Glossary
ACPO - Association of Chief Police Officers. ACPO coordinates policing policies on behalf of 43 forces across England and Wales. It liaises with Government on dealing with civil emergencies and terrorist incidents. The National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) works to ACPO and provides a co-ordinating role for the police service in regard to counter-terrorism and protective security.
ATCSA - Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001. Parliament passed the ATCSA in December 2001 in response to the heightened threat of terrorist attacks in the UK in the wake of 11 September 2001. The Act includes a range of measures designed to increase the effectiveness of the authorities in combating those directly involved in, or supporting, terrorism.
AVS - Anti-Virus Software
BERR - Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. The department leads work to create the conditions for business success through competitive and flexible markets that create value for businesses, consumers and employees. It drives regulatory reform, and works across Government and with the regions to raise levels of UK productivity.
BOTNET - Robot network
BSA - Bomb Shelter Area. Internal area that offers protection from blast, flying glass and other fragments.
Business continuity - The means of ensuring that the essential functions of a business survive a terrorist or other incident, such as natural disaster.
CBRN - Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear. CBRN materials can be used in terrorist attacks or in military weapons under state programmes.
CERT - Computer Emergency Response Team, trademarked term by CERT Co-ordination Centre (CERT/CC) the first and possibly biggest CERT, run by Carnegie Mellon University in US, with some US government support.
CESG - Communications-Electronics Security Group. CESG is the Information Assurance arm of GCHQ which provides advice and assistance on the security of communications and electronic data. It works with Government departments and agencies and the Armed Forces, as well as public and private sector companies.
CIP organisations - Critical Infrastructure Protection organisations
Civil Information Assurance Products and Services Co-ordination Group (CIPCOG) - a public sector forum, chaired by CSIA, that works to deliver the Information Assurance (IA) requirements of the public sector.
CNA - Computer Network Attack
CNI - Critical National Infrastructure. Within the nine national infrastructure sectors there are critical elements (these may be physical or electronic), the loss or compromise of which would have a major detrimental impact on the availability or integrity of essential services, leading to severe economic or social consequences or to loss of life. These critical elements of infrastructure comprise the nation's critical national infrastructure.
CRB - Criminal Records Bureau. The CRB is an executive agency of the Home Office. By providing wider access to criminal record information through its Disclosure service, it helps employers in the public, private and voluntary sectors identify candidates who may be unsuitable for certain work.
CSIA - Central Sponsor for Information Assurance, part of the Cabinet Office
CT - Counter Terrorism
CTSAs - Counter Terrorism Security Advisers (see NaCTSO)
DDOS - Distributed Denial of Service attack.
Dirty bomb - See RDD
DPA - Data Protection Act 1998. The DPA gives individuals the right to apply for access to personal data relating to them held by public and private sector organisations. The Act contains a provision for certain exemptions from compliance with all or some of the principles and requirements, for example for the safeguarding of national security.
E
EA - Electronic Attack (Hacking, Viruses, Worms, Trojans, DDoS etc), usually from external sources, though can be 'insider'. Similar to CNA - Computer Network Attack
ECHR - European Convention on Human Rights (see also Human Rights Act).
EIR - Environmental Information Regulations. Came info force on 1 January 2005 and allow members of the public to request environmental information from public authorities. The Security Service is subject to the Regulations, but exemptions can be used when necessary.
Espionage - Spying. Several countries are actively seeking British information and material to advance their own military, technological, political and economic programmes. Terrorists may also seek to infiltrate organisations and gain access to potentially useful information and systems.
FCO - Foreign & Commonwealth Office. The Government department responsible for foreign affairs. FCO's travel advice draws on information from the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre at Thames House. The FCO website provides travel advice on more then 200 countries.
Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) - offers a confidential venue for sharing security vulnerabilities and solutions. The site facilitates trust among its participants.
FIRST - Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams the global organisation to which most major CERTs subscribe. See www.first.org
FOIA - Freedom of Information Act. Came into force on 1 January 2005 and allows members of the public to request access to information held by public authorities. The Security Service is not subject to the Act.
GCHQ - Government Communications Headquarters. GCHQ is an intelligence and security organisation which reports to the Foreign Secretary. Through its signals intelligence work, GCHQ supports Government decision-making in the fields of national security, military operations and law enforcement.
Hacking - An umbrella term encompassing all attempts at unauthorised access to computer systems, including malicious software, malicious modification of hardware and denial of service (DoS).
Hand-carried bomb - Any type of portable bomb, usually contained in a form that would blend easily with the target surroundings, for example, suitcases, handbags, briefcases, video cassette boxes.
HMRC - HM Revenue and Customs. HMRC is the Government department with responsibility for collecting VAT revenue, customs duties and certain other taxes. It also plays a key role in protecting the UK from illegal imports of drugs, alcohol and tobacco smuggling and tax fraud.
