Forwarded from: William Knowles <wk@private> http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1162666,00.html December 03, 2004 Sky News has uncovered major security lapses at Heathrow airport after an undercover reporter repeatedly gained access to restricted areas. Airport offices and out-of-bounds airside areas were easily breached, forcing bosses to review procedures. An undercover Sky News reporter highlighted how easy it was to walk into British Airways offices containing confidential security documents. He also managed to walk by passenger planes just hours before they were due to take off. BA has launched an investigation following the report, while the British Airports Authority (BAA), owner of Heathrow, admitted "there was room for improvement". The reporter returned to the airport on a number of occasions at night and carrying only a broom managed to escape the attention of security. Only once was he challenged, but even then staff did not ask for security credentials and he was allowed to carry on. He found a BA office unlocked and inside key manuals detailing the airline's security procedures. It detailed how staff are supposed to respond to bomb threats, how they are vetted before joining, and procedures for negotiating with hijackers. On another occasion the reporter broke through what should have been a watertight cordon keeping the public away from restricted areas of the airport. From the public viewing platform on top of Terminal 2 he found a gap in razorwire and slipped through. Once down on to the ground, he walked for 15 minutes unchecked and unnoticed around airliners that later would be filled with passengers. A BAA spokesman said: "Safety and security are the top priorities at Heathrow. "We are constantly seeking ways to maintain an effective barrier between the landside and airside parts of the airport, and to remain alert to any potential vulnerabilities. "On the basis of the information provided by Sky News, it would appear that there is room for improvement in this particular area of the airport and we have already taken steps to address that." And BA also said it would take action. A statement said: "Safety and security are always our top priorities and we are extremely concerned to hear that an undercover reporter has taken some documents and a high visibility vest from one of our landside offices within Terminal 1 at London Heathrow. "We have launched our own immediate investigation into the allegations made against the airline to ensure that appropriate action is taken to avoid this happening again." *==============================================================* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ---------------------------------------------------------------- C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org *==============================================================* _________________________________________ Open Source Vulnerability Database (OSVDB) Everything is Vulnerable - http://www.osvdb.org/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Fri Dec 03 2004 - 03:16:40 PST