Cyber Terrorism

Go back to Tutorial

Cyber terrorism 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 as computer viruses.

Cyber terrorism 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 Cyber terrorism.

Cyber terrorism can be also defined as the intentional use of computer, networks, and public internet to cause destruction and harm for personal objectives. Objectives may be political or ideological since this can be seen as a form of terrorism. There is much concern from government and media sources about potential damages that could be caused by Cyber terrorism, and this has prompted official responses from government agencies.

Cyber terrorism can also include attacks on Internet business, but when this is done for economic motivations rather than ideological, it is typically regarded as cyber crime. Cyber terrorism is limited to actions by individuals, independent groups, or organizations. Any form of cyber warfare conducted by governments and states would be regulated and punishable under international law.

Types of cyberterror capability

The following three levels of cyberterror capability is defined by Monterey group

• Simple-Unstructured: The capability to conduct basic hacks against individual systems using tools created by someone else. The organization possesses little target analysis, command and control, or learning capability.
• Advanced-Structured: The capability to conduct more sophisticated attacks against multiple systems or networks and possibly, to modify or create basic hacking tools. The organization possesses an elementary target analysis, command and control, and learning capability.
• Complex-Coordinated: The capability for a coordinated attack capable of causing mass-disruption against integrated, heterogeneous defenses (including cryptography). Ability to create sophisticated hacking tools. Highly capable target analysis, command and control, and organization learning capability.

Attacks

If you consider malware like Stuxnet discovered in June 2010 and nicknamed the “world’s first digital weapon” things change drastically. Stuxnet had moved beyond the virtual world and was capable of causing physical destruction to computer equipment and possible large-scale destruction – or cyber-war. However, cyber-terrorism seems to have found a different niche where the destruction or disruption of service isn’t a military or state target, but that of a commercial entity or service – the businesses, services, or information that you and I often times depend upon.

In the case of the Sony attack, which saw the release of confidential data of employees and their families in November 2014, there are many potential suspects. Regardless of “who dun it”, the damage to Sony is very real. There has been a loss in revenue due to movies being leaked, sensitive employee information was disclosed (including salaries and social security numbers), and executive emails were publicised – shedding a disparaging light on Hollywood executives. With these leaks came brand and other collateral damage, resulting in a long road ahead for Sony to fully recover. As a result, Sony’s potential and current customers are likely to question purchasing Sony products, which could have a devastating long-term impact on the company.

Then, Lizard Squad – an organization that refers to itself as a cyber-terrorist – launched a massive DDoS attack against Sony’s PlayStation Network and Microsoft’s Xbox Live networks on Christmas Day, ruining holiday fun for millions in the process. Lizard Squad followed up these disruptions with an attack against the Tor Project, a network of virtual tunnels that allow people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet, and have threatened many individuals and rival groups along the way.

Finally there is the North Korea attack, which saw the US’s Web and internet infrastructure go down for roughly 9½ hours, resulting in many thinking that the U.S. government was behind the attack. While extremely unlikely, cyber-terrorism can be an act of disruption in this way, even used primarily for propaganda purposes.

In March 2013, the New York Times reported on a pattern of cyber attacks against U.S. financial institutions believed to be instigated by Iran as well as incidents affecting South Korean financial institutions that originate with the North Korean government.

In August 2013, media companies including the New York Times, Twitter and the Huffington Post lost control of some of their websites Tuesday after hackers supporting the Syrian government breached the Australian Internet company that manages many major site addresses. The Syrian Electronic Army, a hacker group that has previously attacked media organisations that it considers hostile to the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, claimed credit for the Twitter and Huffington Post hacks in a series of Twitter messages. Electronic records showed that NYTimes.com, the only site with an hours-long outage, redirected visitors to a server controlled by the Syrian group before it went dark.

 

Go back to Tutorial