Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism

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Cyber terrorism definition
In 2002, the US Center for Strategic and International Studies defined cyber ter-
rorism as:
The use of computer network tools to shut down critical national infrastructure 
(such as energy, transportation, government operations) or to coerce or intimi-
date a government or civilian population (
Lewis, 2002
).
This definition is imprecise. For instance, this definition suggests that a critical 
infrastructure operator who shuts down a (part of) critical infrastructure for techni-
cal or safety reasons from his/her operating station could be a cyber terrorist. At the 
same time, hacktivists trying to impress governmental decision-makers are cyber 
terrorists as well—and are not included.
When reflecting on press headlines from the last 25 years, it immediately becomes 
apparent that each new disruption related to our cyber world is labeled by popular 
press as “cyber terror.” Then with hindsight, the “cyber terror” event is hardly remem-
bered a couple of years later. At most it is regarded as a simple act of cybercrime or 
activism. In instances where it was a denial-of-service attack, the sustained bandwidth 
of daily annoying attacks to organizations is often factored higher than the simple 
cyber surface scratching event which was labeled as a cyber-terror event in the press.
Another source of confusion stems from the use of the term “cyber terror” for all 
use of cyberspace activities by terrorists and terrorist groups. It is the combination of 
cyberspace as a possible target and a weapon used by terrorists and terrorist groups of 
the communication commodity services we all use. Terrorists use cyberspace for their 
command and control, global information exchange and planning, fundraising and at-
tempts to increase their support, community, propaganda, recruitment, and information 
operations (
Bosch et al., 1999
) to influence the public opinion (
NCTb, 2009
). Some 
of this use may be considered crime or even cybercrime by national governments, but 
it will not be considered “terrorism” according to the various national legal systems.