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In 1996, a computer hacker allegedly associated with the white supremacist movement temporarily disabled a Massachusetts Internet service provider and damaged part of its record-keeping system. The service provider had attempted to stop the hacker from sending out racist messages worldwide under its name. The hacker signed off with the threat, "You have yet to see true electronic terrorism. This is a promise."
The hacker apparently never made good on his promise, but the threat of a cyberterrorist attack has many people worried. The highly acclaimed Computers at Risk report (1991) from the US National Research Council concludes, "Tomorrow's terrorist may be able to do more with a keyboard than with a bomb." Cybercrime, Cyberterrorism, and Cyberwarfare (1998) from the Washington-based Global Organized Crime Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says, "Cyberterrorists, acting for rogue states or groups that have declared holy war against the United States, are known to be plotting America's demise as a superpower."
Defining Cyberterrorism
Cyberterrorism is the convergence of cyberspace and terrorism. It refers to unlawful attacks and threats of attack against computers, networks and the information stored therein that are carried out to intimidate or coerce a country's government or citizens 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 losses would be examples. Serious attacks against crucial infrastructures could count as acts of cyberterrorism, depending on their impact. Attacks that disrupt non-essential services or that are mainly a costly nuisance would not.
Numerous cyberterrorism scenarios have been suggested. In one, a cyberterrorist attacks the computer systems that control a large regional power grid. Power is lost for a sustained period of time and people die. In another, the cyberterrorist breaks into an airtraffic control system and tampers with it. Two large civilian aircraft collide. In a third, the cyberterrorist disrupts banking operations, international financial transactions and stock exchanges. Economic systems grind to a halt, the public loses confidence, and déstabilisation is achieved. While none of these or similar scenarios has yet occurred, many believe it is not a question of...