The prospect of cyberterrorism is understandably troubling because of the wide range of possible targets and attack vectors, which would be challenging in terms of defense. In theory, terrorists with sufficient skills might be able to attack the power grid, air traffic, public transport, financial networks, communication networks, emergency response, utilities, manufacturing plants, or military networks. Possible cyberattacks could range from blatant distributed denial of service (DDoS) or sabotage, to more stealthy attacks ...
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The prospect of cyberterrorism is understandably troubling because of the wide range of possible targets and attack vectors, which would be challenging in terms of defense. In theory, terrorists with sufficient skills might be able to attack the power grid, air traffic, public transport, financial networks, communication networks, emergency response, utilities, manufacturing plants, or military networks. Possible cyberattacks could range from blatant distributed denial of service (DDoS) or sabotage, to more stealthy attacks for data theft or remote control. A more concise definition is "politically motivated hacking operations intended to cause grave harm such as loss of life or severe economic damage." This definition consists of three parts: 1) politically-driven intention; 2) serious effects; and 3) computer networks as the means. Cyberterrorism literature has mostly addressed: 1) how terrorists use the Internet for propaganda, recruiting, fund raising, in-telligence gathering, and planning; 2) vulnerabilities in critical infrastructures, providing opportunities for cyberattacks; and 3) whether cyberterrorism is a real threat. Most of the literature understandably predates Stuxnet, since the discovery of Stuxnet was relatively recent. Stuxnet vividly demonstrated to the world that industrial systems can be sabotaged physically by malware, a threat long believed to be possible by the cybersecurity community but not actually observed.
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