Cyber Terrorism as a Combination of Cyberspace and Terrorism - Literature review Example

? CYBER TERRORISM NUMBER: LECTURER: CYBER TERRORISM Cyber terrorism also known as the “New” face of terrorism is defined as terrorist activities intended to damage or disrupt vital computer system ( (Denning, 2000))The term was coined by Barry C. Collin and defined by the technolytic institute as The premeditated use of disruptive activities, or the threat thereof, against computers and/or networks, with the intention to cause harm or further social, ideological, religious, political or similar objectives. Or to intimidate any person in furtherance of such objectives (Verton, 2003). With ever changing technology, there are ways upon ways to hack or use the internet in a criminal manner such as cyber espionage or information warfare. Cyber terrorism is a combination of cyberspace and terrorism. Often this type of warfare is used to persuade a group or government to follow certain political beliefs. Cyber terrorism can be used to help plan other terrorist activities, soften a target prior to a physical attack and generate more fear and confusion concurrent with other terrorist acts. Cyber terrorism has no boundaries as it is not limited by physical space and can be carried out by anyone and anywhere in the world. This paper aims to provide an explanation of what cyber terrorism is and how it is propagated in information technology world and the impacts it has on the businesses and organisation s that use the internet and networking to carry out their activities. It is important that we identify and protect the critical infrastructures which include government operations, gas/oil storage and delivery, water supply systems, banking and finance, transportation, electrical energy, telecommunications and emergency. According to the former secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld in 2002 The nation is vulnerable to new forms of terrorism ranging from cyber-attacks to attacks on military bases abroad to ballistic missile attacks on U.S. cities. Wars in the 21st century will increasingly require all elements of national power – not just the military. They will require that economic, diplomatic, financial, law enforcement and intelligence capabilities work together. Cyber terrorist use different methods to launch a cyber-terror attack. One method is hacking, which is the unauthorized access to a computer or network. An alternative technique is the Trojan horse program designed to pretend to do one thing while actually doing another, with the purpose of damaging the computer’s software or system operations. Computer viruses can be spread extremely fast and cause major damage. Computer worms are self-contained programs that are able to spread functional copies of itself or its segments to other computer systems. Then there’s email relates crimes that involve e-mail spoofing, spreading Trojans, viruses and worms. Denial of Service (DoS) attacks that can be accomplished by using a single computer or millions of computers throughout the world. To perpetrate such an activity, the ‘attacker’ installs a Trojan in many computers, gain control over them, and then send a lot of requests to the target computer. And last, but not least, cryptography literally meaning covered writing, involves the hiding of data in another object; it can also be used to hide messages within image and audio file. Although there is no definite way of stopping cyber terrorism there are several measures to prevent such acts. For example, using an up-to-date computer security software systems and firewalls, personal vigilance. security levels in private sector critical infrastructure fields. Using a high level virus-scanning program like Kaspersky or Norton devices will be safe from majority of the little viruses that you may come in contact with. In order to understand the cyber terrorism four major elements have to be considered and examined these elements are the perpetrator of the crime , the place where the crime takes place, the tools that are used to aid the perpetration of the crime, the action what actions take place during the crime, the targeted people, and the motivation behind the attack (Collin, 1997). The interaction and relationship between human beings is complex in nature people interact in different ways and for different reasons. The use of internet has aggravated the situation due to the fact that human interaction has been enhanced but the interactions is in anonymity. It is this fact that the perpetrators of cyber terrorism have found the loop hole to perpetrate the crime (Stone, 1993). To curb this the appropriate way is to include methods that can used in measuring and diminishing the impact of the computer enhanced interactions and adopt mechanisms to enhance user identity to minimize anonymity over the internet. Location is an element to be considered but it should be noted that cyber crime is not limited to space and location, however the place that is affected by the cyber terrorism is of interest in identifying and modelling possible solutions (Whiteback, 1993). The major actions that are associated with cyber terrorism is violence and threats of violence. While much has been done on the physical violence in the world, little has been done the virtual violence that is commonly associated with cyber terrorism. However research is being done on the virtual violence. It is difficult to identify the virtual violence, the effect or damage it has and the impacts it may have on the victims, the issues include behaviour modification as a result of the violence and physical trauma from the virtual violence and threat of violence (Whiteback, 1993). The computer terrorist uses several tools to perpetrate the crime