With the recent testing of Nuclear weapons by North Korea, concerns about terrorism and even a potential nuclear offensive is once again on the minds of many people. In an interview with Security Vibes, DCI Chris Phillips, Head Of The Security Office for National Counter Terrorism, gave several tips on how to work out whether your organisation is a potential target for cyber or physical terrorist attack. In addition, DCI Phillips also revealed some of the strategies of terrorists and how to reduce the damage and casualties that will occur in the event of a bomb going off in or near an organisation’s premises.

The first piece of important advice given by DCI Philips was that organisations should find out who their counter terrorism security adviser (CTSA) is to find out whether their business could be a direct target for terrorists. The CTSA will give you advice on whether your business would be a target for terrorists and also give you advice on potential vulnerabilities that your organisation’s location may have. For example, if your organisation produces any chemicals and materials that could remotely be used in some kind of explosive device, then your business could be a terrorist target. Business that also uses materials that could be used with or create pathogens and toxins, or have radiological sources or quantities of ammonium nitrate are also at risk.

Another reason that your organisation may be a target for a physical attack may not be anything to do with the business that the organisation is in but rather its location or proximity to a terrorist’s real target.

In this case, having an emergency plan and letting your employees know the plan is important in the event of an attack in your area or on your business. A mistake in the plan could lead to further loss of life. In the interview, DCI Philips explains how a mistake such as evacuation of a building could cause a greater loss of life,

Terrorists are using a strategy of multiple co-ordinated attacks to move people from one location to another to essentially kill them. For example, in Bali a small bomb was placed inside of a club to move people out of the building to a place where a larger bomb was placed.

In other words some attacks involve bombs that are strategically placed to cause a panic rather than loss of life in order to herd people to a location where they will be more vulnerable and a more potent bomb would then be detonated causing a larger loss of life. This multiple co-ordinated attack strategy could also be employed to evacuate employees from a building in order for a terrorist to access the building and remove confidential information or even plant malware that would give them access to confidential information from an external cyber attack. This confidential information might then help them design better weapons as in the case of the Strike Fighter hack mentioned in the Dan Blum interview.

According to DCI Philips, the biggest threat from an explosive device is flying glass. He quotes, "Nine out of ten people die from flying glass and there are many things that corporations can do to prevent this potential loss of life such as changing the glazing. Glass will not only kill people but devastate anything else in the room such as computer systems."

Apart from changing the glazing, buildings can also be designed at specific angles to reduce the impact. Other dangers include vehicle bombs under your building that can potentially bring your building down is also a major threat and a policy would need to be implemented to ensure that either no underground parking is used or a methodology for ensuring all vehicles are properly checked before being allowed into an underground car park.

References
Security Vibes interview with DCI Chris Philips
Contact Details For Your Counter Terrorism Security Adviser
Centre for the protection of national infrastructure
ACPOTAM Association of chief police officers