Category: Covid

Since the start of the coronavirus crisis, a sense of panic has spread through the population and the daily lives of many people have changed beyond recognition. Targeted measures are being taken to deal with new types of threats that have emerged during this period. This gives some individuals the perfect opportunity to prey on the most vulnerable, in person or online.

Philippe Vuilleumier, Head of Security at Swisscom, is warning the public about the huge increase in cybersecurity breaches that have occurred in recent weeks.

The media has been full of reports about the huge upswing in online crime triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Is this something you have seen at Swisscom?

We are aware of an increase in phishing activity and malware attacks at present. These involve e-mails purporting to come from WHO or other representatives of the pharma industry. These e-mails appear to be genuine but in fact conceal malware. The increase in working from home also facilitates this sort of behaviour as it makes IT systems more vulnerable to external attacks. When the lockdown was announced in March, many businesses rushed to find a solution to enable employees to work from home, which may have weakened their IT systems and made them more vulnerable.

You will have undoubtedly seen this well-known world map from the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, which demonstrates the spread of the coronavirus across the planet, with specific data for each country. There are fake versions of this map which conceal malware. Social networks and WhatsApp are also filled with “fake news” and disinformation about the virus, not only about its origins but also promoting miracle cures (such as using bleach or drinking tea to kill the virus). This is clearly extremely dangerous. Conspiracy theories are also rife on the Internet… At present in Europe, the 5G infrastructure is being violently attacked and destroyed as a result of false allegations of a link between COVID19 and 5G technology.

How have Internet scammers taken advantage of the coronavirus crisis?

There is a huge need for information about the coronavirus and its impact on people and the environment. This in itself results in a degree of uncertainty among the population. Uncertainty often leads to reckless action. This is where criminals get a foothold and take advantage of those needs and fears in the ways I have just described.

Access to corporate networks, which may have been established in haste to facilitate working from home due to the coronavirus, is now more exposed. Some of these systems have poor security or well-known vulnerabilities, giving criminals the opportunity to exploit their shortcomings and to companies with ransomware in order to either paralyse them completely or steal data

What do you advise employees to do and say to their families and friends in order to prevent this type of attack? What are the simple measures people can take to protect themselves?

They should heed the general advice that always applies:

• Do not open e-mails or attachments from unknown senders and never click on any links they may contain.
• Do not respond to blackmail demands and do not reply to these e-mails.
• Install anti-virus software to detect and prevent infection by malware and keep your systems up to date.
• Do not allow unwanted callers to pressurise you on the phone.
• Never share your passwords, personal details or account information.
• Only make small advance payments for goods purchased from online shops. Paying for goods when you receive them is also recommended.

The coronavirus has recently drawn much attention to the digital divide, and is changing the perception of the Internet from a superfluous luxury to a crucial social necessity. It is now critically important to close the urban-rural digital divide very quickly with optical fibre.

Key to bringing 5G to hard-to-reach rural communities is the extension of wired networks; we must scale our communications infrastructure and lay lots (and lots) of fibre. Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, it has become increasingly clear how critical wireline networks are to telemedicine, distance learning and remote work. Yet the UN estimates 46% of the world’s population is not connected to the internet, with digital divides existing in better connected countries, too. The coronavirus pandemic has made the digital divide more dangerous than ever. In the USA, for example, it has exposed inequalities throughout the country, in particular between rural and urban citizens; and in Australia, it has highlighted the divide in access to meaningful online education The consequences are potentially very serious.

How to close the digital divide urgently

To close the urban-rural digital divide as soon as possible, broadband optical cable connectivity needs to be deployed widely in parallel. The key is for our global society to have a holistic point of view in implementing broadband infrastructure, where reducing the socio-public loss should be the central aim, rather than increasing the return on investment.

The biggest technical barrier is the high cost of optical-cable installation, which typically accounts for 70 to 80 per cent of the entire CAPEX of the network. The designs of conventional optical cables are specific to their installation environment with installation methods relying on specialized machinery and skilled labour. This challenge is made even greater by the low densities of remote rural communities.

To change this equation, the BIRD (Broadband Infrastructure for Remote-Area Digitalization) solution has been proposed by the author. It was built on the affordability-first concept, lightweight robust optical cable, and simple do-it-yourself (DIY) installation by non-skilled local people, that respectively followed ITU-T Recommendations L.1700 (2016), L.110 (2017) and L.163 (2018). The Recommendations are expressly aimed at closing the urban-rural digital divide.

BIRD enables easy and affordable route survey, installation, repair, upgrade, route change and disposal of the cable networks under difficult terrain, climate, and mammal attacks. ITU compliance is hoped for to reduce the CAPEX of BIRD from economy of scale toward mass deployment anywhere.

Practicability Confirmation in Rural Areas (as APT Category-II project)

In 2019, L.110-compatible ~12 km optical cable was installed in a mountain village in west Nepal connecting schools and a hospital, amongst others. The CAPEX reduction was estimated at half or more than with conventional cables. Figure 1 shows the cable installation in a DIY manner.

Figure 1 L.110 cable placed on the ground’s surface (jungle) and shallowly buried (roadside), Nepal

Another project installed a total of 22 km of L.110 cable in the coldest area and desert region in Mongolia in 2019.

The cable used was matured and proven enough based on the submarine-cable technologies, which have been commercially used in Japan for 20, 000 km for 25 years up to now.

Conclusion

The BIRD solution and new ITU-T standards are now confirmed as very affordable practicable tools enabling remote work, telemedicine and many other applications in every corner of the globe, helping us urgently to address the pandemic.. Further key information is available below.

Information:

ITU-T Recommendations:  ITU-T L.1700,  ITU-T L.110,  ITU-T L.163

ITU News:             ITU News for L.1700, for L.110, for L.163

Outline of the solution (Feb. 2020)

WSIS Forum, 2019/04/12

“Pandemic” @ 3´28