Strategic Studies Institute

U. S. Army War College

Thomas M. Chen

Public government statements have cited cyberattacks by terrorists as a major concern for national security. To date, no large-scale cyber-terrorist attack has been observed, but terrorists are known to be using the Internet for various routine purposes. The discovery of Stuxnet in 2010 was a milestone in the arena of cybersecurity because, although a malware attack on industrial control systems was long believed to be theoretically possible, it was different to see malware used in reality to cause real physical damage. Stuxnet demonstrated that a sufficiently determined adversary with sufficient resources might be able to damage U.S. critical infrastructure physically through a cyber attack. Did Stuxnet change the threat of cyberterrorism?

Cyberterrorism After Stuxnet

This monograph examines the threat of cyber terrorism before and after STUXNET by addressing questions of motive, means, and opportunity. STUXNET has not changed the near-term likelihood of cyber terrorism, which remains low, but has implications for the cost-benefit weights of future attacks.

Thomas M. Chen

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