Britain’s nuclear stations, airports on terror alert Task force to counter jail extremism
London, April 2: Britain’s nuclear power stations and airports have been instructed to “remain resilient” against potential terrorist attacks, amid fears that their systems may be targeted by hackers, according to a media report.
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 Sunday Telegraph said.
Intelligence agencies believe ISIS and other terrorist groups may have developed methods of planting explosives in mobile phones and laptops that can evade airport security screening methods. It was this intelligence which is understood to have led the US and the UK to ban travellers from a number of countries carrying laptops and large electronic devices on board.
Now there are concerns terrorists will use the techniques to bypass screening devices at European and US airports, the paper said.
There were also fears that hackers were trying to bypass nuclear power station security measures, it said. Security services fear that some will nonetheless try to exploit “vulnerabilities” in the nuclear industry’s internet defences. London: UK will launch a new specialist team of counter-terrorism experts aimed at tackling the “threat” of extremism in the country’s prisons. The 100-strong task force, to be announced tomorrow, will train staff on how to deter offenders from being radicalised and advice jails on how to deal with dangerous prisoners. Other measures already taken include an instruction to governors to ban extremist literature and remove anyone from communal worship who is promoting antiBritish beliefs or other dangerous views. —
Energy minister Jesse Norman said the government was “fully committed to defending UK against cyber threats, with a £1.9 billion investment designed to transform the country’s cyber security.”
But the threat of attack on its 15 operational reactors, which account for nearly a fifth of the country’s electricity, from terrorists, foreign spies and “hacktivists” remains high. — PTI