Understanding Cyber Terrorism: Frameworks and Challenges

Cyber terrorism represents a significant modern threat characterized by malicious activities conducted through digital means aimed at disrupting or harming organizations, individuals, or national security. This essay explores the definition, challenges, and impacts of cyber terrorism as highlighted in various academic studies. It delves into how cyber terrorism differs from traditional forms of terrorism due to its anonymity and global reach, enabled by sophisticated technology and widespread internet access. The discussion includes analysis of real-world incidents illustrating the potential destructiveness of such attacks. Furthermore, the essay reviews current legislative frameworks and technological countermeasures being developed to combat these threats. A particular focus is given to international cooperation as a crucial element in addressing the jurisdictional complexities associated with cyber crimes. Finally, practical strategies for enhancing cybersecurity protocols are proposed to mitigate risks posed by cyber terrorists.

Running head: CYBER TERRORISM
Cyber Terrorism
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Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to know about the main idea and the impact of cyber terrorism in
modern world. The use of ICT or information and communications technology has changed the
entire technological world. It is utilized by all organizations, individuals in their daily life.
However it does have some of the dangerous impacts of the society and modern world. All sorts
of cyber crime occur through information and communications technology. Cyber terrorism is
one of them. The objective of this report is to identify the challenges, problems, applications and
technologies related to cyber terrorism.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Cyber Terrorism...........................................................................................................................3
Challenges................................................................................................................................4
Problems..................................................................................................................................5
Relevant Technologies.............................................................................................................6
Impact of Cyber Terrorism......................................................................................................7
Most Important Lesson............................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Cyber terrorism is the new terror in today’s life. The Internet has created a huge impact
on the society. The society is extremely benefitted from this impact. Everything is modern world
is connected to technology and Internet (Awan, 2014). The world has become smaller because of
this Internet. The major advantages of Internet are the encouragement of intelligence and
creativity, access to information, improved communication and efficiency and productivity. In
spite of providing such major benefits to the society, Internet do have welcomed some of the
most degrading and destructive crimes for the society. This has created a negative impact for the
world. Cyber terrorism is one of those crime that has shaken the entire world (Bowman-Grieve,
2015). It is the act of conducting violent and destructive activities in the society for causing
danger or harming a particular organization, an individual, a city, a state or even a country. The
intruders or hackers hack a particular system for conducting all kinds of activities that are related
to terrorism.
The report given below provides a detailed discussion on cyber terrorism. The report
gives a brief description about the challenges, problems, applications and technologies related to
cyber terrorism. The social impact of cyber terrorism is also mentioned in the report with proper
details. This type of crime teaches lessons in life. Cyber terrorism can be stopped by taking
proper measures.

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Discussion
Cyber Terrorism
Cyber terrorism is one of the most dangerous crimes that have shaken the entire world
(Tehrani, Manap & Taji, 2013). It is the act of conducting violent and destructive activities in the
society for causing danger or harming a particular organization, an individual, a city, a state or
even a country. It is nothing but the use of Internet and information and communications
technologies with wrong intentions (Uma & Padmavathi, 2013). The intentions are only to harm
and threaten other people and the world. The Internet has created a huge impact on the society.
The society is extremely benefitted from this impact. Everything is modern world is connected to
technology and Internet. The world has become smaller because of this Internet. The major
advantages of Internet are the encouragement of intelligence and creativity, access to
information, improved communication and efficiency and productivity. In spite of providing
such major benefits to the society, Internet do have welcomed some of the most degrading and
destructive crimes for the society (Bowman-Grieve, 2015). This has created a negative impact
for the world.
Challenges
Cyber terrorism is done by cyber terrorists. They target some particular systems that are
enabled with Internet. The challenges of cyber terrorism include sectors of legal, economic,
social and political (Ahmad, Yunos & Sahib, 2012). All sectors in modern world are dependent
on systems. The hackers hack these systems. The necessities of a particular society are present in
the systems. For example, the infrastructure include utilities like water supply, electric supply,
banking, finance, air traffic control and many more. These utilities are affected whenever there is
any type of attack in the systems. Innocent citizens suffer due to this and thus the social sector is

