CYBER TERRORISM 2

In order to understand the term ‘cyber terrorism’ a distinction has to be made between the concept and other computer crimes. The proposed law in Nigeria seems to be in consonant with the definition given by Dorothy Denning to the extent of the gravity of the attacks and the resultant effects, which should either result in violence against or death of persons or damage to property, or at least cause enough harm to generate fear and intimidate. A closer look at section 15 of the proposed law basically limits cyber terrorism to unlawful attacks using computer, or computer networks against person(s), government, international organization, the country and indeed other infrastructures resulting in the consequences enumerated under the sub section. These attacks should be deliberate and for the purposes of committing terrorism as defined by section15 (2). The section is however silent on the motive behind the attack and seems to deviate from our working definition of the term in that the attacks must not necessarily be directed toward another computer, computer network or information stored therein. The section seems to limit cyber terrorism to cases where conventional terrorism activities are committed through the computer or computer net works and the computer is merely the tool for the attack.

However in order to understand the broad meaning of the term cyber terrorism objectively certain questions must be asked, but unfortunately the answers to some of these questions introduce rather very subjective factors into the meaning of the term, viz:

• Is it every case of computer crimes or crimes committed with or through the computers that constitute cyber terrorism?
• What does ‘convergence of terrorism and the cyber space’ really mean and must cyber terrorism involve the use of computer as a tool of a crime against computer and other computer networks as the target of the crime?
• What is the motive behind the attacks on the computer or computer networks or rather is the motive and intention behind the attack important in determining a case of cyber terrorism?
• Must the acts of terrorism be committed by conventional terrorist using the computers or computer networks to qualify as cyber terrorism? Or must conventional acts of terrorism be committed through computers or computer networks to be called cyber terrorism?
• Is the severity or seriousness of the attack and its consequences paramount in deciding whether a particular computer crime is considered as cyber terrorism or not?

The above issues and similar others have generated quite a considerable amount of discourse mainly among lawyers and security experts and we shall try to answer each poser very briefly in order to have a general over view of the term. It is important to note that some experts have questioned the existence of cyber terrorism in the first place considering that no such incident or attack has ever occurred and have attributed the hype about it to the media. They argue that what has been erroneously referred to cyber terrorism are mainly cases of hacking and information warfare and are therefore, against labeling such acts as terrorism proper because it is quite unlikely that fear of significant physical harm or death in a population using electronic means could be created, considering current attacks and protective technologies available.

There is no doubt that not all computer crimes can be described as cyber terrorism and it has been argued that for a particular computer crime to be so described it should involve the use of computer and computer networks to unlawful attack and threaten to attack other computers/ computer networks and the information stored therein so as to cause fear or result in violence or death of persons or damage to property. This is often described as pure cyber terrorism, which is terrorism carried out totally in the virtual world. The computer should be both the tool and the target of the attack while in other cases of computer crimes the computer is merely a tool used in committing the offence.

However it is not all cases of attacks committed using the computer against another computer or computer networks that constitute cyber terrorism and it is important to distinguish between cyber terrorism and hacking, hacktivism and or information warfare.

Hacking is used to describe activities conducted online which are intended to ‘reveal, manipulate, or otherwise exploit vulnerabilities in computer operating systems and other software’. Hacktivism is a term used by scholars to describe the hacking done with political motives. Hacktivism usually involves the use of four main methods and these are: virtual blockades; e-mail attacks; hacking and computer break-ins; and computer viruses and worms. A virtual blockade is the physical sit-in or blockade done in the virtual world: political activists visit a website and attempt to generate so much traffic toward the site that other users cannot reach it, thereby disrupting normal operations. Swarming occurs when a large number of individuals simultaneously access a website, causing its collapse. The second method is e-mail bombing campaigns, which is bombarding targets with thousands of messages at once. A third is web hacking and computer break-ins, which is basically hacking into computers to access stored information, communication facilities, among others. The fourth method of hacktivist entails using computer viruses and worms, both of which are forms of malicious code that can infect computers and spread over computer networks.

Hacktivism, although politically motivated, does not amount to cyber terrorism as hacktivists though they intent to protest and disrupt, do not want to kill or maim or cause violence or instill fear. However, hacktivism does underline the threat of cyber terrorism since it shows the potentials, that individuals with no restraint may use methods similar to those developed by hackers to cause colossal violence and damage. Sometimes, the line between cyber terrorism and hacktivism may be very hazy and difficult to draw which is why both terms have been used interchangeably. Moreover it is possible for conventional terrorist groups to engage the services of computer hacktivists or if hacktivists decide to escalate their actions by attacking the systems that operate critical elements of the national infrastructure, such as electric power networks, transport systems and emergency services. These invariably would constitute cyber terrorism. On line information warfare involves hacking into an ‘enemy’ web site to spread propaganda or disinformation or information which is totally false to cause disaffection among members of the public or it could just be a mere on line propaganda of false information, which of course is not cyber terrorism.

As observed, Cyber terrorism has been defined as the ‘convergence of the cyber space and terrorism’. The cyber space has been used very loosely to mean the digital technology and the Internet. Terrorism on the other hand is quite difficult to define because what is considered as terrorism to one person might just be freedom fighting to another. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines terrorism as ‘the unlawful use of force or violence committed by a group of two or more individuals against a person or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment thereof in furtherance of a political or social objective.’

Sometimes religious, ideological objectives are added as motivation for terrorism. It has also been argued that the convergence between the cyber space and terrorism activities becomes obvious, not only when these attacks are directed against computers but when the other many factors and capabilities of the internet or the virtual world are leveraged by terrorists in furtherance of their objectives. Therefore cyber terrorism though involves using the computer as tool to commit a crime must not always be directed towards the computer(s), computer networks or information stored therein as the computer network must not necessarily be the ultimate target in a case of cyber terrorism. The danger posed by the fusion of the computer and terrorism does not only occur when the computer is a target, as the targets of cyber terrorism could be many and varied. However it is doubtful if all terrorism activities of conventional terrorist in the virtual world can be properly referred to as cyber terrorism or cyber terrorism refers to all cases of fusion of terrorism activities and the internet or the virtual world.

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