Combating Terrorism Using Information Protection

By Milica D. Djekic

The global landscape has changed significantly since a beginning of the new millennium as a threat to everyday life and work is arising day by day causing a technological, physical, financial and health danger to many. The security challenges of nowadays mainly choose an asymmetric tactic to attack and in such a sense it is clear why their operations are such an impactful and fatal to the majority of people. In such a case, it’s needed to make a focus on high-tech campaigns as a cyberspace is also an asymmetric platform giving chance to assault using a minimum of the resources and getting in position to make harm to the entire nations and their countries. The cases of the bioterrorism through the last two decades have taught everyone the bio-weapon can kill many only give them an illness which can be treated, but in some cases, it can lead to death. Also, the recent events in the Gaza Strip have shown that if intelligently coordinated the physical offenses can lead to catastrophic consequences as the Hamas strategy has demonstrated that the small spatial areas can be applied to threaten many simply making from such a place the terrorist base which has dealt with a certain range and coverage in a fashion of the armed force’s strikes. On the other hand, it is very well known that the cyberspace is a true technological field of the asymmetric threats and in that case, there must be taken some steps in preventing, monitoring and responding to those incidents as such technical advancements are in need for a better cyber defense that should include a highly sophisticated cryptosystem solution. It’s easy to say, but extremely difficult to obtain as any cryptosystem is supposed to cope with the good encryption and decryption which is not always easy to produce. Some current experiences suggest the humankind is very close to make its first steps in developing, designing and deploying the pioneering perfect secrecy crypto-algorithms that can be used for an information protection either being with a device or any transmission of the data via a communication asset, so far. In other words, this effort is going to stress out some terror challenges, as well as explain why a serious cyber security like a cryptology must be applied in a case of the combating terrorism that as any crime area must rely on a cutting-edge technology.

The terrorism by itself is not a product of the modern time as throughout history, there have always existed groups, movements and organizations which aim has been to shake ongoing law and order and take control over some approved countries territory. For instance, there are some findings which might suggest that even in the Middle Age in Europe there had been the entire chords of the arson terrorists that could literally burn the entire villages in order to frighten common people and attempt to ruin that state’s governance over such a geographical area. Those villages had been a collection of the poor people and in other words, there had been nothing to get robbed, but more likely those attacks had been done in order to intimidate the folks and cause an unrest within such a country. The system of the past had so many difficulties to smash those groups as in that time, the world had not been at a today’s stage of the development and the barbarism had been a usual thing in even the most progressive societies of such an era. Even nowadays the situation is not a bit better as anyone being with barbarian approach can attempt to intimidate anyone literally putting the entire super-forces and forces worldwide under a quite unpleasant condition. The mission of any country is to protect their innocent civilians from being hurt and the terror-makers would know that well enough, so for such a reason they will push hard to exploit the gravest vulnerability any nation has and those are the lives and wellbeing of the innocent civilians, so far.

From a current point of view, it seems the history will always give some lessons and as there is a defense system of today, there was something similar within the past epochs. To clarify, in the past the human communities had also dealt with the well-trained worriers who could then ride a horse and be skilled with a wide range of the weaponry of such a time. Those soldiers had needed to cope with the spots where they could adopt such a skill and from a modern perspective, those were the very first terrorist campuses being used to train men getting a combating capacity, as well as dealing with that time logistics, arms and secret communication which had been delivered through the land. Also, if that sort of the bandits could cut anyone’s correspondence, they truly had done so. The majority of their curriers had used a cryptography of that age and even if such authorities could catch their message delivery, they could not figure out their plans as the entire communication had been ciphered. For such a purpose, the terror groups had applied a piece of the paper and sometimes some animal skin in order to camouflage what they really want to do. Apparently, the state authorities had also needed to use some kind of data protection as then it had been necessary to bridge long distances in order to let know anyone being such a far away what is all about. Further, those were the very first days of the escort as not only the important persons of that time had gotten their personal security, but most likely an official information transfer had coped with cryptography, as well as with physical assurance. With a very beginning of the country governance, there had appeared the very first laws enforcing people to deal by rules. If anyone through the history has been disobeying about such limitations, that person would suffer restrictions and consequently some punishments. Those things have been introduced in order to show everyone the state rulership over some territory must be accepted and anyone not being willing to cope with those requirements has gotten in touch with extremely serious implications. The very first legal regulations in Europe had been that strict to prolong a methodology eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth to those who would even believe to commit crime and remain unsanctioned. The main reason why the human beings have agreed upon the laws or in other words, live by rules is there have always been predatory groups which could severely threaten anyone’s life and for avoiding to be under chase and danger the ancient countries needed to invoke such a way of the society control protecting everyone who was admitting their rulership and eliminating those who had to make conspiracies against those states. Indeed, a good community has undoubtedly protected those being obeying about the rules and punished those who were daring to challenge the system.

