There are some that say cyber-terrorism does not exist and is really a matter of hacking or information warfare. They disagree with labeling it terrorism because of the specific image of terrorism like of the creation of fear, significant physical harm, or death in a population using electronic means. Cyber-terrorist is invisible and hard to locate. He can easily spread terrorism from anywhere in the world. Experts already said that World War III would be in cyberspace.
Security professionals have expressed their increasing concern over not only the increase in frequency of attacks against the Internet, but also the increase in the level of sophistication of these attacks. While the complexity of the attacks is increasing, the skill level of the intruder that launched the attack is decreasing. This is a very troubling trend. As the terrorists learn from every attack what works and what doesn't, where the vulnerabilities are, how we respond, and the methods we use to detect these attacks. They gain the knowledge that will increase their chance for success.
TARGET-
The intention of a cyber terrorism attack could range from economic disruption through the interruption of financial networks and systems. It may be used in support of a physical attack to cause further confusion and possible delays in proper response. Although cyber attacks have caused billions of dollars in damage and affected the lives of millions. New terrorist organizations are highly funded, technologically strong groups capable of inflicting devastating damage to a wide range of targets.
There's many ways of judging the severity of such threats but the primary target for cyber-terrorism is the Internet. Its most attractive objective is to bring the Internet down, since increasingly, all commerce depends on Internet-based transactions. We call it e-commerce. In India e-commerce is growing rapidly. The cyber-terrorism threat is real because we have already experienced experimental acts of cyber-terrorism when a large number of Internet-connected computers have ceased to function. We have recent example at 7th June 2008 ten government sites of India got defaced. Nearly 7,000 websites are hacked every year in India which means that on an average 19 sites are hacked a day. (CERT Official). And this number is increasing with every new day.
Cyber-terrorist exploits weaknesses. They take advantage of the fact that our software systems and our operating systems are woefully inadequate and are responsible for the intrinsic vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Cyber-terrorists live off the weaknesses of the defenders. In the cyber-terrorist's case it's the extremely low cost and low risk exploitation of the weaknesses of the victims where the cyber-terrorists have the advantage. From recent years India is on the target of Pakistani, Chinese and Bangladeshi hackers. They also enjoy the support of others. Every night there are thousands of conversations taking place in discussing the weaknesses of existing organizations in managing their computers. Every unsecured computer or network can be used for hacking, cyber-crime and cyber-terrorism. It means every unsecured computer is threat for someone. So indirectly we are at the middle of war. No matter who loose and who wins, we are definitely going to loose.
Yet we have no idea how this threat is growing and becoming powerful day by day. Underdeveloped country like India has more danger than other European countries because of less expenditure on security. (check out my previous article) A weak cyber security policy in India is also resulting in increased cyber terrorism activities in India. The position is even worst when it comes to wireless security in India. Wireless security has become a headache due to its misuse by terrorists in India. Unfortunately, cyber security in India is an ignored world. In India there is large number of computer illiteracy. Million of computers of Asia especially India, Pakistan and China are infected by various viruses (threatfire.com). Viruses act as backdoors or tools for cyber-terrorists. They use Viruses, Trojans, Worms, Backdoors, Hoxes for controlling networks and servers. Very few people know about cyber security measures. As concern about India we’ve many enemies who want to bring down our economy. When India-Pak war has started, we’ve experienced many cyber attacks from Pakistani hackers called “Indian Mujahideens”. We have a very weak cyber law, negligible cyber security and cyber forensics and almost missing legal enablement of ICT (Information and Communication Technology ) systems. The only solution is the quick deployment of a Counter-Cyber-Terrorist - someone who knows what you are up against today, someone who lives in the world of the people who are, and will be, attacking - someone who can train the people who must fight the battles.
*Information Sources*
-Cyber Terrorism In The Context Of Globalization By Rohos Nagpal
-CCRC (COMPUTER CRIME RESEARCH CENTRE)
-WIKIPEDIA (Encyclopedia)
-An Interview on Cyberterrorism with Paul Strassmann
-Thaindian News(Cyber Security In India: Another Wake Up Call)
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