Initial Disclosure Date: Jun 29, 2012

Jonathan Evans, MI5 Director General, warned that the London 2012 Olympics were an "attractive target for our enemies … no doubt some terrorist networks have thought about whether they could pull off an attack". He, however, emphasized that security preparations were well under way.

He took the “opportunity to talk about some of the national security threats” and referred to cybersecurity challenges as MI5 “looks to the Olympics and beyond.” The Director General argued that state-sponsored cyber-espionage and organized cyber-crimes are at an “astonishing” level.

As an example of hostile state cyber-attack, Evans mentioned a major company in London, whose revenue losses amount to about ￡800m. This damage is due to the loss of its intellectual property and “commercial disadvantage in contractual negotiations.”

MI5 works with both the public and private sector. Major counterparts include the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure, the Government Communications Headquarters, the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, and law enforcement authorities.

As the society and economy increasingly rely on the Internet, vulnerabilities also grow up. Evans raised an alarm over the possibility of such vulnerability exploitation by cyber terrorists in the future. “So far, established terrorist groups have not posed a significant threat in [cyberspace], but they are aware of the potential to use cyber vulnerabilities to attack critical infrastructure and I would expect them to gain more capability to do so in future.”

Sources:
Security Service MI5, “Address at the Lord Mayor’s Annual Defence and Security Lecture by the Director General of the Security Service, Jonathan Evans: The Olympics and Beyond,” June 25, 2012,
https://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/the-olympics-and-beyond.html
Nick Hopkins, “MI5 warns al-Qaeda regaining UK toehold after Arab spring,” The Guardian, June 25, 2012,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/25/mi5-uk-terrorism-threat-warning?newsfeed=true
Sankei Shimbun, “Ei MI5 chokan rondon gorin ‘tero no hyoteki’ [MI5 Director General warned that the London Olympic Games are an attractive target for terrorists],” June 28, 2012,
http://news.goo.ne.jp/article/sankei/world/europe/snk20120628101.html

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