On Friday 21st March a massive fire at an electric substation forced the closure of Heathrow Airport resulting in the disruption of some 13,000 flights and affected hundreds of thousands of passengers.
There was speculation early on that the fire might have been deliberate , potentially an asymmetric attack by the Russian state coming on the back of a meeting of some 30 military leaders headed by the UK PM Sir Keir Starmer at Northwood HQ in northwest London.
However, within hours the incident was later described as not suspicious despite the coincidence of events and timing.
If, as both the London Fire Brigade and Metropolitan Police have said, the fire was an unfortunate accident that is perhaps a sigh of relief on one hand.
But for a single fire to shutdown one of the world's busiest airports, it is nonetheless concerning.
Britain's enemies will certainly be taking notes concerning how easy the country can be brought to its knees.
There was no COBRA meeting held following the unprecedented incident. Yet discussions will have likely been held behind closed doors.
UK security services are responsible for protecting the country's infrastructure as well as monitoring external attacks.
Important assets include Britain's nuclear power stations, its rail infrastructure, water distribution networks, electricity supply and transport hubs.
While the substation that went up in flames may have been an inconvenient accident, its destruction was clearly a failure on so many levels.
It is too early to say what failed and caused the fire and explosion, but such a catastrophic failure would surely point to maintenance issues.
Thus it would not be unfair to say that, given its importance to supplying a major transport hub, such facilities should be prioritised concerning their maintenance and protection.
The Ukraine war has shown the importance of the use of drones. And it would not be too far-fetched to see the UK's enemies employing drones to target important assets.
Cyber attacks are already being employed by rogue actors to shutdown computer systems.
In the last year there have been several high profile computer systems failures. Supermarkets have been hit, with Sainsbury's, Tesco and Lidl all affected. Banks were hit with an apparent cyber attack last year seeing payment systems going down and ATMs being put out of use. On the same day even Sky News was forced off the air.
The major global IT outage hit broadcasters, banks and IT companies as well as some airports.
Such outages have often been blamed on system updates rather than deliberate attacks. The July 2024 outage was blamed on an apparently untested update by CrowdStrike cyber security software. The CrowdStrike update caused computers across the globe to crash and display what's commonly referred to as the "blue screen of death."
The catastrophic failure prompted many to speculate that the IT failure was a deliberate attack.
But even if the events of July 2024 was simply a software problem, the events that day highlighted the vulnerability of not only UK infrastructure, but also computer systems around the world [Daily Mail].
The CrowdStrike incident is estimated to have cost in excess of $1 billion having affected 8.5 million Microsoft Windows devices, leading to widespread disruptions of airlines, banks, broadcasters, healthcare providers, retail payment terminals, and cash machines globally. Airlines were forced to cancel thousands of flights, supermarkets couldn't accept credit card payments, and hospitals cancelled non-urgent surgeries.
Even putting the CrowdStrike incident aside there have been dozens of actual cyberattacks, often in the form of Ransomware attacks, that have left companies unable to operate [SecureFrame].
Many incidents are reported to be software glitches or blamed on human error. But there is growing suspicion that some cyberattacks are being hidden from the general public in order to allay concerns.
When a huge cargo ship crashed into a bridge in Baltimore resulting in its collapse and closing a major port for weeks, there was widespread speculation as to the cause. Claims ranged from a cyberattack or a ship captain impaired by side effects from COVID-19 vaccines being responsible for the crash [CNN].
All evidence to date points toward a tragic accident. Yet it could just have easily been a deliberate targeting of the vessel. The grounding of the cargo ship Ever Given in the Suez canal in 2021 for just 6 days caused chaos to international shipping, forcing vessels to reroute around South Africa. The cost to the global economy of that incident was in excess of $400 million per hour! [USNI]
When two cargo ships collided in the North Sea in mid March 2025, there were concerns this might have been deliberate. Again, however this has been blamed on probable negligence [BBC / Sky News].
Many cyberattacks go unreported since they affect relatively few individuals, despite their seriousness [CM Alliance].
To suggest such incidents are deliberate cyberattacks or otherwise deliberate assaults by those that might wish to harm the West, is often dismissed as being conspiratorial.
There is growing suspicion amongst the public that the truth is being hidden. It harks to the age old line that just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean you're not being followed.
But even without the tin foil hats and speculation that we are under attack by Russian, Chinese, Iranian or terrorist hackers, the risks are nonetheless real enough.
There are certainly hackers out there wishing to do real ham to the west. But the bigger threat is likely to be more mundane.
Indeed, the Russians may not need to launch cyberattacks and drone attacks to shutdown Britain given the country's crumbling infrastructure. A concerted and deliberate attack would however push Britain to the edge.
