Cyberattacks, Cybercrime and Cyberterrorism

This chapter describes how with growing reliance of modern society over internet and web-based services in every nook and corner of our daily lives, the threats of disruption and damage to these services has also evolved at a parallel rate. One of these threats having a potential of severe and life-threatening devastations is ‘Cyberterrorism.' Contrasting to non-lethal terms such as ‘internet vandalism' and ‘hacktivism,' cyberterrorism encompasses a daunting reach to destruction to the fabric of our modern society. Because of its nature, despite its rapid growth, contrary to conventional terror attacks, cyberterrorism still seems distant from creating a direct threat to civilian life and society. Due to this distance, there is a lack of attention and focus on counter mechanisms against cyberterrorism. By applying effective techniques and keeping our eyes open, establishments can go a long way to avert cyberterror attacks and also recover quickly in the occurrence of an attack. The conclusion of this chapter is that additional research is needed to identify the areas in which personal and professional functions on the internet are still vulnerable.