Terrorism Effects on Businesses Post 9/11

Discussions regarding terrorism are more relevant today than ever before. Terror threats can take on many forms from physical violence against military forces, individual companies, and ordinary citizens, to actions against infrastructure, to cyber terrorism. These forms of terror and others, in a number of ways, threaten the physical and financial safety of people around the world. The purpose of this qualitative research study is to evaluate the effects of terrorism—particularly the attacks on September 11, 2001—on U.S. enterprises in the period since the attacks. Utilizing interviews with representatives from various industries, the authors found that employees with long company histories believe their companies have implemented changes regarding their security measures as a safeguard against possible future terrorist attacks. The research findings revealed that while businesses have made changes in their use of technology to change their (1) cybersecurity, (2) training methods, and (3) hiring processes, there remains a gap in understanding the efficacy and efficiency of these changes. Though the September 11 attacks raised the concerns regarding terrorism overall and formed the genesis for thinking about the effects of terrorism, the authors found that interviewees had limited knowledge of how terrorist activities truly affected their business, and identified a strong need to empirically study the technology changes implemented in the past two decades as a response to terrorism, and a need for a thorough sharing of knowledge within the cybersecurity industry to other businesses.