As large-scale cyber attacks increase significantly worldwide, they are typically connected to the widely publicized and popularized threat of cyber terrorism. Yet, the definition of cyber-terrorism still remains unclear and congruently applied while such a field of research is relatively new. The article provides a comparative analysis of the definition of cyber terrorism and proposes a universally-applicable definition and taxonomy, which originates from analyses of current definitions in publicized literature with all critical commonalities identified in accordance with the newly proposed taxonomy, including intent, actor, motive, target, means, and impact. This potential definition would provide a common understanding of the broader threat for policy standardization, global collaboration, and research, as well as allowing unique subsets of cyber terrorism to be defined for specific legal or specialty applications.
