Cyberterrorism

The terrorist of yesterday is the hero of today, and the hero of yesterday becomes the terrorist of today. In a constantly changing world of images, we have to keep our heads straight to know what terrorism is and what it is not.

—Eqbal Ahmad

First we need to understand the meaning behind the word Cyberterrorism.

Cyberterrorism is every machine connected to the internet is potentially a printing press, a broadcasting station, or a place of assembly. The ability to communicate words, images, and sounds which underlies the power to persuade, inform, witness, debate, and discuss (not mention the power to slander, propagandize, disseminate bad or misleading information, and engage in misinformation and disinformation). And in the twenty first century, terrorists are availing themselves of this opportunity.

(Conway, Maura. "What is cyberterrorism?." Current History101.659 (2002): 436.)

At this point, let us look at some typologies of terrorism. Feliks Gross, an authority on revolutionary terror, suggested that at least five types of terror- violence exist:

-Mass terror is terror by a state, where the regime coerces the opposition in the population, whether organized or unorganized, sometimes in an institutionalized manner.

-Dynastic assassination is an attack upon a head of state or a ruling elite,precisely the kind of terrorism that the international community tried to criminalize in the mid-nineteenth century.

-Random terror involves the placing of explosives where people gather (such as post offices, railroads, and cafes) to destroy whoever happens to be there.

-Focused random terror restricts the placing of explosives, for example, to where significant agents of oppression are likely to gather (as in the aforementioned case of the attack on Grand Duke Sergius).

-Finally, tactical terror is directed solely against the ruling government as a part of a “broad revolutionary strategic plan.”

-Lone wolf terror, a typology not included in Gross’ typology, involves someone who commits violent acts in support of some group, movement, or ideology, but who does so alone, outside of any command structure and without material assistance from any group.

The term cyber terrorism was first coined in the 1980s by Barry Collin, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Security and Intelligence in California. According to him, the convergence of the “virtual world” and “physical world” form the vehicle of cyber terrorism. Collin further clarifies that the virtual world is the place in which computer programs function and data moves whereas the physical world is the place in which we live and function. The growing convergence of the physical and virtual worlds is becoming more complex. Nowadays, ICT plays a major role in the convergence of these two worlds.

Heickero concludes that cyber terrorism comprises different types of methods such as computer network operations and psychological operations. The capability to conduct a cyber attack can be divided into three groups: Simple (unstructured), advanced (structured) and complex (coordinated). Heickero’s description of a computer network operation and O’Hara’s model of technical capabilities of a cyber attack fit well with the definition of network warfare. Veerasamy defines network warfare as a modern form of conflict in which computers and networks are used as the weapons with information serving as the leverage control. Modern forms of network warfare include all the computer and network security means through which computers are attacked and exploited (worms, denial-of- service, bots) as well as all the protective mechanism being implemented (intrusion detection tools, anti-virus software and firewalls).

The act of cyber terrorism is unique as it combines a specific target with a wider audience. In this argument, the components of a purposeful violence against persons or properties, disruption or serious interference of critical services operation, causing fear, death or bodily injury, severe economic loss, and prejudice to national security and public safety contribute to the uniqueness of cyber terrorism.

(Ahmad, Rabiah, and Zahri Yunos. "A dynamic cyber terrorism framework." International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security 10.2 (2012): 149.)

The following video that i have inserted in this particular writing is one of the example of cyberterrorism that had occured in recent days. This terrorist live streamed his act on Facebook, and the video went viral rapidly in just counts of hours. And it is considered to be not just an act of terrorism, but also cyberterrorism.