Terrorists Using It

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TERRORISTS USING IT

Background

y Technological terrorism is defined as actions directed against infrastructure elementscritically important for national security or committed with the use of especially hazardous

technologies, technical means, and materials.

Technologies used

y Wikis (Update information concerning new plans, new inventions, allow working partnersto add information)

y Blogs (Discuss and give opinions about a particular topic)y Forums (Same purpose as blogs and wikis)y Chat rooms (Direct communication for immediate feedback)y Photo sharing (In order to recognize future places to attack)y Websites (This can be used to expose their organization and recruit members)

Why use the internet?

y Because it reaches more potential victims and is harder to tracey The Internet has five characteristics that make it an ideal tool for terrorist organizations.

First, it enables rapid communications. People can hold conversations in real time using

instant messaging or Web forums. Instructions, intelligence information, and even funds

can be sent and received in seconds via email.

y Second, Internet use is a low-cost proposition. Terrorist organizations can now affordablyduplicate many of the capabilities needed by modern militaries, governmentalorganizations, and businesses: a communications infrastructure, intelligence-gathering

operation, training system, and media-savvy public affairs presence.

y Third, the ubiquity of the Internet means that small terrorist groups can have a globalcyber presence that rivals that of much larger organizations. Terrorists not only can

communicate with each other from almost anywhere in the world, but they also can

create aWeb site that is viewed by millions and possibly even examined daily by media

outlets for news stories.

y Fourth, the growth in bandwidth combined with development of new software hasenabled unsophisticated users to develop and disseminate complex information via the

Internet. For example, in December 2004, "a militant Islamic chat room posted a 26-

minute video clip with instructions on how to assemble a suicide bomb vest, along with ataped demonstration of its use on a model of a bus filled with passengers."

y Finally, modern encryption technologies allow Internet users to surf theWeb, transferfunds, and communicate anonymously - a serious (though not insurmountable)

impediment to intelligence and law enforcement organizations trying to find, track, and

catch terrorists. To achieve anonymity, terrorists can download various types of easy-to-

use computer security software (some of which is commercial and some of which is freely


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available) or register for anonymous email accounts from providers such as Yahoo! or

Hotmail.

(The reality of terrorist cyber war, June 12, 2007)

Effects?

y Disrupt power supplies to millions of homesy Disrupt air traffic control systemsy Shut down water suppliesy Exploit the Internet for financial gainy Spread propaganday Destroy key servers of a whole state

Examine arguments for and against banning such technology?

Positives of banning this technology:y Cut all type of connection between terrorists so that they dont have easycommunication and therefore this would decrease the chances of them planning or

sharing ideas for their attacks.y Terrorists are not able to make use of this technologies to plan their attacksy By banning this technologies, no one will be able to make use of such informationtherefore parents for example, dont have to worry of their child reading or getting

access to such information that would become harmful for them since they could give

bad unsecure ideas to the children.y Terrorists might back up to do what they are planning as this limited technology willmake it harder for them to plan everything and to stay in contacty Government doesnt have to worry because all this technology blocked wont allowterrorists to be planning with the use of any of the computer technology.

Security is the issue which would be raised the most since there are not going to be any

harmful information about terrorism that children could read or also the amount of

attacks could be lower since the communication between terrorists would decrease.

Negatives of banning this technology:y They are blocking all of this technology (wikis, blogs, chatrooms, forums, etc.) notonly just to terrorists, but for people who make good use of it, and this is not fair.Students which are in school are not going to be able to learn about terrorism therefore

they could get wrong information about it since they havent learned it at school and

dont know what terrorism really is.y It is difficult to ban every technology, as everyday people create more softwares tostay in contact (Eg: Facebook, all those social networks, all the hotmails and gmails),

etc.


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y If they block all of this technology, how will the other people stay in contact withfamily and friends?People are going to blame terrorists for the banning of the

technologies and then people would grow hate over them.y If they block all information and all wikis and blogs, how will people use this toolsfor educational purposes? Terrorists will look for another way of planning their attacks and stay in contact

between them

y Not only terrorists use wikis, therefore the other people which use them are goingto complain since they maybe are using it just for fun , and they are going to be left

without the use just because terrorists were using them.

y Also the banning of photo sharing sites , where terrorist post their images whichcan sometimes be violent, might create an impact on the rest of population

because there are people which use this sites for sharing their photos with family,

friends, and also they are people which use the sites just for saving their

photographs.

y Forums are also another internet technology that terrorist use very often, in orderto communicate with other terrorists and share their thoughts and plans. However

other people also use them but for different reasons and they would get affected if

the banning of this technology occurs because then people are not going to be able

to express themselves with other people and also to share information between

them.

Ethical issues presented?

Control Terrorists are having control of their actions by the use of IT. They create hardwares and

softwares to be able to control and manage all of their plans. Terrorists have the power to controlIT, they know how to use it. Everything is done by computers. The attack to all computers in

Estonia, is an example where a terrorist/hacker had control over all computers, ISPs, websites,

etc.

Security Not secure as there is no one to stop terrorists planning through the Internet. Terrorists

have no limits and no boundaries in the internet. Terrorists keep their information secure so no

one know what they are up to. Protecting and operating in Cyberspace has never been so

important. 100s of reported attacks on military systems and government infrastructure are

reported daily1

P

eople and machines Terrorists are using computers and the internet to plan all of their attacks.They communicate with each other by the use of the internet. Terrorists groups could soon use

the internet to help set off a devastating nuclear attack, according to new research2

tells the

International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND).

1Cyber Warfare, http://www.cyberwarfare-event.com/Event.aspx?id=237804

1Terrorists could use internet to launch nuclear attack: report,Bobbie Johnson,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/24/internet-cyber-attack-terrorists


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Explain the ways in which terrorists can use IT?

IMPORTANT POINTS:

y It is important to know that many terrorists have a degree in engineering and that themajority of them are wealthier and better-educated. Benjamin Popper

(http://www.slate.com/id/2240157/) states that Islamic terrorists born or raised in the

West, nearly 60 percent had engineering backgrounds.

y Fact: 8/25 hijackers on 9/11 were engineersy Terrorists use it for communications, recruiting and propaganday As Internet technologies become more advanced, so do those who use them for illicit and

illegal activities," says Dexter Ingram (www.usatoday.com)

RECRUITING:

y Terrorists recruit engineering people for their organizations and these ones tend to be theleaders because they are the ones working with hands-on with explosives.

y By using IT they are able to be discrete with recruiting and they dont even have to meetface to face, meaning it can be difficult for the police to track them physically, as they are

realizing everything using technology.

ORGANIZATION:

y There is no way for it to be restricted on a long-term basis.y The fact that they organize undercover cannot be restrictedy They utilize any kind of technology


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Real life examples


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Solutions

y Due to international development of terrorism the police cannot effectively act with aview to preventing terrorist offences exclusively by means of traditional methods, the

object of which is to clear up terrorist offences already committed. Preventing social

damage brought about by terrorist acts requires that the police have sufficient powers to

gather information on terrorist activities and their grounds, so that specific terrorist acts

can be prevented.

y Cut the people outside the country (For example if a England is being attack by Spain,England can block all Spain users block them from that specific website they are

attacking)

Documents

Terrorists Using It