Cyber terrorism in India is not a new concept. However, for a long time concepts like cyber warfare, cyber terrorism etc. were not taken seriously by the Indian government. Naturally, cyber security in India could not flourish either. India’s cyber security capabilities could not develop under such circumstances. Techno legal experts of India have been warning against the increasing incidence of cyber attacks, cyber crimes, cyber espionage etc. against India. Moreover, the fact has also been reiterated from time to time that there is a need to protect critical infrastructure in India. The truth is that cyber attacks are affecting Indian critical infrastructure and we are not even aware of it. Ethnic Tamil guerrillas attacked Sri Lankan embassies through thousands of e-mails. The message read as follows “We are the Internet Black Tigers and we are doing this to disrupt your communication, this is a branch of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The convergence of computer networks and telecommunications facilitated by digital technologies has given rise to a common space called ‘cyberspace’. This cyberspace has become a platform for a galaxy of human activities that converge on the Internet. In fact, cyberspace has become the most active space today. The Internet is increasingly being used for communication, commerce, advertising, banking, education, research and entertainment. There is hardly any human activity that is not affected by the Internet. Therefore, the Internet offers something to everyone and in the process it grows, never diminishes. ‘Cyberspace’ has given many gifts to humanity but they come with unexpected disadvantages. It has become a place for carrying out all kinds of activities that are prohibited by law. It is increasingly being used for pornography, gambling, trafficking of human organs and banned drugs, hacking, copyright infringement, terrorism, violation of personal privacy, money laundering, fraud, software piracy and corporate espionage, etc.
Nowadays most of the terrorist groups have their own websites or information routes (I-ways); for example, one of the Al Qaeda based websites in Arabic is http://www.mojahedoon.net which has links to Osama bin Laden. Information and communication technology is used extensively by terrorists in India, whether it is to launch attacks against the nation or with the intention of attacking only Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
Cyber terrorism is now one of the most complex international and global problems. There is a great need for international and global cooperation and coordination across the world. The United Nations and the European Union have always played and are playing an important role in preventing and controlling the conflicting global problems. The International Ministerial Conference on Global Information Network was held in Bonn in 1997 with the objective of bringing the world together and developing world standard security measures to protect net users. The Justice and Home Affairs Council also came forward to establish worldwide practical cooperation with the same objective. Not only this, the P8 Senior Level Group on International Organized Crime had undertaken several programmes to identify and prosecute computer related crimes.
In the year 1997 the December G-8 Conference was held at the FBI Headquarters of Justice Ministers of the G-8 countries. The conference report issued for cooperation of nations on: i. Deployment of adequate number of properly trained and equipped law enforcement personnel for investigation of cyber crime; ii. Improvement of preventive and control measures; iii. Where extradition is impossible, prosecute the offender in the country where he was found; iv. To preserve key evidence on computers etc. The European Committee on Crime Problems and the Committee of Experts on Crime in Cyberspace adopted a draft convention on cyber crimes on 22 December 2000 for the prevention and control of cyber crimes and international cooperation. The convention also adopted necessary measures to prevent activities against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer systems, networks and data of each nation-state.
The attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) on 11 September 2001 was nothing but cyber terrorism. The terrorists gained unauthorized access to the network of an airline and hijacked two airlines, resulting in those airlines colliding with the WTC twin towers and the Pentagon. On the other hand, on 12 September 2001, the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council condemned the terrorist attack on the US and called for international cooperation to combat terrorist activities. On September 18, 2001, the United Nations Security Council called on the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden, who had set up several websites and the Al-Qaeda network based on Al Jazeera etc. On September 28, 2001, the Council established some measures to combat terrorism. After the incident in London on July 7, 2005, the G-8 leaders called for international cooperation to improve control measures on radioactive and telecommunication sources around the world.
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