Until the formulation of the National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) some three years ago, there was little police expertise in this area. However, the explosion in the use of the computer for all aspects of eBusiness has forced the UK Government to more proactive measures and the first real survey of cyber crime in the UK has now been conducted under the auspices of the NHTCU. The results announced at the Government Cyber Crime Conference in early December give a much better picture of the threats we face as a cyber trading nation. That some £38,000,000,000 of trade was conducted on the Internet in the UK in 2002 with some £18,500,000,000 in the financial sector alone gives us an indication of what has become a very tempting target for Cyber criminals and, moreover, an indication on the reliance we are now beginning to place on conducting our business and personal lives on the Internet. It is this very reliance on this medium of business that now makes an attractive target for the Cyber Terrorist.

Information Warfare, the generic title that includes Cyber terrorism covers a spectrum ranging from full scale attack by one state on another (to cripple the communications and computing capabilities of an adversary) to concerted action by a group of individuals to attack a particular Web site to express disapproval or to disrupt the smooth functioning of the target. The formation of the Nation State millenniums ago, saw the rise of standing armies the role of whom was to protect the state against attack. The ultimate goal of taking control of such a nation state entailed the destruction or elimination of the standing army that provided protection. This model has lasted over the centuries through all aspects of modern warfare until the late twentieth century. What has changed? Whilst the military have the responsibility for protecting their own resources, they have no such responsibility for the general assets of the state. Consequently an Information Warfare attack, of which Cyber terrorism is a manifestation, does not necessitate the defeat of the standing army as a precondition of the attack on the state. Such attacks by pass the military and can be directed on the State with no warning.


Whist most responsible Western governments have taken steps to protect their Critical National Infrastructure (the aspects of modern living essential to modern urban life including communications, utilities, transport, national and local government) typically some 85% of the ownership of such infrastructure is owned by the private sector and not by the State. Does this matter? Yes it does when expenditure is required over and above the perceived level to protect the shareholders investment to give a supra level of protection to the well being of the state. Does this matter? Yes, when the threat exists of such a group who’s interest is inimical to the State itself.

The £64,000 question then is does such a threat exist today. Whilst we have not yet seen any such manifestation, the effects of such an attack could at the least seriously inconvenience us and, at the worst, be catastrophic to our Western style of life. We must not make the mistake of over estimating the capability or intention of potential foes but, on the other hand, must recognize that al Qaeda has threatened attack by all means on the capitalist West; there is no doubt that they are sufficiently sophisticated as an organization to have the capability of mounting such an attack. In that Cyber terrorism is relatively easy and inexpensive to mount, we must of course expect that other organizations may also have such a capability.