How Does Cyberterrorism Affect Our Critical Infrastructures

When considering the technological advances over the past 50 years, the Internet has undoubtedly had the greatest impact on everyday life of developed economies and its citizens. The world has become smaller, societies interconnected, and the pace of global integration dramatically increased since the introduction of the Internet. With the world connected, cyber actors represent a very real and often underestimated threat to the United States’ ability to defend national security, protect industrial innovation, and secure privacy information. As a result of globalization, the foreign cyber actors represent the most imminent threat to national security, corporate innovation, and citizen privacy rights.

As a nation, today’s society must invest in cyber security to execute military power, protect citizens information, and safeguard businesses.

Abstract: Everyday security is provided by the states and federal government. These tasks get more difficult as new technology introduces itself. Cybersecurity is one of the most popular security sectors in today’s world. There is not only cyberbullying going on in the world. Terrorism can be planned and sent from person to person over the internet. People’s identities are being stole to help carry out these terrorist acts and this is just the being of it. The United States created the Department of Homeland Security as a result of the 9/11 attacks. This was an effort to prevent future terrorist attacks on our nation. Along with that department, laws have been enacted, such as the USA PATRIOT Act. This law was introduced and passed to provide Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies with better resources to fight and stand up against terrorism. The way to successfully providing security against domestic and international terrorists is to understand the mentality of a terrorist. Critical assessments, more efficient alert systems, and physical security standards must improve in order to solidify our current security posture if the United States wants to deter future terrorist attacks against its culture and economy.

Times have changed what was known as organized crime has been replaced by Cybercrimes (Heists: Cybercrimes with Ben Hammersley). Cybercrimes have risen dramatically in recent years and have become a major issue the United States and company’s face today jeopardizing as well as threatening the critical infrastructure of America (Cyberwar Threat, 2005). Sadly, the status quo of cyber security is very unstable with the advancements and growth which has put most individuals and businesses into an enormous threat (Agustina, 2015).

Government; to analyze this point is necessary to know the measures used for the prevention of terrorist attacks , and look if this measures are effective in the fight against terrorism.

The United States houses more than 15 critical infrastructures, all of which implement information and communication technologies (ICT) systems, making the risk of a cyberwar a constant possibility. In order to

The world is becoming more and more digital everyday, things as simple as the lights in our houses can be linked to a network. Nevertheless, these networks can be a window of opportunity for cyberterrorist groups, or hacktivists to exploit. Technology has also given the resources needed for these groups to become more efficient at what they do, like increasing bandwidth speeds or more efficient computers for example, but also the same technologies can be used to strengthen security measures against these attacks.

In this day in age everything from critical infrastructure, government information to money is being digitalized to the internet. Furthermore, it gave a showed a new front in which our nation can be attacked via cyber space. The Cyber security role for Homeland Security intelligence has become increasingly worrisome. Due to the fact that the cyber security of the nation has become increasingly targeted by foreign organizations, countries, and terrorists. One of the most potentially damaging targets is the nation’s critical infrastructure, especially the water and energy. In an article Hacking Gets Physical, it states that the “FBI confirmed that operatives in Russia, Iran, and China conducted mapping operations in order to discover weakness in the nations cyber security.” The critical infrastructure is becoming more digitalized because of its

With the widespread use of technology becoming more prominent, acts of cyber terrorism pose an increased threat to safety. Cyber terrorists exploit the internet and its users to commit acts that can be increasingly detrimental to their targets. Some of the terrorist activities include large scale corruption of computer networks by using tools like computer viruses. Certain individuals even have the ability of creating severe damage to government systems, national security systems and even hospital servers. Most of the technology made today only has intentions of making life easier for people. However, skilled users can manipulate the cyber world for negative intentions. Staying informed when it comes to cyber terrorism and cybercrime is important to do because of the increased reliance on technology in society. Steps to improve cyber security before an attack ensures the safety of sensitive information. The topic of cyber security and cyber warfare are interesting topics to keep up to date with. Understanding these topics can be beneficial to my dream of being in the FBI, ensuring the safety of others by working to prevent acts of cyberterrorism.

The critical front line in the counter terror battle will most certainly be cyberspace. It will also be the most volatile one ,to be sure, homegrown, lone-wolf terrorists will still exist. Some of these attacks can be devastatingly destructive, or at least profoundly embarrassing, as Sony Pictures recently learned. Whether or not the Pyongyang government was actually responsible for the Sony hack, experts worry that regular computer geeks are now able to mount similarly intrusive attacks. And that poses a near-infinite range of potentially serious threats to governments, commercial entities, and

The modernization and revolution of the information technology has awakened to a new down of information warfare, a threat that stubbornly dogs the United States Homeland Security in form of cyber terrorism.

According to Furnell and Warren (1999), Evidence suggests that technology is growingly seen as a potential tool for terrorist organizations and the widespread use of information technology by terrorist groups and organizations has led to the birth of a new class of menace termed “Cyberterrorism”. Cyberterrorism could be used in many diverse ways. Sometimes, a country’s pivotal infrastructures could be shut down and harmed using computer network and tools. There have been impediments in trying to give a clear and concise definition to the term “cyberterrorism”. But Denning (2007) which supersedes Denning (2000) gives an unambiguous definition to cyberterrorism:

The damage of a full-fledged cyber attack would be devastating, the destruction would be unparalleled to any other tragedy that has occurred America. Since technology is responsible for providing America with vital entities and resources, an unadulterated cyber attack would nearly fail the American economy; this is what is known as critical systems failure. Weapons of mass destruction and cyber attacks present imminent threats of critical systems failure. Although currently Americas’ critical infrastructures are coordinated by controlled systems, majority of these systems are indeed connected to the American cyberspace. This exposes one of America’s most vulnerable spot amidst cyber security. Another major vulnerable spot within the nations IT security would be the geographical physical location for each of Americas primary infrastructures, as well as their productivity. Due to the proximal locations, the major infrastructures could very well be infiltrated by one efficient CNA.

In almost every application of modern infrastructure, technology plays a huge part in running and maintaining said infrastructure as efficiently, precisely and reliably as possible. Traffic lights run on automated cycles, airports have their booking and flight data entirely digitized, and water treatment systems rely on computerized controls and systems. All of these and many more are pieces of infrastructure that had once been done by hand, but now use computers and technology to operate at the rates vital for our fast moving and massive societies. It can be said with great certainty that the computerized systems behind many of our societies support structures have intrinsically become what we define with the title of “critical infrastructure.” The problem with the otherwise efficient and superior implementations of computerized technology is that now, in the wake of programs such as STUXNET, it is incredibly apparent that this infrastructure is vulnerable. For any number of reasons or motivations, terrorist or criminal hackers are able to find ways in to the computerized systems of critical infrastructure, and as we move forward, these vulnerabilities could easily turn into catastrophic disasters. Computerized technology has become integral to modern

Existing and potential threats in the area of cyber security are among the most critical challenges of the 21st century. Threats emanate from a wide variety of sources, and manifest themselves in disruptive activities that target individuals, businesses, national infrastructures, and governments alike. Their effects carry significant risk for public safety, the security of nations and the stability of the globally linked international community as a whole. Malicious use of information technology can easily be concealed. The origin, identity of the perpetrator, or motivation for the disruption can be difficult to ascertain. Often, the perpetrators of these activities can only be inferred from the target, the effect or other circumstantial evidence. Threat actors can operate with substantial impunity from virtually anywhere.