Page 8 - Cyber Terrorism and Extremism as Threat to Critical Infrastructure Protection

EDITORIAL: DENIS ČALETA, JAMES F. POWERS JR.

ingly reflected in the marginalization of certain social groups, increased stratification and, in
some cases, segregation, and consumerism as a value which has superseded all other values
and alienated individuals of the community, are only a few of the negative factors directly con-
tributing to a favorable environment for radicalization. Our societies will have to change their
awareness of the importance of appropriate coordination for the effectiveness of the system of
countering terrorism. All of the above factors and challenges gain an additional dimension and
importance when seen through the prism of the regional perspective of terrorism suppression. In
the field of preventing radicalization and extremism, a specific role has now moved to the insti-
tutions of the society which were formerly not directly regarded as active actors of countering
terrorism. The educational system, social services, religious communities, non-governmental
organizations and a whole range of civil society movements have become crucial in the process
of perceiving radicalization factors in individual persons. All these segments of society must,
together with national security authorities, form a comprehensive and an effectively functioning
system of identification and prevention of processes that lead to extremism and radicalization
of individuals or groups.

When the informatization and digitalization of society are added to the discourse, it can be
stated with certainty that the functioning of society, in addition to other problems, has become
heavily dependent on new technological solutions. On the one hand, they enable the virtuality
of interpersonal relationships which is based on the internet and all existing social networks.
On the other hand, technical solutions are one of the means enabling radicalization processes in
groups and individuals. The functioning of a modern society also requires the provision of basic
infrastructural capabilities, which are defined as critical infrastructure. They are divided into a
range of sub-sectors, of which the provision of electricity and information and communication
technologies are of central importance, since their co-dependent functioning affects all other
sub-sectors and has a special significance for the functioning of a wider social community. This
is the reason why the cyber security has important role in protection of critical infrastructure.

If modern security threats posed by international terrorism and associated radicalization of in-
dividuals or groups are indeed as complex as content of this publication describes, it is justified
to ask several questions, such as: what can a modern state do for its national security system to
respond quickly and effectively to terrorist threats; how should the national counter-terrorism
system be structured; what roles and powers do security authorities of individual states have
within this system; and, especially, are security and other state institutions appropriately organi-
zationally structured, prepared and equipped to be capable of carrying out the activities of coun-
tering threats, such as terrorism. Without a stable and well-functioning system of public-private
partnership, whose processes include corporate security of organizations managing critical in-
frastructure, it will be very difficult to prevent radicalization processes in these organizational
environments.

The aim of this publication is to find answers to some of the above questions. The combination
of different approaches, concepts and analyses of different cases, as well as the role of national
security entities in countering terrorism, provide specific solutions to the majority of the issues
including cyber security and critical infrastructure protection, which, however, does not exclude
further scientific and professional considerations.

Ljubljana, September 2020
Denis Čaleta, PhD

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