Is Cyber Terrorism Actually Terrorism?
Terrorism is a term which has not been defined clearly in a common aspect. There are different explanations to the word ‘terrorism’. One definition according to Denning (2001, pp. 54-55) denotes terrorism as, “the unlawful use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons”. The term ‘cyber terrorism’ has garnered a significant amount of confusion over its definition, but is ultimately described as, “the convergence of cyberspace and terrorism. It refers to unlawful attacks and threats of attacks against computers, networks and the information stored therein when done to intimidate or coerce a government or its people in furtherance of political or social objectives. Further, to qualify as cyberterrorism, an attack should result in violence against persons or property, or at least cause enough harm to generate fear. Attacks that lead to death or bodily injury, explosions, or severe economic loss would be examples. Serious attacks against critical infrastructures could be acts of cyberterrorism, depending on their impact. Attacks that disrupt nonessential services or that are mainly a costly nuisance would not” (Denning, 2001). Both cyber terrorism and terrorism have common denominators and both are related to each other in many significant ways. This essay contends that cyber terrorism is an actual from of terrorism with various example from all around the world to be taken into account.
Cyberterrorism should not be confused with hacktivism or hackers should not be confused with terrorists as in a research study conducted by Computer crime research centre in 2002, 92 percent respondents detected computer security breaches in last 12 months and 92 percent companies have experienced computer breaches but they were not being done by terrorists. Most of these attacks are executed by ‘thrill seekers’ or ‘cyber joyriders’ to seek attention and most importantly to gain publicity (Weimann, 2005). Hacktivists have four major weapons; virtual sit-ins and blockades, automated email bombs, web hacks and computer viruses and worms (Weimann, 2005). Moreover, both cyberterrorism and hacktivism can be similar if hackers attack national infrastructures such as electrical grids or any kind of emergency services which could compromise a nation’s security. If a terrorist group decides to hire hackers for their benefaction, it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate between the two entities. Cyberterrorism is an actual form of terrorism, in that it can be stated with various factors which encourage attractiveness for cyber terrorist attacks. An allusive aspect of cyberterrorism is the unorthodox method utilised to promote personal gain. Factors such as ease of access, minimal monetary expenses, anonymity and lack of ‘real world’ weapons are attractive elements of the cyber terrorism which attracts terrorists to select cyber world for terrorizing people. The ability for cyberterrorists to deliver viruses into computer systems anywhere in the world partnered with the wide variety of targets available to them is also an advantage. Thirdly, a large number of people can be affected simultaneously, which often provides them with the media’s attention that they seek (Weimann, 2005). An example of this was in 1998, when a terrorist organization named Tamil Tigers flooded the email accounts of Sri Lankan embassies with 800 emails per day for a continuous two-week time period, with the message displayed in the email being, “We are the Internet Black Tigers and we are doing this to interrupt your communications”. This act was characterised by the intelligence departments as the first known attack by the terrorist group against the country’s computer systems (Janczewski, Colarik, 2008). Apart from these types of attacks, majority of the cyber-attacks which actually constituted to being cyber terrorism were termed as ‘cyber jihad’.
‘Cyber jihad’ is a term which became common after the attacks of September 2001. Al-Qaeda is one of the major organisations which started this type of jihad. With the internet becoming a common tool at that time to connect with other people, these types of organizations, this one in particular, decided to influence people with the use of cyber jihad, as because one needed to begin with was a computer and internet connection. Al-Qaeda started recruiting people with the use of cyber jihad which would eventually lead to the activities that are termed as an act of terrorism. For instance, if a person wishes to develop a bomb, they only need to type the word into a search engine, after which they would be presented with an array of methods describing ways in which to make a bomb in the confines of their home (Heickero, 2014). This can also be concluded from the following quotes drawn from the website ‘Jihad Online: Islamic Terrorists and the Internet’ (2014), in which the author stated, “Thanks to the progress in modern technology, it is simple to spread information, news, articles and other information through the Internet. We express with the greatest conviction that young Muslims with good internet knowledge should spread information and articles of Jihad”.
