Cyber Terrorism

cyber terrorism

Project 10-1: Security Measures and Cyber Terrorism

Sarah Hughart

2/10/10

While everyone can see the physical attacks of terrorist bombings, cyber terrorism is the wave of the future for terrorists and extremists, which can go unnoticed to the public. Connection to the Internet has added security risks because anyone could gain access to essentially anything connected to it, unless there are security measures in place to help prevent a breach. There are many measures, as earlier discussed, that can relate to cyber terrorism and that sometimes warrant a higher security standard.

Cyber terrorism was defied by Barry Collin, a senior research advisor at the Institute for Security and Intelligence in California as the convergence of cybernetics and terrorism. Mark Pollitt, special agent for the FBI, offers a working definition that Cyber terrorism is the premeditated, politically motivated attack against information, computer systems, computer programs, and data which result in violence against noncombatant targets by sub national groups or clandestine agents. There is a clear line between cyber terrorism and cyber crime, however, which cyber terrorism is the use of information technology and means by terrorist groups and agents. It is difficult to tell the difference between a terrorist cyber attack and a cyber criminal who is a hacker. Both parties look for vulnerabilities to plan for future attacks, cyber criminals, however, do it to obtain information that will lead them to financial gain.

In order to know what security measures need to be taken to retaliate cyber terrorism, it is best to understand what exactly is the use of the internet and other telecommunication devices these groups are utilizing. “The FBI has reported that the cyber attacks by terrorists have been limited to email bombing and defacing of websites (Lordeau 2004)”. Rollins and Wilson (2007) found that reports indicated that terrorists in the Middle East and...