Should Cyber Attacks Be Considered Terrorist Attacks?

As the Internet continues to grow in technological capability as well as the sheer number of people connected to it, it is becoming more and more important to figure out how to defend against cyber attacks. With so many different groups with different affiliates able to quickly amass on the Internet, the possibility of Internet based terrorist attacks are becoming more and more real with every passing day.

This was recently made painfully obvious by a so called "cyber attack," by the concentrated efforts of a group of Koreans, angry at some comments made on the popular Japanese web site "2 Channel," regarding figure skater Kim Yu Na. Kim won the gold medal in the women's figure skating, while the Japanese figure skater, Mao Asada, came in a distant second. 2 Channel is a popular forum based web site in Japan. Due to the anonymity of the Internet, it is not uncommon to find racially motivated and nationalistic diatribes by some users.

The controversy started when anonymous posters on the Japanese web site "2 Channel" made claims that Kim Yu Na won the competition not because of her widely acknowledged flawless skating, but because she bribed the judges. People In South Korea didn't take too kindly to this insult to their national hero, and decided to launch a counter attack against the Japanese web site. An Internet group was formed specifically to launch this "attack."

As reported on Japantoday.com, a widely read source of news in Japan, up to 10,000 South Korean Internet users simultaneously posted messages on the web site, overloading it with traffic and shutting it down. The question is, did they break any laws? Should this be considered International terrorism? What if they had launched their cyber attack on a website with more significance than an opinion forum?

As the Internet increases in accessibility and technology ability around the world, more and more systems may become vulnerable to attack. In another recent case, a highly skilled Internet user hacked into the computer which controlled a large video billboard in Moscow. When traffic was heaviest, the billboard suddenly started showing adult movies, which caused a massive traffic jam, and at least one heart attack.

As technology advances, so will holes in the system that can be exploited for financial gain, political motives, or just for fun. With your own computer, it's important to keep this in mind while surfing the Internet.