Threat of Cyber Terrorism to Modern Society

Threat of Cyber Terrorism to Modern Society

Is cyber terrorism the threat to modern society? Not only has the socio- and geo-political climate changed dramatically in the last decade, but there has also been a technological change with the advent of the ‘information revolution’. Governments all over the world are trying to protect critical national infrastructure from a new apolitical threat, yet they are not able to agree upon a common cyber-threat vocabulary. This paper compares two different approaches to combatting the cyber threat and underlines their common understanding yet different articulation of what constitutes cyber terrorism. The central argument of the paper is that cyber terrorism against critical national infrastructure is not presently a great threat but perceptions of it make it a useful tool in securing financial interests and controlling domestic populations.