Cyber Terrorism: Need of New Kind of Army
Cyber Terrorism: Need of New Kind of Army
By Femi Daniel
The jury is still out on whether Nigeria has technically or tactically won the war against the Boko Haram insurgents. The government is also in frantic in its efforts to recover money approved for arms purchase but was allegedly diverted to other uses. While our budget for bomber jets, guns, bombs and other military hardware are on an upward swing. It is necessary to state that the warfare of the 21st century is going from hardware to software.
As the harsh economic become more biting, unemployment is growing, racial and religious pejoratives becoming more pronounced so also would the dimensions of conflict, terror and brigandage become more unpredictable. These conclusion do not come from a cryptic globe reader, but the prophecies of tomorrow are in the history books already.
The nation has creditably developed capacity for conventional warfare, so also are disgruntled elements developing capacity and deploying unconventional tactics to hamstring the government. This is possible because of the boundless intellectual capacity and growing angst of the average Nigerian youth. In a cyber-based subversion attack. Borders need not be crossed, no need to throw bombs, no hostage needs to be kidnapped and terrorists do not need to be blown to shreds. Cyber terrorism targets critical national information infrastructure to crippled economy, cause massive deaths and create a sense of siege. This is the potential of a cyber terrorist attack.
Cyber terrorism is a conglomeration of cybernetics and terrorism. The US Federal Bureau of investigation (FBI) in a 2004 report, defined cyber terrorism as the premeditated, politically motivated attack against information, computer systems, computer programs, and data which result systems, computer programs and data which result in violence against non- combatant targets by sub national groups and clandestine agents. Statutory definition of cyber terrorism in Nigeria can be gotten by a combined reading of section 18 (1) of the cybercrimes Act 2015 and section 1(2) of the Terrorism prevention Act of 2011.
Section 18 (1) of the Cybercrimes Act 2015 says. Any person that accesses or causes to be accessed any computer or computer system or net work for purposes of terrorism, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to life imprisonment.
Section 1 (2) of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 is rendered thus.
(2) In this section,