Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Internet Privacy (364 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Internet Privacy

Illustration of a VPN Virtual Private Network on UK Computer by 123rf ID184214833

Rights Holders Move Closer to Imposing Website Blocks on VPN Providers

9th February, 2025 (30 Comments)

Rights Holders, having recently succeeded in forcing even some third-party public Domain Name System (DNS) resolvers to block websites that have been found to facilitate internet copyright infringement (piracy), are now turning their attention to major Virtual Private Networks (VPN) like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN, and others.

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Virgin Media O2 UK Blocked 168 Million Suspected Fraud Texts Over Past 2 Years

5th February, 2025 (5 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today revealed that their UK network blocked 168 million suspected fraudulent text messages from reaching customers over the past two years (up from 89 million texts in 2023), with scams including fake TikTok job offers, and deals and discounts for popular brands.

Internet Danger Websites with Scam Ads and Malware

UK Phones Providers Introduce Tougher Blocking of Foreign Scam Calls

29th January, 2025 (10 Comments)

Ofcom has confirmed that, from today, UK phone providers (fixed line and mobile) are expected to have implemented changes that aim to block scammers who call from abroad and imitate UK landline numbers (i.e. spoofed calls). Further measures are also expected to follow “later this year“, which will tackle spoofed mobile numbers.

Mobile giant Vodafone UK and Sky (Comcast) have reportedly two among several "groups" that have approached budget conscious fixed broadband ISP TalkTalk about a potential deal (most likely an acquisition), which in theory could create a much larger provider with more influence over the industry. Just to recap. In 2020 TalkTalk became the subject of a £1.1bn takeover by Toscafund - controlled by hedge fund tycoon Martin Hughes (here), which including debt valued the broadband provider at around £1.8bn. The deal took the ISP private and gave them more financial flexibility for their future plans. Since then, they've backed Freedom Fibre (here) and this week made the notable acquisition of Ethernet provider Virtual1 (here). According to the FT (paywall) and Sky News, TalkTalk is now said to have asked investment bank Lazard to review its options after allegedly being approach by several groups, including Vodafone and Sky (Sky Broadband). Lazard is a logical choice as they recently acted as Financial Advisor to TalkTalk on the Virtual1 transaction. Some industry analysts have reportedly suggested that TalkTalk itself could now be worth "at least" £3bn. But this seems rather optimistic for an ISP that doesn't have any significant fixed line broadband infrastructure to call its own (excluding their old unbundled LLU network) and largely just piggybacks off Openreach (BT), CityFibre and Freedom Fibre. But TalkTalk do have a strong business and wholesale side. Funnily enough, Sky Broadband are in a similar position with their own fixed line base, while Vodafone also likes to piggyback off Openreach and CityFibre. At present, Vodafone has a fixed broadband base of 991,000 customers, while Sky Broadband is estimated to be home to around 6.7 million and TalkTalk has approximately 4.2 million. Suffice to say, anybody gobbling up TalkTalk would instantly become a much larger provider, giving them a greater say in how the UK broadband market develops and more opportunities for convergence (Vodafone with mobile, and Sky with mobile and TV). Crucially, TalkTalk's consumer base is mostly made up of those on older copper and hybrid fibre lines (i.e. ADSL and FTTC / VDSL2), which are ripe for a future migration to FTTP. At the time of writing, all of the aforementioned operators have decline to comment on the reports, and TalkTalk has yet to receive any serious formal offers. In other words, we strongly suspect that this is largely just an exercise in spin to help TalkTalk drum up some more productive interest in the idea. But at the same time, it's not unreasonable to suspect that they might succeed, as the interest seems genuine. On the other hand, we see reports like this every year or so and only a very few ever convert into a serious offer. Time will tell. Much may depend upon whether or not TalkTalk’s new owners are more flexible and pragmatic about doing a deal than the previous lot. Arguably, TalkTalk might have gone much further by now had they taken some different decisions a few years ago (e.g. co-investing in FTTP instead of Pay TV).

Budget Broadband ISP TalkTalk Probes Possible UK Data Breach

25th January, 2025 (9 Comments)

Customers of debt-troubled UK internet provider TalkTalk have been given an uncomfortable reminder of the 2015 cyberattack (here), which came after the ISP admitted that it was “investigating” reports on a cybercrime forum that alleged the provider had suffered a new data breach.

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O2 UK Reveals First Insights from AI Granny Created to Waste Scammers Time

23rd January, 2025 (19 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) launched a “human-like” AI (Artificial Intelligence) ‘Granny’ called Daisy in November last year (here), which was designed to answer calls in real-time from fraudsters and keep them busy (away from customers) for as long as possible. Since then, the bot has chatted with over 1,000 scam callers, and it’s learnt a few things.

