Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Security (848 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Security

UK Broadband and Mobile Providers Balk at Ofcom’s Call for Battery Backup

7th August, 2024 (24 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has published some of the responses they’ve received from fixed broadband ISPs and mobile operators to their consultation on enhancing network resilience in order to “reduce the risk of network outages“ (here). Suffice to say that many operators are balking at the costs of deploying national battery backup.

Competition Watchdog Delays Three UK and Vodafone Merger Decision

2nd August, 2024 (32 Comments)

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it will need an additional 8 weeks to reach a conclusion on their Phase 2 investigation of the proposed mega-merger (here) between mobile operators Three UK and Vodafone. As a result, the deadline has been extended from 18th September 2024 to 7th December 2024.

Three UK Warn Customers Over Rise in Missed Parcel SMS Scams

2nd August, 2024 (12 Comments)

Mobile network operator Three UK has warned customers this week about an increase in fraudsters using “missed parcel” SMS (text) scam messages this summer, which are not a million miles from the fake DHL or FedEx delivery messages that tried to infect phones with malware a few years ago (and continue to do so today).

Internet Danger Websites with Scam Ads and Malware

Ofcom Orders UK Phones Providers to Add Tougher Scam Call Blocking

29th July, 2024 (10 Comments)

The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today given UK phone providers (fixed line and mobile) six months to implement changes that aim to help tackle scammers who call from abroad and imitate UK landline numbers (i.e. spoofed calls), which requires stricter measures against “Presentation Numbers” that are used to identify who is making a call.

Ofcom Propose New Ban to Tackle Abuse of UK Mobile Networks

22nd July, 2024 (8 Comments)

Market regulator Ofcom has proposed to ban UK telecoms operators from leasing Global Titles – numbers like +44 (for the United Kingdom) that support mobile services – to third parties. This is because such leasing can be misused to try and intercept messages and calls, disrupt the operation of networks and track the location of users of other networks.

Ofcom UK Hit BT with £17.5m Fine for 999 Call Handling Fault UPDATE

22nd July, 2024 (17 Comments)

The national regulator, Ofcom, has this morning hit BT with a fine of £17.5m for being “ill-prepared to respond to a catastrophic failure of its emergency call handling service last summer” (here), which readers may recall occurred after a technical fault (“complex software issue”) resulted in 14,000 emergency calls being disrupted. The disruption lasted for 10.5 hours.

Big Ben, London Westminster Bridge and Houses of Parliament - 123rf

King’s Speech Reveals Plans for New UK Cyber Security and Planning Reform Laws

17th July, 2024 (15 Comments)

The State Opening of Parliament – often referred to as the “King’s Speech” – took place today, which saw the new UK Government set out their agenda for the coming session. The speech included mentions of several bills that could potentially support the expansion of gigabit broadband and 5G mobile networks, as well as toughen cyber security and Digital Verification Services.

Linksys Velop Broadband Routers Can Leak Passwords in Cleartext UPDATE

17th July, 2024 (8 Comments)

Owners of the Linksys Velop Pro 6E and Pro 7 mesh routers, which are also used by some broadband connected consumers in the UK, are being advised to change the router’s passwords and Wi-Fi network names through an external web browser. The requirement comes after it was alleged that the models could transmit passwords in cleartext during the initial setup.

LetterOne Appeal Forced UK Sale of Broadband Network Upp to Nexfibre

10th July, 2024 (3 Comments)

LetterOne, the investment firm behind alternative network provider Upp’s £1bn project to deploy a new full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network across 1 million premises in the East of England (here), has asked the High Court of Justice in London to rule it was unlawfully ordered to sell the network by the UK Government.

Encrypted Computer Data by 123rf ID104712693

Network Operators and UK ISPs Warned of BlastRADIUS Vulnerability

9th July, 2024 (6 Comments)

A new critical security vulnerability has been discovered in the popular RADIUS network authentication protocol, which is used by networks across the world to help users connect with their services (i.e. everything from broadband ISPs to VPNs, mobile operators and more) and thus could leave them exposed to Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) style attacks.

EE UK Scam Guard on Smartphone email PR on 09072024

EE UK Launch New Scam Guard Add-on to Protect Mobile Customers

9th July, 2024 (6 Comments)

Broadband ISP and mobile network operator EE (BT) has today launched a new technology service for Pay Monthly mobile customers called ‘Scam Guard’, which is a network-level security defence that harness AI to better protect users from “nuisance calls, dark web hackers and phishing scams“. But it’s not free.

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Openreach Toughen Whereabouts Stance for Altnet UK Broadband Engineers UPDATE

29th June, 2024 (10 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has begun the process of toughening up their stance on compliance with their “whereabouts” rules. This could see them taking further contractual action against alternative UK broadband networks (altnets) that struggle to reach the necessary 90% performance threshold, which might eventually include restrictions on network access.

Northumberland Council Warn of Rise in UK Broadband Scammers

28th June, 2024 (0 Comments)

The Northumberland County Council (NCC) in England has put out a general warning to residents after observing a rise in “broadband-related cyber fraud“, which occurs when scammers attempt to impersonate your ISP in order to steal financial data and money. Some 68% of the reported victims have collectively lost £12.57k to this scam alone.

Vodafone UK Boost Internet Security of Pro II Broadband Packages

24th June, 2024 (5 Comments)

Mobile operator and broadband ISP Vodafone UK has this morning launched a new internet security service for their Pro II home broadband packages “at no extra cost“, called ‘Secure Net Home’, which is a combination of digital security and parental controls (filtering) that can be used on more than 150 connected devices in the home.

Lyca Mobile UK Auditor PKF Littlejohn Refuses to Sign Off Accounts

17th June, 2024 (12 Comments)

News reports have indicated that the auditor – PKF Littlejohn – for mobile network operator Lyca Mobile, which is a virtual operator (MVNO) on EE’s platform in the UK, were unable to sign off the company’s most recent accounts (to December 2022) due to various concerns, such as the recoverability of a due balance of nearly £150m.

Police Arrest Two Men Over Illegal UK Phone Mast and Smishing

12th June, 2024 (7 Comments)

In somewhat of a first for the United Kingdom, Police in the City of London area last week reported that they had arrested two men in connection with the investigation of an “illegitimate telephone mast” and antenna, which is believed to have been setup for the purpose of acting as an “SMS blaster”.

O2 UK Begins Rolling Out New, Free Caller Identification Feature

10th June, 2024 (11 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today officially confirmed that they’ve started rolling out Hiya’s new Brand ID technology to customers for free, which is a caller identification solution that can reduce the number of calls customers receive from unknown numbers (e.g. scammers) by providing details of the organisation making the call.