OSNs as Cyberterrorist Weapons Against the General Public

Abstract

Conventional terrorism has been around for hundreds of years and even though its tactics and the weapons of choice have evolved over time as well as the use and deployment of weapons may have changed the root definition of terrorism has remained relatively untouched. With the advent of mass computing, cybercrime has increased year on year. This chapter will look at three differing viewpoints of cyberterrorism and its ultimate effects on society. Many industry and academic experts warn that it is only a matter of time before conventional terrorist acts will migrate to the digital arena in the form of cyberterrorism. Current literature suggests that a countries critical national infrastructure will be the main focus of attack for the cyberterrorist but this chapter will address another possible target for the cyberterrorist using a different type of cyber weapon: a mimetic virus. This chapter also looks at how a mimetic virus could use social media to spread throughout the target audience using what is known as Internet memes.