Terrorists Copying Hacker Tactics

Cyber-terrorists are trying to break into government networks around the world using the same tactics as run-of-the-mill hackers, a U.S. State Department official said Tuesday.

"The same technique that a hacker would use, the same technology, will be utilized by somebody with a different political motivation," Michael Alcorn, branch chief of the State Department's Office of Anti-Terrorism Assistance, in a statement made to the AFP wire service in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

The Office of Anti-Terrorism Assistance trains foreign law enforcement personnel on a variety of terrorism-related topics, including cyber-security.

"The problem we're all facing is a global borderless problem, where attacks can occur anywhere in the world and originate from anywhere else in the world," Alcorn told the AFP.

He went on to say that cyber-security problems and resulting terrorist activity was widespread, and claimed that some of the evidence of attacks has come from overseas law enforcement agencies which have confiscated militants' computers."They're finding evidence on these computers that indicates militants have looked into or are researching this type of technology," Alcorn said.