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Articles for Category Tag - Security

BT Begin Replacing UK 4G and 5G Mobile Kit from Huawei in Hull

17th May, 2021 (9 Comments)

The BT Group (EE) has officially started its £500m programme to remove and replace Huawei’s 4G and 5G mobile (mobile broadband) kit within their UK network, with the city of Hull in East Yorkshire being the first on a long list of 12,000 mobile masts and rooftop sites that will need to be done (they run a total of 18,000 sites).

Supporters Named for New DNS Resolver Policy to Improve Privacy

13th May, 2021 (0 Comments)

The recently proposed ‘European DNS Resolver Policy‘, which aims to foster better standards for privacy and transparency across resolver services for the internet’s Domain Name System (e.g. those run by UK ISPs and third-party providers), has today secured support from several leading organisations.

Millions of UK WiFi Routers and Devices at Risk of FragAttacks

13th May, 2021 (0 Comments)

A Belgian security researcher, Mathy Vanhoef, has uncovered a bunch of new vulnerabilities in Wi-Fi (wireless networking) technology that stem from a mix of historic design flaws and programming mistakes, some of which may have been present since all the way back in 1997! You’re about to hear a lot about “FragAttacks.“

Gov Publish UK Online Safety Bill to Censor “Harmful” Content UPDATE

12th May, 2021 (23 Comments)

After much delay the UK Government will today publish a draft of their new Online Safety Bill (Online Harms), which among other things hands Ofcom a new “legal duty of care” that can be used to force websites into removing “harmful” internet content. Failing to do so may risk being fined or blocked by mobile and broadband ISPs.

smartphone with incoming call from unknown person

1 Billion Nuisance Calls Made to People in the UK in 2021

10th May, 2021 (23 Comments)

New data from caller ID verification firm Hiya has reported that over 1 billion nuisance calls (e.g. silent calls, spam or frauds) have been made to people in the United Kingdom in 2021 so far and, more worrying perhaps, nuisance call volumes are currently increasing at a rate of 30% every month.

Study Finds Security Flaws in Routers Bundled by Big UK ISPs

6th May, 2021 (18 Comments)

A new study from consumer magazine Which? has warned that millions of UK consumers may be “at risk of being hacked in their homes” because the “outdated” broadband router they use, as supplied by several major ISPs including EE, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Vodafone, could contain potential security flaws.

Mobile Operators and Ofcom Warn of Scam DHL and FedEx Text

30th April, 2021 (8 Comments)

We’ve had several of these and there’s a good chance you have too. This week has seen Ofcom and all the major mobile operators – EE, Vodafone, Three UK and O2 – issue warns to customers about a surprisingly prevalent piece of malware called FluBot, which sends fake DHL or FedEx delivery messages that can infect your phone.

New Resolver Policy Proposed to Improve Internet DNS Privacy

30th March, 2021 (0 Comments)

A new industry initiative – the ‘European DNS Resolver Policy‘ – has been established that aims to foster better standards for privacy and transparency across resolver services for the internet’s Domain Name System (DNS), such as those run by UK or European broadband ISPs and third-party services (e.g. Google Public DNS).

ICO and Ofcom See Recent UK Surge in Nuisance and Scam Calls

23rd March, 2021 (22 Comments)

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Ofcom have today published an update to their joint plan for tackling nuisance and scam calls, which comes after they both reported a surge in complaints from September/October to December 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

router broadband connection cut by 123rf 158727424

The New UK Telecoms Security Bill is Starting to Look a Bit Ugly

16th March, 2021 (10 Comments)

At present most of the mentions you’ll see around the UK Government’s new Telecoms Security Bill (TSB) tend to involve Huawei’s ban (here) and its impact upon FTTP broadband or 5G mobile networks, but as time goes on it’s becoming increasingly clear that the bill hides a number of other nasty surprises.

Error message concept. Alert, attention notification. Important reminder

Security Fail Allowed TalkTalk Customer to See Different Person’s Account UPDATE

13th March, 2021 (32 Comments)

One of TalkTalk’s UK broadband ISP customers, who asked to remain anonymous, has criticised the provider for being “staggeringly uninterested” after he reported a security flaw, which persisted for the best part of a week and enabled him to see the private personal account details of a different subscriber.

Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

11th March, 2021 (72 Comments)

Two unnamed broadband or mobile ISPs are reportedly helping the UK Home Office and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to trial a new internet snooping system on their customers, which is being conducted as part of the controversial 2016 UK Investigatory Powers Act (aka – snoopers charter).

MPs Warn UK Gov’s 5G Diversification Strategy Lacks Clear Targets

4th February, 2021 (9 Comments)

The cross-party UK Science and Technology Committee has warned that the Government’s 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy, which aspires to ensure that mobile operators have a better choice of suppliers after Huawei’s ban, lacks “clear milestones” and detail. The strong focus on OpenRAN is also not “guaranteed” to succeed.

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).

Broadband ISP TalkTalk Preps New UK Smart Home Protection

21st January, 2021 (16 Comments)

Budget conscious internet provider TalkTalk appears to be nearing completion of a new ‘Smart Home Protection‘ service (app), which is currently being trialled by a number of their broadband customers and looks to be an upgrade of their existing ‘Supersafe Boost’ (usually costs an extra £4 per month) and HomeSafe service.

Censorship image of hands bound by rope by 123rf (133819162)

UK Internet Censorship – Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t

18th January, 2021 (68 Comments)

Prompted by Donald Trump’s ban from social media, calls are once again growing from politicians for internet sites to be held liable if they remove lawful content and users. Soon it may be a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t, as the future approach toward protecting freedom of speech risks doing the opposite.

NordVPN Moving Network from 1Gbps to 10Gbps Servers UPDATE

21st December, 2020 (9 Comments)

NordVPN, which is a popular Virtual Private Network (VPN) provider, has announced that they’re upgrading more of their infrastructure to adopt 10Gbps (Gigabits per second) capable servers in order to boost speeds. London, Singapore, and a part of the US are planned to go live by the end of this year.

Trustwave Find Security Holes in D-Link’s DSL-2888A Router

17th December, 2020 (0 Comments)

Digital security specialists at Trustwave (SpiderLabs) have once again found “numerous security vulnerabilities” in one of D-Link’s home broadband routers, specifically the DSL-2888A, which could allow a malicious WiFi or local network user to gain unauthorised access to the device.