Posted on 07/28/2009 1:52:49 AM PDT by Cindy
LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Olympic organisers are "very alive" to the threat of a cyber attack on the London 2012 Olympics, made more challenging because of its evolving nature, senior Interior Ministry officials said on Tuesday.
Ticketing systems, the transport network and hotel bookings as well as security are among potential targets.
Olympic security officials are also planning for the possible diversion of aircraft to protect airspace around the venues from terrorist attacks, the officials said.
The greatest threat to security at the Games is international terrorism, the government's latest "Safety and Security Strategy" report said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
“Potential IRA ‘threat’ looms large over 2012 Olympics”
Last Updated: Sunday, February 05, 2012, 16:37 154 1
SNIPPET: “London: The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is reportedly planning to carry out major terror attacks during the Olympics and Jubilee celebrations in Britain.”
SNIPPET: ““Nothing can be ruled out when it comes to big events like these,” said a member of Continuity IRA.”
Quote:
COMMENTS
JIMMY - Dublin
this is not the ira. this is a spin off group who has called themselves the ``continuity ira``. the only group that is known as the ``ira`` are the provisional ira.
[Note: Media contact phone number deleted in this post by me.]
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NOTE The following text is a quote:
homeland.house.gov/press-release/king-statement-visit-london-security-2012-olympics
King Statement on Visit to London on Security of 2012 Olympics
FEB 28, 2012
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, issued the following statement on his visit last week to the United Kingdom to focus on international efforts to secure the 2012 Summer Olympic Games:
“My counterterrorism-focused visit to London was very productive. During the four-day visit, I continued a series of meetings with my British counterpart, Rt. Hon. Keith Vaz, Chairman of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, and met with the U.S. Ambassador Louis B. Susman, senior U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials, and a number of British security officials, including the heads of British security services MI5, MI6, and New Scotland Yard.
“I received extensive and focused briefings from personnel responsible for security of the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. I was briefed on the current and anticipated terrorist threats to London and the Games, the significant vulnerabilities of the Olympic sites, and security enhancements being made to address them. Particularly concerning is the fact that the Olympic site is located in the area of London where so many of the recent Islamist terrorist threats have originated.
“I was pleased to observe the close coordination between the U.S. and U.K. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. We can be proud of the important contribution that U.S. personnel are making to help secure the Games.”
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"Particularly concerning is the fact that the Olympic site is located in the area of London where so many of the recent Islamist terrorist threats have originated."
ON THE INTERNET:
http://london.usembassy.gov/olympics/olympics2012.html
http://www.usembassy.org.uk/london2012/
“Security Forces Will Outnumber Athletes Nearly 4 to 1 at the 2012 London Olympics”
March 5, 2012
Previously...
NOTE The following text is a quote:
METROPOLITAN POLICE Total
Total Policing
content.met.police.uk/News/Olympic-and-Paralympic-Games-Blog-Exercise-Forward-Defensive/1400006909636/1257246745756
Olympic and Paralympic Games Blog: Exercise Forward Defensive
01 March 2012
National Olympic Security Coordinator, Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison
During last week I was one of the 2,500 people put through their paces as part of Exercise Forward Defensive. The exercise aimed to test, from constable through to COBR, how we all responded to a partially exploded bomb on the underground during Games time.
“Just as athletes prepare to be at the top of their game so must we.”
Just as athletes prepare to be at the top of their game so must we. As the Met’s Gold Commander on the 7th July 2005 I am only too aware of the genuine value in exercising and testing our responses at every level to incidents such as these. We must all understand how we work together and be reassured that the right people are in the right places.
I spent the two days of the exercise in the National Olympic Coordination Centre at New Scotland Yard, attending COBR meetings and meeting with my key people to keep an oversight of what we were all doing to keep London, the UK and Games safe and secure.
It was an excellent exercise and throughout the Met, and the other organisations who played, debriefs are taking place to make sure we get what learning we can.
This week I’ve been down to Eton Dorney with the Home Secretary and Thames Valley Police Gold John Turnbull to look at the venue and police security plans for the rowing, Paralympic rowing and the canoe sprint.
For the last two days I’ve been with police colleagues from across the country, being updated on Gold plans from across the 12 venue forces and briefing my national colleagues on where we are with Games safety and security planning.
