Police foil Al-Qaeda plot to blow up UK Internet

[JohnDotCom]

Police foil Al-Qaeda plot to blow up UK Internet 1:00PM, Monday 12th March 2007
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/picture_library/dir_117/it_portal_pic_58881_t.jpg (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper/news/107060/police-foil-alqaeda-plot-to-blow-up-uk-internet.html#)
Police have uncovered a plot to blow up the UK's Internet hub in London, according to reports from the Sunday Times. If successful, the suspected Al-Qaeda plot could have knocked out most of Britain's Internet services. The newspaper reported that the Metropolitan Police discovered Computer files indicating that terrorist suspects had been planning to infiltrate Telehouse in London's Docklands with the aim of blowing it up from the inside.
Most of the internet traffic for the UK passes through the Docklands facility. The files were found by police after raids on house in the south of England.

The suspects were arrested by the police and a senior Whitehall official told the newspaper that the Telehouse
facility was the subject of intense reconnaissance. "The evidence suggests that it was one of a range of options considered by the suspects," the official said.Following the discovery of the plot, the head of MI5 Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller set up a special MI5 unit called the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure to help protect critical national infrastructure from terrorist attack.
'Without these services, the UK could suffer serious consequences, including severe economic damage, grave social disruption, or even large scale loss of life,' the organisation said on its website. The unit was set up last month, merging the National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre (NISCC) and a part of MI5 called the National Security Advice Centre (NSAC).
Staff at Telehouse declined to comment on the specific threat but Robert Harris, Telehouse's technical services director told the newspaper that the company 'remains as alert as possible to any threat, terrorist or otherwise, and we are in regular communication with the appropriate authorities.'

Rene Millman

[tourerfogey]

Full Story from Timesonline.

SCOTLAND YARD has uncovered evidence that Al-Qaeda has been plotting to bring down the internet in Britain, causing chaos to business and the London Stock Exchange.

In a series of raids, detectives have recovered computer files revealing that terrorist suspects had targeted a high-security internet “hub” in London.

The facility, in Docklands, houses the channel through which almost every bit of information on the internet passes in or out of Britain.

The suspects, who were arrested, had targeted the headquarters of Telehouse Europe, which houses Europe’s biggest “web hotel”, containing dozens of “servers” , the boxes which contain the information that makes up the web.

Security experts say the plot against Britain’s internet “hub” reflects the constantly changing threat from Al-Qaeda and related Islamic extremist groups.

Last year MI5 uncovered intelligence which suggested that Islamic terrorist suspects had carried out reconnaissance of the huge Bacton complex of gas terminals on the Norfolk coast. The threat led to the deployment of armed guards around the plant.

A senior Whitehall security official said the internet plotters appeared to be planning to infiltrate the “hub”, possibly to blow it up from the inside, according to evidence on a computer hard drive seized in raids on the homes of terror suspects in southern England last year.

“The Telehouse facility was the subject of intense reconnaissance. The evidence suggests that it was one of a range of options considered by the suspects,” the official said.

The discovery led Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of MI5, to set up the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure last month. It is a special MI5 unit to help to protect “infrastructure” sites from terrorist attacks, such as telecommunications, the internet and key utilities such as oil, gas installations and nuclear power stations.

“Without these services, the UK could suffer serious consequences, including severe economic damage, grave social disruption, or even large-scale loss of life,” the MI5 website says.

The Telehouse hub is nicknamed CTU after the counter-terrorist headquarters in the American television series 24. It is designed to provide back-up power for all Britain’s vital network services in the event of a large-scale terrorist attack elsewhere.

Yesterday the company confirmed that it was required to go on a “heightened state of alert” last year, when security officials say they uncovered the plot. It declined to discuss the threat but said it wanted to reassure its customers that it was doing everything possible to protect itself from terrorism.

Robert Harris, its technical services director, said: “Major co-location companies such as Telehouse are strategically important organisations at the heart of the internet.

“Security and business continuity are critically important. Our industry remains as alert as possible to any threat, terrorist or otherwise, and we are in regular communication with the appropriate authorities.

“The climate in 2006 required a heightened state of alert. In 2007 we remain in this heightened state of awareness to any such security threat and are in regular dialogue with the authorities.”

[JohnDotCom]

Very Funny, more Scare Mongering? Just connect through a Foreign Portal or three, safer anyway! :D

[salop75]

I used to work in Telehouse a few years back. It was both very secure and not secure at all, at the same time. Physically its quite secure. But it only required a faxed permission slip to gain entry and then you could pull you van or whatnot into a internal loading bay. Once inside you were very limited to where you could go, corridors and your own suite or cabinet only. We had an entire suite, but it was often me on my own day after day, not a job for meeting people :)

I believe in the last few years they increased they security quite a bit, but even so, what place is secure against social engineering and a man on the inside?


John

[empsburna]

our local POP is secure. email from preapproved list, then a phone call from a pre approved phone number to enter the site.