The Science and Technology of Counterterrorism

Chapter 8

Electronic Terrorism Threats, Risk, and Risk Mitigation

8.1 Introduction to Electronic Security

If all security threat scenarios have identical components of risk, why do electronic threats seem different than their physical counterparts? Most prominently, in electronic terrorism there is no direct threat to human life. Certainly an attack against IT services that support life-saving activities such as the 911 or 999 infrastructures could put lives in jeopardy and sabotage is sometimes a motive (e.g., Stuxnet), but the point of electronic terrorism is in general not to kill people.

The scale of electronic and physical terrorism threats are different. Electronic terrorism, and attacks via the Web in particular, have the potential for wide-scale ...