## 5 Cyber-Activism  
Cyber-activism refers to the use of cyberspace to promote some cause. It includes the development and use of cyber-tools that that support online actions such as e-petitions and e-mail writing campaigns, facilitate the organization and coordination of offline activities such as street demonstrations and marches, and help persons evade government censorship and surveillance while using the Internet. It also includes the development and use of cyber-attack tools for protesting the actions of governments and corporations. Cyber-activism is sometimes referred to as hacktivism, as it lies at the intersection of hacking (writing software or conducting cyber-attacks) and activism. While most cyber-activists would have no interest in a destructive tool like Stuxnet, a few might find it of value. To the best of my knowledge, no hacktivist group has conducted a cyber-attack against an ICS. Rather, those who deploy cyber-attacks have resorted primarily to web defacements and DOS attacks. They either post their grievances and demands on the hacked websites of their opponents, or else they bombard the sites with so much network traffic that legitimate access to the sites becomes difficult to impossible. The cyber-attacks launched by patriotic Russian hackers against Estonia in 2007 and Georgia in 2008 illustrate [17, pp. 11-21], as do many of those conducted by the collective named Anonymous. Some hacktivists have gone beyond web defacements and DOS attacks, however, compromising and disclosing sensitive documents, e-mails, and personal data, including passwords and credit card numbers. For example Anonymous, together with various groups linked to it such as LulzSec, has exposed the poorly secured systems of numerous agencies and corporations, and in so doing released sensitive, embarrassing, and personal information. They have put people at risk of identity theft, fraud, and other criminal acts. They also threatened a DOS attack against the Internet's root name servers, although the attack either did not take place or else had no noticeable effect [23]. According to the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), Anonymous has expressed an interest in targeting ICSs, but they have not yet demonstrated a capability to inflict damage on such systems [24]. Given the apparent interest of Anonymous (and perhaps other hacktivists), the possibility of hacktivists targeting an ICS cannot be ruled out. Further, a survey of 353 students at a Midwestern university in the United States found that a small percentage would be willing to conduct a cyber-attack that compromised a regional electric power grid, causing a temporary blackout, or a nuclear power plant, causing a release of radioactivity. In particular, 1.68% said they thought it would be appropriate to compromise a regional grid in their own country if their government engaged in harmful and unjust activities, while 3.08% said they would be willing to attack a grid in a foreign country that had harmed their homeland. A smaller percentage said they thought it would be appropriate to compromise a nuclear power plant, with 0.84% willing to attack one in their own country and 0.28% willing to attack one in a foreign country. A much larger percentage supported defacing a politician's or government website in their homeland (25.21%) or foreign country (22.40%), and still larger percentage supported posting something on Facebook (77.31% and 76.19%) [25]. In addition to attacking an ICS to protest the actions of one's own or a foreign government, hacktivists might attack an ICS in order to protest the nature of the facilities using the ICS. A group opposed to the continued use of fossil fuels, for example, might conduct a cyber-attack against an ICS in order to temporarily disrupt the processing or distribution of such fuels. If hacktivists do target ICSs, then Stuxnet, together with other ICS-related exploit tools, might prove to be a game changer in this domain.