Cyber Terrorism

Hello,

I am doing a report on Cyber terrorism for an online research class and want people's input. I want to know if you think it is a real threat and what are some things you think we can or should do to help prevent, deter, or at lessen the effects of a cyber terrorism attack.

I am collecting this data to use specifically in my resaerch paper, to get an opinion of what some Americans think.

Thanks for any help you provide,
Matthew

 

Just out of curiosty is this you site http://www.xanga.com/Iggyboo

 

You might find some info on this link.
http://www.bepress.com/jhsem/vol2/iss3/2/

 

Copy this one and put your name under it.
http://csciwww.etsu.edu/gotterbarn/stdntppr/

 

No, that is not my site

Matthew

 

Thanks for the link I will see what I can get out of it.

Matthew

 

I might use it as a source of reference but I would never claim it as my own. I find it more rewarding to do my own research so I can learn more than simply how to cut and paste. But thanks for the link it could provides helpful in understanding the topic.

Matthew

 

I was just kidding.
If you google with "Cyber Terrorism" you get 5.550.000 results.
If you google with "Cyber Terrorism" quotes included you get 673.000 results.
Stuff enough for a large number of pages.

 

You never know what people might suggest. I have found more than enough souces I am mostly looking now for people's personal opinions on the subject

Matthew

 

Asking people's opinion at Wilders could end up in political discussions and I don't think this will fit in the forum rules.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

I guess I will search for a different forum to post my query in.

I am looking to get peoples opinions about if it is a real threat and solutions to add another aspect to my research problem

Matthew

 

Welcome to Wilders Matthew,

There really is no need to inquire elsewhere given the fact your subject matter is well within our quidelines. If by chance political discussions creep in We will address them at that time.

Continue with your inquiry Please.

 

Firstly, I would think that you want to define what Cyber Terrorism is.

Personally, I don't think cyber terrorism exists (unless hackers get control of a nuclear site and launch the missiles or get a hold of two trains and crash them into one another etc....or anything similar...but that hasn't happened yet, that I know of).

If I remember right, the term was first coined shortly after 9-11 ... when the word 'terrorism' suddenly became a fad word (enemies of good/bad governments all over the world suddenly became 'terrorists').

To me, it seemed that someone coined the phrase Cyber Terrorism, simply to gain notoriety.

 

No it has been around longer than that - studied it in some of my anti-terrorism classes before 9/11.

Here we go...

quote from here.

Obviously that definition is more specialized than the ones more commonly being used today.

 

What already exists is cyber-hijacking...... I'll ruin your site/business unless you pay me. If the motivation for such a hijack was to raise money specifically for arms & propaganda then wouldn't that become an act of terrorism. My point being the act is not enough in itself to define it ..... it is the motivation behind the act. So scale is not necessarily the thing...... you don't have to try and take out global root servers to be a cyber-terrorist.

 

It seems to me that the current, exponential growth of malware (fuelled by both unscrupulous advertising companies and organised crime) is a far greater and more widespread threat than cyber-terrorism will ever be.

 

I know what you mean Paranoid - but in the 'real World' the line between terrorism and organised crime doesn't appear to be so easily defined:-

Tangled Webs: Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups

So unless you can say with confidence this hasn't or won't become true of cybercrime - then yet again the ability to define the act without understanding the motivation/consequence is not simply a matter of perceiving a moment of impact.

But yes I agree with the tone of your point. As in the real World terrorism is mostly absorbed into an adaptive pattern of life and we most of us can hope we will never experience our own personal 'Ground Zero'.

Respectfully
eyes-open

 

Well doesn't the definition of cyber terrorisism have to live up to both halves of the phrase?... ie, if it isn't causing terror, then I can never see it as cyber terrorism (however others may define it).

...hacking and stealing information/holding systems to ransom is stealing/blackmail...there is no element of 'terror' in it.

Now shutting down a cities power supply, shutting down/taking over an airports airtraffic control sytem (if these things can be done)...they can cause fear/terror.

That said, thanks for the post re the original formation of the word cyberterrorism in 1997...always interesting...and for the post re terrorists organisations getting into organised crime to fund their 'war'

 

I just want to thank everyone again for giving me there input on the topic

Iggyboo

 

Cyber terrorism is a very real possibility.
Have you read about the attack on Blue Security?
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=129985
In itself, this wouldn't actually qualify, but it easily could. If the target was a critical part of a nations infrastructure, be it financial, utilities, communication systems, etc, it could very easily cause serious disruptions in our daily lives. Much of our infrastructure depends on the internet. Just think of what could be disabled and how much havoc could be caused by a well aimed DDOS attack. What would the result be if something like that was done a few hours before an actual physical attack or immediately following some other disaster?
Rick