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affected. The terrorist often demand for ransom for their activity from the nation. This affects the
economic sector. Every nation has their legal rules and laws. This type of attack shakes the entire
legal sector (Bogdanoski & Petreski, 2013). In some cases, it is seen that the cyber terrorists have
hatred towards a particular nation and they target that nation. These challenges are extremely
dangerous for any nation.
Problems
The various types of problems related to the attack of cyber terrorism are as follows:
i) Passwords: The most important security measure is the password. It protects any
information system from being hacked. However, this is also a major problem for that system
(Tehrani, Manap & Taji, 2013). There are software that can easily hack the passwords. In spite of
this threat, passwords must be present in every system. Moreover, theses passwords must be up
graded time to time.
ii) Political Issue: Another dangerous or issue for cyber terrorism is the political issue.
Political parties want to take revenge on one another and they welcome professional hackers to
create problem (Ahmad & Yunos, 2012). In some cases, it is seen that the cyber terrorists have
hatred towards a particular nation and they target that nation. Most of the time it is done by some
of the political parties.
iii) Simple Infrastructure: The infrastructure of a system must be strong enough to deal
with any type of attack in the system (Jarvis, Macdonald & Whiting, 2015). The infrastructure
should not be simple at all as it can be easily hacked by the hackers or intruders and they use that
system for terrorist attacks.

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iv) Inexpensive Infrastructure: Another problem for cyber terrorism is the inexpensive
infrastructure of a system. This type of infrastructures does not have the resistance power to fight
back with the hackers or intruders when they try to hack a system.
v) Absence of Communication System for Government: : Another major problem for
cyber terrorism is the lack of communication system for government. This type of system helps
in detecting any vulnerable situation easily (Awan & Blakemore, 2016). It informs the
government if there is any chance of attacks for the nation. Moreover, this system helps in
collecting, sharing and distributing all data that are related to security.
vi) Lack of Adding and Revision of Legislation: Presence of rules, legal actions and
regulations are responsible for the success of any nation (Uma & Padmavathi, 2013). The
government of any nation should modify and alter their laws and regulations in every short
period of time. The laws and rules should be strict enough so that everybody will be scared for
involving in such cases.
vii) Lack of International Cooperation: This is another important problem in cyber
terrorism. Every government should keep an healthy relation with other governments as they will
be useful in helping in cases of cyber terrorism (Ahmad & Yunos, 2012). Every nation has a
particular limitation or restriction in searching cyber criminals. However, the moment they
approach an international help, there is no such restrictions.
Relevant Technologies
Technology has both positive and negative impact on the society. The introduction of
technology in the modern world has changed the technological and technical field (Taylor,
Fritsch & Liederbach, 2014). It has provided various benefits to the society. However, they do

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have some of the major disadvantages. The relevant technologies that are utilized while
conducting cyber terrorism are as follows:
i) Internet: The Internet has created a huge impact on the society. The society is
extremely benefitted from this impact. Everything is modern world is connected to technology
and Internet (Eid, 2012). The world has become smaller because of this Internet. This is the first
and foremost requirement for conducting cyber terrorism. If internet will not be present, they
cannot perform their jobs.
ii) Mobile Phones: This is the second most important requirement for cyber terrorism.
Mobile phones are the most utilized technology in modern world. The entire world in present in
the hands of the users (Hua & Bapna, 2013). Communication is much easier with the help of
mobile phones. The hackers do not avoid this opportunity as well. They hack the mobile phones
of normal individuals and cause identity theft that is they claim to be user and perform their
terrorist activities.
iii) Computer Systems: This is the third most important requirement for cyber terrorism.
Internet is utilized with the help of a device (Dawson, 2015). This device can either be a mobile
phone or a computer system. The terrorists perform their terrorist activities by the help of these
technologies.
Impact of Cyber Terrorism
Cyber terrorism has a dangerous impact on various sectors of a nation. These sectors
include legal, economic, social and political. All sectors in modern world are dependent on
systems. The hackers hack these systems (Akhgar, Staniforth & Bosco, 2014). The necessities of
a particular society are present in the systems. For example, the infrastructure include utilities

