Security News

The NHS has suffered 209 successful ransomware attacks since 2014, according to new figures based on Freedom of Information requests, but with a dramatic improvement since 2017, the year WannaCry ransomware hit the health service. The WannaCry attack in 2017 - famously thwarted by Brit white hat hacker Marcus Hutchins - caused a spike to 101 incidents and we know many of these were severe.

As a result, Huawei will be excluded from the sensitive "Core" parts of new 5G and gigabit-capable networks. On Wednesday, the European Commission endorsed guidelines for 5G networks that would allow European Union member states to decide whether to allow "High risk" telecommunications groups, including Huawei, in their networks, The Hill reports.

The security proposals released Monday mainly focus on improving the security of passwords by ensuring that they are not resettable to any universal factory setting as well as refining the way IoT manufacturers disclose vulnerabilities in their connected devices. The goal of these proposals is to provide greater security protections as the number of connected devices, including security cameras, routers, smart home devices and autonomous vehicles, increase.

The British government has finally woken up to the relatively lax security of IoT devices, and is lurching forward with legislation to make gadgets connected to the web more secure. The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said it will require makers of IoT hardware to ship devices with unique passwords that cannot be reset to a factory default setting.

Britain on Tuesday greenlighted a limited role for Chinese telecoms giant Huawei in the country's 5G network, but underscored that "High risk vendors" would be excluded from "Sensitive" core infrastructure. London's decision, following a meeting of the National Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, came shortly after Brussels said it would allow Huawei a limited 5G role in the European Union.

U.K. officials are considering a proposal to allow China's Huawei to play a limited role in providing certain equipment for the country's 5G rollout, which would defy calls from the U.S. for a complete ban of telecom gear from the company, Reuters reports. Britain's National Security Council, which is chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is scheduled to meet in the coming days to decide whether to deploy Huawei equipment within the country's 5G networks, according to Reuters, which cited unnamed U.K. government sources.

Britain is expected to announce next week whether to allow China's Huawei to develop its 5G network, an official said on Friday, setting out reasons for agreeing despite US opposition. There had been speculation that Britain would allow Huawei into "Non-core" elements of the next-generation 5G mobile networks, such as antennae and base stations attached to masts and roofs.

The Government Reviewer of Terrorism Laws has declared that safeguards protecting Britons from police workers demanding passwords for their devices must be watered down. In a speech delivered to conservative think tank the Henry Jackson Society yesterday, Jonathan Hall QC, the "Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation"* said section 49 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 is too "Difficult" for police and others to work with.

Britain's main anti-hacker law, the Computer Misuse Act 1990, is "Confused", "Outdated" and "Ambiguous", according to a group of pro-reform academics. A report launched this morning by the Criminal Law Reform Now Network described a "Range of measures to better tailor existing offences in line with our international obligations and other modern legal systems" in a call for the 30-year-old Act to be overhauled.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday challenged US opponents of Britain's potential decision to let China's Huawei telecoms giant develop its 5G network to come up with a better choice. The United States and Australia have both banned their 5G providers from using Huawei on security grounds.