UK terror attack WARNING: Get public ready for 'Hawaii-style missile alert', urges expert

Ray Kenney, from Track 24, was eager to talk to Express.co.uk about how vital it is the for the UK to adopt a similar system to the US, one that could drastically improve the response to a terror attack.

He explained: “I think it’s really important to control information in a positive way. Previously, before the mobile and internet era, the information didn’t flow as quickly so it might fall upon national press, for example, to communicate what has happened to people.

“So fast-forward to 2018 and people are connected so much, information is available before it comes through the official channels. So if you look at something like the false alarm we had at Oxford Circus last year or the London Bridge terror attacks, a lot of that information came from people sending Whatsapp’s and people sending Twitter messages before coming from any official source or organisation.

“I think to control information in that situation is extremely valuable because in the case of the Oxford Circus incident you can close the incident down quickly and in the event of an escalation like Manchester, you can start to steer people away from the problem area.

“Crucially with our type of technology you can start to understand how people have been affected and you can concentrate your response on the people that need it and not on the general population.”

Track 24 works with businesses and Government organisations – it provides them with passive tracking technologies that have similarities with the Hawaiian system.

Following the false alert on the island, Mr Kenney was eager to describe the flaws of the system and listed a number of improvements that could be made if the UK decided to adopt something similar.

He said: “I think the first thing is awareness, a lot of people were not aware of the alert system feature and the difference between that and an application is with an application people can become more familiar with the concept prior to the event.

“I think for many people seeing that message for the first time, they would not have been able to understand what it was in the first place. It is not instantly clear that it is from a Government organisation, so there are issues there about accountability and trust.”

The Hawaii alert issued a message to people on the island that warned them to “seek immediate shelter” and emphasised that “this is not a drill”.

However, the message did not specify who had sent the message and failed to provide real-time updates as the situation developed – Mr Kenney emphasised that the system “shouldn’t be bound by a 140 characters type of approach”.

He added: “I think it is important that the message has the ability to have more information, you shouldn’t be bound by a 140 characters type of approach.

“There should be a mechanism to have more information if available and also further updates and a trail so people can see clearly what has happened, here’s what to do about it and if there is an outcome, it should explain what that is.”

Despite the accidental deployment of the alert in Hawaii earlier this month, Mr Kenney believes the US will address the system’s criticisms and “take lessons” to prepare in the event the technology ever has to be used again.

He went on: “My opinion is they will take lessons from the incident and improve the system or create a new system designed to achieve the goal that they want.

“The goal that they want is to be able to communicate with vast sections of society in the event of an incident, how they do that is still subject to discussion.

“It is clearly a useful tool so long as it’s aware of privacy, so long as it’s accountable and so long as people are aware and trusted.

“I guess one of the issues they have here is recovering the trust element because the next time they send out one of these messages there might be some distrust. In the event of a real incident that could be very counterproductive for obvious reasons.”

The expert admitted that the probability of designing a system that could reach 100 per cent of a targeted area is “low” but detailed that a spread of information would take place that allows all channels to be made aware.

He explained: “So from our side, the organisations we work at, the chances of communicating a message in a timely manner to 100 per cent of those we want to target is low. People might have their phones switched off, they might not be near their phone or their phone might be in airplane mode.

“The purpose of these systems is to try and increase the number of people reached, not necessarily all people because the information exchange will improve at that stage because people who aren’t online will somehow be made aware of it by people who are online.

“I think this type of exchange of information is here to stay, it will be improved and it will become a part of life.”