Introduction
As the use of Internet is increasing day by day, traditional concepts and methods of terrorism have taken new dimensions. Individuals or groups can use the anonymity afforded by cyberspace to threaten citizens, specific groups (i.e. with membership based on ethnicity or belief), communities and even the countries.
The term ‘cyberterrorism’ is very common in the popular sense, yet a solid definition of the word isn’t yet to be made.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines terrorism as, “The unlawful use of force or violence, committed by a group(s) of two or more individuals, against persons or property, to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” (FBI, 2002).
Simply put, “Cyberterrorism is the use of ‘cyberspace’ to commit and spread terrorist activities, which includes but not limited to, unlawful attacks, threats of attacks against computers, networks, information stored therein, threatening government, people, etc , attacks against sovereignty government by the use of internet, computers and other communication devices to achieve political or social objectives.”
If we consider the definition of “Cybercrime”, it says “It’s a crime where cyberspace is used either as a tool, target or both.”
Use of cyberspace as a tool
There are many of ways in which terrorist can use the computer as a tool.
Like, facilitating identity theft, computer viruses, hacking, use of malware, sending threatening e – mails messages, destruction or manipulation of data, etc.
Use of cyberspace as a target
Computers are the main potential targets, either directly or indirectly.
Modus Operandi of cyber terrorism
- Privacy violation
- Data theft
- Appropriation of Government records
- DOS / Distributed denial of services attack (DDOS)
- Network damage and disruptions
Legislative Provisions
- A new chapter dealing with cyber terrorism has been incorporated in the Information Technology (amendment) Act, 2008 whereby those who are indulged in the “Cyber Terrorism” activities they are liable for the life imprisonment(Sec. 66 (F)).
Case Studies
Ahmadabad Blast Case Study
Ahmadabad is the cultural and commercial heart of Gujarat state, and one of the largest cities of India. On July 26, 2008, a series of 21 bomb blasts hit Ahmedabad within a span of 70 minutes. 56 people were killed and over 200 people were injured. Several TV channels stated that they had received an e-mail from a terror outfit called Indian Mujahidin claiming responsibility for the terror attacks.
First Mail was sent on 26th July, 2008 from Email Id “alarbi_gujarat@yahoo.com” from IP Address. 210.211.133.200 which traced to Kenneth Haywood’s House at Navi Bombay. His Unsecured WIFI router was misused by terrorists to send terror mail from his router. As log system is disabled, Police were unable to find out the details of the MAC address of the culprit.
Second Mail was sent on 31st July, 2008 from “alarbi_gujarat@yahoo.com” from IP Address: 202.160.162.179 which traced out to Medical College at Vaghodiya, Baroda, Gujarat. It was little bit difficult to trace this mail as the mail has been sent using proxy server & fake mail script but finally Police with the help of Cyber experts traced out the original IP address.
Third Mail was sent on 23rd August, 2008 from “alarbi.alhindi@gmail.com” from IP address: 121.243.206.151 which traced to Khalsa College at Bombay. Again Unsecured WIFI router was misused to send an email.
Forth Mail was sent on 13th September, 2008 from “al_arbi_delhi@yahoo.com” which traced to Kamran Power Limited at Bombay. In this case also WIFI router was misused to send the threatening mail.
26/11 Attack Case Study
Mumbai is the capital state of Maharashtra state and largest city in India. Attack was made on 26 November 2008 and lasted until 29 November. Attacks consist of more than ten coordinated shooting and bombings.
An FBI witness had investigated that terrorists were in touch with their handlers in Pakistan through Callphonex using VOIP.
Wanted accused in the 26/11 attack case had communicated with terrorists using an email ID which was accessed from ten IP addresses –
Five from Pakistan, two USA, two Russia and one Kuwait.
Kharak_telco@yahoo.com was the email ID used by wanted accused while communicating with terrorists via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) through New Jersey-based Callphonex.
According to the owner of “Callphonex”, on October 20, he had received a mail from name "Kharak Singh", expressing desire to open an account with Callphonex.
Accused has used following services of Callphonex:-
- 15 calls from computer to phone,
- 10 calls to common client accounts and
- Direct inward dialing
They have accessed the email ID from ten IP addresses of which, five belonged to Pakistan.
One of the addresses (118.107.140.138) was traced to Col R Sadat Ullah of Special Communication Organisation, Qasim Road, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Three addresses were traced to World Call network Operations and the fifth came from Sajid Iftikar, EFU House, Jail Road in Pakistan.
Other five IP addresses, from where the email address “kharak_telco@yahoo.com” was accessed, were traced to FDC Servers.net in Chicago (USA), Ahemed Mekky in Kuwait and Vladimir N Zernov at Joint Stock Company, Moscow.
Conclusion
The problem of cyber terrorism is multilateral having varied facets and dimensions. Its solution requires rigorous application of energy and resources. It must be noted that law is always seven steps behind the technology. This is so because we can’t change law with the same rate as technology changes. Now with the introduction of the Information Technology (amendment) Act, 2008 explicit provisions are made to punish those who are indulged in Cyber crimes.
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