In my opinion the terrorist threat to the commercial sector is a very real and serious threat to the continuity of a business, but not all companies face the same direct threat, most companies would be affected by the collateral effects of a terrorist incident.
This narrative will not comment on the cyber terrorist which is as big a threat to businesses as is the destruction or damage to their premises as this is a paper in itself.
The UK has long faced terrorism from various sources the most significant threat throughout the 70’s and 80’s was from the Irish Republican Dissidents, their targeting was mainly of personnel, government officials, military personnel and police officers, however in the 90’s they changed tactics and started …show more content…

The dome of the Royal Exchange shifted in the blast; its reconstruction took two and a half years and cost £32 million, paid for by the National Lottery. (1. Wikipedia)
By comparison the events of 7th July 2005 in London whilst catastrophic in the numbers killed and injured, the impact on businesses was reported to be minimal, with obviously the transport links taking the longest to recover, most businesses that had contingency plans found after this event they had to review them as most had plans to deal with attacks on their buildings and not taking into account the knock on effect of disruption to transport links, phone systems and staff confidence etc.
Conclusion
The terrorist threat will remain a real unpredictable threat for some time with the lone wolf being the biggest threat, however it is reported that some Republican dissidents are trying to reorganise but it may be sometime before they are a serious threat on the mainland; numerous plots have been thwarted by the security services but it is incumbent on the business community at large to take responsibility for their continued operation by amending and or adopting practices such as emergency planning, business contingency plans and ensuring they have the correct insurance cover to deal with not only the direct impact of an incident i.e. damage to business property but the indirect impact, also having plans and policies