Be vigilant. That was the message delivered to regional business and security leaders at a Reliance Security Services conference in Luton on March 6.
It was by one of the country’s Counter Terrorism Security Advisers, as he warned of the likelihood of more terrorist attacks on the UK.
The National Counter Terrorism Security Adviser, based within Special Branch, said that MI5 are currently investigating 30 terrorist plots, and 200 groups or networks, totaling over 1600 individuals, across the UK. For this reason, the threat to the UK remained "severe" – meaning that an attack is highly likely – just one below the highest possible level – that of "critical".
"These threats are real, ongoing and will not go away," he warned.
But business had a vital role to play in combating the threat, Planning was key to the successful execution of a terrorist attack and business vigilance in disrupting the planning process was increasingly recognised as an important tool in the security service’s armoury.
He said this had first borne fruit with the introduction of Project Griffin following the London Tube bombings in July 2005. This saw the City of London police utilise the reconnaissance skills of the area’s private security personnel in looking out for unusual behaviour that might identify potential terrorists.
"Hostile reconnaissance is an integral part of a terrorist’s preparation so any opportunity to disrupt that activity can have an important effect on any outcome," he said. Thus suspect behaviour by individuals outside a business premises, such as videoing or taking photographs, or asking questions about security fixtures or features, should be alerted to the police. It may be purely innocent, but in the current climate, if people suspect something, they should report it.
Project Griffin’s success had led to it being expanded to other financial districts in the UK. It had also spawned Project Argus where the same criteria had been applied to large shopping malls. This too had thrown up some vital intelligence in the police’s fight against the terrorist threat.
The officer concluded by urging business leaders to consider hostile reconnaissance training for their own security staff and to be aware of their local anti-terrorist support attached to their regional police service.
Terrorism of a different kind, though no less pertinent, was then highlighted by a security consultant specialising in extremist threats.
He warned of the dangers posed by animal rights extremists to the business community and said that the advent of the internet and a growing sophistication in tactics had led to a steep increase in the problems posed by animal rights groups. In particular, the move to target customers and suppliers of the target company had made the problem manifestly worse.
How to cope with a major disruption to a business and how to recover was the next topic, raised by David Hutcheson, managing director of Glen Abbot, a UK business continuity consultancies, and featured in the November print issue of Professional Security Magazine.
Although there were many obvious examples of what might cause a major disruption to a business’s operations – terrorism and animal rights attacks cited by the previous speakers – Mr Hutcheson said the most common cause his company had to respond to was the adverse effect of water.
Such problems as leaking pipes, taps left running over weekends and blockages were the cause of much corporate damage. In particular, the adverse effect on IT systems was highlighted, "because so many businesses insist on putting their computer systems in the basement," said Mr Hutcheson.
Mark Tuckwell, London Region Operations Director of Reliance Security, who was chairing the seminar, said the key messages from the day’s speakers were assessment and preparation. "These are important issues that have been raised today and the experience of the speakers demonstrates that by being proactive, business can make a real difference in dealing with threats to the commercial sector."
