The military and information warfare
Perhaps one of the most interesting results of the use of networks by terror groups is that they have lead to new organizational models used by these groups (NIPC - The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center).
Technologies such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC), point to point chat clients, bulletin and message boards, free e-mail accounts enable terrorist groups to adopt a structure of "leaderless resistance," according to documents published by the NIPC.
Groups whose members are sent their instructions either via e-mail or by visiting secure web sites can operate in a coordinated fashion without its members meeting face to face, this organizational structure also means that it is very difficult for authorities to penetrate these organizations as there is no direct contact between members.
Besides offering a means of communication between members the Internet offers a platform for terrorists to spread propaganda to the public at large in the hope of either recruiting more members or to garner support for their cause.
According to a Georgetown university Professor this leaderless resistance strategy was originally identified in 1962 by Col. Ulius Amos, an anti-communist activist and this approach was advocated in 1992 by a neo-Nazi activist named Louis Beam.
There is an obvious danger in groups such as these using the internet as a global soap box. Hypothetically speaking, even if only 2 out of every 200 persons who visit a site are influenced by the organizational messages, this number can quickly grow into thousands as more persons around the world migrate to the Internet as a source of information.
The following is a brief description of some of the weapons that cyberterrorists might use.
Using a denial of service attack, the user literally captures other "innocent" computers, and uses those computers to send an overload of email or web site "hits" to the target system or server. Completely overwhelmed, the targeted system crashes.
As everything begins to use technology then everything becomes a target of cyberterrorism. As things stand terrorists are now capable of disrupting almost every aspect of our culture, governments, public utilities, on-line banking and trading, commercial transactions, commuter and international travel, ticket purchases, medical and hospital data, educational institutions, etc.
Although the potential for on-line terrorist attack is virtually unlimited, actual attacks have been somewhat limited so far. For the most part, true terrorist organizations have not engaged in cyber-terrorist acts. However, while the lack of attacks may be attributable to ignorance, patience, timing, un-detectability, or simple reluctance, there is no denying the overwhelming potential for them and exposure to them. In fact, recent incidents involving computer hackers (who are arguably very similar to the pure cyber-terrorist) provide reliable foreshadowing of cyberterrorism potential. Some recent examples:
Project Echelon started shortly after the conclusion of World War II. It consisted of a secret pact between the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. These countries would share intelligence on captured communications with the NSA in exchange for access to the monitoring technology and funding. The original main purpose of Project Echelon was to monitor the Soviet Union and its allies during the Cold War.
The operational structure of the Echelon system is really quite simple. Project Echelon is actually the computer component of a much larger global spying system headed by the NSA. Echelon utilizes five satellites, in orbit around the Earth, that are capable of monitoring sounds and transmissions thousands of miles away. Additionally, each of the participating nations has ground-based satellite installations that monitor electronic communications. Each nation is also assigned a designated "zone" of the planet to monitor, as a single station cannot monitor transmissions in all parts of the world. Working together, the network of stations and satellites can monitor electronic communications originating anywhere on the planet.
Like a large fishing net, the Echelon satellites capture electronic messages at a rate of about 2 million messages an hour. Using technology such as voice recognition and OCR, the Echelon computers, or "dictionaries," search the messages for certain keywords (for example, the word "bomb"), addresses, phrases, or voices. Additionally, each station carries the keywords of all the other stations, so keywords in many various languages may be detected. If a keyword is detected, the message is forwarded to the agency concerned. It is rumoured that most of Project Echelon is funded by the NSA budget, which is an estimated $3.6 billion (more than the FBI and CIA combined).
If it truly exists, Echelon is most certainly one of the world's most powerful weapons. It could easily and effectively be utilized in the fight against terrorism, drug cartels, and other criminals. However, many entities, including the European Union, have made allegations that the Echelon system is being abused, often used to capture domestic, economic, and commercial data. This data, according to the detractors, in then used to undercut commercial transactions or influence political entities. Among the various charges: The NSA has been accused of forwarding data captured by Echelon to American contractors, enabling those contractors to undercut foreign bidders on expensive contracts: operators have been accuse of using Echelon hardware to monitor domestic phone calls for personal reasons; a French lawyer is bringing a class action lawsuit against the governments of the United States and Britain, claiming Echelon has been used to steal trade secrets and undercut commercial transactions. However, despite the alleged abuses, Project Echelon is clearly a formidable weapon against terrorism and cyber-terrorism.
