Protecting Against Terrorism: third edition published

The UK government's Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) has published the third edition of ‘Protecting Against Terrorism’.

The document focuses on how to develop a security plan, stating that:

A security plan should be informed, integrated and multi-layered.

Businesses cannot remove all of the threats they may face, but they should possess a plan to protect their most valued assets and prepare their response to major disruptions.

Security planning must not evolve in an arbitrary or ad-hoc manner, nor develop solely from previous mistakes and errors. To be effective, plans must be built on information about almost every aspect of the business both now and into the future. It must be fully integrated with everyday operations, supply chains and routines. And it needs to be ‘multi-layered’ – where each measure is reinforced by the next.

The structures and terminologies will differ from one organisation to the next but each plan should broadly consist of the following components:

- Information:
An assessment of the business and the environment in which it operates – the threats, the vulnerabilities, its most valued and critical assets.

- Protective security:
The measures that protect against identified threats and vulnerabilities.

- Response planning:
How the organisation will respond in the event of disruption.

- Security culture:
Building security awareness across the organisation.

The document also highlights the importance of business continuity management.

Read as a PDF.