Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Crime (226 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Crime

Mobile Operators in UK Competition Moan vs Apple Private Relay

14th March, 2022 (14 Comments)

The Mobile UK trade body, which represents Three UK, EE (BT), O2 (VMO2) and Vodafone, has called upon the Competition and Markets Authority to probe the impact of Apple’s new iCloud linked internet privacy tool – ‘Private Relay‘ – due to concerns over its negative impacts on their network optimisation and filtering measures.

Error message concept. Alert, attention notification. Important reminder

Government Extends UK Online Safety Bill to Tackle Scam Adverts

8th March, 2022 (15 Comments)

The UK Government has today announced that their controversial new Online Safety Bill (OSB) will be extended to add a new duty, which aims to bring fraudulent paid-for adverts on social media and internet search engines into scope, whether they are controlled by the platform itself or an advertising intermediary.

Copper Thieves Strike Openreach’s Network in Cambridgeshire AGAIN

25th February, 2022 (20 Comments)

The previous offer of a £20K reward to help catch those responsible for a string of copper cable thefts in rural Cambridgeshire (England) has not been effective, yet. Openreach’s (BT) network in the county has again been hit by the crime, which saw 3.4km of underground cable stolen and broadband disrupted for 3,000 properties.

Sky Mobile Moves to Protect UK Customers from SIM Swap Fraud

25th February, 2022 (3 Comments)

Sky (Sky Broadband) has today announced that they’re implementing JT‘s Fraud Protection Services (FPS) on their Sky Mobile service, which will introduce additional security measures to help protect customers that are carrying out financial transactions on their mobile device.

Ofcom Crackdown on Number Spoofing to Tackle UK SPAM Calls

23rd February, 2022 (11 Comments)

Last year the national telecoms regulator, Ofcom, estimated that 44.6 million UK people may have received scam calls and text messages during just the three months of summer (here), with 2% of recipients being duped by them. In response, the regulator has today proposed changes to tackle the use of fake phone numbers.

Censorship Blocked Website Message by UK ISP

High Court Orders Big UK ISPs to Block Cyberlocker Website

7th February, 2022 (18 Comments)

The High Court has ordered six of the UK’s largest broadband ISPs – Sky Broadband, BT, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and EE – to block customers from accessing a website called Mixdrop, which is described as a “cyberlocker” that facilitated internet piracy (copyright infringement) by allowing users to stream or download TV and film content.

Copper Cable Thieves Cut Broadband in Lincolnshire UK Village UPDATE

1st February, 2022 (12 Comments)

The Lincolnshire Police are appealing for witnesses after criminals ripped up 1,000 metres worth of Openreach’s (BT) copper broadband and phone cable from Mareham Lane in Scredington, south of Sleaford. As a result, local homes and businesses in the village are said to have been left cut-off for days.

broken network cable with suspicious hamster

PLEASE Put Those Exposed “WiFi Cables” in a Proper Conduit

29th January, 2022 (12 Comments)

A number of residents in several parts of Edinburgh (e.g. Bonnington, Newhaven and Great Junction Street) have been left without a working broadband ISP or phone service for up to a week, which occurred after vandals cut through the exposed “WiFi cables” that ran outside their homes and flats.

GBP20,000 Reward to Help Catch Openreach UK Cable Thieves

20th January, 2022 (29 Comments)

A string of damaging copper cable thefts in rural Cambridgeshire (England), which repeatedly knocked out broadband and phone services for hundreds of homes on Openreach’s (BT) network in the villages of Swavesey and Witchford, have resulted in the operator offering a reward of £20,000 to help catch those responsible.

Security Flaw in NetUSB Hits Millions of Broadband and WiFi Routers

12th January, 2022 (2 Comments)

Security firm SentinelLabs has revealed a serious new vulnerability in KCodes NetUSB kernel module, which could enable hackers to remotely hijack various routers. Sadly, the flaw appears to affect millions of end user broadband and WiFi routers from major brands (e.g. NETGEAR, Edimax, D-Link, Tenda, TP-Link and Western Digital).

Criminals Attack Openreach’s Network in Witchford.. AGAIN

4th January, 2022 (23 Comments)

Broadband and phone services have been disrupted for a second time in the Witchford area of Cambridgeshire (England) after thieves caused “significant damage” by cutting through one of Openreach’s secure boxes. But it’s unclear what, if anything, was actually stolen as a result of this attack.

Cable Theft Knocks Out Broadband for 1,000 Premises Around Ely UPDATE

17th December, 2021 (7 Comments)

Around 1,000 premises in the Witchford and Ely area of Cambridgeshire (England) have been left without a fully working broadband ISP and phone connection after criminals ripped up and stole some of Openreach’s underground copper cables. Local residents have been told that the damage could take up to 14 days to fix.

Fake Virgin Media UK Broadband Engineers Charged Over Thefts

29th November, 2021 (2 Comments)

The Leicester Crown Court has sent one man to prison, with another facing an arrest warrant, after the pair were found to have posed as fake broadband ISP engineers in order to steal telecoms equipment from several storage containers, which belonged to Virgin Media (VMO2).

Ofcom Tell UK Phone Operators to Block Foreign VoIP Scam Calls UPDATE

25th October, 2021 (23 Comments)

The UK telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, has reportedly taken radical action to curb the plague of scam calls, which it is attempting to achieve by “ordering” major phone operators to automatically block any “suspicious” Voice-over-Internet (VoIP) calls that come from abroad if they pretend to come from numbers in the UK.

Scam Calls and Texts Hit 45 Million UK People Over Summer UPDATE

20th October, 2021 (16 Comments)

The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has estimated that 44.6 million UK people may have received scam calls and text messages during the past three months (summer period). But worryingly, around 2% of those who received such a message or call (roughly a million people) reported following the scammers’ instructions.

Apple’s Private Relay Service Creates Challenges for UK ISPs

5th October, 2021 (24 Comments)

Technology giant Apple recently released their iOS 15 software for iPad (15.5) and iPhones, which introduced a new feature called ‘iCloud Private Relay’ that “hides your IP address and browsing activity [when using Safari] so that no one – including Apple – can see [it].” Naturally, the UK Government and broadband ISPs have concerns.

Openreach Offer GBP20K Reward for Info on Essex Cable Thefts

29th September, 2021 (3 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach (BT) are offering a reward of up to £20,000 – via Crimestoppers – for information that results in the conviction of those responsible for a string of copper telecoms (broadband and phone) cable thefts in Essex (England), which have recently plagued parts of Roothing, Epping and Harlow.