Hackers steal the data of millions of AT&T customers

A vendor hack has resulted in the data of millions of AT&T customers being stolen.

AT&T is sending emails to around nine million customers to alert them of the theft of their data.

The attackers did not breach AT&T directly but compromised the systems of a marketing vendor used by the US telecom giant.

All impacted users had CPNI (Customer Proprietary Network Information) stolen, including phone numbers, full names, and email addresses. A smaller...

13 March 2023 | AT&T

Russian hackers disrupt NATO comms used for earthquake relief

Russian hacking group Killnet has claimed responsibility for disrupting communications between NATO and other organisations providing earthquake relief in Turkey and Syria.

The devastating earthquake has claimed at least 28,000 lives and efforts continue to pull victims from the rubble. Countries and NGOs worldwide dispatched resources to provide humanitarian aid, including aircraft with transport and airlift capabilities.

Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) is a...

13 February 2023 | Networks

Surveillance balloons spotted over the US and Canada

High-altitude surveillance balloons have been spotted by US and Canadian authorities over their respective territories.

The first balloon was spotted in the US over sensitive American national security installations, including the Malmstrom Air Force Base. 150 nuclear-armed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles are located at the base.

The Pentagon claims the balloon belongs to China. Beijing has not taken responsibility but says that it’s looking into the...

3 February 2023 | Legislation & Government

CUJO AI: 67% of home networks are targeted every month

CUJO AI’s latest cybersecurity report states that over two-thirds of home networks are targeted by online threats every month.

The cybersecurity firm uses AI-powered software to protect networks. CUJO AI bases its annual reports on anonymised data from the 1.8 billion real-world devices that it defends.

Between 1 May 2002 and 1 November 2022, CUJO says it blocked over two billion threats. The average number of blocked threats swelled to 8,000 per...

2 February 2023 | Networks

T-Mobile suffers another large data breach

Tens of millions of T-Mobile customers have had their details stolen in the operator’s latest data breach.

T-Mobile says it first identified malicious activity on 5 January 2023 and contained it within a day. However, the operator believes the hackers have been stealing data since 25 November 2022.

Around 37 million postpaid and prepaid customers are impacted by the breach. The hackers used an API to steal the information.

Customer data such as their name,...

20 January 2023 | Networks

Prosecutors charge six individuals for operating large DDoS services

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and Alaska have charged six individuals for operating “leading DDoS-for-hire services”.

48 internet domains were seized as part of the operation. The FBI is currently seizing websites that allowed users to pay for DDoS services.

Some of the services were disguised as “stresser” services that authorised white hats could use for legitimate network testing against malicious attacks.

However, the FBI determined that...

15 December 2022 | Legislation & Government

Failure to respond to cost of living crisis threatens telecoms sector

The rise in the cost-of-living has driven consumers to re-adjust spending priorities. Telcos’ failure to respond to this changing mindset is now the biggest threat facing the industry, according to the annual EY report, Top 10 risks in telecommunications 2023.

With consumer spending under increasing pressure, EY research shows that 60% of households are worried about rising broadband subscription prices, and nearly half (45%) believe they overpay for content...

8 December 2022 | Research

Japan joins NATO cyber defense centre

Japan has become the latest member of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE).

While there have been thankfully few cases of conventional warfare on Western territories for decades, in no small part thanks to NATO, the planet has remained locked in a cyber World War.

In April, members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance issued a joint cybersecurity advisory warning of increased attacks on critical infrastructure from Russia. These attacks...

9 November 2022 | Security

UK sends legal documents mandating Huawei kit removal

The UK Government has sent legal documents to operators mandating the removal of Huawei equipment from national telecoms networks.

In 2020, the UK Government announced that Huawei’s kit must be removed from the country’s 5G networks by 2027. Operators were banned from purchasing Huawei’s equipment from 31 December 2020.

"This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one for the UK telecoms networks, for our national security and our economy, both now and...

13 October 2022 | 5G

Solomon Islands secures $66M from China for Huawei towers

The Solomon Islands has secured a $66 million loan from China to build 161 mobile towers built and supplied by Huawei.

Under the terms of the deal, the island nation will receive a 20-year concessional loan from the state-linked Exim Bank of China. The government of the Solomon Islands called it “a historical financial partnership” between the two countries.

Western officials believe Beijing could use the security pact to build a military base in the Solomon Islands....

19 August 2022 | 5G