Israel Awaits Cyberattack From Syrian Electronic Army

Does the Internet invent new phenomena, or just develop and perfect existing phenomena? We find, in most cases, the Internet does not necessarily invent new phenomena, but obviates the physical element — namely, borders and distances in the world we know become superfluous. The Internet then takes terms, phenomena and activities we have known from time immemorial and imbues them with new dimensions. 

This is true for terms such as social networks, espionage, fundraising for various ends and even preparing terrorist activities. Today, the Internet facilitates these and many other activities much faster and more easily than in the past. 

One example is the ability to create an “electronic army” that protects a country in the cyberdomain from its internal and external enemies, such as the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA). 

The identity of this body, which began operating a few months after the beginning of the rebellion, is still obscure. On the organization’s Internet site, its activists claim to be a group of youths who hack sites on their own initiative, without connection to the Syrian government. Yet a study conducted a short time after this organization began to function found links between it and government elements, at least in regard to the organization’s Internet site. Also, President Bashar al-Assad praised these activists (in a speech on June 20, 2011) and called them a “real army in virtual reality.”