Heathrow Airport’s Major Security Lapse

November 1, 2017 OTHER , Security , UK

By

Ricardo Swire

Caribbean internal security intelligence analysts note the urgent need for regional policy makers to review procedures governing the storage of critical domestic airport security data. Such concern is motivated by the accidental discovery of “Confidential Information,” belonging to the United Kingdom’s largest airport. The security mega-data stored on a flash-drive was found by a passer by among leaves on a street in Queen’s Park, West London. Heathrow Airport is highly rated and known to employ some of the most robust aviation security measures worldwide.

Members of the British intelligence community theorise this secret information trove could have been copied and shared on the Dark Net’s Tor Browser, where terrorists and high-tech criminals shop for restricted data. The precise details and levels of the compromised security information suggest it was compiled over several years, employing a variety of electronic data capturing mechanisms. Discovered maps identify Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) positions, along with the labyrinth of tunnels and escape routes leading to Heathrow Express, used by Queen Elizabeth to access the airport.

The Monarch’s “top-secret” protection protocols are also revealed, all segments of over one hundred and seventy-four “confidential” and “restricted” files stored on the mysterious memory stick. Royal Suite routines and Heathrow Airport’s elite area visits by the Queen, UK Cabinet officials and foreign dignitaries are compromised. The Royal Suite is hidden from public view in Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and rented for £2,800 per flight. Clients are driven by security detail directly to the Suite. Files display images of the secret route supported by satellite photographs highlighting security checkpoints.

Special X-Ray Machines used by Her Majesty’s personal security team are revealed. Heathrow Airport’s Windsor Suite, popular with international celebrities and dignitaries, is also shown. Specific details of drivers assigned to VIPs who use the Suite and Heathrow Airport’s “Aircraft Hijacking” codes are additional revelations. The Airport’s private escape shafts and maintenance tunnel intersections with Heathrow Express Line part of exposed information. Doppler Radar Surveillance System operating manuals are among the data trove. The UK Airport’s national security files identified individuals who enjoy “Exempt from Screening” privileges.

Caribbean internal security intelligence analysts highlight the reality that storing large volumes of documents, videos, maps and images together in one place has a cumulative impact of national security danger. The UK Airport’s 2.5 Gigabytes of security mega-data is unencrypted and without security password requirement for access. The sensitive information includes special types of identification used by undercover Detectives to enter Heathrow Airport’s restricted areas. A timetable of Counterterrorism Police patrols, plus details of the ultrasound radar system that invisibly scans Heathrow Airport’s runways and perimeter fence, among exposed data.

This security anomaly was the UK Airport’s second significant glitch for 2017. In September two private Security Officers stole £7 million cash in one of the country’s biggest robberies. The heist began on Heathrow Airport’s complex. At 8:30am that day the Loomis International Security duo collected the money from British Airways Cargo Department, Heathrow Airport, packed in twenty-eight satchels. While en route to the Bank of Ireland co-conspirators rendezvoused with the Loomis International Security armored truck and transferred the Bank’s cash to a private vehicle waiting along Feltham road in West London. Both Loomis International Security’s “inside jobbers” are in police custody, but the £7 million has not been recovered.