Geopolitics Magazine January - February 2016 | Page 82

There are a lot of other statements and possible indications that terrorists may have been able to seize
some “dormant” pathogens and viruses from labs or even bought them at black market. Bu t will they
be willing to use them? Answer is a simple Yes. According to RAND report such an action is highly
probable and states should be prepared for it in the near future.
Second and maybe more visible attacking method is via CyberWorld. It is no secret that terrorists are
already using all new forms of communication to remain hidden and at the same time maintain contact
with their teams and leaders. Somehow this according to recent Intelligence Report by USA will be
changing and will form an offensive tactic against infrastructure or even more “soft targets” on the
networks.
According to former ASIO head David Irvine statement
terrorists are very near of being able to launch such a
massive attack: "While terrorist organizations have not
yet exhibited sophisticated cyber-attack capability, we
must anticipate, given the sophistication they
demonstrated in using the internet for propaganda and
other reasons, that they could well seek to develop
destructive attack capabilities in the near term." What is
even more interesting though is that these attacks, as
said previously, won’t be limited only to infrastructure
and network services, but they will aim also at “soft
targets”. This means that even specific individuals might become targets depending on their
profession, fame, etc.
For example first responders are a very easy target and very valuable
to terrorists since their gear and uniform might be used as a
camouflage for them in order to accomplish their goals. So a first
responder or even his family might become a target over the web at
first where personal details will be gathered and then used by
terrorists.
This might be also applied against people that possess certain wealth or
items needed by terrorists. We need to keep in mind here that the line
between crime and terrorism is common and very thin. Same deal stands for those persons too, as
more and more people tend to advertise them over web and social media, by giving willingly persona l
details of their lives and relatives along with their hobbies and other data that could fit into a possible
victim’s profile.
Third method of attack is already in play. We have been seeing attacks all over the globe by use of
firearms or even machetes in the hands of single terrorist. They just feel familiar with what terrorists
represent on their propaganda material and subject themselves to radicalization. Then as part of their
initiation might try to launch an attack. This will be done without getting caught or killed as it
happened at Paris by the second generation migrants who fled to Belgium.
Small arms, knives, even bats and kitchen knives might be
used by a terrorist who just thinks he is offering services to
the cause and act on behalf of something greater than him
against enemies. This method is very hard to predict and
prevent. There are no models or patterns to monitor (other
than the behavior in early stages of radicalization) and
single attackers are very hard to stop, especially if they get
trained by manuals or by using existing methods of society
(eg. Handling a knife is an easy lesson for a butcher in a
shop).
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