World War 3: The Rise of a Cyber-Terrorist Threat

World War 3: The Rise of a Cyber-Terrorist Threat

Introduction

Since September 11, 2001, countries, largely computer began to take seriously consider the risks of cyber-terrorism against their companies and their society in general, but do not forget that cyber-terrorism, even if it seems now entering a new phase of expansion, is not a new phenomenon. With culture rooted connectivity more and more deeply into the corporate called "modern", it is a promising future. Today, we cannot live without some services which the backbone is made up of computer networks could be undone by some real attacks, carefully conducted in the virtual world. We will define in this article the concepts of cyber terrorism and cyber-terrorists then consider alternative scenarios, examine the weapons available to cyber- terrorists, and then address the steps to build an effective defense, because the threat of cyber-terrorism must now be included in any study of security.

Cyber-Terrorism

Cyber-terrorism is the convergence between terrorism and traditional networks start with the Internet. We can thus, define cyber terrorism as the deliberate action destruction, degradation or modification of data, information flows and systems States computer vital or critical to the business operation of a country in purposes of damage and / or maximum impact, for political reasons, religious or ideological. This damage can be economic, social, environmental, and even vital for individuals in some cases. It is essential to distinguish the simple cyber-terrorism cyber-crime, which involves diverting the use of villainous purposes only. Similarly, the cyber- Terrorism should not be conflated with the "hacktivism", which is certainly motivated also by ideological elements, but primarily seeks to awaken the society and educate them about some subjects, not necessarily to destroy it. Finally, cyber-terrorism is distinct from the cyber- combat by the generally civil targets.

Cyber terrorism, as when a group advances its social, religious, or political goals by instilling widespread fear online or by damaging or disrupting critical information infrastructure. The categories of cyber offenses listed above may overlap depending on many circumstances and a combination of skills, knowledge, resources, access to information systems, and intensity of motives possessed by individual and groups of perpetrators involved. For example, a group of computer hackers may consist of expert malware code writers who release remotely controlled or self-morphing programs onto the Internet where they can be downloaded by unsuspecting users. Results from such an “attack” vary considerably depending on the intent and skill of perpetrators and the potential value of a victim's data. Online theft or destruction of data belonging to a large corporation may be worth millions of dollars, and losses of personal, personnel, or client data can be very traumatic to individual victims, as in cases of identity theft.

Cyber-terrorism is it intended to be as successful because of several reasons:

The cost of access is very low: a laptop is much cheaper a high explosive or a weapon of war.

Our societies are becoming more and more dependent on information networks; the disappearance of these can cause economic, ...