Technology-the Future of Terrorism Essay Example for Free

Technology-the Future of Terrorism Essay From the extensive evolution of computers to the introduction and mass popularity of the Internet. From bombs to missiles, from bases to shuttles. The world of technology is seemingly endless. In modern times computers and the Internet possess tremendous power and have a wide range of capabilities for better or for worse. Terrorism is for the worse and yet unfortunately, the evolution of technology has advanced the means to commit acts of terrorism, both actual terrorism but also cyber terrorism. T hink about the seemingly endless depth of technology, the complex features that go into making a bomb mechanism, you can only come to the solid conclusion that yes, technology has had a worldwide effect on the act of terrorism. There are two ways in which you can view this obvious revelation into the grim world of terrorism. You can look at it with the first way as mentioned, that terrorism has unlocked doors for terrorists to use to their advantage; new hi-tech gadgets being illegally manufactured to their advantage on a daily basis, the Internet being seemingly insecure enough to meet fellow terrorists, hack into government files and plot all forms of terrorist attempts. It seems as though technology advances, the resources for terrorism flourish. The second way however contradicts the first in a sense; as technology improves and gives the terrorists new means to attack, with that comes new means to defend against them. High tech security measures such as CCTV cameras, infrared and heat sensors and seemingly space-age computer techniques make defending, foiling and preventing terrorist attacks much more easy than in the grim past. Ever since the New York bombings on September 11, 2001, not only America, but the entire world has been on the edge of their seats in fear, just waiting for an all out terrorist attack to throw the entire population of human-kind into disbelief and awe, followed by the beginning of world war 3. Bombs have been in existence for decades, gun power has been in existence for decades, does this count as technology? In a sense, yes, but it has been since the revelation of the power of the Internet that terrorism has reached its all time high. With the capabilities of hacking into important Government systems, terrorists have the power to view and take advantage of every week point available to a specific country. With the wounds exposed, the terrorists attack. Is there really any way to sense when an attack is coming? Ever since the 9/11 bombings in New York and the 7/7 bombings in London, many people automatically wrongly associate those of the Muslim faith to be terrorists. The war on terrorism has inadvertently invoked a new era of race issues and prejudice; inadvertently one may think, but could this be what the terrorists wanted? There is no question that technology has changed terrorism in both of the aforementioned ways, for better and for worse. As technology continues to advance, terrorists will continue to find new means of attacking, just as the government will find new means of defending against them. It is just one big cycle that keeps advancing as time goes by. Technology has the power to change the future of terrorism. It has the power to advance it and it has the power to destroy it. It is simply a question of which one will prevail first, which is in its entirety, a very scary thought. 2-Terrorism has existed for centuries and continues to be a very real threat in modern times. The techniques to carry out an act of terrorism may have changed, but the fundamentals of why terrorists decide to carry out a terrorist act have not. Cyber terrorism is a newer technique terrorists utilize to inflict their acts of violence, fear and intimidation on their targeted victims. While it may have changed the dynamics of how terrorism is carried out, the underlying factors are much the same. The purpose of terrorism is to inflict terror through acts such as force, violence or destruction. Historically this has been carried out through bombs, hostage taking, assassinations, hi-jackings and weapons of mass destruction attacks. Throughout history many different kinds of weapons or intimidation have been used to invoke terror towards others. Technology is the latest tool employed to meet this destructive objective. Cyber terrorism is the newest approach and it is one which has high potential to bring about devastating results much like the kinds of preceding violent attacks, but on a grander scale. Todays politically motivated attacks are launched with the intention to cause weighty harm, and cyber attacks certainly have high potential to trigger severe injury, economical damage and even death. Many nations across the globe rely upon their technical infrastructures. What better way to terrorize people than to attack the very foundation their society is built upon and relies on to survive? Many nations take the act of cyber terrorism seriously because it threatens the very core and existence of their society. Technology does not change the act of terrorism per se because the same ntents which have always been present when a radical commits an act of terror are there. Their goal is often to cause bodily and financial harm. Terrorism is an act primarily fueled by hatred and intolerance for those who are different. With the advent of technology terrorists have found another weapon they can utilize to cause widespread damage. It is in this respect that technology has changed terrorism. While technological advances have not necessarily changed the intents for terrorism, theyve certainly impacted what radicals are capable of and this is where terrorism has changed. What it has done is provide the terrorists with another method to commit an act of terror and reach a larger number of victims. It also provides terrorists with an opportunity to pinpoint specifictargets without ever having to set foot on the soil of the region they are attacking. -google earth Cyber terrorism is a very real concern and security issue in todays world. The U. S. government has cyber attacks listed right up there with nuclear, chemical and biological threats. Although while cyber terrorism may not be a weapon of mass destruction, it is a weapon of disruption which is also harmful (Linda Volonino, Principles and Practice of Information Security). Can you imagine if an entire banking, emergency service, power plant, telecommunications, military or government infrastructure fell victim to a successful cyber terrorist attack? This could bring down the heart of an economy or government. Even if one target of this list was cyber attacked it would cause mass chaos or in some cases worse if it resulted in injury or death. While the motivators of terrorism remain the same, when terrorists use technology as a weapon it has strong potential to be a very dangerous one which can result in mass destruction. The problem with technology is that it never stands still. What is new today is out of date within a year and while many see this is progress, it produces difficulties when we apply it to something like terrorism. And its usually the counter-terrorists who are playing second fiddle to the terrorists responding to their advances and uses of new technology. It shows that while