Cyberterrorism refers to the tendency of unauthorized access to another organization's computer system and launching attacks into the computer system by either fraudulently accessing information or spoiling that information. According to Lewis (2002), cyberterrorism involves launching an attack on a computer system without knowing to cause havoc and paralyzing a nation's activities. Modern society widely uses computers in doing almost everything; thus, terrorists target computer systems to hurt countries and organizations. It has become the new form of terrorism and the modern crime that security organizations need to address. They include hacking computer systems, engaging in email-related crimes, and instilling computer viruses to destroy systems.
Intentions for cyberterrorism
Cyberterrorism comes in different forms, which are defined by the motivational factor behind cyber terrorism. Different cyberterrorists conduct crime for different reasons and target a different set of computer systems (Al Mazari et al., 2018). Security systems should know the intentions of cyber terrorists to understand their movements and be in a good position to protect computer systems from such attacks.
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The first form of cyberterrorism is an attack on military forces, which targets a wide range of military systems, services, operations, infrastructure, and other capabilities (Al Mazari et al., 2018). Various terrorist groups use the internet to conduct cyber terror attacks against the United States, thereby creating a virtual battlefield between conflicting military parties. A case was reported in 2011 of cybercrime when the Pakistani Hackerz Club tarnished many US government websites, including the US Air Force Computing Environment and the White House website. Another form of cyberterrorism is an attack that targets the physical infrastructure of a government, whose intention is to destroy the operational ability of an enemy. Lewis (2002) records an incident in 2001 in the US root server when an unknown body attacked them using a Distributed Denial of Service that later shut down the servers for s specific time. Such attacks have been recorded by different countries, such as communications services attack in the US (1997), impersonation attack on the UAE's Ministry of Labor (2010), and debilitating attack on the US Commerce Department in 2006 (Al Mazari et al., 2018).
Al Mazari et al. (2018) present a cyber-terrorism attack against the social and national entity as a form of cyberterrorism that targets misrepresent the reputation of a national entity or an organization. They take different forms, such as using email and social networks, to spread false rumors concerning a particular target entity and the organization's defacement. Cyberterrorists in this field targets to cause significant psychological and physical impacts on the national entities. Lewis (2002) explains an example of such an attack in 2000 at Ford Motor Company, where a computer virus disrupted their email services. Cyber-terrorism can also target critical national infrastructures such as energy facilities, media services, healthcare providers, transportation systems, educational institutions, postal facilities, telecommunication systems, water treatment systems, dams, and financial organizations. These national infrastructures are vulnerable to damage and disruption since they use communication networks, software systems, and computer hardware. Some other forms of cyberterrorism target private industries or entities that intimidate the government, and others are meant to create annoyance.
Types of Cyberterrorism Attacks
Albahar (2019) explains the various types of cyberterrorism attacks. The advanced structured attack is where a technically skilled hacker creates and uses some of the sophisticated tools to break into the target person's network. ICMP flood is an example of an advanced structured security threat. The aggressor in this type of attack possesses learning capability, command and control, and an elementary target analysis (Albahar, 2019). On the other hand, a simple unstructured attack is where an individual uses tools created by someone else to conduct basic hacks against individual systems. The complex-coordinated attack is another type of cyberterrorism attack, and it involves an individual's ability to conduct a coordinated attack that can cause mass-disruption against integrated defenses. Complex-coordinated attacks are always sponsored by states to create sophisticated hacking tools and to conduct target analysis. Other types of cyberterrorism attacks include denial of service, disinformation, incursion, destruction, and website defacements ( Albahar, 2019) .
Incursion is a type of attack where an individual gains access or penetrate computer systems and networks to modify or get data. It has a high success rate since terrorists utilize the many loopholes that exist in insecure computer systems. Destruction attacks are primarily made in computer systems to inflict severe damages or destroy them. Disinformation is an attack where an individual spreads rumors about an organization, which always has adverse impacts on achieving their goals. Denial of Service attacks is meant to disrupt or disable a website's online operations by flooding the servers with several requests that distract them from processing normal requests. Lastly, website defacement involves changing the websites and displaying messages from the terrorists ( Albahar, 2019) .
