07-01-2014, 03:23 PM
Cyber-Terrorism: Hype or Hazard
Cyber-Terrorism.docx (Size: 11.87 KB / Downloads: 20)
abstract
Bombing, hijacking airplanes, haphazardly shooting innocent people, 9/11, and many others are phrases and expressions associated with terrorism. Nowadays, terrorism has been attached to the cyberspace. Never before has anybody thought that terrorism would have a digital form. Indeed, the Internet is a double-edged sword, one edge is assisting humanity develop and advance rapidly, and the other is adversely affecting it. Regardless of the hype cyber-terrorism is a real threat in this global and open-minded era. It will lead to global conflicts if not confronted head-on by governments worldwide working in unison.
Cyber-terrorism is an international phenomenon which must be combated by the international community. Some collaboration against cyber-crimes exists but it is on a limited scale. For example, in 2007, Estonian governmental computer systems have been targeted and disrupted by Distributed Denial of Service attacks DDoS using “botnets” wherein, thousands of computers participated without their owners’ knowledge about the attack. It crippled most of the state Internet services and caused inconveniences amongst the Estonians. Consequently, the Estonian government asked the NATO and the USA cyber-experts help and it resulted in recovering the systems and determining the origin of the attack which was from Russia. This proves that
international cooperation is effective.