Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

INNER MACEDONIAN REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION • 271to forestall their shutting down or destroying computer operations vitalto the firm; however, these are cases of nonpolitical criminality. Similarly,the mere release of viruses created to destroy files and software isnot terrorism since such malicious mischief is not specifically targetedat any one group nor do such actions necessarily promote a politicalmessage, essential elements for a criminal action to be considered aform of terrorism. If cyberterrorism is directed to cause system failuresin order to cause death and damages, for example, by shutting downair traffic guidance systems or by causing critical failures in emergencyresponse systems, then the elements of targeting and lethality are present,which may allow such actions to be counted as a form of politicalviolence. Counterterrorism experts believe that in the future, statesponsors of terrorism or nonstate groups may find ways to conductterrorism through information warfare.Most cyberwarfare experts regard the hacking, swarming, anddenial-of-service attacks of extremist groups as little more than theelectronic equivalent of harassment, graffiti, or vandalism, rather thanas bona fide information warfare. See also INTERNET; NETWAR.INNER MACEDONIAN REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION(IMRO). The IMRO was a Macedonian ethnonationalist group understate sponsorship that undertook terrorist actions to create an independentMacedonian homeland. The group enjoyed Bulgarian state supportfrom 1901 until 1912, when Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia dividedthe former Turkish possessions among themselves. The IMRO waslater supported by Hungary and Fascist Italy until World War II.The IMRO committed one of the earliest instances of kidnappingand holding a U.S. citizen as a hostage for political ends. In September1901, an American Congregationalist missionary, Ellen M.Stone, was kidnapped by the IMRO and held for ransom. The TheodoreRoosevelt administration considered, but rejected, the paymentof the demanded ransom, which was instead provided by a $66,000subscription raised privately by Stone’s sponsoring missionary societyand which was accepted by the Macedonian nationalists. Stonewas freed in February 1902, while the proceeds of the ransom paymentfinanced an abortive revolt against the Turks that was quicklycrushed in August 1903.In its later years, the IMRO changed from being a revolutionaryterrorist group into an entrepreneurial terrorist organization that