Cyber Terrorism: A Clear and Present Danger to Civilized Society?

As today’s information security professionals, both in private and public organizations, work towards learning and countering the threats posed by destructive viruses and worms; Distributed Denial of Service exploits; and intrusions to disrupt vulnerable systems, there is another major threat of “cyber terrorism” that is looming around the corner. Primarily targeted at government agencies and private companies, cyber terrorism acts are aimed towards high-value targets such as networks that control critical infrastructures. Combined with physical acts of terrorism, cyber exploits can cause widespread disruption and destruction. This paper highlights the thinking and rationale behind the cyber terrorism and lists some of the recent cyber terrorism acts. It next discusses the level of vulnerability faced by major government agencies and corporations when it comes to cyber terrorism and what actions are currently in place and are being taken by these entities to prepare for such an act. Finally, the paper presents the case for having measures and safeguards in place against cyber terrorism in spite of high costs associated with it.