but the main tool is the use of computer. The use computers facilitate identity theft, spread of computer viruses , manipulation of data destruction of the data , use of malware and hacking. The computer is like a major weapon for cyber terrorism (Collin, 1997). A number of targets of cyber crime exist all involving computers directly or indirectly, the incidence of cyber terrorism may be few but the impact on a single incident may be of high magnitude. For instant identity theft may be minimal but the impact of one theft may be high, the perpetrators may use the identity to carry out their activities (World Computer Congress, 2002) The last t element is motivation, in real world terrorism economic, social, politica factors and changes are the main motivators such is the motivators for the cyber terrorism as well. The conditions and existing situations in the political, economic and social scenes have formed motivations for perpetrating the cyber terrorism. Most economic institutions and organisations are dependent on internet for ecommerce and banking, thus any person with the tools and ability to disrupt the systems for personal gain can have their way (Denning, 2000). The major concern with respect to cyber terrorism is the fact that as the pervasiveness of the internet increases in all the areas and dimensions of human life groups of people and individuals have used this advantage to threaten others without fear of being caught (Stone, 1993). The internet continue to expand and more and more interconnection and networking occurs, there will reach a time when the major form of crime and the worst will be cyber terrorism. This is because of an increased platform and cyber space that allows the malicious users to deploy threats and malicious code to the world (Collin, 1997). Cyber terrorism has several impacts that are far too detrimental to an organization or government agency. The impacts at times may result to great losses in terms of money, information and operation procedures of an organization or government (Verton, 2003). Cyber terrorism is a weapon of mass annoyance, the attacks result in the blockage of services and use of hardware and software facilities especially in a networked environment. Bugs can be deployed by terrorists to deny services in a network for instance the denial of network domain naming systems that paralyses a network. Most organization and essential service providers use information systems for example the power and lighting companies and water service providers. The attack on these systems may paralyze the provision of these essential services which may result in more physical damage such as lack of water for fire fighters. This shows the direct and indirect impacts this may have (Colarik, 2006). Cyber terrorism may result in huge economic losses. The loss from an attack from cyber terrorism is high even compared to the damage that is caused by a natural calamity in terms of economic value. The hurricane that hit the United States caused a damage of approximately 11 billion dollars. On the contrary a small love bug that was created by a student using cheap equipment cost approximately 3 billion to 5 billion dollars worth of damage world wide (Colarik, 2006). Other economic losses attributed to cyber crimes in the world include financial fraud , loss of intelectual property, lower productivity, bad reputation and third party liability. The organisation may also undergo poor sales as a result of denial of service for instance a customer may not be able to access the products and services and opts for another alternative Cyber Crime also has a major impact on the military and the department of defence . the military department and defence sometimes depend on computer networks that are vulnarable to external attack. This is a major threat to the national security of the country, the military information may find way to civilian minds and thus create a state of insecurity (Richard, Kiernan, & Mabrey, 2006). The mitigation against cyber terrorism and the impacts they have on the victims and the society at large are almost similar to the techniques used in defending against the traditional terrorism. The practices which include deterrence, law, defense, negotiations, and diplomacy still prove to be effective in dealing with cyber terrorism however the extend of some elements of cyber terrorism are extended .The disparity in international law and culture may however be the hindrance to the use of these mitigation techniques (Whitelaw, 1998) . These techniques according to (Verton, 2003) include; Deterrence Through the Government initiative by use of force and other alternatives the cost of cyber terrorism can be made too high through punishment and impose of tax and levies on activities that have been identified to promote and encourage cyber terrorisms and associated crimes. This reduces the number of people indulging in such practices thus they can be easiliy identified. However this may lead to violation of human rights and in addition the perpetrators may not come into the attention of respective authorities until when its too late and they have created well routed networks that it becomes difficult to contain them through deterrence (Whitelaw, 1998). Individual organizations , institutions and businesses should take initiatives which include the use of policies in the organizations with regard to use of computers and the internet in the work place. This will deter the staff from involving themselves in cyber terrorism thus minimize the impact . Use of criminal justice The government can pursue legal measures and seek extradition and prosecution of the perpetrators of cyber terrorism. Government should enact laws to govern and provide the litigation for perpetrators