Russia: all to fight cyber terrorism!

ZAPOROZHYE (CCRC) - Nowadays, cyberterrorism may cause significantly more damage than any usual explosive device, Dmitri Frolov, representative of the Information Security Center of FSB (Federal Security Service) said on the parliamentary session "Actual Problems of Legislative Provision of Fight Against Terrorism" in the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

Now cyberterrorism can cause significantly more damage than any usual explosive device. But it is hard to distinguish cyber terrorism from information warfare", he said. For example, a breakdown of computer control systems of armed forces and arms may lead to unpredictable cosequences, he noted.

The most unprotected systems in view of cyber attacks are information systems of state and military management. The first cyberterrorists' attacks on computer systems were fixed late in 90-s, Frolov said.

He also marked out that now almost all radical organizations have websites on the Internet. In particular, these sites give recipes of explosive materials in details.

"At present, international terrorists, including Chechen separatists, actively use existing information sources to put into practice terrorist sabotage. Especially they solve informational and financial problems, provide communication, plan acts of terrorism and also exercise control of their units", he emphasized.

Taking into account all these threats and also after large-scale terrorist acts in the USA, in most countries projects are created or are being realized at present. These programs are destined to confer emergency powers to national special services in order to control information systems.

There is a complex of legal problems in this field in Russia now. All these issues demand new federal laws and legal acts directed to fight against cyber terrorism, the FSB representative said.

He also noted that FSB has already developed and passed to the State Duma propositions to improve law in field of fighting cyber terrorism.[1]



Reference:
[1]http://www.crime-research.org/news/14.04.2004/208/

Cyber terrorism 'overhyped'

The threat posed by cyber-terrorism has been overhyped and the net is unlikely to become a launch pad for terror attacks.

That was the conclusion of a panel of security and technology experts brought together at the CeBIT technology fair to consider the threat posed by net attacks on businesses and consumers.
Panel members said companies faced far more serious threats from ordinary criminals, fraudsters and pranksters than they did from technology-literate terrorists.
Combating these real threats would take work by almost everyone involved in the running and use of the net.
 
Selling newspapers
 
Respected security expert Bruce Schneier said the threat posed by so-called cyber-terrorism had been over-estimated.
"The hype is coming from the US Government and I don't know why," he said.
Fellow panel member Art Coviello, head of security firm RSA, said some of the warnings about cyber-terrorism had come about in reaction to the attacks on 11 September.
But, he added, sections of the media were also responsible for hyping the threat.
"Some of these stories are very entertaining and sell a lot of newspapers," he said. "Some media organisations are fanning the flames of this."
Mr Schneier said any terror group that wanted to sow panic and attack its ideological enemies was unlikely to turn to net technology to make their point.
 
Real threat more mundane
 
"If they want to attack they will do it with bombs like they always have," he said.
By contrast, he said, disrupting the running of the net and other communications networks would cause more annoyance than fear.
"Breaking pager networks and stopping e-mail is not an act of terror," he said,

Mr Schneier said companies and consumers should concentrate on real threats from common criminals, viruses and other malicious programs.
"Criminals tend to lag behind in technology by a few years," he said. "But once they find a technology they tend to use it and there is a lot of value on the internet."
Defending against criminals was difficult, said Mr Schneier, because they were often mixed in with the barrage of attacks companies suffered everyday.
Tackling these threats would take a lot of work by many of the organisations using and developing net technologies, said Mr Schneier.
One of the key tasks was to start creating a lawful society on the Internet, which educated people about the rights and wrongs of online life and that caught and prosecuted criminals. [1]




Reference:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2850541.stm