Cyber Terrorism Assignment On Psychological & Political Impacts
Question
Task:
Find examples of important issues in Computer Science today. The sources can be articles on the Internet or in professional magazines or journals.
The definition of “important” depends on the point of view of the person, and who they represent. Sources representing the business community typically consider potential profit to be the most important factor. To government agencies, the importance of a technology is related to its impact on meeting organization mission goals. Organization such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Association for Computing Machinery represent researchers and technology developers, in which technology development it is the goal.
Write a paragraph for each important issue that you find, describing that issue, why it is important, and who considers it important (business, government, professional society) that considers it important. You should also include the references that you have used in your report.
The report should not be more than 1500 words in total
Answer
Introduction
The present cyber terrorism assignment discusses about the concept of cyber terrorism is the development of politically motivated attacks on the important information, electronics especially computer systems, programs and data which might help the intended hacker to cause violence by using the data against the civil law and the society. The cyber terrorism attacks are increasing on a wider note and have been prevalent since the development of the internet leading to the change and increasing requirement of security measures to be taken into account for the prevention of such activities to be occurring in future. The given paper on cyber terrorism assignment is based on the development of an understanding of the cyber terrorism attacks that have been carried out by different individuals in the history of terrorism. There would be an effective identification of the different impact which is caused by the occurrence of such incidents on the human psychology, economic and business of the country and the political system that is prevailing in the given country of attack.
What are the main research objectives of cyber terrorism assignment?
The main objectives of the given research on cyber terrorism assignment are:
- To identify the impact caused by the cyber terrorism attack on the psychological note
- To gather knowledge on the economy and business impact by the cyber terrorism attack
- To gather knowledge on the political impact caused by such attacks
Critical Review
Cyber terrorism has been increasing on a wider note, it has been noted that the process of cyber terrorism has been influencing the country in various forms. There has been a major development of psychological impact, clashes among the political parties, Economic downfall and business ramification caused by the occurrence of such activities in a country or society. According to Gross et al. (2017), it is stated in the cyber terrorism assignment that the major intention of the development of such attacks is to weaken the confidence of the government or the economy by disrupting the social networks and the use of technology which is in the booming phase and has been the most rapidly used instance by everybody.
Psychological impact
There are various types of impact, which are being caused by the occurrence of cyber terrorists, which indicates that the psychological impact is the most severe form and acts as a silent killer of the civil society. It is the major cause and source of stress being developed among the societal hours and different communities (Gross et al. 2017). The occurrence of cyber attack also causes terror in the form of developing insecurity that leads to an increase in the threat perception among the individuals who are being subjected to such attacks in the society. There have been various instances considered to develop this cyber terrorism assignment, which indicate that the occurrence of cyber-terrorist attacks increase the amount of anxiety in an individual and leads to an attack of anxiety occurring in them. There is the occurrence of personal insecurity in the individuals who are suspected of cyber terrorism attacks or have been attacked by any such activities. For example, the case of cyber terrorism that incurred the leak of extremely sensitive documents by a British Teenager named Kane Gamble (Olsen, 2018). It has been noted in the cyber terrorism assignment that the teenager was found guilty of conducting unauthorised access to the email and phone accounts of the US intelligence officials then CIA chief John Brennan and FBI agent who is the deputy director Mark Giuliano. The attacker has conducted the crime from the Linford Crescent in Coalville.
Figure 1: Anxiety in the wake of terrorism
(Source: Gross et al. 2016)
Figure 2: Threat Perception and Insecurity
(Source: Gross et al. 2016)
The teenager has been found guilty with eight cases being imposed on him which was based on carrying to the function of secure the unauthorised access to the computer so the two victims and further two charges of authorised modification conducted on the computer materials. This incident has led the two victims to be the sufferers of anxiety and threat insecurity. It has been surveyed that major of the individuals who pass through such cyber-attacks based on terrorism are highly receptive of anxiety as indicated in the given figure 1 and 2 (Gross et al. 2016). It has been further noted that the individuals who tend to undergo such attacks are highly prone to taking into strict action based on the political activities so that their threat perception and insecurity control is kept in check as per their psychological behaviours.
Economic and business impact
The cyber terrorism assignment examines the words of Balkhi (2020) that there are various cases of cyber-attacks of terrorists being carried out in business operations that have led to the downfall of the economy at a higher rate. It has been noted that the company Paypal is once such a company, which has been a victim of cyber attack in the year 2010 in the month of December. The attacks occurred after the company has restricted the account usage by WikiLeads in order to raise funds, which also demonstrated that the organizations have been violating the usage criterion, and regulation that has been set up by PayPal. This resulted in hacking, which led to the disruption in the usage of the system by the users, and there has been a huge reduction in the overall economic strength that the company had gained in a shorter time span after the operations started.
Another major example that has been identified is the country of India, which has reported a large number of cyber-crimes to be occurring in the country in the year 2011. There have been an estimated number of 13,301 cases being reported in the country that indicates the major impact that the country has faced based on the attackers imposed. These attacks reduce the ability of the organisations to be able to strive back based on their reputation that is being developed considering the security measures and the availability of safety of personal details in the respective organisations reducing the ability of the company to strive and increase their economic contribution.
