U.S. Officials mobilizing to freeze the financial assets of international terrorist Osama bin Laden may resort to cybermethods, such as hacking, to cut off the money supply that has been used to finance his terrorist activities, including the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, of which he is the prime suspect.
Intelligence and security experts said the U.S. government, using diplomatic channels, doesn't expect to receive cooperation from all of the hundreds of banks, holding companies, and other private enterprises and fictitious front companies that bin Laden uses to hide his estimated $300 million personal fortune. As a result, the U.S. intelligence community might use cybermethods to put a virtual stranglehold on bin Laden's global terror organization, Al Qaeda. While acknowledging that the operation could take years, security officials said that such an attempt was possible.
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