Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Crime (320 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Crime

UK Court Forces Big ISPs to Block 21 New P2P Torrent Websites

24th October, 2014 (9 Comments)

As expected several major record labels and trade bodies, including the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), Sony Music and Universal Music etc., have successfully won multiple court orders that will force all of the country’s largest broadband ISPs to block their customers from accessing 21 P2P Torrent (BitTorrent) indexes, which were found to be facilitating Internet copyright infringement (piracy).

800 Virgin Media Customers Pursued by Internet Porn Piracy Lawyers

24th October, 2014 (2 Comments)

The threat of “speculative invoicing” appears to have re-emerged in the United Kingdom after a long running, but not widely reported, battle between Virgin Media and London law firm Wagner & Co resulted in the UK cable operator being forced to release the details of 800 customers whom are alleged to have shared “illegal” copyright content online.

Marriott Hotel Fined for Blocking Guests Personal WiFi Hotspots

7th October, 2014 (1 Comment)

Sadly not all hotels offer a WiFi Internet service and some even charge excessive amounts for access, although in most of these cases it’s often possible to get your computer online by using a Smartphone to setup a personal WiFi hotspot via a Mobile Broadband link (3G, 4G). At least it is unless your hotel decides to deliberately block personal WiFi.

BT Copper Cable Theft Causes Internet Outages in Croydon and Sutton

30th September, 2014 (24 Comments)

Thousands of homes and businesses in the London boroughs of Croydon and Sutton have had their broadband and phone services disrupted after criminals pulled 140 metres worth of BT’s valuable copper telecoms cable out of the ground last week.

Thousands Cut-off After Theft of BT Copper Telecoms Cable in Billingham

23rd September, 2014 (27 Comments)

Criminals have disrupted the broadband and phone services for at least 5,000 people and businesses in the North East England town of Billingham (Durham), which is home to a total population of 36,000+, after they stole large sections of vital copper telecoms cable from BT’s local network.

FREE WiFi Plan for Newcastle and Gateshead At Risk Over GOWEX Trouble

7th July, 2014 (3 Comments)

The new plan to roll-out a free wireless Internet (wifi hotspot) network across “scores of public areas” in Newcastle and Gateshead (North East England) could be at risk after it emerged that Spain-based GOWEX, which had been appointed to setup the new infrastructure, had falsified its accounts and filed for bankruptcy.

24 Million Home Routers and ISPs Open to DNS DDoS Amplification Attacks

2nd April, 2014 (1 Comment)

A new report from Nominum, which provides ISPs with DNS based analytics and monetization solutions, has claimed that 24 million home broadband routers, including many in the UK, could be exposing ISPs and their users to becoming unwitting participants in massive Internet DNS-based Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

ATVOD Demand Mandatory UK Internet Age Checks for Adult Websites

28th March, 2014 (2 Comments)

The Authority for Television On Demand has called on the Government to reinforce in law the requirement for UK operators of adult websites, specifically those that peddle pornography, to put workable Age Verification in front of R18 content or risk having their funding sources blocked. Now they just need to figure out the “how“.

European Court of Justice Says ISPs Must Block Piracy Websites

27th March, 2014 (8 Comments)

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has today ruled that Internet Service Providers (ISP) across the EU can now be ordered to block their customers from being able to access a copyright-infringing website (e.g. The Pirate Bay). But national courts will still have the final say.

Piracy Website Blocks by UK ISPs Trigger 20 Percent Fall in P2P Traffic

24th March, 2014 (12 Comments)

The annual Digital Music Report 2014 from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has claimed that the website blocking measures implemented by ISPs have become a “widely-accepted and effective way of curbing piracy online“, especially in Europe and the UK where BitTorrent (P2P) file sharing traffic is said to have fallen.

BT Changes UK Phone Call Clearing Procedure to Stop Fraudsters

12th March, 2014 (7 Comments)

BT are about to make a small but important change, which will significantly reduce the time that a phone call connection is held open (active) after the called party puts their handset down (i.e. such as when you end a voice call). It’s hoped this will make it more difficult for fraudsters to trick people into thinking they’ve called a legitimate service.

Is it the ISPs Fault if Your Home Broadband Router Gets Hacked?

11th March, 2014 (21 Comments)

As consumers we have a right to be huffy at our ISPs when something goes wrong. But is the Internet provider still to blame if, as in the recent cases of AAISP and now PlusNet, your home broadband router ends up being hijacked by a DNS redirection exploit?

UPD Hackers Hijack 300K Home and Office Broadband Routers from Big Brands

4th March, 2014 (2 Comments)

Researchers working for Team Cymru’s Threat Intelligence Group have discovered that over 300,000 consumer-grade small office / home (SOHO) broadband routers, including those from brands like ZyXEL, D-Link, Micronet, Tenda, TP-Link and others, have been hijacked as part of a man-in-the-middle style attack.

Labour Party Moot 3rd Attempt to Revive UK Internet Snooping Law

3rd March, 2014 (6 Comments)

The British Labour Party looks set to take a 3rd swipe at reviving their failed Internet Snooping laws, which over the past 6 years have twice been rejected due to issues of unpopularity, cost, technical viability and general confusion.

UPDATE North Yorkshire Police Investigate Wireless Broadband ISP Kit Theft

13th February, 2014 (0 Comments)

The North Yorkshire Police (England) have launched an investigation after a wireless broadband server, which helped to provide Internet access to the local area, was stolen from a mast located close to Newton-upon-Rawcliffe on Sunday 9th February 2014.

Innocent Home Owners Suffer Due to Crimes Committed on their Open WiFi

3rd February, 2014 (5 Comments)

The Scottish Government’s “Cyber Integrator” (cybercrime tzar), Keith McDevitt, has warned home owners to close their open wifi networks (wireless) after finding that an increasing number of cyber criminals, such as Internet paedophiles, were using them to commit offences that ISPs often trace back to innocent broadband users.

BT Openreach Launch Cable Theft and Damage Report Service for UK ISPs

18th December, 2013 (9 Comments)

BTOpenreach has announced that its LIVE cable monitoring system, which proactively notifies broadband ISPs and phone operators about Major Service Outage’s on BT’s national UK telecoms network (specifically those that stem from cable damage or theft), is now out of its long trial and has been made available to ISPs.