As quickly as tools are created to prevent unauthorized access of information, ways are being created to work around these protections. Just as technology has become increasingly smarter, the danger of disruption to vital parts of the nation's security, infrastructure, and banking systems has rapidly increased. It is no longer a matter the threat of the annoyance of a simple computer virus to temporary disable a computer network. The potential for widespread electronic attacks from cyber-terrorists could result in the leakage of national security information and the disabling of banking systems. Enemies of the United States no longer need to reply on physical acts of terrorism when they are able to potentially cause more lasting damage through cyber-terrorism. This paper seeks to explain cyber-terrorism, ways in which it is employed, and the way in which the United States is responding...

Thomas (2003), the author states that, "We can say with some certainty, al Qaeda loves the Internet" (Thomas 112). This point-of-view has been reiterated by many experts in the field of terrorism and counter terrorism and there is a growing realization of the way that computers and the Internet are being used as another tool in the terrorist's arsenal. The term cyber-terrorism has developed as a result of the role of modern technology in the furtherance of national and international terrorism.
It is ironic that on the one hand the advent of the Internet and the age of digital communication have been welcomed as one of the greatest innovations of our age and on the other hand as one of the greatest threats to our security. This dichotomy