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Cyber Security

Another area that poses one of the gravest threats to our security on many levels is that of cyber systems. The level of integra�on of computers into almost all aspect of our lives makes it vulnerable to deliberate a�acks for both criminal and terrorist elements to exploit. The concepts of interdependency and interconnectedness con�nues into the realm of cyber systems. IT has pervaded almost every sector of the economy and the na�on’s infrastructure. All one has to do is to go back a li�le over ten years and recall the very high tension levels that existed about a possibility of the “Y2K” problem, which never occurred, but that tension was caused by fear that a collapse of systems due to supposed inability to roll the date over from 1999 to 2000 would cause widespread havoc. More recently, consider for example the a�acks on various banks by Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters in late 2012.

Looking at public reac�on, it would appear that cyber a�acks are not as feared as WMD a�acks are. One could be led to believe that what the general public sees is that a cyber a�ack could cause extreme inconveniences, but not perceive such an a�ack as a direct threat to their health. At its most basic, a cyber a�ack is invisible, and it does not usually result in a direct, physical a�ack on the human body.

In addi�on to the need to secure cyber space against criminal ac�vity, there is a need to secure the system against its use by terrorists. The concept of using cyber space is a�rac�ve to terrorists because it's rela�vely inexpensive, it is anonymous and the number of targets is enormous. Further, it does not require physical training, traveling, and the physical risk associated with other types of terrorism. The number of people that can be a�acked by a single event can be in the thousands, if not the millions. For all the foregoing reasons, one should expect that terrorists likely will use cyber a�acks in the future.

This leads the discussion to that of iden�fying what cyber terrorism is. There is no standard defini�on for cyber terrorism. Ahmand and Yunos (2012) observed that the lack of a common defini�on creates the “. . . lack of a common ground on which policy makers and researcher can agree on what they are figh�ng against” (p. 152). This lack of agreement can be seen in the efforts of the U. S. Government to develop a comprehensive cyber security policy. In an effort to create a common defini�on, researchers have been examining the issue and seeking to provide an understanding of the concept of cyber terrorism to be�er allow for the crea�on of a defini�on of what cyber terrorism is. Ahmad, et al. (2012) provide a model, shown below, which they propose as being representa�ve of the elements of cyber terrorism (p. 232).

The lack of a clear defini�on for cyber terrorism and a subsequent lack of policy and law, leads to another issue that relates, in a way, to past counterterrorism experiences. As with the intelligence failures of the past, there exists a common thread, that being the most significant problem in deterring cyber a�acks is that there is no singular agency responsible for comba�ng them. So, the problem of protec�on is one not only of acquiring the intelligence, but analyzing it and then ac�ng upon it in a “shared,” �mely, and coordinated manner.

There are three primary agencies charged with comba�ng cyber terrorism. They are the Federal Bureau of Inves�ga�on (FBI), DHS, and the Department of Defense (DoD). The first two agencies are charged with both the inves�ga�on and countering of domes�c cyber terrorism; the Department of Defense is also involved in cyber security from an interna�onal perspec�ve, especially as it relates to defense. Efforts are being made to create a strategic framework to guide na�onal efforts to resource and coordinate efforts to combat cyber terrorism: however, there is not a comprehensive strategy currently in place. At present, coordina�on remains an agency driven effort through en��es such as the Na�onal Cyber Inves�ga�ve Joint Task Force (NCIJTF), led by the FBI; the

Na�onal Cybersecurity and Communica�ons Integra�on Center (NCCIC), led by DHS; and the U.S. Cyber Command within the DoD.