Question:
Discuss about the Cyber Terrorism for Vulnerabilities and Threats.
Cyber crime is becoming a major security concern in this generation of ICT. ICT gives several advantages to the society but it also has certain disadvantages (Alsaadi & Tubaishat, 2015). Cyber terrorism is an act of spreading fear in the society by using the cyberspace. Information system can be affected by these types of threats (Ahmad & Yunos, 2012). Cyber terrorism merges terrorism with cyberspace. This kind of act is against the law and it affects the information systems and networks as well.
This report discusses about the concept of cyber terrorism. It gives a clear overview of the problems and challenges that are faced by the community because of cyber terrorism. This report discusses regarding the relevant technologies that play a major role in cyber terrorism. This report figures out certain issues that are certain issues and their impact on the society. This report also explains regarding the lessons learnt from the entire discussion.
Cyber terrorism is an illegal act that takes place over internet. There is a political or national influence behind terrorist activities (Ahmad, Yunos & Sahib, 2012). Cyberspace is utilized by the cyber terrorists in order to gain unauthorized access to valuable data. Cyber terrorism can cause fear in the society just like any traditional terrorist activity or attack. It can even cause death. Cyber terrorism is generally planned beforehand. Cyber terrorism merges terrorism with cyberspace. The connection and interaction between virtual and real world has been made possible by the use of ICT. The weaknesses present in the technology can be exploited by attackers in order to harm the society and nation. Insurgents, terrorist organizations as well as Jihadists make the use of internet for planning the attacks and spreading wrong messages in the nation and society.
Cyber terrorism can also be related to any type of computer fraud. These attackers access information in an illegal manner and misuse these data to harm the social, ideological, religious, and political objectives. Denial of service attack generates second order effects in the nation but does not create much fear among the people. If telecommunication systems are stopped in a crisis period then its impact is considered to be catastrophic. The global domain present in the IT environment is known as cyberspace. Sharing valuable data over the internet can be dangerous as the cyber terrorists aim to exploit the vulnerabilities of technology rather than attacking with weapons. Different targets of cyber terrorists are information system of the government, computer system, oil refineries as well as data banks.
Terrorism is an act of spreading fear in the nation. The global domain present in the IT environment is known as cyberspace (Torres Soriano, 2012). Cyber means the entire virtual space in internet. Cyber terrorism has certain features like the execution of this act is completely done over internet. The terrorist group aims to affect the political infrastructure of the nation. This act either threatens violence or has a violent nature. Significant role is played by a non state entity. Conspiracy cells, individuals or organizations can conduct this act of terrorism. These types of acts have psychological repercussions.
Cyber terrorism can cause devastating effect on the nation. It has the capability to harm the whole nation because its infrastructures depend on the computer networks and systems (Awan, 2014). It creates threat to the security of the nation. The public policies also get harmed due to cyber terrorism.
Technical Impediments: Identity of the people cannot be disclosed over the internet and this imposes difficulty on the authorities when they try to track a criminal activity (PakObserver, 2017). The authorities face problem in detecting terrorist activity by using internet.
Legislative Aspect: There is absence of a particular law that can address an act of cyber terrorism. Most laws fail to incorporate the technological feature and use.
Partnership: The organizations do not want to share information with other organizations because of the fear of cyber terrorism (Bogdanoski & Petreski, 2013). This will act as a barrier in creating partnership between public as well as private sectors.
Electric Power System: If the computer systems that are responsible for controlling the power system are attacked then it can shut the power supply of the society as well as the nation (Tehrani, Manap & Taji, 2013).
Military Operations: The information system of the military can be hacked for stealing valuable information that can assist in the planning of physical attack.
Government Security: The cyber terrorists can hack the information system of the government in order to harm the nation.
Cyber terrorists use advanced technology for the purpose of creating fear. ICT plays a major role in assisting faster communication between different terrorist groups.
Internet plays a significant role in cyber terrorist attacks. The terrorist groups make the maximum use of internet technology to spread fear in the nation (Abomhara, 2015). The terrorists develop malicious software for getting unauthorized access to valuable data (Luiijf, 2012). The Jihadists can use mobile technology in order to spread propaganda regarding political as well as ideological issues.
Computer systems are known for storing valuable data and if the terrorist groups are able to hack into the system then they can misuse the data for their own purpose (Jarvis, Macdonald & Nouri, 2014). Bluetooth technology and use of social media platforms also play a significant role in cyber terrorism. Technological advancements assist in the act of cyber terrorism.
Cryptography can be used by the terrorists for encrypting valuable data and cause harm to the government. They can hide their identity by the process of encryption.
Steganography technique can be used by the terrorist to exchange information by hiding it inside objects.
The vulnerabilities in the technology are exploited by the cyber terrorists in order to harm the nation and state. They make use of advanced technologies for the purpose of spreading fear in the nation (Manap & Tehrani, 2012). The government as well as the military systems can also get hacked and misused by the attackers (Chuipka, 2016). Cyber terrorism aims to create psychological repercussions in the society. The cyber terrorists have a political or ideological motive. Cloud servers as well as computer systems can get attacked by malicious codes that are developed by the cyber terrorists.
