Cyber Terrorism in America

Cyber Terrorism in America

Living in a digital age, most of the information and data concerning various sectors of the country’s economy have been under the threat of cyber terrorism because the data is online. Cyber terrorism is the act of using the internetand the computer to threaten the political, social, and economic structure of a country as well as spread fear and physical abuse. Cyber terrorism can be referred to as digital or modern-day terrorism because it does not conform to the traditional form of terrorism that relied on physical damage and harm. There are different types of digital terrorism that include; simple-unstructured, advanced-structured, and complex-coordinated.These types of cyber terrorism are classified based on the threat level they pose on a country’s social, economic, and political sectors. The internet has connected the world, making it a village, and thus, it has increased the threat of cyber terrorism. In addition to this, cyber terrorism and cyber-crime have become a more significant threat in this age because people have become heavily dependent on the internet. Therefore, this paper will seek to understand whatcyber terrorism is, types of cyber terrorism, the motivation behind it, its impact on the political and economic well-being of the country, and lastly, the measures taken by the U.S. to counter this form of modern terrorism.

Most people assume cyber terrorism to be cyberbullying of simple hacking and are not aware that it poses a higher security threat to the nation’s security and peace as well as different political, social, and economic sectors of the economy. Cyber terrorism can be defined as the use of the internet to cause violent acts to the public, which may lead to the death of people and the political and economic turmoil of a country. Cyber terrorism was a nonexistent threat to the country’s security; however, with theadvancement of technology and theinternet, cyber terrorism has become a global issue on security. This is because of the high risk it poses to the country and its citizens. According to an article by Gordon and Ford, cyber terrorism can be defined as “unlawful attacks and threats of attack againstcomputers, networks, and the information storedtherein when done to intimidate or coerce agovernment or its people in furtherance ofpolitical or social objectives.”[1] The concept of cyber terrorism is constantly shown in films, and T.V. shows such as 24 and The Olympus Has Fallen. In these films, terrorists hack into the U.S. defense systems to gain control of them. After gaining control over the defense systems, the terroristgoes on to threaten the president of America to resign or free terrorists being held in prison. Cyber terrorists cause the information they have gotten from hacking the nation’s defense systems to coerce the president of the country to step down or leak defense information that will expose the country to foreign attack.

Cyber terrorism can be carried out to fulfill various desires of the terrorist group that wants to paralyze the nation’s ability to defend itself. To understand the comprehensive counterterrorism strategy, understanding the motivation behind cyber terrorism is critical. Terrorists have different motives that inspire them to form organizations to meet their motivations.Cyber terrorists are not different from regular terrorists. Their actions are political, economic, and socially driven, such that they want to change the system to benefit them. According to Albon, cyber terrorists consists of a politically motivated group of people who are extremists who use the internet to “intimidate, coerce, or influence an audience; force a political change, or cause fear or physical harm.”[2]Cyber terrorists are motivated to change the political views of the country they are cyber attacking. They can achieve this feat by coercing the president to resign or inspiring violence leading to civil unrest in the country..

Cyber terrorism is categorized into three types, namely, simple-unstructured, advanced-structured, and complex-coordinated. These types of cyber terrorism indicate the possibility and capability of cyber terror. Complex-Coordinated cyber terrorism is the capability of the organization to carry out a coordinated attack that would cause mass destruction towards the country’s defense system. An example of such an attack would be to hack into the radar system and the country’s defenses to allow for the organization to invade the nation. A complex coordinated attack is more dangerous than the two because it has a large-scale predicament. Thus, an article by Wilson estimates that “a complexcoordinated cyberattack, causing mass disruption against integrated, heterogeneoussystems may require 6 to 10 years of preparation”[3]Simple-unstructured is a type of cyberterror that includes basic hacking that allows the terrorist organization the ability to control individual systems as well as achieve the command and control of the system. Advanced-structured is the terror capability of the terrorist organization to hack into a system and gain access to multiple systems that they can use to affect the social and economic well-being of a nation. An example of an advance cyber-attack would be a denial of service attack on major service providers such as money withdrawal. Advanced and simple structured types of cyber terrorism towards multiple systems are not as sophisticated as complex-coordinated cyber-attacks and require little time to prepare.

