• In April 2004, a cybersecurity task force issued a report which suggested that the Department of Homeland Security oversee government regulation of cybersecurity.
• While the Department of Homeland Security is primarily responsible for cyberterrorism issues, it works in conjunction with the Department of State.
The Central Intelligence Agency and the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) are also involved with combating cyberterrorism.
• The National Counterintelligence Center reports that information stolen from the cyber-databanks of U.S. companies has already aided foreign countries and enemies of the United States.
• Also in April 2004, the Department of Homeland Security contracted Northrop Grumman Corp. to build the Homeland Secure Data Network, a cybersystem that would allow multiple federal, state, and local agencies to communicate and share information via a secure network. The network will be used to fight terrorism and other national security threats.
• In January 2001, the CIA's National Intelligence Council (NIC) reported that in the future "the U.S. will face a new breed of Internet-enabled terrorists, criminals and nation/state adversaries that will launch attacks not with planes and tanks, but with computer viruses and logic bombs."
• A 2000 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) also emphasized that in the future there will be more Internet-related security issues than traditional physical attacks.
• In a report published by the United States Institute of Peace, it was stated that "the great virtues of the Internet—ease of access, lack of regulation, vast potential audiences, and fast flow of information, among others—have been turned to the advantage of groups committed to terrorizing societies to achieve their goals."
• There has been some disagreement within the international community as to whether terrorist groups actually use the Internet for propaganda and recruiting purposes:
Al Qaeda uses Web sites to draw recruits, spread propaganda
-Neil Doyle, Washington PostAL QAEDA: Warning From A Web Site
-Mark Hosenball, Newsweekwww.terror.net: How Modern Terrorism Uses the Internet
-Gabriel Wiemann
• Several terrorist organizations utilize the Internet as a means of spreading their message:
Hamas - Islamic Resistance Movement
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