BT warns of accelerated cybersecurity threat

The event was held at its Adastral Park research centre in Ipswich, featuring a track of keynotes and roundtables discussing various factors that are evolving in cyber security, touching on AI, quantum computing and geopolitics.

CEO Alison Kirkby kicked off with an on-stage interview in which she said security was ‘fundamental and integral’ to BT. “We connect physical estates, virtual estates in the cloud… if we don’t give them secure connectivity we put our customers and society at risk,” she said.

Talking about the rate at which technology is evolving, she added: “In a world where technology is transforming everything, we have a role to play in make sure society doesn’t get fearful of that technology.

“BT plays a very, very special role in the UK, we’ve always been the backbone of the country, we connect the Outer Hebrides to the Scilly Isles… these networks are getting increasingly intelligent and improving even more services.”

There was also a lot of emphasis in the opening speech placed on ‘staying ahead of bad guys’ with regards to quantum computing and AI, and how much resources BT is throwing into doing so.

And speaking about the bad guys, in concert with the event BT released a new report which says the telco logs 2000 signals of potential cyber-attacks a second, or 200 million per day. Which sounds like a lot whichever way you slice it, and which BT describes as an ‘accelerated cybersecurity threat.’

The report states that web-connected devices are scanned over 1,000 times a day by known malicious sources – an average of once every 90 seconds. Some scans are conducted legitimately for security monitoring, we’re told, but 78% are not harmless – indicating that hackers are looking for weaknesses as smart tech becomes common place.

The data also pointed to a 1234% annual rise in new malicious internet protocol (IP) scanners recorded across BT’s networks in the 12 months to July. BT extrapolates that this is down to cyber criminals increasingly scanning for vulnerabilities through automated, ‘one time use’ disposable bots, in an attempt to evade existing blocking and security measures.

Cybersecurity expert and Hunted star Ben Owen (pictured), who took place in various talks throughout the day, said: “Businesses are connecting more devices and adopting new AI tools every day; but hackers are using the same tech to break their defences. It’s an AI arms race that companies can’t afford to lose. Importantly, while advanced technology is set to boost the number of cyber-attacks and lower the bar for rookie criminals, it will not change their primary target – low-hanging fruit. Putting security first is the only way to protect businesses, their people and the economy.”

Tris Morgan, Managing Director – Security at BT, added: “Today, every business is a digital business, and our data shows that every 90 seconds hackers are checking connected devices to find a way in – like opportunistic burglars looking for an open window. Tools like AI provide new routes of attack, but they can also be the first line of defence. At BT, we’re constantly evolving our network security to stay one step ahead and protect more than a million businesses, day in, day out.”

A round table later in the day featured discussion topics including the challenge of adopting new technology too quickly because of the cyber security threats that can come along with it, and how with the sheer amount of connected devices now in the world the ‘attack surface’ for hackers using them to find vulnerabilities is only getting larger.

Of course, we are not short of warnings about rising cyber security threats – the picture of a growing and more sophisticated range of attacks hitting networks, corporations, nations and individuals has been well and truly painted by now.

What the event seemed to be chiefly set up to do, from the talks we were able to attend, was to reassure its business customers in the room that it is on the ball with regards to the evolving landscape of threats, and that it takes them seriously, rather than provide anything super detailed or novel on the matter.