Terrorism: Definitions and Classifications

Terrorism

• From a governmental perspective, terrorism involves criminal acts directed against a state or organization to create terror in the minds of individuals or groups.
• From an academic perspective, terrorism is employed for idiosyncratic, criminal, or political reasons, contrasting with assassination.
• Direct targets of violence aren't the primary targets.
• Immediate victims are randomly or selectively chosen from a target population and serve as message generators.
• Terrorism is an attempt to communicate messages through orchestrated violence.
• Terrorism includes acts of violence, victimization of innocents, advance planning, a criminal character, attempts to gain attention, and intent to instill fear.

Terrorism: Classification through Motivation

• Individual Terrorism can be overlooked due to its lower impact and lack of group involvement.
• Political-Social Terrorism is often carried out by individuals with political agendas, aiming to overthrow existing governments.
• Successful overthrow is often hailed as patriotism, freedom fighting, or heroic acts.
• Nationalist Terrorism involves individuals sharing a social commonality or group identification, coupled with a collective perception of oppression.
• Persecution often causes large memberships to persist.
• Environmental Terrorists (eco-terrorists) are focused on the conservation of natural resources and animal rights.
• State-Sponsored Terrorism involves governments committing acts of terror against their own citizens or supporting acts of terror against other governments.
• Religious Terrorism is characterized by virulently dangerous and persistent religious zealotry, with various religious organizations involved.

Cyberterrorism

• Cyberterrorism is the act of internet terrorism, involving deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks utilizing tools such as computer viruses.
• It is a controversial term.
• Disruption attacks on information systems are intentionally aimed at creating alarm and panic.
• Involves the intentional use of computers, networks, and public internet for destruction and harm to specified targets like political or ideological objectives.
• Cyberterrorism is a concept that emphasizes communication instead of physical catastrophe or suffering.
• It requires a transmitter (terrorist), a recipient (audience, typically not the victims), a target (victims, randomly selected), a message (often ideological), and a reaction (the intended impact).

Cyberterrorism Types

• Simple-Unstructured: basic hacks against individual systems using tools created by others.
• Advanced-Structured: more sophisticated attacks against multiple systems or networks with the capability to modify or create basic hacking tools.
• Complex-Coordinated: coordinated attacks causing mass disruption against sophisticated hacking tools and an advanced learning capability.

Terror Online Activity

• Propaganda, information dissemination, recruitment and fundraising: terror groups engage in these activities online.
• Justification of Terror: victims are portrayed as having "no choice" or having weaknesses enabling this approach, sometimes employing non-violent rhetoric for settlement.
• Training: training materials, like building a suicide vest or using surface-to-air missiles, is conducted online using web-based and other materials.
• Research and Planning: involves identifying, locating critical information (e.g., blueprints for bomb-making), and planning tactics.
• Communication: decentralized and cheaper methods include electronic dead drops, steganography, social media, and encryption.
• Attack Mechanism: cyberattacks can be swift (like Estonia) or drawn out (like Stuxnet).

Terror Online Activity: Physical Infrastructure and Critical Data

• Compromising critical systems can severely affect physical infrastructures such as power grids, water/sewer systems, hospitals, GPS, air traffic, communication, and energy pipelines.
• Cyberterrorism also compromises computer systems and data to alter, manipulate, or destroy critical information potentially resulting in death, destruction, or economic turmoil.
• Targets might include Social Security, Centers for Disease Control, Departments of Defense, etc.

Terrorism and Crime

• Criminal activities related to terrorism involve identity theft, copyright infringement, cyber warfare, and computer viruses.

Organized Crime

• Organized crime involves transnational, national, or local groups of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for money or profit through illegal activity (such as trafficking in nuclear materials, human smuggling, and identity theft).
• Online criminal groups often originate as criminal gangs.
• Organized crime increasingly utilizes technology for more complex, profitable crimes.

Organized Crime: Structure and Characteristics

• Structure & hierarchy: violence, recognizability, longevity
• Recruitment: innovative, entrepreneurial, opportunistic, exclusive membership, strict rules and regulations
• Ritualistic: rituals, traditions
• Profitability: financial gain, revenue generation
• Corruption: corruption of authorities
• Racketeering: racketeering and infiltration of legitimate business
• Monopolistic: controlling sectors of illegal market
• Criminal activity: engaging in various forms of criminality.

Organized Crime and Technology

• Organized crime exploits advancements to conduct traditional crimes including extortion, various forms of fraud (bank, ATM/credit card, and stock), money laundering, human smuggling, confidence scams, the Nigerian 419 letter, fencing stolen property, data piracy, and counterfeiting.

Cybergangs/Cyber-Criminal Organizations

• Individuals brought together through the internet to conspire and/or commit non-violent or violent criminal acts through networked and interconnected systems.

Confronting Contemporary Organized Crime

• Recognizing diversity among emerging groups,
• Understanding the economic motive behind hacking and cyberattacks
• Incorporating “know your customer” requirements.
• Recognizing that traditional hacking methods are becoming more innovative
• Recognizing the convergence of organized crime and terrorism.

The Intersection of Organized Crime and Terrorism: Differences

• Organized crime is economically focused, while terrorism is ideological.
• Terrorist groups aim to replace governments.
• Organized crime aims to corrupt governments.
• Organized crime is public-avoidant, while some terrorist groups thrive on it.
• Terrorist groups have indiscriminate victim selection.
• Organized crime has selective victim targeting.

The Intersection of Organized Crime and Terrorism: Similarities

• Increasing sophisticated methodologies used.
• Use of similar methodologies.
• Use of the internet for communication and money laundering.
• Most common in states with minimal government control, weak enforcement of laws, open borders.
• Exploitation of geographically remote locales with weak governmental control.