In the modern times, a way of thinking and judging is more or less pretty the same as the global landscape is yet building up using the previous experiences as a base for the entire construction. The ongoing logistics is much better than in the past as the current civilization can travel through land, air and water applying the new methods of transportation, while the digital revolution has brought a plenty of the advantages in communication and data assurance. Next, with this novel time the defense systems across the globe can realize what the asymmetry means and why it is important to manage a risk from being attacked in a truly terrorist manner. The cryptography with cryptanalysis being the building blocks of the cryptology must count on more innovative and better ingenious angles in science and technology as even in the past times someone had been that clever to send an escort with such a correspondence also protecting the both – a sender and receiver of that message. The similar logics is followed even nowadays as those who are exchanging information, as well as the overall communication channel are supposed to be well secured. It appears if looking back to the past can bring an inspiration for a future as once the mankind accurately masters all historical lessons the world will honestly be on a track of the progress, while on the other hand if the historical findings are not well-studied the wheel of the time will always pull back those who select to go froward. Probably there is some word about taking a responsibility for being a good leader as those who can lead need to have the both – well-educated mind and heart in order to avoid the flaws from the past that put under risk a wellbeing of the entire humankind, so far.

By a novel understanding, the security is about a risk management as it is a process of maintaining the risk at an acceptable level providing in such a term some methods of protection to many. As it is well known, an accurate and timing information might mean an advantage in any sense of the people’s activities as in such a case those two or more who are exchanging data can make a plan what to do relying on such pluses. If it is considered how such a communication works and if it could be followed with the information leakage and any way of the weak findings management, it could be clear that being capable to cut such a contact could take that confidential content directly making a conflict of the interest with such a group preparing a deal about some business. The golden rule in an information assurance is the confidential findings should remain confidential as if not protected adequately those data could put many on a risk offering to opponents to get a step or two ahead the communicators. On the other hand, many defense organizations are with a demanding task to uncover the bad actors and their actions in order to prevent some of the possible security anomalies among those communities. The main imperative at present is there is a need for a strong international collaboration across the world and as there are a plenty of the services which protect some of their national interests there must be more international security and policing associations such as the Interpol, Europol and much more that can coordinate any sort of the investigations at a global scale, so far. With an advanced technological development and growth, many of the ongoing activities over the globe can be quantified and get measurable with a certain degree of the accuracy as it is well known, those technical solutions operate in compliance with the rules of nature or in an engineering sense, they strongly cope with the laws of the math and science otherwise they would not function at all. The engineering is existing nearly within any aspect of the modern life and work and not only the good guys can apply those technologies to progress and deal with the precision, but more likely the bad actors are also dependable on such an outcome of the civilization’s progress. From that point of view, it is obvious as an accuracy of those technical improvements rises and moreover, those who are using a technology can count on a better accuracy which means a more accurate security to many of such associations. Some beliefs suggest that in the nature everything is about a cause and effect, so if anyone has created any kind of technological, biological, physical and the other weapons in order to accomplish something it is more than appealing to design a counter-weapon as things could get returned into balance. In other words, someone will challenge and consequently, someone will respond, so far.