Cyber terrorism is not only a threat to the security of the United States of America and her citizens but the whole globe. Acts of cyber terrorism have both economic and political implications that have a negative effect on the country’s social, economic, and political landscape. Through a cyberattack conducted by uploading malicious software on the federal bank servers, the terrorist organization may be able to acquire back up information as well as financial data and records of American citizens, and this type of information could be used to lead an economic attack against the United States of America. Also, taking control of the data for international funds transfer could lead to global economic chaos. According to an article by Hua and Bupna, most cyber terrorists hack into the monetary servers of a country or organization,“not for monetary gain but to create chaos and influence civilian audiences”[4] Their main motivation behind an economic cyber-attack is to create chaos that would interfere with the country’s economy creating chaos that may lead to violence and civil unrest because the banks will not be working. When people are unable to have access to their money, chaos and anarchy may ensue, which will be in line with the motivation of the cyber terrorists. Thus, cyber terrorism has a negative impact on the economy and political landscape, as well as the peace of the country.

To control and regulate the possibility of a cyber-terrorist act in the country, the U.S. has come up with measures to protect the country against cyber terrorism. Most of the country’s facilities and utilities are connected to the internet to improve and increase their efficiency. To protect the country from any form of a cyber-terror attack, the country has set up a cybersecurity division of the American Army. The division is tasked with monitoring the country’s cybersecurity as well as to detect any cyber terrorist activity. According to an article by Guenther and his colleagues state that “postdesign and implementation variant is to try to prevent attacks by finding and fixing vulnerabilities before an attacker can try to exploit them.”[5]Protecting the country against cyber terrorism is important because the country’s economic and political institutions will not be subjected to any form of a breach that may affect the well-being of the American people.

I believe that understanding what cyber terrorism is, the types of cyber terrorism, the motivation behind cyber terrorists, and the political and economic impacts of cyber-terrorism will help understand the measures taken by the American government against the security threat posed by cyber terrorism. The 21^st century is a digital age, and a cyber-terrorist is a new form of terrorism that has taken root on the internet. Cyber terrorism is the act of using the internet to threaten and promote acts of violence and chaos to serve the purpose of a terrorist organization. Cyber terrorists use the internet to hack into government servers to carry out multiple attacks that seek to create confusion and chaos and disrupt peace. For example, a complex-coordinatedcyber-attack on the federal bank will affect how banks receive money and how the people receive their money. Such an act would satisfy the interests of the cyber terrorists whose main motivation is to cause chaos and acts of violence that may lead to civil unrest. Digital fear-mongering is not just a risk to the security of the United States of America and her residents, be that as it may, the entire globe. Demonstrations of cyber terrorism acts have both financial and political ramifications that have a negative impact on the nation’s social, economic, and political scene. To control and direct the chance of a cyber terror act in the nation, the U.S. has come up with measures to ensure the nation is ready to stand against cyber terrorism that threatens the peace of the country. The country has created a cyber division within the army to detect, predict and protect the country against any form of cyber terrorism that seeks to rob the country any chance of economic, social, and political stability.

[1]Gordon, Sarah, and Richard Ford. “Cyberterrorism?.” Computers & Security 21, no. 7 (2002), 2

[2]Ablon, Lillian. “Data Thieves.” The Motivations of Cyber Threat Actors and Their Use (2018)

[3]Wilson, Clay. “Botnets, cybercrime, and cyberterrorism: Vulnerabilities and policy issues for congress.” LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON DC CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE, 2008, 21.

[4] Hua, Jian, and Sanjay Bapna. “The economic impact of cyber terrorism.” The Journal of Strategic Information Systems 22, no. 2 (2013), 9

[5] Guenther, Rita, Stephen P. Cohen, Arvind Kumar, and Roddam Narasimha, eds. Science and technology to counter terrorism: Proceedings of an Indo-US workshop. National Academies Press, 2007.