The cost of cyber-crime to individuals and businesses is increasing year on year. The UK insurance company Lloyds has estimated the costs of cyber-attacks to businesses worldwide at $400 billion a year.

Telecoms companies are not immune to online theft of customers’ personal information and the risk of disabling attacks on their infrastructure.

The provision of cloud services that store customers’ data has amplified the risks as have the inclusion of software driven elements in telecoms networks. The use of nomadic telecoms services further increases the potential for malicious activity.

Protecting the integrity of data and the infrastructure has many strands, beginning with increasing staff awareness to best practice regarding protecting data.

There are also, of course, technological measures that can impede hacking attempts. The consideration of the potential vulnerabilities of any particular technology to attack should be integral to its implementation.

With this in mind, PTT’s online course covering “IP networks” has been revised to include reference to the security aspects of the various protocols and systems that transport data over the Internet, local area networks and telecoms networks.

And the recently released PTT courses covering “Ethernet networks” and “Advanced Ethernet networks” include explanations of security measures in both wired and wireless local area networks.