Cyberterrorism and the US Economy

¶ … Cyberterrorism on the U.S. Economy

The Impact of Cyber Terrorism on the U.S. Economy

In accordance to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), cyber terrorism can be defined as a calculated and politically enthused attack against data, information, computer systems and computer programs, which in turn, brings about non-physical vehemence against civilian targets. In simple words, cyber terrorism implies making use of the web to cause detriment to the real world and more so to a civilian target, evolving an individual or a group's devout and political objectives. The threat of cyber terrorism to the general public, the government establishment and most of all the United States economy, lies in the fact that cyber terrorists have the capacity to shut down all of the main systems that are relied upon, such as the systems of banking and also water systems. The impacts that such an invasion has on the nation as a whole are overwhelming as they could easily bring the entire nation to a standstill. Cyber terrorism does not necessarily pose a physical threat. However, it does pose a significant threat to systems and the economy of the nation (Halder, 2011).

In the contemporary, the United States faces substantial cyber security threats that put at risk America's critical infrastructure, the liberties that Americans access online, and the economic sustainability of U.S. commerce. The cybersecurity existing state of affairs is unbalanced, particularly when bearing in mind the massive and mounting scope of these threats (Bucci et al., 2013). Failure to take accountable action, on the other hand, leaves the U.S. susceptible to a diversity of threats. For instance, nations such as Russia, China, and Iran are more than prepared to snip or put an end to the U.S. digital property to advance their supremacy or reputation. In addition, non-state actors like Hamas and Hezbollah have also revealed the ability to apply cyber practices and criminal establishments from all over the globe, and have operated as appointed guns, in addition to, on their own, expending cyber implements as their weapon of choice. In addition, economic wise, cyber espionage is becoming rampant, as corporations in the United States are projected to experiencing losses of about $250 billion each year (Bucci et al., 2003). This paper purposes to discuss incidents of cyber terrorism in the past, the prevailing deterrents, how effective they are and the recommended measures that ought to be employed to assist in precluding cyber terrorism.

Historical Incidents of Cyber terrorism

Cyber terrorism is not an act that begun in recent years, but one that emanated several years ago. Methods of targeted attacks and information theft were comprehensively known and understood in the past periods. For instance, this goes back as far as the employment of semi-automatic machines to decrypt the Enigma machine that was used by the Germans during the course of World War II. Nevertheless, the apparent instances of cyber terrorist attacks began to transpire and were deployed in the 1990s, in addition to being directed at government systems, private proxies and corporations. One of the major historical instances of cyber terrorism can be highlighted through the famous 9/11 attacks. The 9/11 attack perceived characteristic implementation of cyber terrorism by Al Qaeda group against the United States government. This particular attack not only conveyed threat messages and communications, but also vandalized numerous websites, interrupted and messed up internet communication for the government, in addition to that of amenities for members of the public. In addition, this attack generated a massive responsiveness amongst the Muslim hackers to back the militant agenda in their jihad. The movement, as a consequence, turned as a place of interest to Muslim jihadists and their cyber terrorism undertakings against government administrations, from non-Muslim fundamentalist assemblages against government administrations (Halder, 2011).

One of the key examples is the incident that took place in 2010 where Russian hackers were able to slide in a digital bomb into the Nasdaq. This was a massive hack that included malware that had the potential to harm and incapacitate computers of the stock market and bring about mayhem on the economy of the United States. Basically, the hackers broke into the network of the stock exchange with personalized malware that had the capacity to not only spy, but also steal data and information. More so, it has the potential to bring about digital detriment and in theory, ruin the whole system. However, the lucky aspect is that this digital bomb never went off and was detected. Nonetheless, the fact that the bomb never went off is not key. The fine points of the cyber-attack elucidate, in real terms, the threats to national security in a nonphysical manner. Hackers being able to thwart transactions and trades for a day and damaging the stock market is now an actual likelihood. This can adversely impact the economy of the nation as a whole and therefore the government ought to lay emphasis on safeguarding against these sorts of attacks from taking place in the forthcoming periods. This attack was a display of just how susceptible Wall Street is (Pagliery, 2014).

Another example of historical incident is the "I Love You" virus that disseminated and spread through banks, security firms and companies, as well as web corporations in the United States. The virus and malware did have a damaging impact on companies in the U.S., particularly those that substantially make use of multimedia documents and files, for instance, advertising and magazine companies, as the malware was capable of overwriting pictures and such files (Kleinbard and Richtmyer, 2000). The 'I Love You' virus was created by Onel de Guzman from Philippines in the year 2000 and ended up disseminating and spreading across the world through the internet. It had disparaging impacts as it infected more than forty five million computers and resulted in billions of dollars losses on businesses situated in the United States. Despite the fact that the virus was considered not to be an act of cyber warfare, the devastating loss in United States' commercial businesses indicates the sort of adverse impact that cyber terrorism can have on the United States economy (Orji, 2014).