With only 148 days until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games we are in a good place to deliver what will be the Police Service’s biggest ever peacetime safety and security operation.
“London 2012 Olympics: MI5 tells Cabinet terror threat remains ‘substantial’
MI5 director-general Jonathan Evans briefed the Cabinet on the terrorist threats facing the UK in the run-up to the London Olympics.”
By Telegraph staff and agencies 1:29PM GMT 20 Mar 2012
“London 2012 Olympics: terrorists ‘plotting cyanide poison hand cream attack’
Terrorists linked with al-Qaeda are plotting a cyanide poison attack on London Olympics by mixing chemicals with hand cream, it has been reported.”
7:45AM BST 26 Mar 2012
SNIPPET: “Extremists have posted “detailed instructions” on a website with links to the terror group on how launch an attack this summer’s games in the capital.
One member, called Abu Hija Ansari claimed the cyanide should be mixed with an unidentified hand cream so it could be absorbed through human skin, according to The Sun.
Writing in Arabic, he said anyone planning such an attack should wear “medical gloves” as they produce their lethal mixture.”
SNIPPET: “The newspaper said they were able to access the website, which has 17,000 members worldwide and known links to six al-Qaeda terrorists, using a false identity.
A second extremist, who has not been identified, also wrote on the website: “It is a good idea and you need to plan well.”
Writing under a logo of the 2012 Games, she said: “It’s time to prepare for the event, as once again they are interfering with innocent Muslims.””
“Convicted terrorists released this week ahead of Olympics
Two convicted terrorists, including one involved in the “liquids” plot to blow up trans-Atlantic passenger jets, will be back on the streets this week after being released from prison.”
By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor7:00AM GMT 19 Mar 2012
SNIPPET: “Nabeel Hussain was jailed for eight years in 2009 for his part in the 2006 plot to blow up aeroplanes using hydrogen peroxide disguised in soft drink bottles.”
SNIPPET: “In a separate case, Tariq Al-Daour, a former law student, will also be released have served half his time.
He was jailed for ten years in 2007 after inciting terrorism against non-Muslims over the internet.”
http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16218246
“Olympic Plan To Put Missiles On Block Of Flats”
7:56am UK, Sunday April 29, 2012
SNIPPET: “The army is planning to position soldiers and surface-to-air missiles on top of a block of flats to prevent any airborne terror threat during this summer’s Olympic Games.
Residents of the block in Bow in east London received a leaflet on Saturday informing them up to 10 soldiers and police will be stationed at the building.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17936050
“Olympic Games ‘not immune’ to cyber-attack”
SNIPPET: “The London Olympics “will not be immune” to cyber-attack, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude has warned.
He said attackers “would seek to disrupt the Games”, noting that the Beijing Olympics saw 12 million cybersecurity incidents in 2008.
“We have rightly been preparing for some time a dedicated unit which will help guard the London Olympics against cyber-attack,” he said.
“We are determined to have a safe and secure Games.”
Mr Maude, who is responsible for the UK’s Office of Cyber Security, made the comments during a visit to Estonia, a country considered a pioneer in the field.
“UK government networks continue to be regularly targeted by foreign intelligence agencies, or groups working on their behalf,” he said.
“And we know that the threat is accelerating.””
NOTE Video included.
Naval Open Source INTelligence:
http://nosint.blogspot.com/2012/05/uk-military-shows-off-missiles-to.html
“UK military shows off missiles to protect Olympics”
(May 5, 2012)
NOTE Videos included.
http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16223051
“Worker Smuggles Fake Bomb Onto Olympic Park”
2:33pm UK, Sunday May 06, 2012
SNIPPET: “Questions have been raised about security at the Olympic Park in east London after a worker managed to smuggle a fake semtex bomb on to the site.
According to The Sun On Sunday newspaper, the unidentified man drove past two checkpoints in a digger without being challenged.
The ‘device’ was contained in a clear plastic container placed inside the cab.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/games-will-be-alqaida-target-says-europol-7791462.html
“Games will be al-Qa’ida target, says Europol
Intelligence agency believes terrorists want to make a symbolic strike after Bin Laden’s death”
by BRIAN BRADY, JONATHAN OWEN
SUNDAY 27 MAY 2012
http://blog.lumension.com/5384/london-olympics-ushers-in-it-security-threats/
“London Olympics Ushers In IT Security Threats”
Jennifer LeClaire - June 19th, 2012
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http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/security/3355503/cyber-attack-warning-for-london-2012/
“Cyber attack warning for London 2012”
by Anh Nguyen
May 3, 2012
“European anarchists could target Olympics, police and security officials fear”
SNIPPET: “Anarchist groups from across southern Europe may target the Olympics in their anti-austerity campaign, police and security sources believe.”
