Al-Qaeda likely to launch cyber attacks globally: Ex-CIA official

Former Central Intelligence Agency's Counter-Terrorism head Cofer Black has said that a battered al-Qaeda, following Osama bin Laden’s death, could enter cyberspace to launch a global jihad against the West.

Black said al-Qaeda would resort to "small and agile" tactics, including online attacks.

"They will enter the cyber world because it's comparatively remote, comparatively safer than strapping on a bomb," ABC News quoted Black, as saying at a Black Hat Technical Security Conference in Las Vegas.

The Black Hat conference is an annual convention attracting the world's top cyber security experts and hackers.

The British Home Office had said earlier that al-Qaeda would wage a "cyber jihad."

The first known terror cyber attack was an email spamming in 2010 that infected the emails of US and international corporations.

US defense deputy secretary William Lynn III had also warned that it was "clear" terror groups were "intent on acquiring, refining, and expanding their cyber capabilities."