Aust business should firm up security because of terrorism-ASIO

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Aust business should firm up security because of terrorism-ASIO

SYDNEY, Feb 17 AAP - Australian businesses should firm up security plans because ofthe increased threat of global terrorism, the head of Australia's security organisationsaid today.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director general Dennis Richardsonsaid it was difficult to be specific about individual risks but companies needed to beaware of the threat from terrorism.

"It is not possible to be prescriptive about the implications (for) all those engagedin the Australian private sector as that would vary from industry to industry, from businessto business and from location to location," Mr Richardson said at an Australian IndustryGroup conference on managing business risks and threats to Australia's security.

Mr Richardson said self evidently, not all companies and businesses carried the same risk.

But he advised businesses to assess their individual exposure to the threat of terrorism.

"Whatever the security of individual companies, it would be wise for those who havenot already done so ... to review security arrangements and to make conscious risk managementdecisions based on expert advise of their own circumstances," he said.

Mr Richardson said factors affecting businesses were varied, including whether a companyin a particular sector had been previously targeted by terrorists, whether the companywas part of national infrastructure, did the company manufacture or transport explosiveswhich could be used in attacks and whether the company had an overseas presence.

AAP jm/rp/sh

KEYWORD: TERROR RICHARDSON