Cyberterrorism is an act that is planned beforehand, which disturbs the natural functioning of electronic devices for political gain (Maggio, 2009). One important factor that determines whether an act is considered cyberterrorism is it has to hurt someone or something and cause enough damage to create fear (Maggio, 2009). Some examples of cyberterrorism are shutting down servers that control power grids hacking into a railroad track system to cause accidents. Hacktivists can sometimes be confused as cyberterrorists (Maggio, 2009). Generally, hacktivists do not cause as much damage as cyberterrorists but there are similarities (Maggio, 2009). Such as political motivations, and damaging property (Maggio, 2009). There are always going to be
threats to the United States. About 85% of America’s essential infrastructure is under the control of private companies (Harrell, 2017). Those private companies rely on private security to safeguard their systems (Harrell, 2017). Until recently, the only threats to the power grid system were balloons and squirrels; but with a recent cyber attack on Ukraine’s power grid, the demand for private cyber security has risen sharply (Harrell, 2017). If a major cyber attack ever occurred against American infrastructure, there would be mass panic. The Department of Defense (DOD) would be in charge of issuing orders during a cyberterror attack (Carberry, 2017). This is interesting because the DOD is not the first line of defense in cyber related situations (Harrell, 2017). That is similar to the Philadelphia Eagles letting their punter choose which play to run on the goal line. The kicker kind of knows what is going on, but he is definitely not the most qualified to be put in that position. It is the private security sector with the expertise and resources that can efficiently respond to such a crisis (Harrell, 2017). As technology continues to make certain aspects of life more convenient, additional risks are created. For example, when online payment became available it allowed people to save time and sometimes money. Convenience came with a cost of risk because a new way of stealing credit card information became available. In a perfect world, the government would protect all of the citizens from any type of cyber attack but that is not a reasonable expectation. Private security professionals are the first layer of defense (Carberry, 2017).
At this juncture, it may be somewhat difficult to accept the proposition that a threat to the telecommunications grid, both wired and wireless, in the United States could potentially be subject to a catastrophic cyber attack. After careful research on the subject, it appears the potentiality of an event of such magnitude, which either disrupts one or the other grids for a long period or destroys either, is both theoretically and realistically impossible. It may be that proponents—those who advance such theories—equate such “doomsday” scenarios as if a cyber attack would or could be of the same magnitude as a conventional or nuclear military strike. Terms such as “cyber Pearl Harbor,” “cyber 9/11” and “cyber Vietnam” have been used to describes potential catastrophic cyber attacks and yet, “Though many have posited notions on what a ‘real’ cyber war would be like, we lack the understanding of how such conflicts will be conducted and evolve.” (Rattray & Healey, 2010, p. 77). Yet, the U.S. government continues to focus on such events, as if the plausibility of small-scale cyber attacks were not as pressing.
Taylor, R. W., Fritsch, E. J., Liederbach, J., & Holt, T. J. (2011). Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism 2nd edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
The documentary discusses different types of hackers; teenagers hacking as a prank and professionals hacking to disrupt nuclear advancement in Iran. This is in some ways related to the macro-level theory of train theory concerning subcultures in gangs (Choi, Week 3). This theory was the differential opportunity theory, which described how gangs met their goals through legitimate or illegitimate means (Choi, Week 3). The teenage hackers would be classified more in the criminal gangs scoring range as they were able to meet their goal of pranking their victim through illegitimate means. In the case of the nuclear facility incident in Iran with stuxnet, these types of hackers could be viewed as violent gang members. While the methods used would traditionally be considered illegal, due to the fact that the virus seemed to be sanctioned by some country, the means may have been
First Responders have a unique and difficult challenge as they attempt to prevent, respond to and defend against international terrorist attacks in their cities, counties and states. The ability of first responders to accomplish these tasks can save countless lives, protect property and bring to justice terrorists who try to harm Americans. The risks associated with trying to counter or prevent international terrorist attack are many and diverse. There are physical and psychological effects that first responders will face when responding to an international terrorist attack. They include secondary or tertiary attacks, exposure to nuclear, chemical or biological agents, and the psychological toll. There are two main risks when attempting to counter terrorist attacks; first is a lack of intelligence in helping to identify future attacks, events or terrorist personalities, the second risk is damaging community relations (especially with minority and immigrant
Rational choice is based on the belief criminals act in a rational way. Rational choice could be related to terrorism when you understand how terrorist acts, their beliefs, and their actions. Terrorism happens when there are suitable targets, motivated offenders, especially without strong ties to the community, such as those who are unemployed, and absence of guardians such as the police, which would be explained by rational choice theory (Anderton & Carter, 2005). Like other forms of violent crime terrorist attacks are usually carried out by young males (Silke, A. 2003). This is important fact to know for law enforcement to know who to target. A Rational choice view of terrorism has certain factors to consider such as timing, international
Founded by the Monterey Group (Terrorism Committee for the U.S. Legislature), the United States adopted a three-level categorization for cyber-terror including simple-unstructured, advanced-structures, and complex-coordinated (Findlay, 2014). At the first level of cyber-terror is a simple unstructured attack. Under this category, a simple-unstructured attack involves very diminutive target analysis, command and control, or learning skills. This type of attack is normally planned within a matter of months and targets a general organization. Next is the level of an advanced-structured attack, which requires a straightforward target analysis, command and control, learning skills, and a high amount of planning in order to cause extensive damage. For example, in 2007, there was a three-week period of cyber-attacks on Estonia (located in Northern Europe), which targeted the country’s government, financial, and security divisions. Due to the extensive planning of this sophisticated attack, Estonia’s government was thrown into chaos and was unable to operate at full capacity. Finally, at the last level of cyber terrorism is the complex-coordinated attack (Extremely rare). At the highest level of terror, these attacks require substantial time, specialized skills, resources, and a highly capable target analysis. One of these substantially rare attacks
Terrorism represents a continuing threat to the United States. It is the most significant threat to our national security. Terrorist attacks have definitely left many concerns about the possibilities of future incidents of terrorism in the United States. Since the events of September 11, 2011, Americans and much of the world are afraid. Americans are at war with terrorism and no longer feel comfortable. A part of this unease feeling has to do with cyber terrorism.
