Page 85 - Cyber Terrorism and Extremism as Threat to Critical Infrastructure Protection

KADRI ARIFI: ADDRESSING CHALLENGES FROM CYBER TERRORISM IN KOSOVO

sources, health, transportation, communication, and financial services have shifted their daily
business onto the internet. These systems improve the quality and the speed of the services
being provided, thus helping organizations to work more productively, and contributing to the
improvement in living standards. But at the same time they are exposed to different threats in
cyberspace. These threats use vulnerabilities inherent in ICTs, and may cause denial of service
or abuse of service attacks, resulting in potential damage (loss) to human lives, high scale
economic losses, disturbance of public order, and threats to national security. “Globalization
has also empowered terrorist groups by enabling an increase in the volume, range and sophis-
tication of propaganda materials. Any computer of modest capability can be used by terrorist
groups and their sympathizers to create propaganda leaflets, posters and even magazines in
large quantities at very low cost” (Baylis et al., 2017: pp 410-111). Similar to the majority of
countries in the region, and also beyond, another challenge faced by Kosovo security institu-
tions is the use of the internet, social media and various computer applications for the commu-
nication and dissemination of extremist ideologies. “Using the internet to change the people’s
minds is more powerful than blowing up a server, and there’s nothing new about propaganda”
(McFate, 2019: p 16). Certain individuals or groups, using the privacy procedures and poli-
cies of companies that manage various applications, aim to communicate safely and without
being detected by security agencies. “While certain platforms are more abused than others,
the sheer number of Online Service Provider (OSPs) exploited for terrorist purposes presents
a challenge for disruption efforts. These include forums, file-sharing sites, paste bins, video
streaming/sharing sites, URL shortening services, blogs, messaging/broadcast applications,
news websites, live streaming platforms, social media sites and various services supporting
the creation and hosting of websites” (Europol, 2019: p 48).

The use of cyberspace for terrorist purposes in Kosovo is limited to spreading propaganda
and the ideology of Islamic radicalism, while also supporting terrorist activities. “A 20-year-
old computer science student from Kosovo described by the Justice Department as ‘the first
terrorist hacker convicted in the United States’ was sentenced to two decades in prison for
providing the Islamic State with a “kill list” containing the personal information of roughly
1,300 U.S. military members and government employees” (Blake, 2016). This is about a
young man from Kosovo, Ardit Ferizi, who started hacking at a very young age, being part
of various groups of hackers, such as the “Kosova Hacker Group” and the “Albanian Hacker
Group”. In August 2014 he travelled to Malaysia to study computer science; during his stay,
he intervened in the US Department of Defence’s system, stealing personal data from US sol-
diers, which he passed on to senior ISIS terrorist structures. So, given the enormous use of the
internet in Kosovo and the many young people indoctrinated with extremist views who have
the ability to use the internet, which can be used either in support of terrorist activities or for
cyber-terrorism attacks, it is necessary for the security institutions in Kosovo to prioritize the
fight against this phenomenon.

4 Legal Framework and State Mechanism

The Kosovo institutions, despite being faced with problems inherited from the past, as well
as poverty and poor economic levels, have managed to establish a contemporary legal infra-
structure for preventing and combating terrorism, including cyber terrorism. Kosovo, as a
member of the Global Coalition against ISIS, has consolidated its legal basis, where in addi-
tion to the Criminal Code that defines the criminal offences of terrorism, it has also adopted a

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