Cyber Mercenary Group Known As The ' Desert Falcons '

Communication plays a vital role in our lives and our professional scope, as such it is the easiest landing for malicious actors to obtain some information that they need to execute their acts. Some of the ways through which they get this information are as discussed.

Sami Omar al-Hussayen was a seemingly normal doctoral student. He was living in Moscow, Idaho, working on a degree in computer science. He enjoyed his family life, with his wife and three sons. He was a leader among the Muslim students, and he decried what occurred in the name of Islam on 9/11. This idealic life, however, came to and end when, to the shock of even his neighbors who considered him to be a gentle and upstanding man, al-Hussayen was accused of providing “material support to terrorists” (Herman, 2011, p. 23). Al-Hussayen volunteered to be a webmaster for the Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA), and was found to have posted militant ideas on the website, as well as routing, to the organization, “thousands of dollars he

Cyberterrorism is a critical threat and is the most definitive characteristic of the U.S. contemporary security environment. For years, the American people have been victimized by cyber-attacks by having their personal information, emails, credit card, and banking information stolen by an invisible enemy named cyberterrorism. These types of attacks seem insignificant however; they are small examples of the vulnerabilities that our cyber world is experiencing. Our vulnerabilities are leaving our public officials in significant danger from cyber-attacks, as they are vulnerable to such things as the release of personal information and home addresses.

With the growing threat of cyber-terror crimes it is no secret that the victims and potential victims of these crimes would be uneasy. The short terms affects could include loss of valuable information, money, damage to brand and company reputation

This paper explores some of the techniques and tools that are used by terrorist leaders to try to influence and change the mindsets of people. Political and religious motived techniques that are used by terrorist leaders are discussed in the paper. The paper also discuses how terrorist leaders have used the internet to gain support, influence, and recruit new members,

Mathew Heazlett is a Master’s Student in the Terrorism & Counter Terrorism Studies at Henley-Putnam University. Submitted to the faculty of Henley-Putnam University, this research paper is in partial fulfillment of the requirements for TCT 596.4A, Origins, Evolutions, and trends in Terrorism and the Master’s Terrorism and Counter Terrorism Studies program. Contact Mathew Heazlett at MathewHeazlett@stu.henley-putnam.edu for correspondence regarding this paper.

When speaking about al-Qaeda, this paper refers to an organization with numerous affiliates that promotes a global terrorist interpretation of jihad and thus inspires a movement of followers via the Internet. Jihadism is the modern ideology and terrorist interpretation of jihad, and jihadists are persons who hold up its principles and doctrines. An intermediate control level of al-Qaeda and other organizations exists, and it can be illustrated with the steady output of ideas and agendas. However, there are countless other actors who exert influence on jihadism online. Thus, it is preferable not to use the term "al-Qaeda" to describe the participants of online jihad. Most of them have nothing to do with al-Qaeda. The term al-Qaeda implies a

In this modern world, Information Technology forms the integral part of any kind of business. In the 21st century, countries across the globe have come to rely on complex computer networks that form the infrastructural backbone of even the most basic necessities of life, including electric power grids, global finance, food distribution, medical care, clean drinking water, petroleum production, and most types of communication. The protection of such networks, known as cyber security, is among the highest priorities in the civilized world, alongside planning and operations for major contingencies, including antiterrorism and land warfare. (Al-Saud, 2012:75).In Middle East region, the IT industry is dynamically growing along

With the widespread use of technology becoming more prominent, acts of cyber terrorism pose an increased threat to safety. Cyber terrorists exploit the internet and its users to commit acts that can be increasingly detrimental to their targets. Some of the terrorist activities include large scale corruption of computer networks by using tools like computer viruses. Certain individuals even have the ability of creating severe damage to government systems, national security systems and even hospital servers. Most of the technology made today only has intentions of making life easier for people. However, skilled users can manipulate the cyber world for negative intentions. Staying informed when it comes to cyber terrorism and cybercrime is important to do because of the increased reliance on technology in society. Steps to improve cyber security before an attack ensures the safety of sensitive information. The topic of cyber security and cyber warfare are interesting topics to keep up to date with. Understanding these topics can be beneficial to my dream of being in the FBI, ensuring the safety of others by working to prevent acts of cyberterrorism.

The aim of this report is to examine the topic of cyber espionage. Incidents and threats of espionage committed using software tools have become frequent headlines in news stories in recent years, thus the existence of cyber espionage is undeniable. This report begins with an introduction of the topic, followed by a literature review. Moving on, two case studies specifically involving the use of Trojans and sniffers to commit espionage will be discussed. The scope of these case studies includes the attack mechanisms used and the countermeasures that could plausibly be adopted, as well as a discussion of each case.

Since the mid 1980’s, the internet has proven to be an extremely effective means of communication, with its ability to reach an ever increasing audience worldwide. The development of sophisticated technologies has created a network with a largely global reach and relatively almost no barriers of entry. The internet, quite simply, has made our lives easier. It provides us with the ability to share and receive vast amounts information at the click of a button, get our shopping done online and delivered to your doorstep, or even getting our banking done without ever leaving the house. The benefits of the internet are seemingly endless. However, in recent years, terrorist organisations have began to exploit this technology for the purposes of

Kevin Mitnick, The Condor, The Darkside Hacker, The greatest hacker alive, whatever name he was given that pins him down as a perpetrator of the law, Kevin Mitnick still serves as an educator to enthusiasts in the world of Information Security. He unveils many secrets of the hacker in The Art of Deception. The Art of Intrusion takes a different twist from its predecessor. It looks at the attitude of the hacker and what drives them.

Stephen Doherty, a researcher and blogger for the Symantec Corporation, provides a case study that proves targeted attacks are growing and evolving. His case study entitled, “The Mask,” is a cyber-espionage group established in 2007 to hack, monitor and exfiltrate data from infected targets. Their method of breach uses intense spear phishing to lure the victims in using deceiving emails. In addition, The Mask coincidently enough specializes in tools that target Spanish speakers.

Cyber Terrorism is an attack executed by Cyber Terrorists via information systems to significantly interfere with the political, social or economic functioning of a groups or organizations of a nation or induces physical violence and creates panic. We define hackers as individuals who wish to access, modify data, files and resources without having the necessary authorization to do so, and/or wish to block services to authorized users. Cyber Terrorists are individuals or groups to utilize computer and networking technologies to terrorize. In this paper, we study the behavior of two groups of hackers: Cyber Terrorists and Common Hackers. Cyber Terrorism and Cyber Terrorists is generally considered classified information which cannot be released to the public, we can usually only interfere that Cyber Terrorism and Cyber Terrorists exits. However in 2010 federal bureau of investigation chief, Robert Mueller, told an RSA conference of computer security professionals, “The Cyber Terrorism threat is real and rapidly expanding”. He indicated that terrorists have shown a clear interest in hacking skills and combining real attacks with Cyber-attacks. [8]

Prevalent to the current trend now is the dependency of the society on Information technology and communication systems. Every aspect of human life is one way or the other linked and controlled by information technology tools. The importance of information technology cannot be over emphasized as its unavailability could lead to a form of disaster or the other. Pivotal infrastructures like finance, healthcare, education and security are driven by information technology. However, information technology and its benefits are accompanied by vulnerabilities and risks that can be exploited by people with the necessary technical skills. Individuals like ‘Hackers’ and ‘Cyber Terrorist’ can cause disruption to information systems, commit financial fraud and also attack computers and networks. These attacks and disruptions could result to violence against people and properties. In some cases, death, serious injuries and severe economic loss could occur as a result of these attacks.