CYBERSECURITY – VIRTUAL SPACE AS AN AREA FOR COVERT TERRORIST ACTIVITIES OF RADICAL ISLAMISTS

 Over time, terrorism has evolved into different forms. One of the most dangerous is certainly cyber terrorism. There are many different motivations for terrorists to deploy cyber terrorism as a tool in their fight. Internet and computer networks are powerful resources on which contemporary society relies heavily. Terrorist groups have developed new tools and methods of the fight and they have become more effective, efficient, and unpredictable. Virtual, or cyberspace, is perfect and very safe ground for terrorist groups’ various activities, such are secret encrypted communication, file sharing, indoctrination and recruitment of vulnerable individuals, fundraising and promotions of their future actions and accomplishments spreading fear among common people. Are we adequately aware of these facts and prepared for countermeasures? The fact is that terrorists use mostly open-source tools (software) for their purposes, widely available and free of charge, as well as video games, popular social networks (mostly Twitter), and software developed by their programmers. The purpose of this paper is to point out some of the methods radical Islamic terrorist groups have been using and underline the importance of responding to this new security challenge.