Cyber world today is facing the most complicated problem of fighting a crime which is hard to detect and curb in the borderless world. Cyber crime though has its origin in the conventional crime, it is hard to detect because of the highly technical mode of committing it. It is ironical that the advancement in the computer network worldwide, which has brought all the nations together on a global stage, has given rise to such an alarming situation. The law enforcement agencies, unaware of the technological know-how find it hard to nab the criminals involved in the offences related to cyber space. The main categories of cyber crime include hacking, theft of information, data diddling, virus attacks, web jacking, Trojan attacks etc.
Cyber terrorism is another dimension of the cyber crime which has raised serious security concerns world over. It could be understood as planned and intentional hacking of computer programs, data and information. The US economy is extremely vulnerable to cyber crimes as all the functions being performed by the government and financial institutions in the US are highly dependant upon the world of computers.
Cyber terrorists are capable of causing devastation to an unimaginable extent. In the year 1988, a computer virus was created that infected more than six thousand internet servers. In some other part of the world, a group of cyber criminals, posing as phone technicians, rerouted calls by tapping the phone lines. In yet another incident, the services provided by an airport were greatly affected when a hacker halted the airports’ computer system in 1997. These incidents indicate that cyber terrorists have the potential of inflicting damage to the whole community.
There are many criminal groups within the territorial boundaries of United States, which are capable of carrying out destruction through cyber technologies within the country. They have sophisticated websites that provide links to other criminal groups.
Among the various terrorist organizations, Al Qaeda has notoriously held the top most position in the list of U.S. government since many years. Its network has penetrated its roots deep within the humanity across the world. Planned attacks by Al Qaeda prove the use of advanced and sophisticated technology by the organization. Hizbullah is another terrorist organization which functions in the U.S. They are determined to establish Islamic power in the Middle East countries and propagate beliefs and ideas through their website.
The mode of operation of cyber crimes is different from the conventional crimes. Just with a single cyber attack the professional cyber criminals can affect a huge number of network servers and computer systems and can conduct his activities by remaining far away from the place of incident.
Tracking cyber terrorists and prosecuting them is not an effortless procedure. The government of U.S.A has framed the National Strategy for the security of cyber world which includes clauses for the expansion of national cyberspace security response system and procedures for development of training programs.
Co-operation and collaboration from all segments of society – right from home level computer users to extremely crucial government bureaus, is required to combat cyber terrorism. At worldwide level, Interpol, which works as mediator between law agencies of different countries, has served a great role in publicizing the names of cyber terrorists and in tracking of criminals on international scale. Apart from providing intelligence services to the countries associated with it, Interpol is attempting to facilitate data sharing between member nations, conducting operational information analysis, sponsoring training in cyber terrorism.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has set up the National Infrastructure Protection Center which is trying hard to enhance communication levels between different government agencies for curbing cyber terrorism. The principle behind the U.S.A Patriot Act is to detect and scrutinize cyber crimes. This act has given the authority to probe the activities regarding cyber terrorism to Secret Service.