BP warns of cyber-terror threat

BP has warned of an increasing terrorist threat to the critical national infrastructure.

As businesses move away from proprietary networks onto increasingly web-based systems, they are becoming targets for terrorist attacks, according to a security chief at the oil giant.

Rob Martin, manager of digital security services at BP, said: "Terrorism will increase. There's been a lot of hype about cyber-terrorism and, in a sense, it's been dismissed as a threat but we have to look at how society has changed."

"Young terrorists have grown up with computers, and we've seen society become reliant on technology," added Martin. "They will use this against us."

Martin said BP had gained this information by talking to the secret services of several different countries, including the US and the UK.

However, he said that terrorists were unlikely to hack through five firewalls when putting explosives on a gas pipeline would "get the point made" more effectively.

Martin also added BP is more likely to be affected by cyber-crime, still a far more likely threat, than cyber-terrorism.

Art Wong, senior vice president of managed security services for Symantec, said he had noticed an increasing trend for cyber-attacks to be politically motivated – as seen with recent exchanges between Estonia and Russia - but most attacks are still launched for financial gain.

Paul Simmonds, chief of information security at ICI, said he "was yet to be convinced the situation is as bad as it's hyped to be".

"There's always a risk from cyber-terrorism, especially to the national critical infrastructure but there's a question of how real it is," he said. "It's been hyped quite a bit."

Tom Espiner writes for ZDNet UK