Terrorism is not just about violent attacks on people and property. Disrupted communications systems, damaged assets and tarnished reputations can cause immediate and long-term harm to a business. This makes these courses of action equally attractive from the terrorist’s point of view, say organisers of the Security & Counter Terror Expo.
Critical national infrastructure (CNI) will always be a prime target for terrorists and protecting it is becoming an immense and complex task. On Tuesday and Wednesday, April 19 and 20, the free-to-attend Critical National Infrastructure & Business Reliance conference will take place at the Expo.
Focusing on the four key areas outlined in UK government’s CONTEST strategy, the conference will aim to aid public and private entities to identify, assess, prioritise, and protect critical infrastructure and key resources so that they can detect, prevent, deter, devalue, and mitigate deliberate efforts to destroy, incapacitate or exploit a nation’s CNI.
The Critical National Infrastructure & Business Reliance conference will feature a series of presentations examining the policy and strategy responses to today’s terror threat. Attendees will hear from the likes of Thomas Wuchte, Head on Anti-Terrorism Issues, Action Against Terrorism Unit, OSCE, who is set to discuss the latest initiatives of the regional organization in the protection of critical national infrastructure in Europe in his keynote presentation.
“We rely on a sophisticated electric energy infrastructure to bring us water, light, heat, and the power to run the many tools and devices we use almost every minute of our waking lives. If it were to stop functioning, so would life as we know it” said Wuchte. “The lesson we need to learn is that it is crucial to be aware of the vulnerability of the infrastructure we rely on. We need to invest thought, time and money into its protection. The key to ensuring that a disaster will never happen is minimizing the possibility that it could.”
A total of 20 officials and academics will lead the conference. Among those confirmed to speak are Inspector Chris Boyle, Strategic Partnerships – Prevent, National Counter Terrorism Policing HQ; Detective Chief Inspector Colin Smith, CT Police Adviser, Home Office Science – Centre for Applied Science & Technology (CAST), Home Office; Dvir Rubinshtein, Manager, Aviation Security Operation Centre (ASOC), Israeli Ministry of Transport; Andrew McClumpha, Director, McClumpha Associates Ltd; and Dan Byles, Chairman, Smarter UK.
David Thompson, Event Manager of Security & Counter Terror Expo, added: “The protection of CNI has never been more important. Today, an attack can happen at any time and at practically any location. The Critical National Infrastructure & Business Resilience session will offer delegates a fantastic platform to discuss best practice and identify the latest techniques that can be introduced to minimise the risks to communications networks, the emergency services, financial institutions and many more key national infrastructures.”
Specialist free-to-attend conferences at Security & Counter Terror Expo will focus on the Cyber Threat Intelligence – presented by techUK, Transport Security Live and Advanced Technologies Live. The Expo is co-located with Ambition – the EPRR Expo – and Forensics Europe Expo. To register to attend or for further information visit http://www.counterterrorexpo.com/.
