Terrorist attack fear at new emergency HQ
There are fears IT systems serving a new regional fire centre to cover a large area of the southeast, including West Sussex, could be vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
The concerns emerged during a debate by the county council's public protection select committee on the Fareham-based centre, scheduled to start operation in 2011.
Cllr James Walsh said he was concerned about the security of the system once it was up and running, thinking about the hackers who had broken into the Pentagon system.
"There could be determined terrorists who might want to upset the control system," he added.
County fire officer Martin Burrell said this was one of the major elements being looked at.
"The government is going through a risk assessment on IT, identifying weak links and dealing with these before going live," he told the select committee.
There was concern attackers could get into IT systems – some of the best systems in the world had been attacked.
Mr Burrell said the government had protected the Fareham building itself with security – it could take a number of attacks on it.
"But we think attacks are more likely through the IT line," he went on. "This is being dealt with through government security."
Cllr Walsh said the whole system was heavily dependent on the successful introduction of IT. But the national track record on this – particularly as far as the NHS was concerned – had been disastrous, with time delays and inefficiency.
"What evidence do you have the equipment will be up and running and working properly?" he asked.
Mr Burrell said this issue was at the forefront of his mind, and they were determined to make sure the project worked.
"We are concerned about the track record of IT, and about solutions coming together, and must make sure it works," he added.
The difficulty they had was the imposed timetable. "I am confident this system will work – what concerns me is the lead-in up to that," he said.
Mr Burrell also told county councillors many major costs, including training, were not yet fully quantified, and changes would not come cheaply. The cost of the project was still really not mapped out.
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