WASHINGTON, Nov 17: The United States faces a new age of terrorism, in which “Internet-savvy” extremists will target its critical computer-driven infrastructures from afar, a senior US official warned on Friday.

Paul Rodgers of the FBI’s National Infrastructure Protection Center said US enemies would exploit the borderless environment of the World Wide Web to plot new terror against vital “life support” infrastructure systems in the United States.

“The threat of cyberterrorism will grow in the New Millennium, as the leadership positions in extremist organizations are increasingly filled with younger, “Internet-savvy” individuals,” Rodgers said in the latest edition of the State Department’s periodic electronic journal. “Most worrisome is a potential coordinated attack on national critical infrastructures.”

“While the United States has not yet experienced this sort of attack, it is not hard to anticipate such a threat from the intrusions we have seen.” Rodgers argued that world governments must closely coordinate to share information to respond to what he said was a growing threat.

Installations most at risk could be those that use the Internet to monitor control process from remote sites — a practice used widely in the chemical, oil, transportation and energy industries, he said.

Rodgers comments come at a time of increasing concern over the vulnerability of vital US systems — especially in the wake of September 11 strikes against New York and the Pentagon which killed around 5,000 people.—AFP