THREAT REPORTS
REDUCING AIR CARGO SECURITY VULNERABILITY
When most people think of anti-terrorism and air security, they primarily think of a September 11th situation where terrorists target a passenger plane, hijack it, and proceed to use it as a weapon. Alternatively, they may think of a hostage situation where a plane is hijacked, and the passengers are held hostage while a series of demands are made. Those, however, are not the only threats from air travel. Air cargo is, itself, topic of concern for the security community as they too could either be detonated in the air or hijacked and used as mass casualty weapons. In fact, some of the concern for cargo security exists because of the enhanced screening and passenger vetting that has occurred on travel into and within the United States since the September 11th attacks. The threat from cargo exists both on planes carrying only cargo and amongst cargo that travels with passengers; however, it is believed that cargo-only traffic is considered less of a threat. The primary threat posed by cargo-only traffic is hijackings; whereas, explosives are a large concern for cargo traveling with passengers.
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SECURING U.S. UTILITIES
Compared to many other industries – e.g., medical, retail, and finance for example – the energy industry is rather new to interconnectivity. As with other industries, as connectivity increases – think of push for a so-called smart grid – the security risks will, likewise, continue to grow. Unlike many other industries, utilities, as an especially critical part of a nation’s infrastructure, are extremely valuable targets for cyberattacks – especially by perpetrators looking to either cripple a country/region or to make a political statement. By undertaking a phishing attack or through the exploitation of unknown or unpatched system vulnerabilities, perpetrators can remotely gain access to a utilities internal control network and, subsequently, lock local operators out and either sabotage or partially sabotage the utility itself or simply hold it hostage and shut off power to customers. On any scale, such attacks would be significant; however, if done on a larger scale, a state actor could potentially cripple an adversary. If done during a conflict, such an action could, potentially, be a determining factor in the outcome of conflict.
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