Cyberterrorism on Social Media: An Emerging Form of Cyberterrorism
Social media platforms have become a common target and ground for cyber terrorists to advance their intentions. Social media platforms are attracting more active users every day for their flexibility and simple nature (Parlakkılıç, 2018). It makes them an easy target for cyber terrorists. Individuals, organizations, and government agencies use social media for information dissemination. Social media is a suitable place for cyberterrorism since it is easily accessible and are affordable. Therefore, terrorists can easily access these social platforms to achieve their uncouth objectives, both locally and internationally. Parlakkılıç (2018) explains various categories of threat on social media, which includes propaganda, financing, training cyberterrorists, planning for crimes, and execution. Social media uses virtual tools to spread the ideas of cyber terrorists, which has increased its publicity. Social media is used for crime by distributing malware and other tools of cyberterrorism, spreading malware for crypto-mining, and bullying people (Parlakkılıç, 2018).
Dealing with Cyberterrorism
It is essential for security systems to expect that cyber-attacks can be initiated anytime, sooner or later. Therefore, the issue that such entities should address is how to deal with cyberterrorism. There are various ways that security systems can employ in dealing with cyberterrorism attacks (Gordon & Ford, 2002). Dealing with them can either be in the form of preventing cyberterrorism or dealing with the aftermath. Prevention measures include developing security strategies, being proactive, installing security software, and increasing security awareness (Gordon & Ford, 2002). Governments conduct most active defense types by developing active defense strategies in sectors like the exchange of intelligence. In cases where active defense is run by private organizations, they are always mistaken for terrorists. Installation of security software can help deal with viruses, worms, and distributed denial of service attacks experienced by an entity (Gordon & Ford, 2002). There are several ways in which an organization can increase its cybersecurity awareness. First, start with CEO leadership since a strong CEO leadership helps an organization to develop a culture of increased cybersecurity awareness. Also, to successfully create an effective security awareness program, an organization should identify its top risks and evaluate its threat landscape ( Parlakkılıç, 2018) .
Some measures are meant to deal with the consequences of cyberterrorism after their occurrence. The first way is to prosecute the perpetrators. The effective prosecution of these crimes requires the existing criminal law to protect physical documents and tangible items from manipulation. Several challenges hinder the prosecution of cyber terrorists. For instance, if a terrorist creates illegal content in some nations but not in the country of operation, it will be difficult or impossible to prosecute them. The establishment of disaster recovery plans is another way to deal with the aftermath. To build a strong disaster recovery plan, an organization should involve the team in attack mitigation plans, stay safe from insider threats, and document, implement and regularly update the recovery plan ( Parlakkılıç, 2018) .
Conclusion
It is quite evident how cyberterrorism has emerged as a new form of terrorism in the 21st Century. Technology, despite having a whole load of advantages, has challenges, cyberterrorism being a major one. Cyberterrorists execute their plans with different intentions, which define their motivational factors. The different intentions of cyber terrorists range from politically instigated attacks, theft, government intimidation, and the simple desire for the creation of annoyance. Cyber terrorism comes in different forms; the different types of attacks define how different attackers conduct their work. Social media is an emerging trend in cyber-terrorism that ought to be looked at. Due to its growing usage, cyber terrorists use social media as a tool and target for their work. Fortunately, cyberterrorism can be managed. There are various ways through which cyberterrorism can be prevented or managed after the occurrence.
References
Al Mazari, A., Anjariny, A. H., Habib, S. A., & Nyakwende, E. (2018). Cyber terrorism taxonomies: Definition, targets, patterns, risk factors, and mitigation strategies. In Cyber Security and Threats: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 608-621). IGI Global.
Albahar, M. (2019). Cyber attacks and terrorism: a twenty-first century conundrum. Science and engineering ethics , 25 (4), 993-1006.
Gordon, S., & Ford, R. (2002). Cyberterrorism?. Computers & Security , 21 (7), 636-647.
Lewis, J. A. (2002). Assessing the risks of cyber terrorism, cyber war and other cyber threats . Washington, DC: Center for Strategic & International Studies.
Parlakkılıç, A. (2018). Cyber Terrorism Through Social Media: A Categorical Based Preventive Approach. International Journal of Information Security Science , 7 (4), 172-178.
