BOSTON?After the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, we were all left with the question of what might be targeted next.
According to many experts within the security world, the Internet is a probable target of the next terrorist attack.
?It?s only a matter of time,? said Dennis Treece, director of special operations of Internet Security Systems, Inc.
Internet security groups such as Treece?s petitioned Congress this week for more funding for this type of security.
Testifying before Congress was Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), who has been active on the issue even before Sept. 11, according to his Web site.
?It?s easy to state the problem in general terms: American society has become vastly more dependent on computers and the Internet in recent years, making us more vulnerable to criminal or terrorist attacks on our computer networks,? Boehlert said in his statement before Congress.
?For starters, it?s clear that we have to devote greater resources?not only money, but also our individual and collective attention?to computer and especially network security. To put it simply, we need more people to be doing more creative thinking about computer security,? Boehlert said in his statement.
Boehlert?s concerns about dependency on the Internet are shared by many, including Treece.
?The more dependent a company is on the Internet, the more vulnerable it is to these attacks,? he continued.
?This is one area where money can help,? Treece said about the hearings before Congress. Treece mentioned that training was essential to keep workers within their corporation, since programs can easily become obsolete after only two years.
?More people is absolutely critical,? he added.
Treece also mentioned a number of other things that federal money would help fund, including youth awareness about the problem.
?Are we teaching our kids?? he asked. ?Education in our schools is absolutely important.?
?Until the tragic events of Sept. 11 intervened, New York Gov. [George] Pataki had been planning a national cybercrime cyberterrorism summit, which was to have taken place in the financial district next week,? Boehlert said.
?Cyberterrorism is not a new thing,? said Ashley Parish, head of media relations for ISS.
ISS is also working with the federal government on several different advisory panels to find ways to combat a system error.
?We?re on a number of advisory panels?helping them crack the language,? Treece said.
Cracking the language is needed to help combat these attacks, especially since servers for any given corporation can be easily shut down after an attack.
?It?s relatively easy to shut down servers for a while,? said Gene Itkis, a professor of computer science at Boston University. ?To shut down a few sites is not that difficult,? he added.
According to Itkis, security within the Internet is really very similar to personal security around the world.
?Things in the cyber world are not really that much different,? he said.
Those types of attacks are called denial of service attacks and are not uncommon to find on the Internet. However, Treece said these attacks are not usually associated with terrorism.
?We have not yet seen any terrorist components,? he said.
Treece mentioned that drawing the line between terrorism and a hacker is hard to do. He gave a hypothetical of a Palestinian student hacking into an Israeli student’s Website, saying that an isolated incident such as that one couldn’t be considered terrorism.