Britain’s nuclear power stations and airports have been instructed to “remain resilient” against potential terrorist attacks, amid fears that their systems may be targeted by hackers, according to a media report.
Security services have issued a series of alerts in the past 24 hours, warning that terrorists may have developed ways of bypassing safety checks, The Sunday Telegraph reported. Intelligence agencies believe ISIS and other terrorist groups may have developed methods of planting explosives in mobile phones and laptops that can evade airport security screening methods.
It was this Intelligence which is understood to have led the US and the UK to ban travellers from a number of countries carrying laptops and large electronic devices on board. Now there are concerns that terrorists will use the techniques to bypass screening devices at European and US airports, the paper said.
There were also fears that computer hackers were trying to bypass nuclear power station security measures, it said.
Security services fear that some will nonetheless try to exploit “vulnerabilities” in nuclear industry’s internet defences. Energy Minister Jesse Norman said the Government was “fully committed to defending UK against cyber threats, with a £1.9 billion investment designed to transform this cyber security.”