ICO Confirms it’s Still Investigating Lyca Mobile UK’s 2023 Data Breach

18th January, 2025 (0 Comments)

In a small update, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has confirmed to ISPreview that their investigation into the September 2023 cyberattack and data breach of mobile network operator Lyca Mobile (here) is still “ongoing“. But the ICO declined to answer why it was taking so long to reach a conclusion.

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Ofcom Begin Process of Imposing Age Verification on UK Internet Sites

16th January, 2025 (52 Comments)

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today moved forward with implementation of the government’s tedious new Online Safety Act (OSA) by publishing industry guidance on how websites and social media services should introduce “effective age checks“. The goal is to prevent children from encountering online porn and protect them from other harmful content.

Millions of VPN Servers and Routers Exposed to New Tunnelling Protocol Vulnerabilities

15th January, 2025 (14 Comments)

Security and VPN researchers Simon Migliano and Mathy Vanhoef have published a new report today that warns “over 4 million internet hosts“, including VPN servers and private home broadband routers, were found to be vulnerable to being hijacked to perform anonymous attacks and provide access to their private networks – thanks to “new vulnerabilities in multiple tunneling protocols“.

Internet and UK Telecoms Security Picture by 123rf

UK Internet Domain Registry Nominet Suffers Cyber Attack

9th January, 2025 (2 Comments)

The UK internet domain registry, Nominet, has confirmed to ISPreview that their network has suffered an “unauthorised intrusion” after hackers exploited a “zero-day vulnerability” in the Virtual Private Network (VPN) software they use, which is supplied by Ivanti and enables their people to access systems remotely.

Scam Alert UK Finger on Computer Keyboard Warning

Scam Callers Target Broadband ISP BT’s UK Digital Voice Switchover

8th January, 2025 (15 Comments)

Consumer magazine Which? has warned customers of UK broadband ISP BT (inc. EE) to be on alert for phone scammers who are now actively impersonating BT’s support agents in order to exploit the ongoing migration onto digital landlines (Digital Voice). The scammers do this by trying to con customers into sharing their financial (payment) details.

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ISP Virgin Media UK Warns Parental Controls on New Devices Still Confuse

18th December, 2024 (9 Comments)

A new survey of 1,020 people in the UK, which was conduct by Strand Partners on behalf of broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) and Internet Matters, has found that 44% of parents don’t know how to add safety controls or tools to the tech (devices) they’re planning to gift this Christmas. This is despite 82% being worried about their children having unrestricted access to the internet.

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Ofcom Publish New Online UK Internet Safety Codes of Practice

16th December, 2024 (20 Comments)

Ofcom has today published the “first edition” of its new online UK safety codes of practice for “tech firms” (e.g. social media) and smaller websites under the government’s Online Safety Act (OSA). Providers now have 3 months to ensure they’re able to tackle “illegal harms” (content), such as terror, hate, fraud, child sexual abuse and assisting or encouraging suicide.

Ransomware Group Claims to Have Breached One of BT’s UK Systems

5th December, 2024 (9 Comments)

Broadband and telecoms giant BT Group has confirmed that a ransomware gang made an “attempt” to compromise their BT Conferencing business platform. The group, which calls itself Black Basta, claims to have stolen 500GB (GigaBytes) of sensitive and financial data, although the UK operator has yet to confirm this.

Virgin Media O2 UK Creates AI Granny to Waste Scammers Time UPDATE

14th November, 2024 (18 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has done something rather crafty by creating a “human-like” AI (Artificial Intelligence) ‘Granny’ called Daisy, which is designed to answer calls in real-time from fraudsters and then keep them on the phone and away from customers for as long as possible – wasting them time and money.

Three UK Warn of SURGE in Mobile Scams Over Black Friday and XMas

8th November, 2024 (4 Comments)

Mobile operator Three UK has warned consumers to be extra cautious around the festive season due to a significant increase in fraudsters targeting mobile users. The operator noted how, at the same time last year, their network tracked a 300% increase in scams around Black Friday and a 500% uptick in fraud or SMS-based scams reported over Christmas.

Parliament UK Building at Dusk in London 2021

New UK Data Use and Access Bill to Aid Utility Maps and ISP Comparisons

24th October, 2024 (3 Comments)

The UK government has today unveiled details of their new Data Use and Access Bill (DUAB), which aims to deliver a £10bn economy boost by “unlocking the secure and effective use of data for the public interest“. The measures will also support personalised market comparisons for utility pricing and a new digital map of underground broadband cables and pipes on a “statutory footing“.

Ofcom UK Investigate Tismi Over Possible Misuse of Phone Numbers

18th October, 2024 (10 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today opened a new investigation into communications provider, Tismi, which will assess whether the company has failed in its duty to ensure that phone numbers allocated to it are not being misused, including to perpetrate scams.