Terrorist Organization Profile:
Internet Black Tigers

While the LTTE has been responsible for dozens of terrorist attacks and hundreds of casualties in over 25 years of violence, the Internet Black Tigers have claimed responsibility for only one attack, which caused no injuries. Despite this relative lack of activity, the IBT are infamous for being the first known organization to carry out an act of cyber-terror against a nation.

In August 1997, IBT attacked the email systems of several Sri Lankan embassies throughout the world. By flooding these accounts with over 800 emails a day, the IBT was able to disable embassy networks for nearly two weeks. The emails sent by IBT identified the group as an "elite department" of the LTTE, specializing in "suicide e-mail bombings." The group said the attack was an effort to counter Sri Lankan government propaganda.

Although this incident was more of an annoyance then anything else, for many terrorism experts the attack represents a highly significant development in the future of cyber-terrorism and terrorist methods.

Learn more about these U.S. Department of State classifications:

Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)

Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL)