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.