Countering the threat from Lone Actors

There has been a steady growth in so called ‘Lone Actor’ attacks by individuals inspired by but not directed or controlled by extremist groups like Islamic State. Influenced by other radicals within their immediate community and on-line propaganda, they employ everyday items such as vehicles and knives to carry out so called simple attacks requiring little if any preparation or planning.

They are much harder for the police and security services to counter. The lack of pre-event activity and little if any association with known extremist networks makes early identification and disruption of their plans difficult if not impossible for the authorities.

Lone Actors therefore present a particular challenge and the emphasis is therefore on all of us to use our eyes and ears to identify suspicious behaviour at the tactical level, particularly when in crowded and public spaces, and to identify these individuals during their target reconnaissance or when they are preparing for the attack itself.

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A critique of public information security initiatives

There have been an increasing number of public information initiatives of late in response to the recent terrorist attacks across Europe and the real threat of further terrorist attacks in the UK. These campaigns rely on the power of a few words to convey a strong message in an attempt to capture the public’s attention, influence behaviour and shape their responses but how effective are they? Can the word really be mightier than the sword?

The most recent of these initiatives is ‘Action Counters Terrorism’ (ACT) which uses a range of on-line media in order to communicate with the general public. The campaign asks people to take note of and report a range of suspicious activities and behaviours relating to attack planning and preparation.

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The importance of Situational Awareness

Situational awareness, like cultural awareness is much talked about but all too often misunderstood and poorly applied in any practical sense. Recent events have caused many people to ask what can I do to better equip myself in order to avoid bad situations. The answer is situational awareness and alongside it, what we call tactical awareness.

Situational Awareness is a process that helps us identify potential threats early on and allows us to take early evasive action and avoid the threat. The term Left of Bang is used by the US Marines to refer to this pre-event activity. Military timelines run left to right so left of bang means activity before the bad event or the bang we wish to avoid.

The US Marines call it Combat Profiling. The programme is intensive and lasts several weeks. I was similarly taught situational awareness during my training as an Intelligence Officer before being posted to high threat environments overseas. Clearly the average business traveller can’t spend several weeks undergoing such training but a few simple techniques can be taught in a relatively short period of time and change how people see and interpret the world around them.read more

The Asymmetric Threat from Islamic State

Islamic State (IS) continues to lose territory in Iraq and Syria. In Iraq this amounts to nearly fifty percent of the ground they once held including the key cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. In Syria they have lost around twenty percent and Raqqa itself is now under threat from a coalition of anti IS forces. As well as ground, they have lost valuable oil revenue and conditions inside IS held areas are deteriorating with shortages of basic supplies becoming common.  If Raqqa falls IS will lose not only its symbolic capital and centre of leadership but its main logistics base.  So how will IS respond to this change in fortune?

When conducting counter insurgency operations in Afghanistan we used to talk about squeezing the balloon. You put pressure on the Taliban in one district and they would simply withdraw only to re-emerge elsewhere. And so it went on like a balloon half filled with air. We would bring pressure to bear in one tactical space but the Taliban threat would simply be displaced to another as we lacked the resources to apply pressure equally across the whole of Helmand Province.

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The increased threat from technical surveillance

Technology tends to bring opportunity and risk in equal measure, better defence and detection systems but at the same time a wider range of technical surveillance options available to those that might wish to eavesdrop on us. So how has the threat changed over the past few years?

Firstly device technology, microphones and cameras are smaller, better quality and commercially available and at high street prices. This means that technical surveillance options are available to all not just to security and intelligence organisations, law enforcement and high end commercial espionage providers. Today they can be easily obtained by the man in the street, on-line or from a commercial spy shop. So the opportunistic competitor, disgruntled employee or a clandestine voyeur can all easily obtain technical surveillance equipment.

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Edson Tiger and Penningtons Manches host a joint seminar

On 26 April Edson Tiger and Penningtons Manches jointly hosted a seminar in Oxford for HR directors and security and safety professionals with responsibility for overseas travellers and projects. A range of organisations attended ranging from major corporates to representatives from the education and voluntary sector.

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How should organisations respond?

The recent attacks in Brussels, previous events in Paris and now a plane hijacking in Egypt have highlighted the ongoing threat from international terrorism and its universal nature. These events have naturally grabbed the headlines and understandably led to organisations and their employees becoming increasingly concerned about their security while at work and travelling at home and overseas.

So what should organisations do? This guidance is intended to help you address that question and decide on what actions you should take in response.

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Managing Risk in Complex Environments

Many organisations are increasingly required to operate globally including in some of the more challenging regions of the world. At the same time the media constantly reminds us of the inherent dangers involved in traveling and working overseas. The shootings in Tunisia and two attacks in Paris to name but two such events. Tunisia yet again bought home the vulnerably of even mainstream travellers. In this case British package holiday tourists travelling to an established tourist destination. While Paris was the latest in a long series of attacks in European cities, including London and Madrid, leaving many asking the question is anywhere truly safe?

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