Firms Warned of IT Terrorists

TERRORIST groups may try to infiltrate the computer systems of some of Britain’s biggest companies, government departments and emergency services if a war is launched against Iraq, the Home Office has cautioned. Stephen Cummings, director of the National Infrastructure Security Co ordination Centre (NISCC), said key IT systems were under threat of cyber attack by Islamic extremists. He said: “There will be groups attacking US Government and defence websites and similar groups carrying out activity against the websites of any country involved in military action.” Mr Cummings urged businesses to step up security ahead of a possible war in the Gulf. He gave warning that terrorist groups might try to infiltrate activists into the IT departments of leading firms. “My view is that terrorist groups have identified the potential value in having people inside organisations rather than just responding passively as they have done in the past. There are already non-cyber examples of this,” he said. Since NISCC was set up three years ago to monitor the threat of electronic attack against the UK, the number of digital attacks on “critical” organisations has soared. Mi2g, a company with expert knowledge on global internet hacking, says that the level of “sniffing” – the monitoring of critical infrastructures by hackers – has steadily increased since last July. Full Story