Cyberterrorism

A vast array of internet terminologies has come into origin in the recent years. Cyber terrorism is just one among them. Just as anything can be used for good or bad, quite a few instances of malicious use of internet has been noted in every part of the world. Glasgow and London bombings, instances of serial blasts in India, and not to mention 9/11.All this was not possible without someone with a little knowledge of the internet, executing the plans of some ideological or religious fanatics. Investigations have revealed that in most of these cases internet has been used in one way or another. Internet is helping specific groups or individuals not only to hack private or government information but also to publicize their interests; build their networks in remote places, in data-mining, fundraising, planning and coordination. The speed of communication has made it easier and gives security less time to investigate while these groups carry out their plans with efficiency. The basic advantage of using the net is the anonymity, which eliminates the threat of being identified or captured. The democratisation of technology has helped these rogues in one way or another. http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr116.html

Internet can be rightly called the eighth wonder of the world. But, like the sharper side of a knife is also potentially the most dangerous tool in the hands of wrong people. Common people use internet for a number of reasons and it is these common people who sometimes become a victim of systematic brainwashing by terrorist organisations.

Internet censorship and governance is part of the answer to these unfortunate happenings but it is difficult to decide who will block and what will be blocked. When such decisions are politically motivated, it is often that decisions are not made on the basis of good reason. National security could identify such websites or information sources and then block them through internet service providers.

Most importantly internet service providers have to be registered, which is not the case in many countries. In countries where internet access is enabled only through registered service providers, suspected websites can be blocked very easily. This, I think is one way of curbing publicity of terrorist organisations. One solution to the threat of cyber terrorism seems promising. It is a database cataloguing all websites mainly formed by terrorist groups that can be searched via a search engine. It is called the dark web. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300956,00.html

Although the plusses of the internet outweigh the minuses so far, there is still a need to monitor who is using the internet and for what purposes. For more information on how internet is being used for dire purposes, read this website.

http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/021101_risks_of_cyberterror.pdf

Priya