Cyber terrorism and the use of the internet for terrorist purposes

Abstract

Thousands of cyber attacks are executed on a daily basis, with larger or smaller intensity and with different consequences. Cyber attacks and cyber terrorism present the new threat for states and their security. Cyber attackers have already demonstrated capacities to endanger functioning of vital national infrastructure. The question is if the terrorists can do the same thing. Internet and computer systems have become powerful resource on which modern societies rely. Taking into account that infrastructure such are dams, electrical networks, financial sector and money transactions, civilian transport, military defense systems, depend on the computer systems, there is justified fear that cyber terrorists can provoke and disable functions of the attacked system and threaten people's lives by using cyber attacks. This kind of threat to the state cannot be ignored. Although these kinds of attacks have not occurred yet, there is a potential danger they may happen in the future. This paper also aims to point out the difference between cyber terrorism as the illegal act in the cyber space and the simple terrorist activities in cyber space by using the Internet and computers. Cyber terrorism is a global issue, therefore it requires a global solution.