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Cyberterrorism
As I watched the television all day long today, viewing the
horrible terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, I asked myself why the terrorists hadn't attacked the
internet? After all, with the coming of Code Red, it was
apparent to all of us in the Information Technology industry
just how vulnerable our vast communication network really is.
In fact, I've read dozens of articles over the last few months
explaining in great detail the concepts of cyber-warfare and
cyber-terrorism. One of the central assumptions of many of these
documents is the value of the internet is obvious to any enemy
of the United States and the rest of the free world. It has even
been argued that Code Red may very well be a form of
cyber-warfare, perhaps even created by a quasi-government agency
of some kind.
Now the light has dawned and I understand a basic fact which I
did not fully gasp until I saw a plane fly through the World
Trade Center building.
The job of a terrorist is to create terror.
Attacks through a communication system such as the internet do
not create terror. Yes, you can do one heck of a lot of damage
to the American infrastructure by sending attacks through the
phone lines. You can cause electric power blackouts, banking
failures and many other malicious acts.
A computer programmer shutting off the power to a city is no
where near as horrifying as watching a 110 story building
crumbling to dust.
What could a cyber-terrorist do?
- Shut down the stock market? The September 11th terrorists
closed it down for two or more days.
- Get their attacks shown on the evening news? A cyber attack
would get no where near the coverage as the terrorists got on
this day.
- Crash a jet? The terrorists did far more than that.
- Ground a few planes? The terrorists grounded every plane in
the United States.
- Shut down the power grid for a city? Again, nothing compared
to a real terrorist attack.
That's what we in IT miss ... we are terrified beyond belief by
the failure of technology. Most people, however, do not have
anywhere near the intimate knowledge and understanding of the
shear power that we possess.
You've got to understand, terrorists are not intelligent beings.
They are stupid as stones. Do you really think Usama Bin Laden
is intelligent? It does not take brains to ruthlessly kill
thousands of innocent human beings. A volcano or mudslide can do
that just fine without a single brain cell.
Read about the first attack on the World Trade Center towers in
1993, and you will find out how stupid terrorists really are.
These people make bricks look smart - remember, a brick can do
some major damage if it hits someone in the head, but that does
not make it intelligent.
A terrorist would have to understand the internet and the cyber
world before he could pull off an attack. On top of that, he
would have to gain a realization that the United States depended
upon this infrastructure, and then he would have to learn all
about it.
We take it for granted because thirteen year olds in the United
States and Europe create viruses and worms in their sleep. As a
security manager for a major company, I see dozens of viruses
every single day, so I just assume that other people understand
these things. Well, guess what, the power of the internet is not
obvious to ignorant renegade Saudi princes who have been living
in the wilderness of Afghanistan for most of their lives.
Certainly it is easier for this uncivilized savage, dumber than
earth barbarian (Usama Bin Laden and every other terrorist) to
make a gasoline bomb than it is to create one paragraph of
intelligent writing. Anyone can make a gasoline bomb out of an
airplane, and it certainly does not take many working brain
cells to crash one into a skyscraper.
You also have to understand that the internet was designed and
built to survive a major, country-wide nuclear attack. That's a
lot more power than any terrorist scum is likely to possess.
Is there a danger of cyber-terrorism? Sure there is. This is a
critical piece of the world infrastructure and it must be
protected, just like any other communication or transportation
line.
There is actually more of a danger of cyber-warfare than of
cyber-terrorism. Countries do understand the value of the
internet, especially highly civilized nations. Generals and
soldiers do understand the value of good communications (which
is really what the internet is all about). One of the first and
most important tasks of any warmaster is to disrupt
communications.
Terrorists do not want to disrupt communications. In fact,
that's the last thing on their mind, since they survive only as
long as communications remain intact. Imagine what would happen
to any terrorist whose acts were simply ignored. If no terror
resulted, then why try and cause terror? Thus, terrorist targets
are specifically chosen to be the most visible, and thus the
most communicated. You won't find many terrorists who bomb
isolated targets out in Siberia - who would see it?
That, in a nut shell, is why terrorism never has and never will
win a war. They are not playing to win - they are playing to
terrify. They do cause damage and they do cause, well, terror -
but they do not win.
Attacking via the internet might win a war, but it will not
cause terror. Thus, it is not a highly tempting target for
terrorists. A terrorist attack against it is not impossible, but
it is highly unlikely.
About the author:
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets
at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to
read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your
internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
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