Page 129 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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Cyberterrorism———103

See also APRIL 19; JAMES ELLISON; OKLAHOMA CITY motivated to crumble information systems to cause
BOMBING; THE ORDER; PATRIOT MOVEMENT; RICHARD chaos lack the requisite computer skills.
WAYNE SNELL; WACO Still, many point to destructive viruses and worms,
denial-of-service attacks, as the seedlings for larger
Further Reading events. In 1999, the Melissa virus, an e-mail virus

Coulson, Danny O., and Elaine Shannon. No Heroes: Inside named after a Florida stripper, affected more than a
the FBI’s Secret Counter-Terror Force. New York: million computers and caused at least $80 million in
Pocket Books, 1999. damages. (Melissa’s creator, David Smith, pleaded
Extremism on the Right. Rev. ed. New York: Anti- guilty and was sentenced to 20 months in prison in
Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, 1988. May 2002.) In May 2000, the lovebug virus (aka the
Noble, Kerry. Tabernacle of Hate: Why They Bombed ILOVEYOU virus) affected even the CIA and British
Oklahoma City. Prescott, Ontario: Voyageur, 1998. Parliament and caused more than $10 billion in
damages worldwide. The Nimda virus, discovered in
2001, has caused damages estimated at $500 million
CSA. See COVENANT, THE SWORD, AND THE and has hobbled entire businesses for days at a time.
ARM OF THE LORD. Though viruses still constitute a threat, a more
recent form of cyberattack has been the denial-of-
service attack. In February 2000, Yahoo!, CNN, eBay
and other e-commerce sites were flooded by e-mail
CYBERTERRORISM messages from attacking computers, which slowed
service and blocked other users from the sites, causing
an estimated $1 billion in losses.
The term cyberterrorism refers to the convergence Other incidents, worldwide, have combined these
of terrorism and cyberspace—the politically motivated hacking techniques with political messages. In what
sabotage of information systems. Since the 1990s, is believed to be the first cyberattack by terrorists
incidents of hacking, cybercrime, and highly destruc- against a country’s computer systems, in 1998, an
tive computer viruses have been widespread, but many offshoot of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
believe that true cyberterrorism remains more of a swamped the Sri Lankan embassies with thousands
threat, albeit a possibly imminent one, than a reality. of e-mails that read, “We are the Internet Black
Barry Collin, of the Institute for Security and Tigers and we’re doing this to disrupt your communi-
Intelligence in California, coined the term cyber- cations.” In India, a group of international hackers
terrorism in the 1980s. In a 1997 paper, Collin described against nuclear proliferation, called Milw0rm,
possible cyberterror scenarios. In one, a cyberterrorist hacked into the Bhabha Atomic Research Center and
hacks into the computer system of a cereal manufacturer posted the message, “If a nuclear war does start, you
and raises the level of iron in each box, causing innu- will be the first to scream” transposed over a photo of
merable children to get sick and die. In another scenario, an atomic mushroom cloud. Similar attacks have
cyberterrorists destabilize an entire country by attacking been perpetrated against North Atlantic Treaty
financial institutions and stock exchanges en masse. Organization (NATO) sites during the conflict in
Collin’s third scenario, in which a cyberterrorist Kosovo, to protest the World Trade Organization,
hacks into an air traffic control system, came close to and, particularly after the United States accidentally
reality when, in 1997, a teenager gained access to a bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, against
phone switch at a small Massachusetts airport and U.S. government sites.
accidentally cut all communication for the control While denial-of-service attacks, e-mail bombs, Web
tower for several hours. Alarming as it was, the inci- site sit-ins, Web page takeovers, and viruses—some-
dent was seen more as hacking gone awry than cyber- times referred to, collectively, as “hacktivism”—have
terror because the teenager lacked political motivation. not claimed lives or caused much more than nuisance
To date, this has often been the case—hackers with the and/or financial loss, many believe that these tactics
tools to disable key government or corporate computer could be used to complicate and magnify real-world
systems lack the political motivation to do so; terrorists attacks. Jeffrey A. Hunker, former senior director for