Cyberterrorism : The Next Arena of Confrontation

This paper presents a research conducted over the increasing dangers of cyberterrorism. It discusses the cyberterrorism parameters the cyberterrorists, the attacks, and the countermeasures – as well as the Internet’s physical security. The paper sounds an alarm over the current accessibility of critical intranets via the Internet, and points out that the risks in this practice outweigh any possible benefits. Concern is also raised over the security of Internet’s physical infrastructure, suggesting increased redundancy and that countries have more physical entry points into cyberspace. The paper concludes with two recommendations. One is the physical isolation of the Internet from critical intranets, and the other is the development of an Internet SCADA to oversee the Internet’s performance in the U.S. cyberspace. “In the case of cyber war, you really can't tell whether the enemy has good weapons until the enemy uses them.” (Clarke 1 in Kirk, 2003)