Next, there will be discussed some alarming stuffs in regards to ever evolving threats and their actions about the entire nations and their countries which indeed, can be uncovered and spied by some transnational crime or terrorist organizations. If it is gone back to a quite recent past, it can be clear that the ISIL terrorist group has been beaten through the air strikes in Iraq and Syria about a decade ago, but such a challenge is yet active in the world as that military intervention did not smash the entire terror units. The cause to such an intervention was those terror members have dared to challenge the United States and the other societies across the world just using the advantages of the cyberspace to track any kind of an unprotected communication between very important persons and institutions at a global level. On the other hand, the effect is well-known, but it does not mean no one in the world will be that rude in the future to make a new criminal scheme trying to challenge the authorities anywhere and in order to break into that scenario it could be needed decades as with a good capacity to cope with technology something new can be innovated and the good guys could figure out a lot of so sooner or later, but there will always be some methods to avoid being confirmed following some case management procedures and policies as those who are making a criminal scheme could be very smart and create something which can take a lot of time from the authorities remaining some of the past cases in a policing practice being unresolved for an entire time.

The fact with a current cryptography is the networking devices use a communication channel in order to deliver data via a grid and in order to prevent anyone from external to make a breach to such a communication it is needed to develop a strong cryptosystem which can stop an opponent from reading such exchanged information. In the practice, many armies’ cryptographic solutions are capable to transfer data relying on an end-to-end, link and combined encryption and the majority of those systems are yet struggling with a key distribution, but there are some indications that the world is getting on a race for the perfect secrecy as some of the founders of the information theory have so wisely predicted a couple of decades back. As it is well known, the ongoing time is a chapter of the industrial revolutions and maybe some people will talk about those endeavors suggesting that the planet is going to a cyborg epoch, while the overall global situation is very far away from those forecasts, because at this degree the security is something being such a desperately needed. From a today’s perspective, the entire planet is facing up a time of the emergency and the ongoing indicators show there will be still a plenty of the routine tasks getting tackled and some results must come with such an effort. The theory of information is an achievement being accomplished during the World War 2 and the engineers of that time contributed to such a victory serving hard to produce something reliable and very intelligent for their era. Indeed, the similar situation is manly present nowadays as the entire teams of the engineers, scientists and researchers need to pull up their sleeves in order to develop a technology which will make a world becoming a more safe and secure place to the majority of its residents. No time in the history was easy and maybe the current situation worldwide might appear as tough, but if it is made a look back it could be feasible to understand those brave men and women who has built up the world and made it as it is today no matter if the majority of their days have not been shiny at all.

In the modern time, a terrorism is escalating nearly everywhere in the world either being biological, high-tech or physical by its nature it is going to show a tendency to become the real nightmare to the humankind of nowadays, so far. In comparation with the past, the ongoing terror has kept dealing with more or less same rules, but with an outstandingly better technological background as a technological development is a true engine of the today’s progress, as well as current human’s activities. The terrorism is something that has evolved as the entire civilization and it deeply takes advantages of the emerging technical systems bringing with itself all the concerns and better saying, challenges of the new historical chapter. As it is well known, the terrorist organizations at present can plan their actions with a high precision as the technological landscape lets them do so, but on the other hand, anyone dealing with the high-tech environment must leave a trace and in such a sense, there is a good portion of the confidence to authorities those threats will be uncovered, located and caught sooner or later and today many will talk with a full assurance that no matter what the bad actors do the good guys will get that and come to bring them to the justice. In other words, that’s how the modern world has progressed and that’s how brilliantly the good officers and their cooperators can tackle anything appearing within a field of the security. Indeed, it’s not easy at all preparing a terror attack and the other operations and the majority of those plans get accomplished, because the terror actors know a lot about the cutting-edge technologies as they cope with an advanced user experience skill, as well as with some hardware design and software coding capacities making them a truly clever predators which instinct can support them in avoiding all the traps and obstacles the experienced hunters could apply in order to get them. In other words, it’s all about an accurate and timing information which can be obtained through many approaches and that’s why the ISIL was spying on the critical US asset in order to gather some findings and consequently push them into an entire analytical process which has offered them completely collected intelligence suggesting to their strategists how to formulate a very dangerous strategy being resolved in both – tactical and operational manner which gave them some sort of the awareness about what those who are working over their head do and which details have remained unprotected opening them a chance to attack to the most critical, but yet inadequately saved spots across the globe. That’s why the world has gotten to deal with an asymmetric warfare and that’s why the minority could threaten the majority causing truly severe impacts to the world as it is well known nowadays.

