Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism

CYBER TERRORISM DEFINITION
As discussed in the previous section, large differences are visible between the previ-
ous and many more definitions of cyber terrorism. Some of the proposed definitions 
are restricted by the mandate and thus the confined view of an organization; others 
concentrate on specific ICT technologies, targets, or motivations of the actors.
What is needed is a definition which clearly defines cyber terrorism from ordi-
nary cybercrime, hacktivism, and even cyber extremism. From the above, it will be 
clear that elements which need to be part of the definition are:
• The legal context (intent, conspiracy, just the threat or act?)
• Cyberspace being used as a weapon or being a target
• The objective(s) of the malicious act which include a kind of violence with far-
reaching psychological effects to the targeted audience
• The intent combined with the long-term goal (e.g., societal or political change; 
influencing political decision-making) which drives the terrorist or terrorist group.

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CHAPTER 2
Definitions of Cyber Terrorism
With respect to cyberspace—systems, networks and information—as a weapon or a 
target, we can distinguish cyber attacks by cyber terrorists on (or a combination of):
• The integrity of information (e.g., unauthorized deletion, unauthorized changes) 
causing the loss of trust in ICT and society. Targets could be databases that are 
critical to society: person records, vehicle registration, property ownerships, and 
financial records and accounts.
• The confidentiality of information. Large-scale breaches of personal privacy 
and organizations’ confidential information could create societal disorder, e.g. 
the publication of the complete health records of HIV-infected persons in a 
nation could initiate a sequence of harassments and suicides. The response by a 
government may breach the privacy of citizens and result in the amplification of 
the intended terrorist objectives.
• The availability of ICT-based services through ICT-means, for example by a 
long duration denial-of-service attack, an unauthorized disruption of systems 
and networks, or physical or electromagnetic attack on data centers and critical 
ICT-system components.
• ICT-based processes which control real-world physical processes, e.g. a nuclear 
power plant, refinery, vehicles and other forms of transport, health monitoring and 
control, smart grids and smart cities (see Chapter 3 on New and Emerging Threats).
In order to provide a more precise definition of cyber terrorism based on all elements 
identified before, we first need to look at the definition of terrorism which shall en-
compass the cyber terrorism definition. Unfortunately there is no generally agreed 
international definition of terrorism, see for instance 
Saul (2005)
.
UK’s Terrorism Act (
UK, 2000
) defines terrorism as:
The use or threat of action designed to influence the government or an inter-
national governmental organisation or to intimidate the public, or a section of 
the public; made for the purposes of advancing a political, religious, racial or 
ideological cause.
It involves or causes:
• serious violence against a person;
• serious damage to a property;
• a threat to a person's life;
• a serious risk to the health and safety of the public; or
• serious interference with or disruption to an electronic system (UK Terrorism 
Act 2000).
Interestingly this definition includes a cyber aspect as well. The definition contains 
some weak points, for instance a political party trying to influence the government to 
reintroduce smoking at offices by cancelling the anti-smoking laws is involved with 
a serious risk to the health and safety of the public. This definition states that such a