Pathology of the New Cyber Terrorism Threat to Iran's National Security

Cyber terrorism is one of the negative consequences of the information and communication technology revolution, which has been committed by individuals, governments and even organized terrorist groups with various motives and goals and has endangered the life and security of human society. Hence, today, cyber terrorism has become one of the main threats to the national security of countries. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the countries whose threats in cyberspace, due to the widespread use of the Internet, network and cyberspace, has risen to the top of security threats in this country. The purpose of this study is to use the descriptive-analytical method to test the hypothesis and the library and fish-taking method for data collection, along with the use of Castells network theory, to answer the question that What impact does cyber terrorism have on the national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran? The results of this study indicate that the country has always been the target of numerous terrorist threats in the field of cyber in the last two decades ago. Creating public panic in society, assassination and physical elimination of elites and scientists using cyber technology, widespread exploitation of malware to damage and destroy vital infrastructure, theft of confidential information of government and citizens and its dissemination in cyberspace, public opinion management and the incitement of anti-government groups has been one of the most important threats of cyber terrorism, which in the past few years has caused extensive material and moral damage to the Islamic Republic of Iran and its citizens, and has posed serious challenges to its national security.