Sunday 20 October 2013

Cyberterrorism

What is Cyber terrorism?

- According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, cyberterrorism is any "premeditated, politically motivated attack against information, computer systems, computer programs, and data which results in violence against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents."

- the politically motivated use of computers and information technology to cause severe disruption or widespread fear.

- Cyberterrorism is the use of Internet based attacks in terrorist activities, including acts of deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks, especially of personal computers attached to the Internet, by the means of tools such as computer viruses.

cyber-terrorist - a programmer who breaks into computer systems in order to steal or change or destroy information as a form of cyber-terrorism







After reading all this definition , explanation and what one can depict from the above pictures is that - Terrorist or any other Anti-social elements can use various ways to establish unrest , disturbance in any peaceful area. Example - ( Kokrajhar(Assam) violence case in which large scale exodus took place )

Developed , Developing nations and terrorist organizations knows it very well that the high potential of damage can be done by using this ever growing technology.

I doubt for our country -

"In early March, suspected Chinese hackers breached the computers of India's top military organisation, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in what was touted to be amongst the biggest such security breaches in the country's history. 

Defence Minister A.K. Antony ordered a probe into the matter, though an official statement denied any sensitive file had been compromised.

India has seen many such attacks on its critical installations and the misuse of social media and Internet has brought home the threat of cyber-terrorism, which cyber security experts say the country is poorly equipped to handle.

Experts believe the country is vulnerable to such cyber-terrorism attacks with some countries and vested interest groups bent on espionage and destruction.

According to Supreme Court lawyer and leading cyber law expert Pavan Duggal, while the threat of cyber attacks remains "imminent", the country lacks an institutionalised mechanism of a cyber army to deal with the threat.

"The recent DRDO breach was a classical case of cyber war attack rather than mere hacking. It was an attack on India's critical information infrastructure. Cyber warfare as a phenomenon is not covered under the Indian cyber law. Clearly, the country's cyber security is not in sync with the requirements of the times," Duggal told IANS.

Over the past few years, India has witnessed a growing number of cyber assaults, with government departments, particularly defence establishments, coming under attack.
Last year, hacker group 'Anonymous' carried out a series of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against a number of government websites, in retaliation against the alleged Internet censorship.

Hackers from Algeria also carried out an attack on websites run by the DRDO, the Prime Minister's Office and various other government departments last year. A group called 'Pakistan Cyber Army' had also hacked into several Indian websites.
"The threat landscape remains very threatening," said cyber law and cyber security expert Prashant Mali.
"India is awakening to the global threat of cyber warfare now. Our cyber security is still ineffective as mass awakening towards it is missing or inadequate. Even though NTRO and DRDO are mandated with cyber offensive work, only time will show effectiveness of these organisations," Mali told IANS.

Usually, cyber attacks follow the same modus operandi. An email is sent to an individual, or small group, within an organisation. Efforts are made to make the email look legitimate, that is, it will appear as though it was sent by somebody the recipient trusts and the content of the mail will often be related to the recipient's area of interest.

In order to install the malware, the user is tricked into either clicking a malicious link or launching a malicious attachment. In the more sophisticated attacks, the attacker will use a new "zero day vulnerability", in which attackers send email attachments which when opened exploit vulnerabilities in the Web browsers.

According to CERT-In (the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team), which is a government-mandated information technology security organization, an estimated 14,392 websites in the country were hacked in 2012 (till October).

In 2011, as many as 14,232 were hacked, while the number of websites hacked in 2009 stood at 9,180. About 16,126 websites were hacked in 2010.

With cyber security impacting the country's security, Shivshankar Menon, the national security adviser, announced last month that the government is putting in place a national cyber security architecture to prevent sabotage, espionage and other forms of cyber threats.

"The past few years have witnessed a dramatic shift in the threat landscape. The motivation of attackers has moved from fame to financial gain and malware has become a successful criminal business model with billions of dollars in play. We have now entered a third significant shift in the threat landscape, one of cyber-espionage and cyber-sabotage," Shantanu Ghosh, vice president at India Product Operations-Symantec corporation, which developed Norton AntiVirus, told IANS.

Ghosh said cyber security questions are no longer an exotic topic focussing primarily on spam messages and personal computers but have started to impact on the national security and defence capability of a country.

Rikshit Tandon, consultant at Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and advisor to the Cyber Crime Unit of the Uttar Pradesh Police, said: "Cyber terrorism is a grave threat not only to India but to the world."
"It can come to any country and, yes, proactive measures by government and consortium of countries needs to be taken as a collective effort and policy since internet has no geographical boundaries," Tandon told IANS.

Experts say the country spends a small amount of money on cyber security. The budget allocation towards cyber security was Rs.42.2 crore ($7.76 million) for 2012-13, as against Rs.35.45 crore in 2010-11.

In comparison, the US spends several billion dollars through the National Security Agency, $658 million through the Department of Homeland Security and $93 million through US-CERT in 2013.
(Haris Zargar can be reached at haris.z@ians.in)




South Korea's hosting the third international conference on cyberspace from October 16-18 with close to 90 countries, including India, participating in the event. South Korean ambassador Lee Joon Gyu spoke with Sachin Parashar about the conference's agenda including cybersecurity, tackling online terrorism - and India's significant role:
 
Could you tell us about this conference on cyberspace?

Well, cyberspace and the advance of the internet have brought new modes for the exchange of ideas and engines for economic growth - but the benefit of cyberspace has also brought threats. With the absence of clear rules and norms, it's resulted in nuisances like spam mails and spywares.
At a national and international level, cyberterrorism and industrial hacking could undermine the very foundations of the modern world. With this recognition of benefits and threats, the 'Conference on Cyberspace 2013' has been held in Seoul, South Korea, addressing the issue through the theme of global prosperity through open and secure cyberspace.
 
How is this different from earlier conferences held in London and Budapest?

The Republic of Korea, once a war-torn country, was able to achieve rapid economic growth. It is always willing to lend a helping hand to other developing countries and share its experiences with other nations.
In this respect, Korea extended a most cordial invitation to the countries of Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East that previously did not attend. Through such participation, it is hoped that more robust discussions on cyberspace issues can be made.
In particular, capacity building has been newly introduced to utilise the vast potential of cyberspace for developing countries.
 
How much of a concern is cyber-security - and how do you hope to address issues like hacking and cyber-terrorism?

I believe the Seoul conference is quite timely. The global community is increasingly threatened with the disruption of internet and online transactions through computer hacking, illegal espionage and eavesdropping - and cyber-terrorism that can threaten modern society.
But at the same time, the continuous improvement of techno-logy provides evermore potential for its benefit to economic growth and development. It is at this juncture that the Seoul conference attempts to harness its great potential and at the same time, curtail side effects. The agenda discusses public-private partnership and international cooperation against security threats using developed ICT technologies.
 
What role do you see India playing in issues related to cyberspace?

India is definitely a forerunner and is expected to contribute greatly to the field of cyberspace - as a world leader in computer software, solutions and other IT-related areas, India commands respect globally for its innovative and creative approach. India also boasts a huge number of world-class programmers and experts in the IT field. With such expertise, it is highly anticipated that India will bring a large number of talented experts and contribute to the productive discussions of many issues that the world faces in the field of cyberspace.
Korea is globally acclaimed as possessing one of the most wired societies in the world, while producing top-notch IT hardware. India is a global powerhouse in software areas. Much can be achieved if the two countries cooperate.
Korea and India already have close relations, having forged strategic partnership relations in 2010. The bilateral annual trade volume stands at $20 billion. The two countries are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year - and are looking forward to a continued enhancement and deepening of relations.


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