The Cyber Terrorism Landscape for Dams in Pakistan

Due to their integral role in the preservation of natural resources, dams are prime targets for terrorist attacks. Along with the ‘traditional’ threat to the physicality of the structures themselves, a new, potentially more destructive threat has emerged: that of a cyber takeover. Non state actors have started hacking into the cyber systems that control dams in some places in the world, which is a major concern that Pakistan needs to anticipate, as our economy is largely dependent on water. A cyber takeover of a dam also poses an extreme threat to the people and infrastructure surrounding the dam as strategic use of the water by cyber terrorists could cause large scale flooding in the area.