Cyberterrorists

Cyberterrorism is an offshoot of hacking. A cyberterrorist uses sophisticated programming skills and knowledge of operating systems, networking, and computer architectures to cause significant damage. His aim is to cause more than just denial of service. The same tools that are available to a hacker are available to a terrorist on the Internet. Tools that exploit security weaknesses in popular operating systems and common network protocols are commonly used to take advantage of a company or government Internet connection. A key fear of terrorism is assaults that could crash power grids, financial networks, transportation systems, and telecommunications. National security agencies around the world trace the threat to hostile governments, cartels, guerrilla groups, and individual terrorists. Cyberattacks such as those that damaged Web sites in February 2000, including Yahoo! Inc.'s Internet gateway, eBay Inc.'s auction service, and Amazon.com Inc.'s retail site, can be a precursor to major attacks. The infrastructure of the Internet is also subject to attack. The connections through phone companies that provide service to millions of people and route traffic around the world can be targets (although destroying such connections can be detrimental to the terrorists as well as everyone else). Hackers and programmers have made software available to everyone. The use of the software is up to the individual. When the hacker is a script kiddie with little knowledge of what he is actually doing with other people's software, he can cause great harm. The ease of use can create instant terrorists. Launching denial-of-service attacks is very easy with automated tools, but sophisticated attacks require a great deal of knowledge on the part of the attacker.