But as seen in other outages and serious incidents in the past year or so, it is not just Britain that needs a wake up call. Europe, the US and others all need to focus not only in defending itself from deliberate attacks, but also to prevent major disasters occuring as a result of otherwise minor glitches.
tvnewswatch, London, UK
There was speculation early on that the fire might have been deliberate , potentially an asymmetric attack by the Russian state coming on the back of a meeting of some 30 military leaders headed by the UK PM Sir Keir Starmer at Northwood HQ in northwest London.
However, within hours the incident was later described as not suspicious despite the coincidence of events and timing.
If, as both the London Fire Brigade and Metropolitan Police have said, the fire was an unfortunate accident that is perhaps a sigh of relief on one hand.
But for a single fire to shutdown one of the world's busiest airports, it is nonetheless concerning.
Britain's enemies will certainly be taking notes concerning how easy the country can be brought to its knees.
There was no COBRA meeting held following the unprecedented incident. Yet discussions will have likely been held behind closed doors.
UK security services are responsible for protecting the country's infrastructure as well as monitoring external attacks.
Important assets include Britain's nuclear power stations, its rail infrastructure, water distribution networks, electricity supply and transport hubs.
While the substation that went up in flames may have been an inconvenient accident, its destruction was clearly a failure on so many levels.
It is too early to say what failed and caused the fire and explosion, but such a catastrophic failure would surely point to maintenance issues.
Thus it would not be unfair to say that, given its importance to supplying a major transport hub, such facilities should be prioritised concerning their maintenance and protection.
The Ukraine war has shown the importance of the use of drones. And it would not be too far-fetched to see the UK's enemies employing drones to target important assets.
Cyber attacks are already being employed by rogue actors to shutdown computer systems.
In the last year there have been several high profile computer systems failures. Supermarkets have been hit, with Sainsbury's, Tesco and Lidl all affected. Banks were hit with an apparent cyber attack last year seeing payment systems going down and ATMs being put out of use. On the same day even Sky News was forced off the air.
The major global IT outage hit broadcasters, banks and IT companies as well as some airports.
Such outages have often been blamed on system updates rather than deliberate attacks. The July 2024 outage was blamed on an apparently untested update by CrowdStrike cyber security software. The CrowdStrike update caused computers across the globe to crash and display what's commonly referred to as the "blue screen of death."
The catastrophic failure prompted many to speculate that the IT failure was a deliberate attack.
But even if the events of July 2024 was simply a software problem, the events that day highlighted the vulnerability of not only UK infrastructure, but also computer systems around the world [Daily Mail].
The CrowdStrike incident is estimated to have cost in excess of $1 billion having affected 8.5 million Microsoft Windows devices, leading to widespread disruptions of airlines, banks, broadcasters, healthcare providers, retail payment terminals, and cash machines globally. Airlines were forced to cancel thousands of flights, supermarkets couldn't accept credit card payments, and hospitals cancelled non-urgent surgeries.
Even putting the CrowdStrike incident aside there have been dozens of actual cyberattacks, often in the form of Ransomware attacks, that have left companies unable to operate [SecureFrame].
Many incidents are reported to be software glitches or blamed on human error. But there is growing suspicion that some cyberattacks are being hidden from the general public in order to allay concerns.
When a huge cargo ship crashed into a bridge in Baltimore resulting in its collapse and closing a major port for weeks, there was widespread speculation as to the cause. Claims ranged from a cyberattack or a ship captain impaired by side effects from COVID-19 vaccines being responsible for the crash [CNN].
All evidence to date points toward a tragic accident. Yet it could just have easily been a deliberate targeting of the vessel. The grounding of the cargo ship Ever Given in the Suez canal in 2021 for just 6 days caused chaos to international shipping, forcing vessels to reroute around South Africa. The cost to the global economy of that incident was in excess of $400 million per hour! [USNI]
When two cargo ships collided in the North Sea in mid March 2025, there were concerns this might have been deliberate. Again, however this has been blamed on probable negligence [BBC / Sky News].
Many cyberattacks go unreported since they affect relatively few individuals, despite their seriousness [CM Alliance].
To suggest such incidents are deliberate cyberattacks or otherwise deliberate assaults by those that might wish to harm the West, is often dismissed as being conspiratorial.
There is growing suspicion amongst the public that the truth is being hidden. It harks to the age old line that just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean you're not being followed.
But even without the tin foil hats and speculation that we are under attack by Russian, Chinese, Iranian or terrorist hackers, the risks are nonetheless real enough.
There are certainly hackers out there wishing to do real ham to the west. But the bigger threat is likely to be more mundane.
Indeed, the Russians may not need to launch cyberattacks and drone attacks to shutdown Britain given the country's crumbling infrastructure. A concerted and deliberate attack would however push Britain to the edge.
But as seen in other outages and serious incidents in the past year or so, it is not just Britain that needs a wake up call. Europe, the US and others all need to focus not only in defending itself from deliberate attacks, but also to prevent major disasters occuring as a result of otherwise minor glitches.
tvnewswatch, London, UK