Financial issues were given main importance but there are many more issues related to cyber terrorism like:
Air Traffic Control: The system that controls the air traffic can get attacked and cause disruption to the entire operations causing flight delays (Ackoski & Dojcinovski, 2012).
Water Supply System: The flood gates of the dams can be attacked by the cyber terrorist causing death of several people. The supply of water can also be stopped due to cyber terrorism.
Healthcare System: Cyber terrorists have the capability to attack the healthcare systems and disrupt the healthcare facilities in the nation and society (Harries & Yellowlees, 2013). They are also able to modify and remove the health records of the patients.
ICT is gaining importance with time. There are several advantages of ICT. The above discussion pointed out the negative side of ICT. Cyberspace has several vulnerabilities that can be exploited by the cyber terrorists to harm the nation. Various types of attacks are possible by using the internet technology. Cyber attack is different from cyber terrorism. The aim of cyber terrorism is to spread fear in the nation but the aim of cyber attack is to steal valuable data from information systems. Cyber terrorism makes use of sensitive data to spread fear in the nation as well as the society. Threatening messages can be spread by the cyber terrorists by using advanced technologies. Incorporation of strong security infrastructure will be able to prevent such illegal activities.
Conclusion
This report concludes that advanced technologies play significant role in cyber terrorism. This report said that cyber terrorism is an act of spreading fear in the society by using the cyberspace. Information system can be affected by these types of threats. Cyber terrorism merges terrorism with cyberspace. This kind of act is against the law and it affects the information systems and networks as well. The global domain present in the IT environment is known as cyberspace. This report pointed out that the terrorist group aims to affect the political infrastructure of the nation. Cyber terrorism can cause devastating effect on the nation. It has the capability to harm the whole nation because its infrastructures depend on the computer networks and systems. The major challenges lie in overcoming the technical vulnerabilities to stop cyber terrorism. Bluetooth technology and use of social media platforms also play a significant role in cyber terrorism. Cyber terrorists can use the technique of cryptography as well as Steganography to harm the nation. The government as well as the military systems can also get hacked and misused by the attackers. This report also pointed out few major issues like hacking the healthcare systems, water supply systems as well as air traffic control system that can harm the nation. This report concluded that incorporation of strong security infrastructure will be able to prevent such illegal activities.
References
Abomhara, M. (2015). Cyber security and the internet of things: vulnerabilities, threats, intruders and attacks. Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility, 4(1), 65-88.
Ackoski, J., & Dojcinovski, M. (2012, June). Cyber terrorism and cyber-crime–threats for cyber security. In Proceedings of First Annual International Scientific Conference, Makedonski Brod, Macedonia, 09 June 2012. MIT University–Skopje.
Ahmad, R., & Yunos, Z. (2012). A dynamic cyber terrorism framework. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, 10(2), 149.
Ahmad, R., Yunos, Z., & Sahib, S. (2012, June). Understanding cyber terrorism: The grounded theory method applied. In Cyber Security, Cyber Warfare and Digital Forensic (CyberSec), 2012 International Conference on(pp. 323-328). IEEE.
Alsaadi, E., & Tubaishat, A. (2015). Internet of things: Features, challenges, and vulnerabilities. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Information Technology, 4(1), 1-13.
Awan, I. (2014). Debating the Term Cyber-terrorism: issues and problems. Internet Journal of Criminology. ISSN, 2045(6743), 1-14.
Bogdanoski, M., & Petreski, D. (2013). Cyber terrorism–global security threat. Contemporary Macedonian Defense-International Scientific Defense, Security and Peace Journal, 13(24), 59-73.
Chuipka, A. (2016). The Strategies of Cyberterrorism. Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. 1(2).
Harries, D., & Yellowlees, P. M. (2013). Cyberterrorism: Is the US healthcare system safe?. Telemedicine and e-Health, 19(1), 61-66.
Hua, J., & Bapna, S. (2013). The economic impact of cyber terrorism. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 22(2), 175-186.
Jarvis, L., Macdonald, S., & Nouri, L. (2014). The cyberterrorism threat: Findings from a survey of researchers. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 37(1), 68-90.
Luiijf, E. (2012). Understanding cyber threats and vulnerabilities. In Critical Infrastructure Protection (pp. 52-67). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Manap, N. A., & Tehrani, P. M. (2012). Cyber Terrorism: Issues in Its Interpretation andEnforcement. International Journal of Information and Electronics Engineering, 2(3), 409.
PakObserver. (2017). Challenges of cyber terrorism. Retrieved 13 September 2017, from https://pakobserver.net/challenges-of-cyber-terrorism/
Tehrani, P. M., Manap, N. A., & Taji, H. (2013). Cyber terrorism challenges: The need for a global response to a multi-jurisdictional crime. Computer Law & Security Review, 29(3), 207-215.
Torres Soriano, M. R. (2012). The vulnerabilities of online terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 35(4), 263-277.
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