Britain’s Airports, Nuclear Power Stations on Terror Alert as Gov't Warns of 'Credible' Threat
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Britain’s airports and nuclear power stations have been told to tighten their defenses against terrorist attacks in the face of increased threats to electronic security systems.
Security services have issued a series of alerts in the past 24 hours, warning that terrorists may have developed ways of bypassing safety checks, the Telegraph reported on Sunday.
Intelligence agencies believe that Daesh (ISIL) and other terrorist groups have developed ways to plant explosives in laptops and mobile phones that can evade airport security screening methods.
It is this intelligence which is understood in the past fortnight to have led the US and Britain to ban travelers from a number of countries carrying laptops and large electronic devices on board.
Now there are concerns that terrorists will use the techniques to bypass screening devices at European and US airports.
There were also fears that computer hackers were trying to bypass nuclear power station security measures. Government officials have warned that terrorists, foreign spies and “hacktivists” are looking to exploit “vulnerabilities” in the nuclear industry’s internet defenses.
Jesse Norman, Britain’s energy minister, told The Telegraph that nuclear plants must make sure that they “remain resilient to evolving cyber threats”.
Norman said: “The Government is fully committed to defending the UK against cyber threats, with a £1.9 billion investment designed to transform this country’s cyber security.”
He said the civil nuclear strategy published in February sets out ways to ensure that the civil nuclear sector “can defend against, recover from, and remain resilient to evolving cyber threats”.
US intelligence officials have warned that groups including Daesh and al-Qaeda may have developed ways to build bombs in laptops and other electronic devices that can fool airport security.
There are fears that terrorists made the breakthrough after obtaining airport screening equipment to allow them to experiment.
FBI experts have tested how the explosives can be hidden inside laptop battery compartments in a way that allows a computer still to be turned on.
They were said to have found that the technique would be achievable using everyday equipment.