HRA - Human Rights Act 1998. The Human Rights Act incorporates into UK law rights and freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Since coming into force in October 2000, the Act has made rights from the ECHR enforceable in UK courts.
IA - Information Assurance
The Information Assurance Advisory Council - a partnership that brings together corporate leaders, public policy makers, law enforcement and the research community to address the challenges of information infrastructure protection.
IED - Improvised Explosive Device
Incident reports - These will often take the form of 'problems' or 'observations' reported to a helpdesk (in a WARP or CERT). They may be passed on to other WARPs/CERTs etc on an anonymous basis subject to sanitisation, permission and trust between those nodes. They may be passed on to Police only with the sender's permission, or the sanitised intelligence might be passed on unattributably.
Information Sharing Network - Loose voluntary network of entities including CERTs, WARPs, ISACs, and other organisations interested in sharing warnings, vulnerabilities, threats and incident reports, and providing advice to each other and to their own 'communities'.
IOCA - Interception of Communications Act 1985 (replaced by RIPA)
JTAC - Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre. JTAC is the UK's centre for the analysis and assessment of international terrorism. It is a self-standing organisation comprised of representatives from eleven Government departments and agencies.
LEA - Law Enforcement Agency
Letter bomb - Explosive, chemical, biological or radiological device delivered by post or courier.
Lorry bomb - See LVBIED.
LVBIED - Large Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device. See also VBIED.
MOD - Ministry of Defence. The role of the Ministry of Defence, and the Armed Forces, is to defend the UK, and overseas territories, its people and interests, and work to strengthen international peace and security. The Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) of the MOD is part of the UK's central intelligence machinery.
NaCTSO - National Counter Terrorism Security Office. A specialist police organisation co-located with the Security Service in the National Security Advice Centre (NSAC). NaCTSO co-ordinates a nationwide network of specialist police advisers known as Counter Terrorist Security Advisers (CTSAs) who can offer help on counter terrorism security.
NAO - National Audit Office. The NAO scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament.
NI - National Infrastructure. The national infrastructure is those facilities, systems, sites and networks necessary for the functioning of the country and the delivery of the essential services upon which the daily life in the UK depends. Essential services include the supply of energy, food, water and so on.
National Infrastructure Sectors - There are nine sectors which deliver essential services. These are: energy, food, water, transport, communications, government, emergency services, health and finance.
PDF - Portable Document Format. A universal way of distributing documents that is independent of computer or operating systems. Most applications can produce PDF documents, for example Microsoft Word and Excel. This site uses PDF to provide a means to print the content of each page.
PE - Plastic Explosive
PRA - Public Records Act 1958. The Security Service complies with the requirements of the Public Records Act 1958 in identifying records of historical interest for permanent retention and eventual transfer to The National Archives (previously the Public Record Office). In practice, this means selecting files for retention that would otherwise have been destroyed.
RDD - Radiological Dispersion Device. Commonly known as a "dirty bomb", designed to disperse radioactive material, with or without explosives.
RIPA - Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. RIPA replaced IOCA 1985 as a statutory basis for the interception of communications. It introduced new regulation for covert surveillance and the use of covert human intelligence sources. It also established a Commissioner for Interception, a Commissioner for the Intelligence Services and a Tribunal to examine complaints and hear proceedings under section 7 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
SB - Special Branch. Each police force has its own Special Branch. Special Branch has a specialist intelligence function in relation to national security, in particular countering terrorism and extremism.
SOCA - Serious Organised Crime agency. SOCA has been formed from the amalgamation of the National Crime Squad (NCS), National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), that part of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) dealing with drug trafficking and associated criminal finance and a part of UK Immigration dealing with organised immigration crime(UKIS). It is an intelligence-led agency with law enforcement powers and harm reduction responsibilities. Harm in this context is the damage caused to people and communities by serious organised crime.
Spying - See Espionage
Terrorism Act 2000 - The Terrorism Act 2000 covers the proscription of terrorist groups throughout the UK, the appeals process by which a proscription order may be challenged, offences relating to terrorist property and finance and police counter-terrorist powers.
UNIRAS - See Information Security Advisories.
UVIED - Under Vehicle Improvised Explosive Device. Booby-trap car bombs designed to kill the driver or passenger.
VBIED - Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device. A car or van filled with explosive, driven to a target and detonated.
Vehicle Bomb - See VBIED, UVIED, LVBIED, VOIED
VOIED - Victim Operated Improvised Explosive Device or booby-trap bomb. See also UVIED.
WARP - Warning, Advice and Reporting Point. Provides Warning, Advice and Reporting services on Internet security-related matters. Similar to a CERT, but without a capability for responding to incidents (other than providing advice).
WMD - Weapons of Mass Destruction. WMD encompasses nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
XML - eXtensible Markup Language. This is a means of describing the structure (or semantics) of a document. Rather than saying what font some text has it says what the text means: is it a paragraph, an author's name, a date etc.? It is also possible to format each page for the appropriate browser.
23/07/2007