http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/26/nterr26.xml By George Jones Political Editor 27/04/2007 Terrorists could attempt to cause economic chaos or plane crashes in an electronic attack on the UK's computer networks John Reid, the Home Secretary, said yesterday. Mr Reid's warning of the "devastating consequences" of cyber terrorism came as he said the reshaping of the Home Office would enable him to "wake up and think about the security of the nation first and foremost every morning". The Home Office is to be split on May 9, to concentrate on crime reduction, terrorism and mass migration, with Mr Reid directly accountable for assisting the Prime Minister in co-ordinating the Government's security strategy. Mr Reid said priority was being given to protecting what he described as the country's critical national infrastructure from terrorist attack. He said al-Qa'eda's aim was to "bleed us to bankruptcy", by attempting to "cripple" financial markets. Western energy supplies were among targets threatened by the terrorist group. While attacks on oil supplies would cause "incalculable damage", Mr Reid said there was now an additional threat of a terrorist assault on the West's 21st century electronic communication systems. According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, cyber terrorism is any "premeditated, politically motivated attack against information, computer systems, computer programs, and data which results in violence against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents". A cyber terrorist attack is designed to cause physical violence or extreme financial harm. The U.S. Commission of Critical Infrastructure Protection says possible cyber terrorist targets include the banking industry, military installations, power plants, air traffic control centres, and water systems. A report to the US House of Representatives on "cyber terrorism" in 2000 said attacks on computer networks and the information stored in them could cause death or injury through explosions, plane crashes, water contamination as well as severe economic loss. Such attacks ranged from computer viruses that wiped information from computers, to hackers bombarding Nato computers with "email bombs" during the 1999 Kosovo conflict. Mr Reid admitted that "scaring people does not produce security". He said the public, business and the government had to work together to protect the national infrastructure. The "pace, scale and intensity of innovation our adversaries are capable of allows no room for complacency." __________________________ Subscribe to InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org
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