CYBER TERRORISM IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT

BY PROTAS LEVINA BAPRM 42657

Cyberterrorism is the act of Internet terrorism in terrorist activities, including acts of deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks, especially of personal computers attached to the Internet, by the means of tools such ascomputer viruses.

Cyberterrorism is a controversial term. Some authors choose a very narrow definition, relating to deployments, by known terrorist organizations, of disruption attacks against information systems for the primary purpose of creating alarm and panic. By this narrow definition, it is difficult to identify any instances of cyberterrorism.

Cyberterrorism can be also defined as the intentional use of computer, networks, and public internet to cause destruction and harm for personal objectives.^[1] Objectives may be political or ideological since this can be seen as a form of terrorism.^[2]

There is much concern from government and media sources about potential damages that could be caused by cyberterrorism, and this has prompted official responses from government agencies.

Several minor incidents of cyberterrorism have been documented.

Main article: Definitions of terrorism

There is debate over the basic definition of the scope of cyberterrorism. There is variation in qualification by motivation, targets, methods, and centrality of computer use in the act. Depending on context, cyberterrorism may overlap considerably with cybercrime, cyberwar or ordinary terrorism.^[3] Eugene Kaspersky, founder ofKaspersky Lab, now feels that "cyberterrorism" is a more accurate term than "cyberwar." He states that "with today's attacks, you are clueless about who did it or when they will strike again. It's not cyber-war, but cyberterrorism."^[4] He also equates large-scale cyber weapons, such as the Flame Virus and NetTraveler Viruswhich his company discovered, to biological weapons, claiming that in an interconnected world, they have the potential to be equally destructive.^[4][5]

If cyberterrorism is treated similarly to traditional terrorism, then it only includes attacks that threaten property or lives, and can be defined as the leveraging of a target's computers and information, particularly via the Internet, to cause physical, real-world harm or severe disruption of infrastructure.

There are some who say that cyberterrorism does not exist and is really a matter of hacking or information warfare.^[6] They disagree with labelling it terrorism because of the unlikelihood of the creation of fear, significant physical harm, or death in a population using electronic means, considering current attack and protective technologies.

If a strict definition is assumed, then there have been no or almost no identifiable incidents of cyberterrorism, although there has been much public concern.

However, there is an old saying that death or loss of property are the side products of terrorism, the main purpose of such incidents is to create terror in peoples mind. If any incident in the cyber world can create terror, it may be called a Cyber-terrorism.