The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has just released its detailed report on the security of the UK’s telecommunications sector. The recent UK government’s decision on the role of the Chinese telecoms equipment manufacturer Huawei broadly adheres to the NCSC’s recommendations.

The NCSC report discusses possible threats to telecommunications systems and appropriate mitigation of the risks posed by those threats.

The NCSC recommendations include the development of Telecoms Security Requirements (TSRs) that will provide clarity to telecoms operators as to the security controls they should implement.

The NCSC also recommends that high risk vendors should be excluded from core networks. They also recommend the diversification of the telecoms market to avoid a high risk vendor becoming the dominant supplier of telecoms equipment.

The setting up of a national telecoms lab is also recommended. This lab will act as a research facility and amenity for academia, government bodies and telecoms operators to enhance and test the security of telecoms systems.

The PTT online course “Telecommunications systems security” provides an overview of the protection of personal data held by telecommunications providers against misuse and the protection of telecoms systems against intrusion and fraudulent misuse.

In the last few years, there have been significant changes to how telephony services are provided driven by the convergence of telephony and data communications. The use of voice over IP gives greater flexibility for users and reduced costs for both providers and users.
The PTT’s online course “Telephony and data services” gives a comprehensive overview of how communications services are provided, and the facilities available to residential and business users
A new module of the course covers the provision of telephony for businesses with emphasis on IP telephony and Internet telephony service provision.
This “Telephony and data services” course, which is aimed at communications technicians and managers, is suitable for use in digital apprenticeships.

It has historically taken about 20 years for each mobile generation to reach its peak usage while a new generation has been introduced on average every 10 years.

This means some areas are served by several generations of mobile system from 2G through to 5G.

Therefore, mobile system technicians need an appreciation of the operation and features of all current generations.

Also, understanding how mobile systems have evolved towards the latest 5G systems gives a deeper insight into how maximum capacity and speeds are achieved in cellular networks.

This is the approach taken in the PTT course “Introduction to mobile systems” and its new companion course “Mobile radio communications“.