Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism

SAUDI ARABIAN GOVERNMENT WEBSITES (JANUARY 2014)
Neal (2014)
reports that the SEA was also responsible for targeting the Saudi Arabian 
government website and seized control of a number of their domains. SEA were at-
tacking in protest of the Al Saud regime which they believe makes use of a terrorist 
group. Their twitter feed once again allowed them to take credit and advertise their 
efforts. Each of the 16 principles of Saudi Arabia were mentioned individuality fol-
lowed by a hashtag: #ActAgainstSaudiArabiaTerrorism #SaudiArabia. It is worth 
noting that there is less media coverage about this incident than other attacks on large 
companies (see Chapter 13 for further information).
SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE
Given that they are aware of their need for social media presence members of the 
SEA have reportedly spoken to a number of press sources. However one interview 

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CHAPTER 9
Understanding the situational awareness in cybercrimes
in particular was tweeted via a link refers to a text-based conversation that they had 
with Matthew Keys in December 2013. In their exchange they advise that they are 
students and highlight that SEA chooses its targets based on media reporting bias—
they particularly refer to a times article which they believe reports on only one side, 
i.e., against Bashar Assad. In the interview they highlight that they do not trust media 
in general but particularly that some media are not agenda driven when it comes to 
Syria. They also believe that their identities must be kept unknown or they will be 
subject to threats from the US. In the interview they stress that they are only doing 
what they do to ensure that the media report the truth to the world after witnessing 
terrorist attacks on their countries police. It is difficult to know definitively how much 
of what they say in the interview is propaganda and how much is truth. Ultimately the 
SEA advise that they want to stop the fourth generation war on their country but their 
counter message is that they want to reveal the real hand behind terrorism. They also 
categorically deny any ties to the Syrian, Russian or Iranian governments. The full 
interview transcript can be accessed at 
http://thedesk.matthewkeys.net/2013/12/11/a-
live-conversation-with-the-syrian-electronic-army/
 (
Keys, 2013
) (see Chapter 15 for 
further detail about social media).
Masi (2013a)
claimed to speak to a SEA member named “Richie” in September 
2013 but she herself admits that there is no way of confirming this. The transcript 
reiterates similar main messages from the Key's interview in December 2013: 
“Hacking will drive attention, opinions and a well delivered message to whatever 
the issue is.” In a second interview with a SEA leader 
Masi (2013b)
highlights the 
possibility that some of the media presence is being conducted by others who claim 
to be SEA but are not.
The SEA claim to not be linked to the Syrian government however some of their 
attacks have been to an extent politically motivated. For the purposes of this tax-
onomy the cases listed could primarily fall under the “moral” category—and the 
SEA often make public statements about why they are carrying out their acts—linking 
their actions to ethical causes. However, the fact that they heavily rely on social 
media and lay claim to attacks that occur globally leads to a secondary motiva-
tion as potentially being publicity. Some of their actions could also be linked to 
self-actualization.