Threat Level: Exploring the 'Actual' Threat of Cyber Terrorism

Source: The Independent

Political and economic forces have successfully exposed the threat of cyber terrorism to be almost as severe as the physical threat of terrorism. Companies make a large effort to portray the threat of people being hacked in order to keep society afraid and therefore they are more likely to consume the 'solution' products (e.g. anti virus software programs). But when it comes to cyber terrorism, has the government incorporated this tactic to exaggerate the threat, or is it justified?

Unquestionably, there is an alarming fear from ISIS and with technology advancing by the year, one can assume that the two would collide and terrorist organisation would use cyberspace to attack. The definition has been expanded and now includes a higher range of hackers that are considered 'cyber terrorists'. It is important to address statistics on actual cyber terrorists, who fit neatly into the original definition. Scholars (Uradnik, 2011: 143) have pointed out that there have been no instances of terrorist cyber attacks on U.S public facilities (including nuclear power plants, transportation etc.). Though cyber attacks are all too common, they are often amateur hackers (potentially with a political agenda) but do not belong to terrorist groups or organisations. In fact, 90% of the cyber attacks online are led by what scholars refer to as 'cyber joyriders' (see graph below - enter picture).

Source: JFJ

In the UK, cyber attacks exist but attacks that have interfered with public surroundings are not statistically backed up to match the 'fear'. In August this year, an article was published an article explaining the innovative ways in which British terrorists were using to recruit new members. Omar Hussain joined ISIS and is writing a blog in order to promote and entice westerners to join ISIS as well (The Mirror, 2015). The new wave of cyber space enables terrorists all over the globe to connect with others who live thousands of miles away, relating back to Wall's (2007) terminology discussion. Terrorism would still exist without the internet, but it would definitely limit their ability and ways of connecting with people from other countries.

Recently, journalists have been focused on portraying cyber terrorism as a threat. Earlier this year, The Guardian (2015) published an article identifying the potential capability ISIS may have to unleash cyber attacks in Britain.

Junaid Hussain, a teenage boy, was put on trial in 2012 after 'hacking into Tony Blair's personal address book and taking down an anti-terror hotline'. Now is considered to have joined ISIS, despite his lawyer assuring the court his acts were simply a 'childish prank' and not terrorist exploits. The questions that can be raised from this article is, have ISIS recruited members that have the capability to hack into government information? And therefore are they able to plot against the British and US government to inflict major devastation in both an online and physical manner?

Source: Daily Mail

In 2002, US troops analysed al Qaeda laptops and discovered their advanced technological set up, alarming officials as to their capability. Information that was found mostly related that of water systems, power plants, European stadiums etc. However, no evidence pointed towards any actual plans of cyber attacks in the US or UK, instead it was being used as information to execute physical attacks or to aid communication (Green, 2002). To contrast, after the hacking on Tony Blair, ISIS militants have been reported to be bragging about their ability to cause devastation to the western world's infrastructure - "your security information is in our hands" (The Independent, 2015). It is possible to conclude that although the threat and advancements of cyber attacks are greater, there is no hard evidence to suggest it is currently being designed. Amateur hackers only appear to be successfully carrying out attacks through cyberspace, but not necessarily for politically motivated reasons intended to cause destruction. That does not necessarily mean the threat is not an important matter for government to focus on, legitimate terrorists or not, certain government documents are best kept out of the public domain and hacking into certain files could cause greater issues for the UK and the US against terrorist organisation, such as ISIS or al Qaeda.

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References:

The Independent . (2015). Pro-Isis 'hackers' threaten to carry out cyber attacks against Europe, US and Australia in propaganda video. Available: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/pro-isis-hackers-threaten-to-carry-out-cyber-attacks-against-europe-us-and-australia-in-propaganda-10245161.html. Last accessed 28 September 2015.

Green, J (2002). The Myth of Cyberterrorism. USA: Washington Monthly. 8–13.

The Guardian. (2015). Could Isis’s ‘cyber caliphate’ unleash a deadly attack on key targets?. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/12/isis-cyber-caliphate-hacking-technology-arms-race. Last accessed 28 September 2015.

The Mirror. (2015). 'Join ISIS, get a fridge': Bizarre promise from British 'supermarket jihadi' who recruits for terror group. Available: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/join-isis-fridge-bizarre-promise-6226404. Last accessed 28 September 2015.

Uradnik, K (2011). Battleground: Government and Politics, Volume 1. USA: ABC-CLIO, LLC. 143.