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Cyber war next phase for al-Qaeda?
September 11, 2002
International News Analysis Today Special Report
By Toby Westerman
Copyright 2002 International News Analysis Today
www.inatoday.com
Cyber warfare causing "chaos" in a target nation -- and even a "military disaster" - could be al-Qaeda's next method of attacking the West.
The latest discoveries by various counterintelligence services indicate that al Qaeda is pursuing a strategy leading to an attack on Western computer networks around the world, according to one of Europe's most influential news dailies.
"Why kill people, if an attack on an electronic control center can bring dramatic and long lasting results," said Walter Laqueur, a German counterintelligence expert, whose remarks appeared in the online version of the German news daily Die Welt.
Under the right conditions, however, many people could lose their lives.
In response to a journalist's question, Laqueur stated that if a cyber terrorist gained access to a military command center, false commands and instructions could be sent to ships and planes, troop movements could be misdirected, and bombs fall on unintended targets, all resulting in a "military disaster," Die Welt reported.
The question, however, arises, how sophisticated is the al Qaeda terror network in computer technology?
German intelligence services regard al-Qaeda cyber sophistication a "real" threat.
According to information gathered by German intelligence, al-Qaeda has at its command "computer specialists" who "only await their orders" to launch "digital warfare."
The targets of the cyber terrorists would include penetration of the "Western" Internet and bring "confusion" to business, governmental, bank, police, rescue and military command centers, stated Laqueur and reported in Die Welt.
The result of such an attack - or attacks - could be that the West would "sink into chaos," with commercial activity becoming "enfeebled."
Al-Qaeda is "absolutely in the position to even disrupt a [possible] American attack on Iraq," according to military sources cited by Die Welt.
U.S. "cyber-security" expert Howard Schmidt shares Laqueur's concerns, stating that a cyber attack from a terrorist group or a "rogue" state is possible, according to an interview with the German news magazine Focus in its online version.
Although Schmidt acknowledges the possibility of a cyber terror attack, when asked if a terror attack could shut down electric supplies or disrupt Internet traffic, he stated that "I do not believe [such an attack] …is probable," Die Welt reported.
Nevertheless Schmidt is calling for close cooperation between governments to counter the threat of a cyber attack from terror groups or rogue states.
Al-Qaeda has already made extensive use of the Internet and demonstrated that some of its members have a sophisticated knowledge of computer technology.
An earlier report from Fox News recounted that after the 9/11 attacks, al-Qaeda had floated an information web site entitled the "Center for Islamic Studies and Research," which changed its location from Malaysia to Texas, to Michigan.
The al-Qaeda site used special encryption methods to insure secrecy, including "steganography," which embeds secret messages within an otherwise unrelated file.
Al-Qaeda's computer specialists need not worry about how to finance their activities.
The United Nations recently released a report stating that, despite the world organization's best efforts, al-Qaeda remains rich, and able to finance whatever activities it wishes.
Some of al-Qaeda's sources of revenue include "blood diamonds" from Africa, which gained their name from the violence surrounding their extraction from the mines, their often illegal sale, and the bloody operations which they finance.
While al-Qaeda's computer specialists await their orders, the direction of the organization does not depend upon whether Osama bin Laden is alive or dead. New leadership has arisen throughout the terrorist network, which is ready to launch "the second wave of terror attacks," according to a report from the influential German news daily, Der Spiegel.
Al-Qaeda is in a special position regarding leadership, if bin Laden is dead, his position is expected to be filled by his third oldest son, Saad bin Laden, who is in his early 20's, according to another report from Der Spiegel. French anti-terror expert Roland Jacquard stated that Saad was particularly valuable to al-Qaeda, because he stands as a symbol of continuity within the terror organization.