ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the limited utility of the concepts of "cyber terrorism" or "electronic Pearl Harbor." It contrasts the absence of cyber terror incidents with the large number of terrorist attacks and computer security incidents in recent years. The chapter suggests that this discrepancy is explained both by the low appeal of cyber weapons to terrorists and because critical infrastructures and nations are not vulnerable to computer attacks. The absence of cyber terror also does not reflect inactivity on the part of hackers. While the press has reported that government officials are concerned over al Qaeda's plans to use the Internet to wage cyber terrorism, these stories often recycle the same hypothetical scenarios previously attributed to China's cyber warfare efforts. The ex-employee was sentenced to two years in jail and fined $13,000 for his action. Cyber security analyses would improve if they remembered that the most valuable part of Information Technology is information.
