Small essay about the SEA (Syrian Electronic Army)

1. SEA (SyrianElectronicArmy)
The SEA (Syrian Electronic Army) is an organized group of Syrian computer hackers aligned
with the actual regime, using cyber attacks (DDoS, spam and straight hacking) targeting
political opposition and Western websites(1).
Although not directly related to the Syrian government, they share similar agendas. The SEA
has a strong political orientation, its main objective being “to fight those who use the Internet
and especially Facebook to “spread hatred” and “destabilize the security” in Syria (2).
Terrorist attacks of special interest
-
AP Hack (23 April 2013): The SEA hijacked the Associated Press Twitter account and
falsely claimed the White House had been bombed and President Barack Obama
injured. This caused a temporary $136 billion in Dow Jones stock market index (3).
-
15 August 2013: Advertising serviceOutbrain was hacked by the SEA. This allowed
them to place posts into the websites of The Washington Post, Time, and CNN (4).
Terrorist nature and context
We first need to try to define what terrorism and cyberterrorism is. If we search Oxford
Dictionary :
Terrorism –“the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of
political aims” (5).
Cyberterrorism –“the politically motivated use of computers and information technology to
cause severe disruption or widespread fear” (6).
As we can see, terrorism and cyberterrorism are quite similar in essence, both focusing in
spreading fear with a political aim. Using the revised consensus academic definition on
terrorism made by Schmid (7), we see further relations between terrorism and cyberterrorism:
fear generating intention, propagandistic agitation by non-state actors in zones of conflict,
threat based communication processes, the targeting of civilians, political use and being part
of an organized campaign of acts.
Cyberterrorism does not intent to cause direct deaths (although one of the main concerns of
technical experts is the chance of a cyberterrorist group to successfully attack critical
infrastructures of a country like dams, power grids or nuclear plants), but nevertheless is
violent in its nature.
Its violence is mainly psychological: Through attacks to mass media (like those mentioned
above) and a massive use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, the SEA spreads its
propaganda in order to influence public opinion, with the main objective being to force foreign
states to accept Al-Assad regime and crushing online the opposition.
The SEA has publicly taken credit for these attacks in its own website (solving one of the
greatest issues of cyberterrorism, the attribution), and are with no doubt an organized group

2. (divided as they say into battalions). If we refer to the EU Common Position 2001/931/CFSP
(8), Article 3 defines what can be considered as a terrorist act, while Article 2 defines a
terrorist group.
According to Article 3 (iii)(d): “seriously destabilizing or destroying the fundamental political,
constitutional, economic or social structures of acountry or an international
organization:causing extensive destruction to a Government orpublic facility, a transport
system, an infrastructurefacility, including an information system, a fixed platform located on
the continental shelf, a public place or private property, likely to endanger human life orresult
in major economic loss”.
The SEA activities fall perfectly into this article. Several international organizations have
watched SEA’s rising with concern, and FBI has put them on a watch list (9), and UK
government has several SEA membersassets freezed under finantial sanctions (10)
Conclusion
Cyberterrorism has several differences with terrorism but its essence is the same: use violence
with political intent. And cyberterrorism is a rising tide, with an onerous risk of a successful
attack to a critical infrastructure which causes severe human loss, so it just can’t be left aside.
The Syrian Electronic Army is a dedicated group that uses cyber attacks to influence public
opinion and politicians, following to the letter the"Terrorists want a lot of people watching, not
a lot of people dead" cited by Jenkins (11).
Although SEA has not commited extremely severe attacks, its potential to cause damage is
clear. This is the main reason the EU should mark it as a terrorist group, being the first entity to
officially list cyberterrorism as a critical menace and giving its due relevance.

3. Sources
(1) Syrian Electronic Army - Homepage
http://sea.sy/index/en
(2)The Emergence of Open and Organized Pro-Government Cyber Attacks in the Middle East:
The Case of the Syrian Electronic Army
https://opennet.net/emergence-open-and-organized-pro-government-cyber-attacks-middleeast-case-syrian-electronic-army
(3) Washinton Post – Associated Press Hack
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/04/23/syrian-hackers-claim-aphack-that-tipped-stock-market-by-136-billion-is-it-terrorism/
(4) BBC – Washington Post, CNN and Time websites hit by pro-Assad hackers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23712007
(5) Oxford Dictionaries: Definition of terrorism
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/terrorism
(6) Oxford dictionaries - Cyberterrorism
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cyberterrorism
(7) Schmid, Alex P. - The Revised Academic Consensus Definition of Terrorism, Perspectives on
Terrorism, Vol 6 No 2 (2012)
(8)COUNCIL COMMON POSITIONof 27 December 2001on the application of specific measures
to combat terrorism
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:344:0093:0096:EN:PDF
(9) FBI Advisory list- SEA
http://publicintelligence.net/fbi-sea/
(10) Consolidated list of financial sanctions targets in the UK
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/227452/00_
syria.pdf
(11) Brian Michael Jenkins.Unconquerable Nation: Knowing Our Enemy, Strengthening
Ourselves