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like water supply, electric supply, banking, finance, air traffic control and many more. These
utilities are affected whenever there is any type of attack in the systems. Innocent citizens suffer
due to this and thus the social sector is affected. The terrorist often demand for ransom for their
activity from the nation. This affects the economic sector. Every nation has their legal rules and
laws. This type of attack shakes the entire legal sector. In some cases, it is seen that the cyber
terrorists have hatred towards a particular nation and they target that nation (Ahmad, 2012). Most
of the time it is done by some of the political parties and thus the political sector is affected.
Most Important Lesson
After judging the discussion, I can conclude that cyber terrorism is the most vulnerable
act for modern world. I have learnt that data breaching or harming a nation is known as cyber
terrorism. I have got the lesson that the various challenges of cyber terrorism are lack of rules,
communication and proper agencies. There are various technologies that are utilized by the
terrorist to conduct such activities like computer systems, mobile phones and internet. I have
learnt that internet has both advantages and disadvantages in today’s world. All the crime are
caused via Internet only. Moreover, I have known tat cyber terrorism have the impact on the
political, legal, social and economic sectors of any nation. The most important lesson I have got
from this report is that cyber terrorism must be avoided by taking proper measures and one
should not be involved in any cyber related crime in his life.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that, information and
communications technology or ICT has acquired the entire technological world. Cyber terrorism
is the new terror in today’s life. The Internet has created a huge impact on the society. The

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society is extremely benefitted from this impact. Everything is modern world is connected to
technology and Internet. The world has become smaller because of this Internet. The major
advantages of Internet are the encouragement of intelligence and creativity, access to
information, improved communication and efficiency and productivity. In spite of providing
such major benefits to the society, Internet do have welcomed some of the most degrading and
destructive crimes for the society. This has created a negative impact for the world. Cyber
terrorism is one of those crime that has shaken the entire world. It is the act of conducting violent
and destructive activities in the society for causing danger or harming a particular organization,
an individual, a city, a state or even a country. The intruders or hackers hack a particular system
for conducting all kinds of activities that are related to terrorism. The above report describes
about the basic concept of cyber terrorism with the help of information and communications
technology. The report gives a brief description about the challenges, problems, applications and
technologies related to cyber terrorism. The social impact of cyber terrorism is also mentioned in
the report with proper details. This type of crime teaches lessons in life. The lesson is given in
the above report. Cyber terrorism can be stopped by taking proper measures.

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References
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Information Security, 2012, 3, 231-237.
Ahmad, R., & Yunos, Z. (2012). A dynamic cyber terrorism framework. International Journal of
Computer Science and Information Security, 10(2), 149.
Ahmad, R., & Yunos, Z. (2012). The application of mixed method in developing a cyber
terrorism framework. Journal of Information Security, 2012,.
Ahmad, R., Yunos, Z., & Sahib, S. (2012, June). Understanding cyber terrorism: The grounded
theory method applied. In Cyber Security, Cyber Warfare and Digital Forensic
(CyberSec), 2012 International Conference on(pp. 323-328). IEEE.
Akhgar, B., Staniforth, A., & Bosco, F. (Eds.). (2014). Cyber crime and cyber terrorism
investigator's handbook. Syngress.
Awan, I. (2014). Debating the Term Cyber-terrorism: issues and problems. Internet Journal of
Criminology. ISSN, 2045(6743), 1-14.
Awan, I., & Blakemore, B. (Eds.). (2016). Policing cyber hate, cyber threats and cyber
terrorism. Routledge.
Bogdanoski, M., & Petreski, D. (2013). Cyber terrorism–global security threat. Contemporary
Macedonian Defense-International Scientific Defense, Security and Peace
Journal, 13(24), 59-73.

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Bowman-Grieve, L. (2015). 5 Cyberterrorism and Moral Panics. Terrorism online: Politics, law
and technology, 86.
Dawson, M. (Ed.). (2015). New threats and countermeasures in digital crime and cyber
terrorism. IGI Global.
Eid, M. (2012). Cyber-terrorism and ethical journalism: A need for rationalism. In Ethical
Impact of Technological Advancements and Applications in Society(pp. 263-283). IGI
Global.
Hua, J., & Bapna, S. (2013). The economic impact of cyber terrorism. The Journal of Strategic
Information Systems, 22(2), 175-186.
Jarvis, L., Macdonald, S., & Whiting, A. (2015). Constructing cyberterrorism as a security threat:
a study of international news media coverage. Perspectives on Terrorism, 9(1).
Taylor, R. W., Fritsch, E. J., & Liederbach, J. (2014). Digital crime and digital terrorism.
Prentice Hall Press.
Tehrani, P. M., Manap, N. A., & Taji, H. (2013). Cyber terrorism challenges: The need for a
global response to a multi-jurisdictional crime. Computer Law & Security Review, 29(3),
207-215.
Uma, M., & Padmavathi, G. (2013). A Survey on Various Cyber Attacks and their
Classification. IJ Network Security, 15(5), 390-396.