Motivation for cyberterrorism

Abstract

Cyberterrorism represents the convergence of the virtual world of cyberspace and the intimidation techniques of terrorism. To better understand why cyber terrorist acts are committed, this paper investigates the motivation behind terrorism by looking at traditional terrorist groups and how their objectives can be met by Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This paper addresses the reasoning behind cyberterror by discussing a few incidents and elaborating on known terrorist groups before providing a classification of terrorist types and an explanation of some support terrorist functions with regard to ICT infrastructure. In this way, insight can be gained into the objectives that are trying to be achieved by terrorist organizations, as well as shedding light into real-life groups and their operations