Criminals may use the frenzy to fix computer systems from possible bug contamination to place their operatives at the heart of banking systems for fraudulent purposes. Surreptitious cyber attack Paul Beaver, spokesman for Jane's Defense Weekly, believes the possibility of surreptitious cyber attacks is a real one, but says this is limited to guerrillas or anti-social action. Peter Sommer, senior research fellow at the London School of Economics, reckons that military and financial computer systems are far too sophisticated to fall to amateur hackers. You need a great deal of inside knowledge. You can conceive of a madman knowing about critical telecommunications to bring them down.
Real bombs are more likely than computer attacks.
Conventional weapons make a lot more sense. If terrorists can identify the most vulnerable physical part of a telecommunications network, or oil pipelines, they would go for those. The outcome would be more certain and there would be less element of risk. Shaun Gregory, senior lecturer at Bradford University's Peace Studies department, believes that attacks are unlikely to cluster around the Y2K period because the military and corporations are paying special attention to safety and security. He also cautions against underestimating the intelligence of guerrilla groups.