According to Omar Bakri Muhammad, leader of the Islamic organisation known as ‘al- Muhajiroun’, there are tens of thousands of Osama bin Laden supporters who are studying computer science for the holy cause and his claim was confirmed by Terrorism Expert and editor of the Pakistani daily newspaper “Ausaf”, Hamid Mir. According to Mir, Bin Laden said in an interview, “hundreds of young men have turned to him and pledged to die for the cause, and hundreds of Muslim scientists are with him and they’ll use their knowledge in chemistry, biology and other fields, from computers to electronics, against the infidels” (Heickero, 2014).
Another example of cyber terrorism which also shows that the act is not limited to organizations or individuals, rather it can be state-motivated terrorist attacks, as has been showcased with several nations defining North Korea as a terrorist state. North Korea’s insistence on acting against its own citizen as well as its main enemy, South Korea, is a primary example of terrorism. North Korean hackers attacked the system of South Korean National Institute of Environmental Research by stealing more than 2000 secret documents which included 700 names of companies which managed toxic chemicals; prized information his which could ultimately be used for the purpose of major terrorist activity (Heickero, 2014).
Many people consider whether cyber terrorism should be considered an international crime or not? The answer to this question can be given by analysing the threat posed by cyber terrorism. Threats of cyber terrorism are more prominent than terrorism due to the fact that real world terrorism is limited to threatening certain locations. However, with cyber terrorism, this is not the case. In the virtual world, terrorism occurs in an international arena, where borders of different countries and the cyber security measures taken by nations alike are futile in the face of cyber terrorist attack (Tehrani et al, 2013). Among the various means of spreading terror through virtual services is propaganda. Propaganda is spread by the use of multimedia technology available on the internet which can come in many forms, such as in a video depicting the aim of a terrorist organization, or violent messages relayed from different bodies. Propaganda can also be used to radicalize individuals into initiating group acts of terror, all without revealing personal identities (UNODC, 2012).
Another means which is considered to be an another prevalent factor is the recruitment and incitement among people through the use of a cyber space. Recruitment of people is one of the most important achievements among different terrorist groups. With the use of technology, an innate sense of anonymity has been filtered into the recruitment process. Essentially, a person can be recruited from any corner of the world simply with the use of cyber tools, which will incite the person towards undertaking terrorist activities. Minors are the main target of these recruitment processes, and most of the time they become successful in inciting the desire to perform acts of terror with the promise relayed by their organisation (UNODC, 2012).
A third means is radicalization, which is done simply by having a computer and an internet connection. Radicalization is an important process for these organizations as it allows them to persuade potential members people in the name of religion or beliefs. They develop violent inclinations among the masses and urge them towards their cause, commonly done so through videos and messages influencing acts such as suicide bombings and randomised shootings.
Another tool used in the spread of terror is the financing of terrorist organisations. Over the past several years, these terror outfits have become more advanced with the use cyber space, in that they are able to collect money from different parts of the world, in ways untraceable due to securely encrypted transactions. This has created the structure of cyber terrorism which allows the free-flowing of funds through the internet, without relative ease (UNODC, 2012). Various preventative measures have been taken by international institutions to be safe of cyber terrorist attacks, such as the United Nations Counter Terrorism Force working alongside its member countries. The Government of United Kingdom has since passed a resolution in partnership with the United Nations to prevent potential threats posed by online terrorist activists (UNODC, 2012). According to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, “The Internet is a prime example of how terrorists can behave in a truly transnational way; in response, States need to think and function in an equally transnational manner” (2012). It is evident through these examples that the access of cyber systems has given terrorists an advantage in which they are now capable of utilising countless ways to spread terror.
When terrorists target any place, they target it with a bomb or a suicide bomb which causes loss to human life and to surrounding infrastructure, but when cyber terrorists perform something it goes into a whole other level of loss to human life and property. For instance, with recent societal advancements, everything has become dependent upon technology. Resources of living such as water and electricity are managed by the use of technology rather than managed by humans. This advancement is good for making life easy but if we see the danger it possesses, there is ample opportunity for terrorists to use cyber space in order to gain access to reserves such as our dams, which can be manipulated to control supplies in accordance to their own agendas. Either by overflowing the water delivered to selected locations or restricting water supplies, there is a scope for acts of terror in this field. Cyber terrorism proves to be substantially more dangerous than terrorism as it allows for a larger area and a greater audience to terrorize, all under the spotlight of the media’s attention, which is the primary objective of the organization (Lewis, 2002). Electrical grids are also potential targets of terrorist organizations, because they have the capability of depriving entire cities of access to electricity at the hands of experienced encoders. With stunts such as these, cyber terrorist groups are able to garner media attention just as any ‘real world’ terrorist organization would, simply by attacking computer systems used in different places around the world.