technology can have its uses, it also has many weaknesses. The computer is extremely useful to modern life and our fight against terrorism, but is also useful to the terrorist in carrying out their everyday work. In short, technology has changed terrorism dramatically and will continue to do so, like a stone gathering snow as it rolls down a hill. Technology has opened up opportunities for both sides but it also means that neither can win but the war between them can only become more violent, more deadly and more extreme. Technology has changed Terrorism because it has allowed terror networks to communicate with other terrorists and media networks around the world. Alqeada promotes videos recruiting susceptible to disaffected Muslims who disagree with the US policies in and around Muslim countries. The Internet is an unlimited vast resource which can advance humanity when used for good purposes but with limited laws regarding the Internet because of the ever changing technologies, it is difficult to make laws to keep up with the growing technology. Terror groups exploit this and use websites for propaganda purposes, recruitment of Arabs and Muslims to radical extremism. Terror groups are using the Internet to funnel money from charity groups in the US and Europe to finance their terror organizations by collecting charitable donations from mosques and other religious institutions. The US is constantly monitoring suspected organizations affiliated with radical groups and keep an eye on the banking transactions sent abroad. Video games which help many control and develop skills in shooting, driving air planes, and driving cars. The FBI monitors merchants which sell video technology to Afghanistan and Pakistan because any technology which can be used to teach or advance technical skills are restricted. Recently, the Obama and the McCain campaigns were hacked into by a foreign government trying to know their policies in advance. the US has to develop a system to protect themselves from the Chinese government and hackers which constantly launch cyber attacks against many other countries besides the US. The Chinese are notorious for stealing information and technologies from other governments. Since 9/11 Terrorists have been trying to reach the US and launch a large scale attack against the US and its allies. Security has tighten in airports, intelligence agencies have infiltrated these terror cells in the US and abroad and have stopped many planned attacks such as the NYC Lincoln tunnel attack. Many of these terror networks have lost their ability to organize an attack such as that of 9/11. The US government has a cyber anti terror network in the Pentagon and in many key government agencies protecting from the many cyber attacks that are launched against these agencies on a daily basis. Terrorist groups which have the inability to harm Americans on US soil may launch a cyber attack that could cripple Wall Street, destroy our infrastructure by hacking into electric plants, airports, transportation systems and banking industry. The Us still has outdated technologies regarding electric company grids which have not been updated into modern systems, it was rumored that last year when the entire East Coast lost electricity that it was a cyber attack the electric companies denied this rumor and said it was just to much usage and the system could not carry load. America has to develop technologies to counter cyber attacks and even use the foreign nations hacking against them by sending back a virus or worm that could destroy their system to discourage future cyber attacks. The Us should develop laws and catch up with the ever changing technologies regarding money laundering and funneling of illegal money to Terror organizations using US and European banks, there should be a coalition between major banks around the world to catch this activity and cut out all their money because without money the terrorists cant buy weapons and recruit people actively. TV reports throughout the world about the technology tools probably used by the terrorists in their effort to execute their hideous attack against the USA are sensational. Firstly, their communications must have been encoded to a point that intelligence services all over the world did not have the slightest idea that a criminal act of so grand a scale was on the way to be executed. We have heard from extravagant tools that can hide messages within the photographic images’ dots (stenography), satellite mobiles that encode communication and so on. All these TECHSare existent as well as widespread-even the mobiles we, simple citizens use nowadays encode our conversation, still in a relatively simple way, so that absolute security is not offered. The issue immediately raised is how and why such technologies have been released in the market, since the fact that they are to be used by bloodthirsty terrorists to assassinate thousands of people, is certain. The question of dangerous technology is a fair, yet a simplistic one. The first issue one has to think about is that once a technology is born, there is no way for it to be restricted on a long-term basis. It is knowledge, and knowledge cannot be stopped with wire fences. Even in the event of technology diffusion being restricted by law, its possession by criminals cannot be prevented, and that constitutes another problem. They are in possession of the means and of the financial support to acquire it:. The second question that has to be raised is, â€Å"to what extent should we accept â€Å"dangerous† technology ban? Should that be Cryptography? Should that be Flight Simulation Programs? (let us not forget that it is quite possible that the terrorists had been trained as to how to approach their targets using the Microsoft Flight Simulator program, one amongst the most common programs in the world. ) Technology and Terrorism: a brief Scenario Technology is double bladed sword and is to be handled with due care. It can be utilized for the welfare of the society as discussed earlier. Misuse of the same will definitely damage and destruct the society like anything. The scientists and researchers of the whole world are trying their best to explore newer technology for the benefit of the society. But their dreams have been shattered and certain anti social elements have misused the modern technology in terrorism Modern technology has added great terrors and horrors to terrorism. Modern technology has also been characterized as a negative response to globalization. The terrorists are using and trying to use every possible technological resource to fulfill their evil targets. They are utilizing the knowledge of various engineering disciplines which mainly includes Computes I. T. Electronics and Telecommunications, Ammunition Engineering, Bio technology, space engineering, Chemical science and other core branches of engineering too. Technology: A tool misused by terrorists. Terrorists are employing various communication devices for easy, faster and optimized communications. It is observed that they are mainly taking the help of cell phones, radio audio signals, micro chips (a data handling device) and other advanced electronics and telecommunication devices. It is proved that they are widely using Laptops and Internet services and software to plan, develop and fund terrorist activities.