A "CYBER jihad" could be launched against the West as terrorists moved from the real world to an internet-based virtual world, a US expert warns. Michele Zanini, a consultant with the think-tank McKinsey and Company, said terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda were already making huge use of the web for communications, propaganda, recruitment and target data. . . .
A "CYBER jihad" could be launched against the West as terrorists moved from the real world to an internet-based virtual world, a US expert warns. Michele Zanini, a consultant with the think-tank McKinsey and Company, said terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda were already making huge use of the web for communications, propaganda, recruitment and target data.

Another expert, Rand Europe senior policy analyst Kevin O'Brien said there was potential for terrorists to cause huge losses to the West by damaging information technology systems.

Dr Zanini and Dr O'Brien were speaking at an international conference on global terror in Hobart.

Dr O'Brien said Western-developed IT had become the "great equaliser" as it was exploited by terrorists and rogue states.

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