communication, transportation, and even our professional work environments, it is almost impossible to avoid something that is operated by a circuit board. Especially with the developments of Wi-Fi enabled devices, we are even more connected to the internet and each other. As society develops technologically, governments, corporations, and individuals, can become prone to acts of hacking. Hacking can take different names depending on the intent of the act. Hacktivism can be defined as: “the act of hacking, or breaking into a computer system, for a politically or socially motivated purpose.” (Margaret Rouse, searchsecurity.techtarget.com) One of the most famous examples of a hacktivism or hacktivist
Millions of people all around the world are using Smartphones, like iPhones, which turns out to be crucial part of our lives. We are using them not only for calling but we also store unbelievably huge amount of personal information. We have there all our contacts, calls and messages and all our pictures that we save and keep in the phones. A
As indicated by the Code of Federal Regulations terrorism is the unlawful utilization of power and roughness against persons or property to threaten or pressure an administration, the nonmilitary personnel populace, or any fragment thereof, in facilitation of political or social targets. (Code of Federal Regulations Title 28 Section 0.85 Set. (2007). Government Inst.) This idea is genuinely simple to handle and most American's have a comprehension of what terrorism is. Be that as it may, when discussing cyber terrorism, there is by all accounts some perplexity as to its
Society has become ever-increasingly dependent upon technology, more specifically, computers to conduct personal and business transactions and communications. Consequently, criminals have targeted these systems to conduct information and cyber warfare, which can include politically motivated attacks and to profit through ill-gotten means. In an article written by Koblentz and Mazanec (2013), cyber warfare is the act of disabling an enemy’s ability to use or obtain information, degrade its ability to make decisions, and to command its military forces. Additionally, information warfare is composed of cyber warfare and related to the protection, disruption, destruction, denial, or manipulation of information in order to gain a benefit through the technologies (Taddeo, 2012). Accordingly, as technology becomes readily available to various entities, the ability to conduct or perform warfare through technological means is multiplying.
On September 11, 2001, the destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon changed the mindset and the opinion of nearly every American on the one of the most vital issues in the 21st century: terrorism (Hoffman 2). Before one can begin to analyze how the United States should combat such a perverse method of political change, one must first begin to understand what terrorism is, where it is derived from, and why there is terrorism. These issues are essential in America’s analysis of this phenomenon that has revolutionized its foreign policy and changed America’s stance in the world.
Different authors have reviewed the cyber terrorism from different angles. Most of them have focused on the aims and objectives which terrorist wants to accomplish through cyber warfare. Moreover they have stressed over the need to the measures taken to combat cyber-attacks by terrorists.
In today's society, many aspects of crime are committed on a regular basis. Civilians take advantage of people all the time using online resources such as fraudulent websites requiring credit card information to get a free monthly trial. Other examples of cyber crimes include online chat websites, full of predators, or websites needing a downloadable program that contains a hacking virus. Sadly, there are many cases of cyber crime all over the internet. The acts of cyber crimes are considered violent acts like any other.
It is difficult to define cyberculture because its boundaries are uncertain and applications to certain circumstances can often be disputed. The common threads of defining cyberculture is a culture which has evolved and continues to evolve from the use of computer networks and the internet and is guided by social and cultural movements reflective of advancements in scientific and technological information. It is not a unified culture but rather a culture that exists in cyberspace and is a compilation of numerous new technologies and capabilities, used by diverse people in diverse real – world locations. Cyberculture, a twentieth century phenomena, has brought challenges unlike any other that the United States has seen in the areas of cyber security and its impact on our most critical institutions. This presentation will focus on the aforementioned three entities where national security is in jeopardy in part due to cyberculture and its intentional use for disruptive and destructive purposes. Breaches of security to the United States Department of Defense, the national power grid and the Chamber of Commerce are very real and omnipresent.