Cyberterrorism
Introduction
When discussing the use of networks and network technologies with regard to terrorism it is important to consider both ways that they can be used. They can be used to spread terrorism and aid communication between terrorist cells, and they can be used by government agencies in the combating of terror.Who are the cyberterrorists
But who are the cyberterrorists, are they existing terrorist groups or are they new organizations. While there are some groups of "pure" cyberterrorists in operation in the world the main threat would seem to come from groups that have historically operated in the "real" world. In this information age, terrorist organizations, which generally get no access to television or radio communications, can easily broadcast their messages to entire world via the internet. In fact, many of the largest terrorist groups either maintain their own website, or have sites dedicated to them.Aum Shinrikyo, the group who orchestrated the gas bombing or Tokyo subways, operates its own site. Hizzballah, the Party of God, an anti-West and anti-Israeli terrorist organization, has been implicated in many deadly attacks, including the bombing of U.S. military barracks in Beiruit. A site detailing their mission can be found at Hizbullah: The Party of God. These sites allow terrorist organizations to reach ultimate target audience- the worldwide population.Methods of cyberterrorism
The methods used by cyberterrorists thrive on the development of new technologies. Although often developed for some other non-threatening purpose, new technological advancements provide terrorists and cyber-terrorists with new weapons for their arsenal. These new weapons include: Radio Frequency Weapons, TED's, RF munitions, TEMPEST monitoring devices, electromagnetic bombs, and computer viruses and other related harmful computer programs. Furthermore, interest in these new technologies has been substantially increased by the widespread availability of information on the Internet. Additionally, several serious dangers are presented by many of these new weapons: they may allow the user to attack from a great distance (a computer terminal thousands of miles away from the target, for example); the attack is undetectable and a victim may not even know that he is being attacked; and/or there are no protective measures currently available to protect a potential target from attack. "What this means is that it is possible to do what Sun Tzu wrote about 2000 years ago: to conquer an enemy without fighting."RADIO FREQUENCY WEAPONS (RF WEAPONS) or HIGH POWERED MICROWAVE (HPM)
Imagine an advanced version of a microwave oven that can be aimed. This weapon essentially "fries" the electrical components of its target. The Soviet Union has been credited with the initial development of these technologies. These devices typically consist of a power source, an apparatus to generate RF energy, and antennae to direct the energy. The RF waves created by the weapon are similar to FM radio waves. The RF weapons emit a series of smooth radio waves that cause the targeted material or device to generate heat and burn up. Like a radio, typical narrow band RF weapons must be "tuned" or "dialed" to the frequency of their target. The energy created by the RF weapon may enter the electronic systems of the target through a "front door" point, such as an antennae used by the target for communication or radar, or a "back-door" point, such as an unshielded wire. Once inside the target, the RF energy may burn out of disrupt the electrical systems of the target. However, narrow band RF weapons have several disadvantages. They are expensive, complex, and require large amounts of power and a cooling system. Furthermore, they are usually large in size and can be hard to "aim."Transient Electromagnetic Device(TED)
Most of the disadvantages associated with narrow band RF weapons are overcome by TED's. The TED has been referred to as the "weapon of choice to the modern cyber or infrastructure RF warrior." A special category of RF weapon, the TED emits a large "spike" burst of energy (as opposed to a series of waves). This spike targets a large spectrum of space, and is not limited to a single frequency like the narrow band RF weapon. Furthermore, the TED is smaller, cheaper, and less technologically challenging to build. Most of the information necessary to create a TED is available in technical libraries. Common auto parts such as ignition switches may be used to construct a TED. TED's also come in a variety of sizes:
RF weapons and TED's have many advantages over conventional weapons:
Electromagnetic Bomb/Pulse Weapon
The electromagnetic bomb creates an electromagnetic pulse which is an electromagnetic shock wave. The damage inflicted upon the target by this shockwave is similar to the damage that would be inflicted by a lightning strike. A bomb-feaseible technology known as Explosively Pumped Flux Compression Generators (FCG) can create a current between 10 to 1000 times greater than a lightning strike. Electromagnetic warheads may be fitted to cruise missiles and air-delivered bombs.Radio Frequency Munitions
RF weapons may be converted into deliverable munitions such as hand grenades, mortar rounds, or artillery shells.Tempest Monitoring Devices
RF weapons may be converted into deliverable munitions such as hand grenades, mortar rounds, or artillery shellsViruses, Logic Bombs, Trojan Horses etc.
Covered in another section of the site.Denial of service (Zombie) attacks
Targets of cyberterrorism
Every day the world becomes more and more reliant on information technology. Banks, other financial institutions, public utilities, commercial companies, and even governments use on-line technology in its daily business. It is easily argued that many of these advancements are beneficial, but what is the cost that comes with them.
Denial of service attacks
Recently, unidentified hackers have used Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to cripple on-line entities such as Yahoo, CNN.com, Buy.com, Ebay, Amazon.com, E-Trade, and ZDNet. Many of these sites were disabled for more than an hour, and estimated their losses in millions of dollars. Furthermore, DoS attacks are relatively easy to carry out, and the required software programs (such as Tribal Flood Net and Trinoo) are available on the Internet. Even the FBI has been victimized by a DoS attack. It is foreseeable that these attacks could also be utilized to achieve terrorist goals such as disrupting the economy, government, or financial arena. Demands for money, weapons, or release of prisoners could also be coupled with the attacks.Cyber-extortion
Both the United States and Britain have been the victim of cyber-extortion. As many as four gangs (possibly in the United States and Russia) have received multi-million dollar payments after they threatened to crash and actually disabled the business computer systems. The groups have used logic bombs, and even electro-magnetic pulses and RF weapons, to carry out their threats. These attacks are easily adaptable to terrorist purposes. Terrorists may use the same attacks to acquire money, prisoner release, or other demands. They would no longer be required to physically hi-jack an airplane full of passengers, or orchestrate deadly bombings, but rather carry out their acts from the comfort of home.Operation Eligible Receiver
This was an operation orchestrated by the United States National Security Agency (NSA), in order to test the danger of cyberterrorism, during this operation 35 hackers were hired by the NSA and disabled parts of the Washington DC 911 system, gained access to systems aboard a US Navy cruiser at sea, and positioned itself to shut down parts of the US power grid. Most importantly the majority of the hackers were able to accomplish this without detection. If terrorists were able to do what these "hackers for hire" did the results could be catastrophic.Combating cyberterrorism
The best chance to combat the threat of cyberterrorism is through the use of a top secret project headed by the NSA known as project echelon. Although the NSA will neither confirm nor deny the actual existence of Project Echelon, the limited amount of information that is available suggests that Echelon endows the operator with nearly limitless ability to intercept and monitor any kind of electronic communication: cellular phone, email, satellite, microwave, or fiber-optic communication. Furthermore, available data indicates that Echelon is able to monitor signals that originate anywhere on the planet.