Homegrown terrorism is still rife and businesses need to be vigilant, according to Aon

German authorities began searching on Thursday for 10 suspects believed to be linked to a terror network operating on the continent.

According to recent reports, the suspects are believed to have provided assistance to three men accused of plotting attacks against US interests in Germany.

The men already in custody were detained on Tuesday following raids in 30 locations across Germany.

Justin Priestley, executive director Aon's crisis management team, commented: "The plot proves that terrorist activity is still bubbling underneath the surface even if a country has not suffered an actual attack. The failed attack on Glasgow airport in June reinforces this. It highlights the trend for more disjointed terrorism efforts from individuals who may not have past links to such activities. Positively, it's demonstrated that terrorist activity is on the radar of the security services.

He added: “However, it makes it impossible to predict who a terrorist could be and everyone from the government to businesses should be involved in helping to pick up signs of a possible attack. Terrorists are most vulnerable in the months of planning leading up to an attack and it's during this reconnaissance period when colleagues, for example, would be most likely to notice suspicious activity.”

Aon offered the following advice to businesses assessing the threat of terrorism.

To review:

“The plot proves that terrorist activity is still bubbling underneath the surface even if a country has not suffered an actual attack.

Justin Priestley, executive director Aon's crisis management team

• Which countries do we operate in? Have they experienced actual or planned terrorist attacks?

• Are you in a vulnerable sector such as pharmaceutical, transport, infrastructure, hotels?

• Are you located near key threats such as an American embassy or an airport?

• What are the likely forms of attack eg. vehicle or suicide attack?

From this point, companies can introduce suitable mitigating measures and then quantify the cost of the impact including physical damage and to reputation. Businesses need to protect themselves through both robust risk management and risk transfer.

The plot discovery is unlikely to have any impact on terrorism insurance rates as there hasn't actually been an incident. Germany also has a terrorism pool, Extremus, which operates in a similar way to the UK's Pool Re."

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