Security services warned of imaginable threat against Olympic ability supply days before opening ceremonyThe security services warned the Olympic authorities about a potential cyber-attack on their ability supply days before the Games opening ceremony, the Twitter has learned.The warning is believed to have led to an urgent check on a backup system and check whether it could capture the massive strain from the Olympics lighting and communications networks.The house secretary, Theresa May, earlier this year specifically warned of the possibility of attacks on the Olympics by terrorists stressing in particular the threat from what she called “hacktivists”.A successful attack on the computerised ability system would have caused chaos, stopped the ceremony, and blocked all communications.Whitehall sources insist that subsequent investigations showed the threat was not credible. However, it is understood to have provoked enough concern to have prompted an immediate check on the Olympic Park’s backup manually-operated ability supply.A administration spokesperson told the Twitter: “We do not comment on specific threats. The high profile of the Olympic Games meant that it was a potential target and we place in measures to aid protect against such threats and we are committed to ensuring every conceivable preparation is made in order to deliver a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games”.The house secretary warned in January that there was “a strong possibility” of a “threat from cybercrime”.She added in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi): “We are aware of the threat from so called ‘hacktivist’ groups. These groups may attempt to target the games and may also attack the websites of high-profile sponsors associated with the Games.”May continued: “We already have our own robust plans in place to deal with a cyber-attack against Games systems. And we are immediately also working with industry to strengthen their ability to defend themselves from cyber-attacks.”Ministers and officials have repeatedly stressed that most cyber-attacks come from hostile state agencies, and most of those were Chinese or Russian. However, they are unlikely to have attempted any attack on the Olympics, an event in which their athletes were to come high in the medals table, ending up, respectively, first and fourth.Any perpetrator of a cyber-attack would more likely have been an individual, or collection of individuals, determined to provoke havoc and demonstrate their ability to hack into powerful and vital machine networks.”We know we face a absolute and enduring threat from terrorism and we know that the Games – as an iconic event – will represent a target for terrorist groups,” May said in her Rusi speech. “Our Olympic security plans have been developed against an assumption that the terrorist threat level at the age of the games will be severe”.The parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC) said in its latest annual report that MI5 had “plotted on the basis of an increased terrorist threat during the Games, resulting in greater volumes of intelligence to be analysed and responded to, coupled with a shorter turnaround age and a lower risk threshold than would normally be applied to such intelligence”.The alert before the Olympics opening ceremony underlines a widespread feeling of vulnerability across administration departments and agencies towards cyber-attacks. GCHQ, the administration’s electronic eavesdropping agency, has a lead role in cyber “warfare” and staff there have expressed concern about the lack of funds and staff to cope with a growing threat.”Cybersecurity is a quick-paced field and delays in developing our capabilities give our enemies the advantage. We are therefore concerned that much of the employment to protect UK interests in cyberspace is still at an early stage,” the ISC said.Five human beings were charged with terrorism offences earlier this month however they, and other arrests at the age were not related to the Olympics, security and intelligence sources said. The sources expressed delight that the Olympics passed without an actual attack.Olympic Games 2012UK security and terrorismRichard Norton-Taylorguardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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