Cyber Terrorism as an Imminent Danger
Introduction:-
Twenty first century is marked as an era of technology. With the introduction of social sites on internet, the world has turned into a global village. Everyone is connected with each other just at a distance of single-click. Besides bringing many advantages, internet has also brought some disadvantages such as that of cyberterrorism. Cyberterrorism is the use of internet to cause violence, threat, or loss of life. This can result on a large scale destruction that is often known as cyberwar. In order to sustain peace in the world, cyberterrorism should be eliminated.
History:-
Cyberterrorism started back in 1990s with the introduction of internet. In a report on a computer security, it was written, ‘Tomorrow’s terrorist may be able to do more damage with a keyboard than with a bomb.”(NAS). After the fall of World Trade Centre on 9/11, America became aware of the imminent danger due to cyberterrorism. In December 2001, the think tank institute announced the existence of Iraq Net. After 9/11, federal government of US invested $4.1 billion for security infrastructure. Terrorist organizations are constantly using cyberterrorism to cripple the governments for their personal benefits.
How cyber terrorism can affect us:-
First of all, cyberterrorism has caused great tension among the people of whole world. They have become afraid of identity threat. All of the information regarding a person’s identity is available on internet that can be used by hackers for blackmailing.
Moreover, hackers can break into someone’s mobile and retrieve their personal data. This can result in very worst consequences such as the leakage of photos, videos, documents etc. moreover, hackers can break into mobile’s security and can get access to private messages or call history. Through call history and messages, our contact numbers can be released into the hands of hackers. All of these threats have caused fear among the people.
Effects on institution and organizations:-
Secondly, institutions and organizations have become vulnerable due to cyberterrorism. Much of the classified information of an organization is stored onto their personal servers. Blackmailers can get access to this server and can retrieve the important information regarding an organization that can be used for blackmailing.
Moreover, despite creating powerful security setup on their websites, still a lot of organizations lose their websites into the hands of hackers. According to a study, “75 websites are hacked each second” (Breach index). Furthermore, hackers can get into the data of organization and can make changes in it by deleting the existing accounts or making the new ones. This can result in the loss of original data.
Effects on government:-
Moreover, terrorist organizations have constantly been using cyberterrorism to cripple the governments. Terrorist use cyberspace to break into military defenses of a country. Through which they can retrieve important data such as the location of Head Quarters of Special Forces, names and records of Army personals etc. Furthermore, by the use of cyberspace, they can access information regarding the future tactics of a government and use it in their own favor to threaten the economy of a country. Cyberterrorism is often regarded as cyber war because it can cause large scale drastic effects on a whole country resulting in a war that won’t involve bombs and rifles but the use of cyberspace.
Conclusion:-
In conclusion, cyberterrorism is a constant source of danger to people, organizations as well as governments. It has already caused large scale destructions and has continued to do so. This imminent danger should be eliminated in order to sustain peace in the whole world.