Revelation of identity is also an important part in cyber terrorism because it is commonplace for the public to be informed as to which terrorist outfit has taken responsibility for certain attacks; however, it is much more prevalent for virtual terrorists to rely upon their anonymity, so as to keep the source of the attack hidden from the public eye (Jones, 2005). Apart from this, there are some other aspects of cyber terrorism which assist in maintaining a certain level of difficulty in tracing them. ‘Preparatory secret communication’ is used by most terrorist organizations, in that this means of contact is conducted mostly through draft messages which are not sent, but are retained on certain accounts that are accessible to most members of the group concerned. By doing so, members of the group are able to relay messages and access replies without having sent hard copies of text to any external source (UNODC, 2012){UNODC, 2012 #3;UNODC, 2012 #3}. Nowadays, there are various smart phone messaging applications that have been developed which use encrypted end to end communication that has been made almost impossible to trace, an example of which is the ‘Telegram’ application.
It is imaginable just how devastation can be caused at the expense of recent technological advancements that have been made available to terrorist organizations in the cyber space. The current vulnerability to cyber-attacks cannot be ignored. Our living resources such as dams, power supplies, organizational information and all data which is available online is at risk of being targeted by cyber terrorists, as their operations can be sourced from any part of the world (Lewis, 2002). One example of cyber terrorism was seen in January 2012 in Israel, where multiple symbolic Israeli websites were targeted, such as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and national airline sites, with the credit card and account details of thousands of Israeli nationals exposed in an unauthorized disclosure (UNODC, 2012). Cyber terrorism is also related to the economy of every country, and no matter how minute the affected facet may be, it is likely that the entire country will feel the repercussions of any acts regarding its economic state.
The economy of a country depends on various facilities provided within the country. The most important factors which constitute a nation’s economy are the banking and finance. If a cyber-attack occurs on this module of the economy then it would create enormous amount of terror in the minds of people, as opposed to the more physical effects incurred by terrorist activity. Account details, present balance disclosures, transferring of funds to another part of the world; all these types of activities can be done with the assistance of computer systems (Colarik, 2006). Other factors which are important to an economy and may be targeted for terrorist activities are medical and governmental facilities of countries. With today’s technology, cyber terrorists are more than able to attack the medical records of prominent persons within a country, as well as change facts associated with it, such as prescribed drugs or other important pieces of information. The identities of government officials may be revealed to expose them to enemy nations or spy agents. These types of attacks done through cyber space can lead to the downfall of a country’s economy and eventually lead to terrorism in the virtual world. All these types of attacks on a country’s resources can lead to the degradation of their economy and the citizens of that country may feel terrorized (Colarik, 2006).
Conclusively, it’s important to accentuate the fact that with the arguments stated above, cyber terrorism presents itself as an actual form of terrorism, with the consequences and vulnerability of cyber terrorism superseding those of terrorism. The definition for both cyber terrorism and terrorism has been given by Denning, with both stating that the common objective of both acts is to terrorize the public and gain publicity. We have also seen how cyber terrorism has some advantage over terrorism, in that it is much cheaper than real world terrorism, as well as the larger number of people who can be affected by using one computer and internet connection. Cyber jihad has evolved with the advancement of technology, with various Islamic organizations using cyber terrorism instead of real world terrorism because of its outreach to a larger audience. They are using it to spread their propaganda around the world, for the recruitment of people and inciting them to terrorize the world, for radicalizing target demographics, and for financing their terrorist outfits. If successful, these targets of cyber terrorist organizations would harm the world more devastatingly than the real world terrorism. Taking all these aspects of cyber terrorism into consideration, various international institutions are working to counter, such as the joint efforts of the United Nations, United States and the Government of United Kingdom. With cyber terrorism spreading rapidly, every nation’s economy is in danger, with attacks on their infrastructures, organizations, medical institutions, government documents and banking accounts being possible. These arguments and examples discussed show how cyber terrorism is an actual form of terrorism, and how acts of terror committed through the cyber sphere are more dangerous than real world terrorism.