarios of mayhem caused by cyberterrorism. Many critics claim that these books were unrealistic in their assessments of whether the attacks described (such as nuclear meltdowns and chemical plant explosions) were possible. A common thread throughout what critics perceive as cyber-terror-hype is that of non-falsifiability; that is, when the predicted disasters fail to occur, it only goes to show how lucky we've been so far, rather than impugning the theory.

One example of cyberterrorists at work was when hackers in Romania hacked into the computers controlling the life support systems at an Antarctic research station, endangering the 58 scientists involved. However, the culprits were stopped before damage actually occurred and as of 2004, it is not believed that any deliberate cyber-attack has taken the life of any person. Mostly non-political acts of sabotage have caused financial and other damage, as in a case where a disgruntled employee caused the release of untreated sewage into water in Maroochy Shire, Australia.[2] Computer viruses have degraded or shut down some non-essential systems in nuclear power plants, but this is not believed to have been a deliberate attack.

[edit]

Countering Cyber-terrorism

The US Department of Defense charged the United States Strategic Command with the duty of combatting cyber-terrorism. This is accomplished through the Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations (JTF-GNO). JTF-GNO is the operational component supporting USSTRATCOM in defense of the DoD's Global Information Grid. This is done by integrating GNO capabilities into the operations of all DoD computers, networks, and systems used by DoD combatant commands, services and agencies.

[edit]

Cyber-terrorism in fiction

  • The Japanese cyberpunk manga, Ghost in the Shell (as well as its popular movie and TV adaptations) centres around an anti-cyberterrorism and cybercrime unit. In its mid-21st century Japan setting such attacks are made all the more threatening by an even more widespread use of technology including cybernetic enhancements to the human body allowing people themselves to be direct targets of cyberterrorist attacks.
[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

  • Poulsen, Kevin (Aug 2004) “South Pole ‘cyberterrorist’ hack wasn’t the first” SecurityFocus News. Retrieved Mar 17, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9356.
  • John Bambenek (May 2005) “Cyberterrorism does not exist” Retrieved Feb 11, 2006 from the World Wide Web: [3]de:Cyber-Terrorismus

ja:サイバーテロ

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Cyber-terrorism"