Contrasting Acts of Terrorism
The very mention of the words terrorism and terrorist incites a variety of negative emotions for most people. An individual’s dread of bodily harm or worries about the condition of the state creates a condition of extreme fear. (Levav) There are two very different aspects of terrorism affecting our world today. There are the physical acts of terroristic violence, and there is cyber terrorism. Whether it’s physical terrorism or cyber terrorism, the psychological affects on today’s society remain very similar; an underlying feeling of anxiety. However, there are differences in the execution of both types of terrorism, and there is a contrast in the way we combat them.
While modern physical terrorism and cyber terrorism …show more content…
(Littleton) One month after the attacks of 9/11, a former national security cyber terrorism expert expressed concern about the launch of a cyber attack, which would cause confusion and panic. Most recently, the “SONY” attacks by North Korea and the hijacking of the web site ‘Ashley Madison’ by the group known as The Impact Team, was an attempt to not only destroy software or equipment, but was an act of cyber terrorism used to exploit sensitive information that could be detrimental to lives of politicians, business leaders, and thousands of others. (Ellyatt) “When a U.S. military plane crashed in Chinese territory in 2003 after computer hackers attacked American systems with viruses, the academic, Dr. Alan Ryan, warned that cyber terrorism was the way of the future and the nation’s security experts would have to focus their attention on the problem.” (Murrill) In response to the undeniable fact that cyber terrorism is a relevant and dangerous threat, President Barrack Obama bolstered cyber terrorism defense. Today a “cyber war” is taking place. Government agencies and corporations have tripled the hiring of cyber security experts, and the field is one of the fastest growing and in- demand areas of the global workforce. (UBLS) The U.S. military has created a specialized task force within U.S. Cyber Command, pulling personnel from all branches of …show more content…
Modern physical terrorism, while not as sophisticated as cyber terrorism, is a very real threat that is meant to disrupt normal society. The planning and execution of a terrorist attack has many facets and stages and therefore requires a very large amount of resources, at every phase of the planning, to combat the threat. Tens of thousands of U.S. service members are forward deployed on a daily bases to root out and destroy the terrorist threat. Thousands of intelligence assets and networks are embedded around the world. (CIA) They are feeding bits of information puzzle pieces back to a thousand other analysts trying to create a picture for decision makers with which to plan defense. The combined effort of many resources is a necessity to successfully mitigate the terrorist threats. After a failed joint mission to rescue hostages from the U.S. embassy in Iran in 1980, U.S. Special Operations Command was created in order to combine the specialties of all DOD branches primarily to combat terrorism. (SOCOM) This joint effort is in contrast to fighting Cyber terrorism in that the mobilization of personnel, equipment and mass information gathered and analyzed is a much broader, more personnel centric task. A huge force of personnel from all government and civilian agencies combine to combat some element of terrorism, unlike cyber terrorism that requires only a few
The very mention of the words terrorism and terrorist incites a variety of negative emotions for most people. An individual’s dread of bodily harm or worries about the condition of the state creates a condition of extreme fear. (Levav) There are two very different aspects of terrorism affecting our world today. There are the physical acts of terroristic violence, and there is cyber terrorism. Whether it’s physical terrorism or cyber terrorism, the psychological affects on today’s society remain very similar; an underlying feeling of anxiety. However, there are differences in the execution of both types of terrorism, and there is a contrast in the way we combat them.
While modern physical terrorism and cyber terrorism …show more content…
(Littleton) One month after the attacks of 9/11, a former national security cyber terrorism expert expressed concern about the launch of a cyber attack, which would cause confusion and panic. Most recently, the “SONY” attacks by North Korea and the hijacking of the web site ‘Ashley Madison’ by the group known as The Impact Team, was an attempt to not only destroy software or equipment, but was an act of cyber terrorism used to exploit sensitive information that could be detrimental to lives of politicians, business leaders, and thousands of others. (Ellyatt) “When a U.S. military plane crashed in Chinese territory in 2003 after computer hackers attacked American systems with viruses, the academic, Dr. Alan Ryan, warned that cyber terrorism was the way of the future and the nation’s security experts would have to focus their attention on the problem.” (Murrill) In response to the undeniable fact that cyber terrorism is a relevant and dangerous threat, President Barrack Obama bolstered cyber terrorism defense. Today a “cyber war” is taking place. Government agencies and corporations have tripled the hiring of cyber security experts, and the field is one of the fastest growing and in- demand areas of the global workforce. (UBLS) The U.S. military has created a specialized task force within U.S. Cyber Command, pulling personnel from all branches of …show more content…
Modern physical terrorism, while not as sophisticated as cyber terrorism, is a very real threat that is meant to disrupt normal society. The planning and execution of a terrorist attack has many facets and stages and therefore requires a very large amount of resources, at every phase of the planning, to combat the threat. Tens of thousands of U.S. service members are forward deployed on a daily bases to root out and destroy the terrorist threat. Thousands of intelligence assets and networks are embedded around the world. (CIA) They are feeding bits of information puzzle pieces back to a thousand other analysts trying to create a picture for decision makers with which to plan defense. The combined effort of many resources is a necessity to successfully mitigate the terrorist threats. After a failed joint mission to rescue hostages from the U.S. embassy in Iran in 1980, U.S. Special Operations Command was created in order to combine the specialties of all DOD branches primarily to combat terrorism. (SOCOM) This joint effort is in contrast to fighting Cyber terrorism in that the mobilization of personnel, equipment and mass information gathered and analyzed is a much broader, more personnel centric task. A huge force of personnel from all government and civilian agencies combine to combat some element of terrorism, unlike cyber terrorism that requires only a few