Businesses emphasize cybersecurity since 9/11

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, some estimates pinned the economic impact at more than $500 billion.

But according to studies by the Department of Homeland Security, the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events and the International Monetary Fund, the total effect was more fleeting.

“Generally speaking, experts have not found terrorism to have large and long-lasting effects on things like economic growth or the economic well-being of a country or a region in a country,” said James Piazza, a professor of political science at Penn State.

Experts put the economic impact closer to 0.5 percent of total GDP in 2001.

Peter Forster, a professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State, studies how terrorist groups now harness technology and use the web as a weapon.

“The ubiquitous nature of information in our lives, this has changed the dynamics of our combating violent extremism,” he said. “Since 9/11 the terrorists have also embraced new technologies and understanding how to use them, so there is a whole challenge now...”

Extremist groups and hackers now engage in a different, more clandestine-type of warfare, one that can be conducted from the relative safety of a laptop.

“In some respects, this has become a greater weapon than the bomb,” Forster said.

Since 9/11, cybercrime has grown into a $445 billion business, according to security software firm McAfee.

Penn State itself has not been immune to cyber threats. In May 2015, the university announced it had taken its College of Engineering network offline after two attacks to the college’s systems.

Companies, which in recent years have shifted much of their digital infrastructure to cloud-based platforms, are particularly vulnerable.

But some businesses have benefited. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the growth rate for information security analyst positions is projected to be 36.5 percent by 2022, the fastest-growing occupation among related fields. In State College, Forster and his team have worked with local businesses to identify system weaknesses and assess areas of development. He foresees more small businesses sprouting up to bridge the gap.

“The immediate hit is a drain on the economy, but I think, ironically and maybe terribly, terrorist threats do generate new sources of small business,” Forster said. “If there’s any silver lining around catastrophic events like this, it is that it generates new approaches to dealing with problems that are new or problems that we just didn’t pay attention to before the event.”

This story was originally published September 10, 2016 at 11:33 PM with the headline "Businesses emphasize cybersecurity since 9/11."