Telecoms companies are the most vulnerable businesses in Britain to cyber attacks, yet spend the least on defending themselves against hackers, according to an industry-wide survey. Mobile and broadband providers were found to be most at risk of being attacked by hackers because they hold highly-prized customer information, according to the study from the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR).

Economists at the CEBR modelled how a real cyber attack would affect a cross-section of the British economy, including the telecoms, utilities, retail, banking and insurance sectors. They found that telecoms companies were the most vulnerable due to the nature of sensitive information stored, the value of this data and low levels of investment in cyber security.

More than half of telecoms bosses who took part in the survey believed their company would experience a significant breach within a year’s time.

PTT is currently developing an online course that provides an overview of the threats faced by telecommunications providers and describes ways of reducing the vulnerability of telecoms services to unauthorised access, disruption and personal data theft.

This Telecoms security online course is suitable for all those involved in ensuring service availability and data protection in the telecoms sector.

To receive further information about this course including its release date, please contact PTT.

On the 29th of June 2007, Apple launched the first iPhone. Although the iPhone was not the first smartphone, its innovative user interface became the template for the design of the phones that we depend on today.
Right from the start, the device had the full-colour, multi-touch screen and had the same basic interface still in use today, from pinch-to-zoom to inertial scrolling on lists. It looked like nothing else, and sold a million units in just over two months.

The first iPhone, however, lacked the high-speed connectivity we take for granted now. It relied on the second generation mobile systems available at the time and used GPRS/EDGE technology. The App store, perhaps a major influence on the iPhone’s success was not launched until a year later.

Another birthday – the 999 emergency service was launched 80 years ago in London although the rest of the UK could not call 999 to reach the police, fire or ambulance services until after the end of the second world war. Most emergency calls are now made from mobile phones.

PTT offers online courses covering all aspects of mobile communications including those that provide an introduction to mobile technology.

The WannaCry attack on the British national health service and many other organisations around the world has focussed minds on the possibility of major disruption of a nation’s critical infrastructure from cyber attack.

Any disruption to Telecommunications services would obviously have a significant impact on all our lives. But cyber attack is just one of the threats that telecoms operators must guard against.

PTT is currently developing an online course that provides an overview of the threats faced by telecommunications providers and describes ways of reducing the vulnerability of telecoms services to unauthorised access, disruption and personal data theft. The course also gives examples of how criminals can misuse telecoms services for financial gain and describes how to detect and block such activities.

This Telecoms security online course is suitable for all those involved in ensuring service availability and data protection in the telecoms sector.

To receive further information about this course including its release date, please contact PTT.