The main challenge with the terrorism of today is an awareness as those who are in an everyday search for a terror grid need to adjust their approaches to their mission coping with a great situational awareness in order to uncover the threat and make some serious and far reaching geostrategic predictions always getting in mind the troubles can come, but literally not from nowhere as there must exist some source and once those origins are identified it can be possible to make some grouping that can put the authorities and their investigations getting on the right track. Apparently, it’s not handy at all resolving such cases and it seems the security undoubtedly needs a multidisciplinary and, say, more scientific approach in tackling crime as it is known today. The existing trends and tendencies in criminology suggest that the ongoing criminalities can be resolved in a less time-consuming and better cost-effective fashion as those combating any area of the criminality relying on a plenty of the innovations within a defense can make a significant step froward in order to smash the majority of the transnational crime and terrorist organizations as it is well known that the transnational organized crime is the biggest sponsor to a terrorism. The criminal groups mostly have a rational approach to their business as the majority of the professional criminals work for a profit and if a legal system is pressed by terrorism, armed conflicts, social unrests and much more those governments must take into a consideration some kind of the negotiation or making a favor to those who are in position to dictate the rules literally forcing the entire areas to collapse in front of their pressure obviously frightening anyone to get a barbarian if that person or institution is not willing to make their list of wishes getting satisfied, so far.

In addition, the modern terrorism is strongly correlated with the roads of drug smuggling, human trafficking, firearms distribution and the entire spectrum of the heavy case criminalities which appear to take control over the global landscape as those criminal networks frequently operate transnationally supporting terror groups, because of a plenty of the benefits and interests they can get if they obtain a rulership over some territory. Therefore, those criminal organizations are getting very sophisticated for a reason they use a service of the cybercrime underworld, as well as they look for an economic power over some country as they put a lot of money into a legal flow doing a money laundering which can give them a capacity to create a political and social situation within some area. Indeed, those lawbreakers show a tendency to get untouched in any sense as they need their safe place where no one will recognized them as criminals, but more likely as highly successful businessmen who have a heap of the amazing business ideas which have made them rich and powerful in the eyes of public. On the other hand, the majority of jihadist groups seek to be with a dominance, but in order to intimidate a community they have to work hard in preparing a terror operation and if they are mostly occupied with such an activity, they would obviously get no time to make a profit as professional criminals do and that’s why they will accept a financial help from, say, drug lords and their trafficking group, so far. Above all, all those actors are desperately dependable on the novel technologies and even if they could get many benefits from so, they will literally cope with a sword with two edges as the modern authorities can cut their communications and totally uncover their information exchange in a cyberspace which can be assumed as their greatest weakness for a reason there are some methods to get their spot of grouping which gives confidence to the good guys the lawful communities might stay at least a step in front of the arising threat.

About The Author    

Milica D. Djekic is an Independent Researcher from Subotica, the Republic of Serbia. She received her engineering background from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade. She writes for some domestic and overseas presses and she is also the author of the books “The Internet of Things: Concept, Applications and Security” and “The Insider’s Threats: Operational, Tactical and Strategic Perspective” being published in 2017 and 2021 respectively with the Lambert Academic Publishing. Milica is also a speaker with the BrightTALK expert’s channel. She is the member of an ASIS International since 2017 and contributor to the Australian Cyber Security Magazine since 2018. Milica’s research efforts are recognized with Computer Emergency Response Team for the European Union (CERT-EU), Censys Press, BU-CERT UK and EASA European Centre for Cybersecurity in Aviation (ECCSA). Her fields of interests are cyber defense, technology and business. Milica is a person with disability.