The Jakarta Post, 5/22/2006 4:59:46 PM
Southeast Asia vulnerable to cyber attack by terrorists: Experts
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Southeast Asia will inevitably face an Internet-based attack
by terrorists against key institutions, even though militant groups lack the technical
savvy so far, security experts said Monday.
Developing nations remain especially vulnerable to a cyber assault because they
haven't built up defenses for their computer, banking and utility systems, said Yean
Yoke Heng, deputy director general of the Kuala Lumpur-based Southeast Asian
Regional Center for Counterterrorism.
"The threat is real," Yean told reporters at the start of a regional cyber security
meeting. "Definitely, we are vulnerable. ... It's not a question of how or what; it's a
question of when. So we better get our act together and be prepared for this
eventuality."
Regional authorities currently have no specific information about possible threats,
which could include the hacking of public networks or the spread of a computer virus,
but "it's always good to be one step ahead of this terrorist threat," Yean said.
The five-day conference, which brings together security officials and analysts from
Malaysia, the United States, Japan, Cambodia, the Philippines, Singapore and
Thailand, will discuss how governments can prevent terrorists from exploiting
information technology.
So far, Southeast Asian militant groups such as the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah
Islamiyah network have mainly used the Internet to channel propaganda, recruit
members, raise funds and coordinate bomb attacks, said Rohan Gunaratna, a
Singapore-based militant expert.
"It will take a very long time for Southeast Asian terrorist groups to develop the
capability to attack the Internet," Gunaratna said. "For now, groups such as Jamaah
Islamiyah are using the Internet as a medium to create a new generation of
radicalized Muslims."
There are more than 1,000 jihadist Web sites in Southeast Asia, Gunaratna said. He
said captured Jamaah Islamiyah suspected leader Riduan Isamudin, or Hambali, used
the Internet to communicate with operatives involved in the 2002 Bali bombings that
killed 202 people in Indonesia.
Despite no evidence of an imminent cyber attack, Southeast Asian authorities should
still study how technologically advanced governments in the United States, Europe
and Australia are safeguarding digital assets from terrorist exploitation, Gunaratna
said.
Malaysia announced earlier this month that it would establish a center to offer
emergency responses to cyber attacks on economic and trading systems of various
countries. U.S. software company Symantec Corp. and Russian antivirus company
Kaspersky are expected to be key partners, it said. (***)
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