more on Increased Risk

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Stephan Somogyi <ip045 () st gyroscope net>
Date: October 12, 2006 1:06:11 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Increased Risk

At 14:44 +0100 12.10.2006, Frode Hegland wrote:

> A good point in the Independent newspaper here in the UK today.  
> Page 8, headline: "Security at airports 'increase risk of terror'".  
> Couldn't find a URL, sorry.

<http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/article1842572.ece>

> The first point that is made that there is a bigger risk of a  
> rocket or mortar attack from outside the airport than someone with  
> a bomb, now that they are looking for this.

This is no surprise. Reduce one attack vector and a motivated  
attacker will find another.

Eg, the advent of car alarms and increasingly sophisticated vehicle  
ignition/immobilization systems begat a rise in carjackings. What  
better time to perform the attack than when the user (driver) has  
already authenticated (legit key in ignition lock)?

Also worth noting is that the IRA fired mortars at Heathrow in March  
of 1994, so this is already a well-known risk.

> But the second point made me feel a little dumb. And scared.  
> Because it's so obvious and quite scary: Security lines are long  
> and of course, they are by definition not secure - they are there  
> to make the area after them secure. This makes them a very  
> attractive target: Bomb in a briefcase in a security line. Lots of  
> people killed and the terror and chaos that would ensue would be  
> phenomenal. People would be very uneasy about standing in long  
> security lines after that.

I've never flown El Al; I'd be curious to know how it mitigates this  
particular risk, since it seems to be the benchmark of effective  
security measures -- as opposed to security theater -- in this space,  
and its screening methodology seems inherently low-throughput.

For those interested in airline security, I found the Science Friday  
interview with Rafi Ron in August to be quite informative:

<http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2006/Aug/hour1_081806.html>

s.


-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/