Curated from Latest from TechRadar US in News,opinion — Here’s what matters right now:
Let’s be clear: the UK is no longer preparing for hybrid threats; we’re already living through them. What happened at RAF Brize Norton wasn’t just a protest gone too far. It was an act of sabotage against operational military aircraft, carried out using scooters, paint, and basic hand tools. The fact that it succeeded tells us everything we need to know about the state of our national security posture: fragmented, reactive, and dangerously misaligned with the threat landscape. If we neglect the physical layer, we risk undermining all the effort, investment, and capability built into our digital resilience. Security must be holistic—from the perimeter fence to the network firewall , from the patrol route to the SOC dashboard. And right now? That cohesion simply doesn’t exist. Hybrid Threats Are No Longer Theoretical Driven by geopolitical instability and evolving warfare tactics, hybrid threats, where physical and cyber attacks are combined, are becoming the norm. Across the Middle East and Eastern Europe, digitally coordinated sabotage operations (like drone strikes on critical infrastructure) have exposed the weaknesses in siloed defenses. These aren’t one-off incidents; they’re deliberate, repeatable attack models. And the UK is not immune. Intelligence sources point to repeated probing of our critical infrastructure, with Russia frequently suspected. Whether it's energy, transport, or defense, our infrastructure is now part of the battlefield. Why Security Must Be Holistic Securing critical infrastructure isn’t just a technical challenge, it’s a leadership one. You wouldn’t install a high-end alarm system at home and then leave the front door wide open. But that’s exactly what many organizations are doing: investing millions in cybersecurity while physical security is neglected or under-tested. Across defense, utilities, transport hubs, and data centers, the weakest links are often the most mundane: an unchecked fence, a blind CCTV angle, an unmanned gate. These gaps may seem small until they’re exploited. The reality is stark: we are now in the grey zone, where adversaries operate below the threshold of open conflict, using disruption, ambiguity, and deniability to advance strategic goals. Brize Norton: Exposing Systematic Failures The breach at RAF Brize Norton was not complex or sophisticated; it succeeded because no one expected it. Two individuals, using basic tools and repurposed fire extinguishers, accessed an active runway, disabled aircraft engines with paint, and left undetected. These aircraft support critical UK combat operations, including missions in Ukraine. This wasn’t symbolic; it had real tactical impact. And it exposed systemic failures, not just in physical security, but in how cyber and physical defenses fail to align. This is exactly what modern adversaries exploit: seams, blind spots, and bureaucratic silos. Heathrow: Civil Infrastructure, Same Problem Just weeks earlier, a fire at a 1960s-era substation shut down Heathr
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Original reporting: Latest from TechRadar US in News,opinion