of cyber terrorism. Since the act is a global crime governments should work together in curbing the menace, each government should appreciate the fact that the benefits of internetworking are shared globally and thus the vices associated with it should also be shared in equal measure and such efforts for mitigation should be a collective responsibility (Council Of Europe, 2007). Cyber terrorism is a new type of terrorism and international crime and most countries have no legal frame work to handle such crime therefore the Governments should enact relevant laws and policies to curb the menace (Collin, 1997). Enhanced prevention The Governments and organizations through the emergence of new technology can strengthen their defense and prevention against cyber terrorism. Use of firewalls, data encryption , passwords and other prevention techniques reduces occurrence of cyber terrorism on the respective organizations. Government agencies that mainly deal with internal security and other vital government sectors should be kept from public domains and restricted to private networks that are well secured to maintain integrity and confidentiality of the data and information. Monitoring systems are also important to ensure easy identification of threats (Whitelaw, 1998) . Education and awareness Education , training and awareness of the users of computers and other internet devices on the safe methods of using the internet by avoiding free ware and shareware, access to unprotected sites and the use of untrusted web sites, this is the primary mitigation measure that reduces chances of cyber terrorism. The terrorists more than often use captivating messages and information to lure their pray and eventually causing damage. Users should also keep the confidential information such as credit card details and bank account details confidential (Stone, 1993). Personal initiative The users of internet and other public networks that may pose a risk to the safety of ones data and information should be cautious. One should exercise caution when it comes to use of these facilities, downloading of information and uploading of personal data and information whenever requested for official use. This will help in reducing the impacts at the individual level (Stone, 1993). In conclusion we appreciate the internet was initially developed for unregulated and free communication globally . However this has provided an ample platform for the malicious terrorists to launch their attacks. Ideally no one owns the internet thus it is left upto the individual and organization to regulate and provide their own protection against cyber terrorism (Council Of Europe, 2007). Not every criminal activity is a cyber terrorism act , there are factors that must be considered to term such activity as a terrorism act . Several event factors must be analyzed to quantify it as a terrorism act. This is not to mean that in the absence of these factors that an organization is safe, cyber terrorism can occur even in the absence of the factors and it usually happens within the shortest time possible (Collin, 1997). Organisations have a belief that each individual will always do the right thing which is not always the case. People tend to explore and do what they are not supposed to do which is always the major cause of cyber terrorism in an organization. Computers have proved to be the major tools for perpetration of cyber terrorism and also a defense tool against the crime. If used to our advantage the computers and their uses can effectively mitigate the impacts of cyber terrorism in the organization and in government agencies. We should however first re examine our understanding of cyber terrorism to be able to identify the real and heavy impacts and how they can effectively be mitigated. An understanding of the concept cyber terrorism and the nature and mode od development and advancement with time should be well understood and the possible measures and ways of curbing the menace identified and implemented efficiently. In order to achieve an environment where cyber terrorism is minimal and has less impact the integration of computer system and cyber terrorism threats and the mitigation measures is of atmost importance. An understanding of the computer systems and the cyber terrorism is vital for this integration. Finally computers and networking is a dynamic technology and phenomena that is here with us and shall remain with us. They are both tools for the propagation of cyber terrorism therefore individual and collective responsibility should be advocated in order to minimize the cases of cyber terrorism and their impacts. References. Colarik, M. M. (2006). Cyber Terrorism: Political And Economic Implications. Idea Group inc (IGI). Collin, B. (1997). The future of Cyber terrorism. Crime and Justice internationa , 15 - 18. Council Of Europe. (2007). Cyberterrorism: The Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes. Council of Europe. Denning, D. (2000). Cyber terrorism. Testimony before the oversight panel of terrorism committee of Armed services, Us house of representatives , 20 - 25. Richard, H. W., Kiernan, K. L., & Mabrey, D. (2006). Homeland Security: An Introduction. Elsevier. Stone, V. (1993). social interaction and social development in virtual environments. teleoperators and virtual environments , 153 -161. Verton, D. (2003). Black Ice: The Invisible Threat of Cyber-Terrorism. McGraw-Hill professional. Whiteback, C. (1993). Virtual environments. Ethical issues and significant confusions , 147 -152. Whitelaw, K. (1998). Electronic ‘Safe Haven’. US News & World . Terrorists on the Web , 46. World Computer Congress. (2002). IFIP World Computer IFIP World Computer Congress.. August 2002. Montreal,Quebec, Canada: WCC. Read More