Does cyber terrorism exist?
Despite dire warnings, security experts are divided over the threat posed by cyber terrorism. Steve Nice, technical director at IT support solutions provider, ForLinux (www.forlinux.co.uk), says: “In my opinion there’s a very low risk. As stated in many reports, there has not been a successful attack recorded. This may be due to the definition of ‘cyber terrorism’. For the layman it conjures images of Arabs huddled over a keyboard, shutting down power grids, crashing aircraft and opening dams. In theory it’s possible, but in reality it’s not.” Bruce Schneier, security guru and founder of Counterpane Internet Security (www.counterpane.com), has preached for years that government officials are abusing the term ‘cyber terrorism’ to fuel their budgets. In his opinion, reports on Al Qaeda hacker Irhabi 007, for example, have been blown out of proportion. “Irhabi 007 is no more a cyber terrorist than you are a cyber reporter. He was a terrorist who, like everyone I know, makes use of the int