Political impact
Another major impact mentioned in the cyber terrorism assignment that is caused by the occurrence of cyber terrorism is the political impact, which is caused by such attacks. It has been noted that most of the attacks that occur in the countries of the localities by the bigger terrorist organizations are based on the attack to be caused against the political party or agenda developed. For example, the Ardit Ferizi case has been the highlight in the US Justice Department in the year 201, which marked the charging of a suspect who belonged to the ISIS terror group (The Ferizi Case: The First Man Charged with Cyber Terrorism, 2020). The hacker had hacked data of the US Justice Department to the populace IS militant Junaid Hussain in which was later disclosed on the website by stealing personal details of 1351 US military and government personnel. Even though the hacker had been arrested and detained, there is a negative impact caused on the image of the political party that is the ruling party of the stated time. It can be noted that the occurrence of such activities reduce the trust of the citizens on the political party and their agenda to keep the society and the civilians safe from any attacks whether it be the lethal or non-lethal attack.
It has been identified in the present context of cyber terrorism assignment that the occurrence of such impact causes the political ruling party of the time to act vigorously and tactfully in order to protect the integrity of the society and the safeguard maintenance of all the civilians as well the officials present in the country. It also causes disputes among the country of origin of the terror group or they are located in terms of the inability of the country to destroy the group for future safety and prevention of such cases to be occurring in future.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be stated in the cyber terrorism assignment that the occurrence of cyber terrorism is not a lethal process, which brings in more injustice to the legal practices that are being carried out in the country. It has been noted that the occurrence of such attacks not only brings in psychological impact in the form of anxiety and insecurity but also reduces the trust on the political party or the government, which is pertaining in the victim country. It has been identified further within this cyber terrorism assignment that the impact is highly commercial at the same time as it disrupts the relationship between the different countries. It also brings in the downfall of companies where such attacks are happening because of the lack of consumer, as they tend to revert from their use of the services and products provided by the respective organisations.
Economic and business impact
The cyber terrorism assignment examines the words of Balkhi (2020) that there are various cases of cyber-attacks of terrorists being carried out in business operations that have led to the downfall of the economy at a higher rate. It has been noted that the company Paypal is once such a company, which has been a victim of cyber attack in the year 2010 in the month of December. The attacks occurred after the company has restricted the account usage by WikiLeads in order to raise funds, which also demonstrated that the organizations have been violating the usage criterion, and regulation that has been set up by PayPal. This resulted in hacking, which led to the disruption in the usage of the system by the users, and there has been a huge reduction in the overall economic strength that the company had gained in a shorter time span after the operations started.
Another major example that has been identified is the country of India, which has reported a large number of cyber-crimes to be occurring in the country in the year 2011. There have been an estimated number of 13,301 cases being reported in the country that indicates the major impact that the country has faced based on the attackers imposed. These attacks reduce the ability of the organisations to be able to strive back based on their reputation that is being developed considering the security measures and the availability of safety of personal details in the respective organisations reducing the ability of the company to strive and increase their economic contribution.
Political impact
Another major impact mentioned in the cyber terrorism assignment that is caused by the occurrence of cyber terrorism is the political impact, which is caused by such attacks. It has been noted that most of the attacks that occur in the countries of the localities by the bigger terrorist organizations are based on the attack to be caused against the political party or agenda developed. For example, the Ardit Ferizi case has been the highlight in the US Justice Department in the year 201, which marked the charging of a suspect who belonged to the ISIS terror group (The Ferizi Case: The First Man Charged with Cyber Terrorism, 2020). The hacker had hacked data of the US Justice Department to the populace IS militant Junaid Hussain in which was later disclosed on the website by stealing personal details of 1351 US military and government personnel. Even though the hacker had been arrested and detained, there is a negative impact caused on the image of the political party that is the ruling party of the stated time. It can be noted that the occurrence of such activities reduce the trust of the citizens on the political party and their agenda to keep the society and the civilians safe from any attacks whether it be the lethal or non-lethal attack.
It has been identified in the present context of cyber terrorism assignment that the occurrence of such impact causes the political ruling party of the time to act vigorously and tactfully in order to protect the integrity of the society and the safeguard maintenance of all the civilians as well the officials present in the country. It also causes disputes among the country of origin of the terror group or they are located in terms of the inability of the country to destroy the group for future safety and prevention of such cases to be occurring in future.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be stated in the cyber terrorism assignment that the occurrence of cyber terrorism is not a lethal process, which brings in more injustice to the legal practices that are being carried out in the country. It has been noted that the occurrence of such attacks not only brings in psychological impact in the form of anxiety and insecurity but also reduces the trust on the political party or the government, which is pertaining in the victim country. It has been identified further within this cyber terrorism assignment that the impact is highly commercial at the same time as it disrupts the relationship between the different countries. It also brings in the downfall of companies where such attacks are happening because of the lack of consumer, as they tend to revert from their use of the services and products provided by the respective organisations.
Reference list
Balkhi, S., 2020. 25 Biggest Cyber Attacks In History. [online] List25. Available at:
Gross, M., Canetti, D. and Vashdi, D., 2017. Cyberterrorism: Its Effects On Psychological Well-Being, Public Confidence And Political Attitudes. [online] academic.oup.com. Available at:
Gross. ML, Canetti. D, and Vashdi. DR., 2016.The psychological effects of cyber terrorism. Cyber terrorism assignment Bull At Sci. 2016;72(5):284-291. doi:10.1080/00963402.2016.1216502
Infosec Resources. 2020. The Ferizi Case: The First Man Charged With Cyber Terrorism. [online] Available at:
Olsen, M., 2018. British Teen Hacker Jailed Two Years For 'Cyber Terrorism' | Metro News. [online] Metro.co.uk. Available at:
