conference paper
Cyber warfare, terrorist narratives and counter terrorist narratives: An anticipatory ethical analysis
Abstract
Cyber Jihadists and cyber terrorists, have used the internet and social media platforms in order to engage in an information warfare using a variety of stories, narratives and a master narrative in the attempt to accomplish their goals. Recently white supremacists have used similar methods to encourage terrorist acts. This analysis is aimed at exploring the concepts of cyber warfare, terrorist narratives, a phenomenological theory of intentionality applied to these narratives, counter terrorist narratives and to the ethical problems posed by the construction of counter terrorist narratives. The exploration of these themes will provide a foundation for understanding how white supremacists use similar tactics to attract followers and to inspire terrorist attacks. The study of Cyber Jihad and cyber terrorism can give us insight into how all terrorists including domestic terrorists operate using master narratives and sub narratives. At the outset the effort to describe the conflict between terrorist Islamist extremist narratives and counter terrorists narratives presents us with terminological difficulties. The discussion of cyber warfare presents a number of terminological difficulties when it is applied to events related to terrorists. These difficulties stem from the definition of cyber warfare itself. According to Healey Cyberwarfare is defined as “Action by a nation-state to damage or disrupt another nation’s computers or networks, which are heavily damaging and destructive – similar to the effects achieved with traditional military force – and so are considered to be an armed attack. An act of war that is mediated in full or in part through cyberspace.” (Healey, James, 2013, p. 15) One difficulty with this definition of cyber warfare is related to claim that actions of warfare have to be perpetuated by nation state actors against other nation state actors. The so called war on terrorism conducted against ISIS and other groups such as Al Qaeda, The Taliban, and ISIS is actually a series of actions perpetuated by state actors against non state actors. ISIS, which is the focus of our analysis of narratives, is an aspiring state engaged in terrorism against all non believers. In the struggle to establish the Caliphate. ISIS engages in kinetic terrorist activities and extends terrorist activities into the cyber domain. The actions of ISIS in the cyber domain employ new media and social networking platforms in what can be called acts of information warfare while encouraging all forms of terrorism. In the tradition of Islamist extremism ISIS uses all of the technologies available to disseminate their message. © 2019, Curran Associates Inc. All rights reserved.
Author keywords
anticipatory ethics, cyber jihad, cyber terrorism, cyber warfare, ethics, influence operations, information warfare