Last week, government-backed UK terrorism reinsurer Pool Re revealed that it will extend its cover to include damage caused by terrorists using remote digital interference, or cyber terrorism, from next April.
But just how real is the threat of terrorism caused by a cyber trigger?
As the use of technology becomes not just ubiquitous among individuals but relied upon by businesses, public services and critical infrastructure, the world is becoming increasingly dependent on it. And as digital skills increase, particularly among younger generations who are growing up with technology, so too does the vulnerability of those systems to attack.
“We have a new generation whose baseline of skills is much higher,” Robert Hannigan, former director of GCHQ, said at Pool Re’s launch event in London last week.
The West has so far had a tendency to underestimate the pace of change, because it takes a “very rational” assessment approach, but the innovative tactics of modern terrorists should not be dismissed, according to Hannigan.
“One thing we do know about terrorists is that they are not static, and I think the last few years have illustrated that in spades,” he commented. “It would be very surprising if an organisation who understood the power of the internet to radicalise, to deliver propaganda, to organise attacks, didn’t also get the possibility for a destructive cyberattack.”
According to Hannigan though, there is a consensus that terrorists are still “a long way” from having the capability to deliver a serious destructive attack.
Security Minister Ben Wallace echoed Hannigan’s sentiments, warning that while cyber terrorism is not yet a dominant threat, the continual improvement of digital skills – such as coding being taught in schools – means it is certainly on the horizon.
“Cyber is definitely a place that I think will only grow as a potential area of threat from terrorists… For now, the government still believes that physical threat from terror is the number one threat, and is likely to remain so for some time,” Wallace said.
“But the pace of change that these new generations of terrorists work at is something that we have to be prepared for,” he added.
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