Cyber Terrorism
Terrorism has become the most heatedly discussed and debated subject in social and political circles. In fact these days, this one issue has been dominating all other national and international problems. This is because on the one hand, we have just been witness to world's worst and probably the most sophisticated terrorist acts when airplanes were used as missiles to hit the two most powerful buildings in the United States and on the other hand, terrorism is spreading so fast that there appears to be no suitable and permanent solution to this problem.
Terrorism has turned into a national issue because on the one hand it is becoming more effective and lethal and on the other terrorists are now adopting newer and better tactics to meet their goals and objectives. After September 11, "President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and senior administration officials have alerted the public not only to the dangers of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons but also to the further menace of cyber terrorism. "Terrorists can sit at one computer connected to one network and can create worldwide havoc," warned Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge in a representative observation last April. "[They] don't necessarily need a bomb or explosives to cripple a sector of the economy, or shut down a power grid." (Green, 2002)
Let us first understand what terrorism really is. Terrorism is a violence, which has been carefully planned, and it is usually pre-meditated. It is known that unlike random acts of violence, terrorism is always planned in order to extract maximum benefits.
The United States Federal Government defines terrorism as:
The term "terrorism" means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. The term "international terrorism" means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than one country. The term "terrorist group" means any group practicing, or that has significant subgroups that practice, international terrorism." (http://www.mipt.org/terrorismdefined.html)
Terrorism is an act of violence, which is directed against a particular individual or an entire nation. The problem with terrorism in its new form is that it has become much more sophisticated than we had previously anticipated. With the ever increasing power of the Internet and various networking systems and advancement in communication technologies, terrorism has been expanded its reach and is now always one step ahead of the intelligence agencies.
Even before the September 11 attacks, intelligence agencies had alerted the nation of the imminent danger from a new breed of terrorist known as cyber-terrorists. President Bush warned the nation that, "American forces ale overused and under funded precisely when they are confronted by a host of new threats and challenges -- the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the rise of cyber terrorism, the proliferation of missile technology." Cyber terrorism in simpler words is terrorism carried out with technologically advanced means where networks play an important role as terrorist illegal gain access to confidential information. This breed of terrorists is certainly more menacing than the ones we had hitherto been trying to root out. Cyber terrorism is dangerous because catching the criminal is a daunting task and because access to sensitive data can wreak havoc as once a person enters a database, it takes a while to detect intrusion and takes even longer to block access. During this time, the cyber terrorist, commonly known as hacker can easily get access information to desired information.
CYBER TERRORISM:
Cyber terrorism crime and hacking have become perpetual threats to national security and economy. They exist in so many different forms that it is difficult to place them under one specific category. However the one thing common in all such crimes is use of computer, which acts as a shield between the criminal and victim thus protecting the former from immediate detection for possible arrest or prosecution. This shield is the very reason cyber-terrorism is expected to rise enormously in coming few years. Heather Maher reports a rapid increase in cyber crimes, "As computer prices have dropped, computer ownership has soared, and with it, computer crime. Lurking on your local server are hackers (the FBI says 30% of businesses, universities and institutions have been hacked), cyber-stalkers, e-mail terrorists, traffickers in child pornography, pedophiles, drug dealers and credit card thieves." Computer criminals can do serious damage to the target victim either financially, emotionally and sometimes even physically. Thus their presence is a perpetual threat which needs to be effectively controlled and stemmed, something which cannot be achieved without governmental intervention.
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