From: InfoSec News (isnC4I.ORG)
Date: Thu Mar 29 2001 - 22:20:01 CST

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000114832908976&rtmo=qxeqJtd9&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/01/3/30/nhack30.html

By George Jones and Michael Smith
Friday 30 March 2001

COMPUTER hacking could now cripple Britain more quickly than a
military strike or terrorist campaign, Robin Cook, the Foreign
Secretary, told the Commons last night.

He said that the electronic technology controlling essential services
such as water, power and transport had become a leading target for
terrorists and other groups who wanted to disrupt the life of the
nation.

Mr Cook gave a graphic account of how terrorists or anti-capitalist
protesters could wreak havoc in a modern economy such as Britain's if
they managed to gain access to the computer systems of the key public
services.

Mr Cook said: "The revolution in communications technology is creating
new opportunities on an exponential scale. This week, 360,000 e-mails
will be sent in Britain every second, a fifth more than in January and
twice as many as last June. Computers now manage most of our critical
national infrastructure, but with these new opportunities there also
comes the risk of new threats."

"A computer-based attack could cripple the nation more quickly than a
military strike," Mr Cook told MPs during a debate on the work of the
intelligence and security services.

Mr Cook said the intelligence services had also helped to stop
Jamaican Yardies smuggling drugs into Britain. The spies' work had led
to the seizure of major shipments of heroin and cocaine, as well as to
the arrest of the drug traders involved and to the seizure of their
assets.

Mr Cook said: "British agencies contributed to a recent operation in
the Caribbean which resulted in a drugs haul worth 70 million, in just
one raid."

The Foreign Secretary emphasised that the security service was
adapting to new threats to national life following the thawing of
East-West relations. Ministers are known to be concerned that
anarchists and extreme Left-wing groups are threatening to disrupt the
City of London with "anti-capitalist" demonstrations in May.

Last year, a demonstration by the anti-capitalist Reclaim the Streets
group brought widespread disruption to the centre of London, with the
statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square defaced by protesters
and a McDonalds restaurant wrecked.

A year earlier, 6,000 demonstrators created chaos in the City of
London. This year activists are planning to take over hotels, the
offices of privatised utilities and streets "associated with
capitalism".

Julian Lewis, the Conservative MP for New Forest East, said a serious
mistake had been made when MI5's anti-subversion "F Branch" was, in
effect, closed down. It was done in the belief that subversion in
Britain was a "historical phenomenon" following the decline of extreme
organisations on the Left and the Right.

Had it still been active the police would have had less trouble
controlling the anti-capitalist demonstrations. Worse still, he added,
it was not available to gather information on action being planned for
May Day this year which could seriously disrupt a general election.

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