Terrorists do not strike at random, and now a computer program can calculate the risk of an attack on behalf of the business sector with a particular vested interest in the issue: insurers.
"We don't agree with their ends, but they are not madmen. They have a logic, we can understand it," said Andrew Coburn, director of the terrorism department of Risk Management Solutions (RMS), a risk modeling agency specializing in disasters, after a meeting of major European insurers and reinsurers.
Coburn and his 40-member team at RMS map the logic of terrorist attacks, converting statistical, historical, military, geographical and industrial data and advice from defense experts into trends, graphs and ratios.
The result is a computer program, now in its fourth edition, that gives subscribers an estimate of the risk of having to provide insurance cover for a terrorist attack in 228 countries.
In the case of the cities most at risk of being targeted, it can give an estimate based on individual streets or buildings. Clients enter into the software the coordinates of the buildings they insure against terrorism.
"We run the analysis and tell them: if you have a bomb of, say, 2 tonnes in this location, the cost to you would be US$10 million," Coburn said.
"We use statistical patterns of risk. We look at the intentions of the terrorists: they tell us a lot about their intentions, we have to listen. They publish, they tell us their reasons" he added. "We know what they are trying to achieve."
The system aims to give insurers data for setting the prices they charge clients and also to alert them if they pass a certain threshold of risk of a terrorist incident in places particularly prone to attacks.
According to RMS, the six top European "hot spots", representing the risk of maximum pay-outs following a terrorist attack, are all in central London.
After these, the seventh highest on the list is the second arrondissement, or borough, of central Paris.
Worldwide, Manhattan ranks among the most high-risk places, containing five of the locations most prone to terrorists' attacks.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
RSS