Initiatives in the Fight Against Cyber Terrorism

Abstract

Cyber terrorism, or a computer-based attack or threat of attack intended to intimidate governments or societies in pursuit of goals that are political, religious, or ideological, has become a real possibility. Shortly after September 11, a Pakistani group hacked into two government web servers, including one at the Department of Defense, and declared a “cyber jihad” against the United States. A second series of attacks known as Moonlight Maze, was targeted against the Pentagon, Department of Energy, and NASA and allowed the perpetrators to gained access to technical defense research. Although such attacks have not, as of yet, been terribly sophisticated there is growing concern that this could soon change. There is a school of thought that believes that an enemy using effective information warfare tools and techniques will eventually attack the United States. In the fight against terrorism, the number priority is the prevention of another terrorist attack. With this in mind, this paper addresses three questions: How great is threat of cyber terrorism?; What needs to be done to mitigate the threat?; What initiatives have been undertaken in the fight against cyber terrorism?Keywordscyber terrorismPresident’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protectionsecuritybest practicesInfraGardISACs