By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor6:30AM BST 21 Jun 2012
SNIPPET: “Violent groups who clashed with police in Greece and Spain over austerity cuts could launch an attack on the summer Games to ensure worldwide publicity, it is feared.
The Italian group, the Informal Anarchist Federation, has already threatened to wage a “low-intensity war” against the Olympics.
That group, known by its Italian initials FAI, has also been linked with a failed mail bomb attack on a German bank.
The hacking group Anonymous has also warned it intends to target the global event.
One security expert last night said anarchist groups on the Continent are increasingly supporting one another and may team up with UK counterparts this summer.”
“London 2012 Olympic security visualized
Missiles, dog teams, and FBI agents are all part of the security plans for the 2012 Olympics in London. We explore the people (and animals) behind the numbers.”
By Jennifer O’Mahony12:18PM BST 21 Jun 2012
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/06/27/us-uk-security-experts-unite-for-london-olympics.html
“US-UK Security Experts Unite for London Olympics”
Jun 27, 2012
Associated Press| by Paisley Dodds
LONDON -
SNIPPET: “The British military has already made headlines with the weapons it will have available - surface-to-air missiles, RAF Typhoon combat aircraft and an aircraft carrier docked on the Thames, the river that cuts across London close to several Olympic sites.”
SNIPPET: “Despite the U.S.-U.K. collaboration, there will still be differences in how the London Olympics is policed. Most of the security personnel will be unarmed - a striking difference to operations in the United States.”
http://www.truthusa.com/MoreThanCartoons.html
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http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/06/london_police_arrest_2_terror.php
“London police arrest 2 terror suspects”
By LISA LUNDQUISTJune 28, 2012 3:10 PM
SNIPPET: “Earlier today, counterterrorism police made arrests at two separate east London addresses, detaining two unnamed male suspects, aged 32 and 18. A UK security official told The Associated Press, “This doesn’t appear to be a big investigation, but it’s still early days.” Security in and around London has been stepped up over the past several months in anticipation of the Olympics, which open on July 27.
The AP report quotes Mizanur Rahman, 29, an acquaintance of the two suspects, as saying that the 18-year-old suspect goes by the name “Jamal ud-Din,” and that the older man is called “Zakariya.” Rahman also offers an explanation for the suspects’ recent suspicious activities — canoeing on the river that goes through the Olympics site, and shooting airguns at a nearby range — as simply “people trying to get into the Olympic spirit” that would likely be “paint[ed] by the authorities as jihad training.”
Rahman goes on to identify the man he calls Jamal ud-Din as the same man who appears in a YouTube video last year delivering an Islamic rant, according to AP.
Although the connection has not been confirmed, it is likely that the 29-year-old Mizanur Rahman quoted in today’s article on the London terror arrests is the same person who was sentenced in 2007 to six years in jail for soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred in connection with the Prophet Mohammed cartoon controversy. [See San Francisco Chronicle coverage of the trials: In Britain, getting tough with violence-inciting Muslim protesters.]
Another article, from the Daily Mail in 2008, notes that jailed 25-year-old Mizanur Rahman, a website designer, had managed to get over 900 emails posted on an Islamist website since his incarceration the year before for inciting murder.”
“APNewsBreak: 2 Terror Suspects Arrested in London”
By PAISLEY DODDS and RAPHAEL SATTER Associated Press
LONDON June 28, 2012 (AP)
SNIPPET: “London police have detained two British Muslim converts on suspicion of terror offenses Thursday, a U.K. security official told The Associated Press.”
SNIPPET: “Scotland Yard identified the men as an 18-year-old and a 32-year-old, but didn’t give their names. The force said in a statement the pair was arrested early Thursday at separate addresses in east London.
A man who identified himself as a friend of the detainees identified the 18-year-old as Jamal ud-Din and said the older man was someone he knew only as “Zakariya.””
SNIPPET: “Security services across Europe have long been alert to the activities of extremist Muslim converts.”
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