UK Telcos Need to Invest in AI to Stay Continuously Updated on Cybersecurity Best Practices

Following news this week that the UK government has finalised new cybersecurity rules for mobile and broadband providers, with fines of up to £100,000 per day for Communications Service Providers (CSPs) that fail to comply, CSPs need to invest more in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that help to increase the visibility of all potential cyber threats, argues Ralph Chammah, CEO of OwlGaze.

“We welcome the introduction of the UK government’s stringent new security regulations for CSPs, helping to protect Britain’s broadband and mobile networks from the threats posed by malicious cyber-attacks,” says Chammah.

“One of the key points in the new rules from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) specifies that the National Cyber Security Centre and Ofcom will now require British mobile and broadband providers to demonstrate a deep understanding of their security risks and the ability to identify when anomalous activity is taking place with regular reporting to internal boards.

“As we know, cybersecurity best practices continuously change, which means that CSPs need to stay constantly updated. Ensuring that you have the right software, tools and processes in place means that SOC analysts within can remain highly resilient, regardless of the cyber threats they face.

“Cyber-attacks and threats come from all angles: internal, external, and national. Which is why CSPs need to improve their monitoring and detections capability by using advanced analytics software, providing holistic views of all potential cyber threats, from data protection to network operations.

Cybersecurity is not a one-off exercise

“The key message is that cybersecurity is not a one-off exercise, it’s all about continuous monitoring and being able to identify changes in behaviours. And the use of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) based threat detection software and User and Entity Behaviour Analytics (UEBA) technology can help CSPs to detect abnormal activities and lateral movements by suspicious users or malware. 

“CIOs, CISOs and security operations center (SOC) analysts within CSPs need to be far more vigilant in monitoring and preventing any potential cybersecurity attacks, proactively hunting for early signs of cybersecurity threats, and using the latest tools to automatically predict and detect any unknown and suspicious patterns of behaviour.

“If they don’t, and they fail to comply with the new regulations and ensure that cybersecurity best practices are in place, then they could soon be facing a knock on the door from Ofcom, and fines of £100,000 per day.”