COUNTRY FOCUS : UK
Bryan Ross , Executive Advisor , VMware Tanzu , explores The Telecommunications ( Security ) Act – a law recently imposed by the UK Government – the factors that drove it , what it means for telcos and the actions they can take in order to comply and prosper .
New UK law that is changing
Big Ben and Houses of Parliament , London , UK
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Our national infrastructure is at risk
Unless you are involved in the telco industry , you may be blissfully unaware of a lengthy UK parliamentary process that has been quietly underway since 2017 – one that promises to radically change how telecom operators design and operate our national telecommunications infrastructure .
Gartner predicts that by 2025 , ‘ 30 % of critical infrastructure organisations will experience a security breach ’ that will result in an outage of a missioncritical system . The UK Government are getting tough on telecoms providers , requiring them to redesign their networks ; patch their systems every 14 days ; have extensive proactive monitoring and embrace modern practices such as automation , Infrastructure-as-Code and cloud-native application design .
Enter … The Telecommunications ( Security ) Act
The Telecommunications ( Security ) Act became UK law in November 2021 , imposing strengthened security requirements on telecoms providers and granting the UK communications regulator , Ofcom , new powers to ensure compliance . In the words of Julia Lopez , MP , Minister of State for Media , telco providers ‘ need the right incentives to prioritise security within their day-to-day business operations and long-term investment plans ’.
The investment will undoubtedly be high , but nothing compared to the cost of non-compliance – in the worst-case scenario , providers could be liable to a fine of up to £ 10,000,000 ( and potentially £ 50,000 per day ). It is no surprise to hear then that Tier 1 providers find
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