Perspective: Cyber bombWest Needs to Be Ready for Terrorist “Dirty” Cyber Bomb

Published 16 September 2019

The West must take necessary precautions to prevent terrorists from launching a “dirty” cyber bomb, Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Vincent Stewart, who stepped down a few months ago from his post as deputy head of the US Cyber Command. Stewart that while the West took cyberattacks from nation-states seriously, it is vastly underestimating the danger of a massive ISIS or al-Qaeda cyberattack which could cripple a country’s entire infrastructure. While drawing attention to cyber terrorism, Stewart acknowledged that a nation state like Russia was still the most dangerous cyber adversary with “Russia viewing itself as a global power” and Russian President Vladimir “Putin believing he is almost the czar.”

The West and Israel must take necessary precautions to prevent terrorists from launching a “dirty” cyber bomb, Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Vincent Stewart, who stepped down a few months ago from his post as deputy head of the U.S. Cyber Command, told theJerusalem Post in an exclusive interview.

Stewart, who also ran the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, spoke to the Post on the sidelines of this week’s ICT-IDC Herzliya counter-terror conference in his first interview with any media outlet since leaving the Pentagon.

Yonah Jeremy Bob writes in the Jerusalem Post that Stewart that while the West took cyberattacks from nation-states seriously, it is vastly underestimating the danger of a massive ISIS or al-Qaeda cyberattack which could cripple a country’s entire infrastructure.

Unlike nation states, he noted, terrorist groups are not deterred by the threat of a counterstrike. Stewart recounted that until 9/11, no one conceived that hijacked airplanes could be used by terrorists to destroy buildings.

Even as Western governments now take cyberattacks seriously from countries like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, Stewart said that they are ill-prepared for a sophisticated attack from a terrorist group, which could “have the same effects as a ‘dirty’ [nuclear] bomb.”

If large swaths of the US, Israel or another country “lose power for an extended period of time, it is not just about the inconvenience of losing power… Think about the impact on hospitals and refrigerated medicines.” When a variety of medicines go bad, “how long will it be until there are serious health issues” in a widespread manner?

While drawing attention to cyber terrorism, Stewart acknowledged that a nation state like Russia was still the most dangerous cyber adversary with “Russia viewing itself as a global power” and Russian President Vladimir “Putin believing he is almost the czar.”