| Date: 26/06/2012 Time: 11:04:00 AM |
The domestic intelligence service MI5, was
working to counter "astonishing" levels of cyber-attacks on UK industry, the
organisation's chief has said.
In his first public speech for two years, Jonathan Evans warned last night
that internet "vulnerabilities" were being exploited by criminals as well as
states. The attacks were a threat to the integrity of information, he added.
Evans also warned the London 2012 Olympics was an "attractive target" for
terrorist groups, but said security preparations were well under way.
For this reason the games would not be an easy target even though there was
no doubt some terrorist networks had considered carrying out an attack, he
said.
In the speech, Evans spoke of MI5's efforts to tackle "industrial-scale
processes involving many thousands of people lying behind both state sponsored
cyber espionage and organised cyber crime."
"Vulnerabilities in the internet are being exploited aggressively not just
by criminals but also by states," he said. "The extent of what is going on is
astonishing."
In the past Russia and China have been cited as the countries most involved
in state-based attack.
"This is a threat to the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of
government information but also to business and to academic institutions,"
Evans said.
"What is at stake is not just our government secrets but also the safety
and security of our infrastructure, the intellectual property that underpins
our future prosperity and ... commercially sensitive information."
Presenting an overview of the threats, Evans says Britain faces such
threats through the Olympics and beyond.
He told the audience at London's Mansion House the games would present an
attractive target since London would be the centre of worldwide attention but
said MI5 was "far from complacent".
Leave has been restricted at Thames House - MI5 headquarters - and a clock
in the entrance foyer counts down to the opening ceremony.
Surface-to-air missiles could be deployed at six sites in London during the
games, officials said.
So far it is thought there is little credible intelligence of major threats
and the overall threat level remains at substantial - a notch below the
"severe" level which it stood at for many years.
Half a million people have been checked as part of the accreditation
process, which MI5 has helped with, and it is thought a number of individuals
have been denied accreditation based on national security checks, the
officials said.
Meanwhile, Evans cautioned against thinking the terror threat had
evaporated in the wake of Osama Bin Laden's death.
"In back rooms and in cars and on the streets of this country, there is no
shortage of individuals talking about wanting to mount terrorist attacks here,
" he said.
In the past about 75 percent of counter-terrorist casework was linked in
some way to Pakistan or Afghanistan. That had now been reduced to below 50
percent, he said.
"We appear to be moving from a period of a deep and focused threat to one
where the threat is less monolithic but wider," he said.
"Today parts of the Arab world have once more become a permissive
environment for Al-Qaeda."
A small number of British jihadis have headed to places like Somalia and
Yemen and there were concerns they may pose a threat on their return to the UK.
Evans also said he was concerned about Iran in the wake of plots against
Israeli interests in India, Azerbaijan, and elsewhere.
"A return to state-sponsored terrorism by Iran or its associates, such as
Hezbollah, cannot be ruled out as pressure on the Iranian leadership increases,
" he said.
MI5 has long had a team which looked at the dangers of hostile Iranian
activities in the UK but that team is thought to have been reinforced in
recent months amid fears of Tehran launching attacks in the retaliation for a
strike on its nuclear program.
In recent months legislation linked to the security services has aroused
controversy.
Evans said he welcomed the plans to allow sensitive intelligence material
to be heard in closed court during civil cases, arguing that it would allow
"better justice and better accountability."
He also said the plan to allow greater collection of communications data -
such as from social networks - was a "necessary and proportionate measure" to
tackle crimes, including terrorism.
"It would be extraordinary and self-defeating if terrorists and criminals
were able to adopt new technologies ... while the law enforcement and security
agencies were not permitted to keep pace with those same technological changes,
" he said.
In a nod to those who sometimes criticise the security services as
alarmist, Evans ended his speech by acknowledging that some of the areas of
concern he outlined might turn out to be "dogs that don't bark" but added,
"The dog you haven't seen may turn out to be the one that bites you." |