In addition, on January 2015, hackers proclaiming adherence and loyalty to the Islamic State took over and controlled the Twitter account of the central command of the United States military. The set of individuals dispatched intimidating messages and publicity videos, in addition to military documents. This is the most recent incident of a propaganda scuffle that the United States and the Islamic State have conducted on each other since 2013. This indicates the manner in which cyber terrorism has progressed. It also displays the vulnerabilities of the systems and networks in the American establishments and the manner in which cyber terrorism can easily shut down the United States Economy and Military as well (Lamothe, 2015).

Evaluate the Effectiveness of Deterrents and Existing Antiterrorism Measures

One of the prevailing measures in an attempt to deter cyber terrorism is the collaboration between different agencies. For instance, according to the CIA website (2000), the institution takes part in safeguarding the information infrastructure of the nation within the Intelligence Community. In addition, the CIA works in tandem with other stakeholders in safeguarding the infrastructure systems of the United States. This is across the private sector and government agencies. In addition, the different agencies such as FBI, CIA, and the National Infrastructure protection Center (NIPC) have worked together in disseminating cyber threat appraisals (CIA, 2000). More so, the FBI takes part in other undertakings with the private sector, for instance, the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC). One proper illustration of this collaboration is the institution's detection and establishment of fraud within the banking system, in which banks in the United States were unacquainted that they were being swindled and taken advantage of by businesses in another nation (Snow, 2011).

However, the deterrents and existing antiterrorism measures have not been effective. In accordance to Bucci et al. (2013), the 112th Congress made an endeavor and failed to ratify an all-inclusive cyber security legislation. Numerous bills were taken into consideration in both chambers, and one bill, the Cyber Intelligence and Sharing Protection Act (CISPA), passed the House of Representatives (Bucci et al., 2013). The Cyber-security Act (CSA) did not get legislated, owing to the dissimilarities and differences in opinions of the Members of Congress with regards to the manner in which the country ought to approach the mounting challenge of cyber terrorism and cyber security. The significant amendment to the CSA made cyber security standards voluntary. Specific regulatory agencies, nevertheless, could have propagated regulations that would have made these voluntary standards obligatory in particular sectors (Bucci et al., 2013). At the end of the day, a substantial number of pertinent players believed that regulation is the erroneous means to nurture cyber security. These apprehensions prohibited the Cyber-security Act of 2012 from becoming law (Bucci et al., 2013).

Propose Recommendations Based on the Analysis of Historical Incidents and the Evaluation of Deterrents and Antiterrorism Measures

The national security tool of the United States might be leading and prevailing in the physical world, but it is way less equipped and organized in the virtual world. The rules of cyber terrorism and cyber warfare are still being taken into consideration, and it might be that the positioning of an enigma attack is an act of war, which is disparaging and incapacitating of any real infrastructure. More so, this is an act of war that can be quite difficult to ascertain the root cause or the party behind the attack. Despite the fact that the U.S. military is an excellent deterrent, it does not function if it is not clear to whom it would be employed on (Paganini, 2014). Taking this into consideration, there are a number of recommendations centered on the analysis of historical events and the evaluation of deterrents and antiterrorism measures.

One of the key recommendations is the case for collective responsibility and culpability of states. States and nations ought to be held accountable for acts and inadvertences within their lands, which yield trans-boundary detriment in other countries. This ought to be applicable with the main purpose of encouraging the conception of the shared accountability of states for global cyber security. This is largely because the lack of promotion for cyber security by a state, has given rise to the subsistence of a safe haven for cyber criminals and cyber terrorists. Therefore, the nation ought to be held accountable for any trans-boundary destruction that comes about from the execution of cyber terrorism and cybercrimes in that hideout or sanctuary. A good illustration is the case of the 'I Love You' virus. When the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) managed to pinpoint the individual behind the virus in the Philippines, it was also established that the nation did not have cybercrime regulations under which the perpetrator could be arraigned and put on trial (Orji, 2014). Considering the nation had no regulations against the creation and dissemination of computer viruses and cybercrimes, the perpetrator was still able to get away from criminal liability for the adverse and disparaging impacts caused by the virus to corporations in the United States.

Another recommendation based on the analysis of historical incidents and the evaluation of deterrents and antiterrorism measures is the institution of a solitary global treaty of all countries on cyber security. This course of action is bound to deter cyber terrorism across the world. More so, this becomes quite difficult for perpetrating individuals and organizations to have any form of safe haven for cyber terrorism acts, taking into account the notion that all nations will have accessibility to one enforceable universal cyber security pact and accord that delineates and proscribes cybercrimes, together with cyber terrorism, and will also generate a context for common assistance amid state parties. The espousal and authorization of such an international agreement by countries will in principle, eradicate safe havens for perpetrators, as every state will have a commitment to deter, take legal action or help other states in embarking upon and confronting cybercrimes and cyber terrorism (Orji, 2014).