Talk Talk Offer Security from the Server

Internet giants, Talk Talk, are about to offer their customers the option of filtering malicious or offensive material out of their broadband service from centralized server level.  They claim to be the first major ISP to offer such a service.

TalkTalk's Home Safe runs on the company's central computer system and sits between the web and individual home connections.  The anti-virus system works by scanning a site that someone wants to visit to see if it harbors malicious programs. Those found to be clean will be put on a "white list" for 24 hours.

Parents worried about their children seeing adult material will be able to log on to a web page and define their own content filters, so that sites containing pornography or online gambling, for example, can be blocked completely.

However, the ingenious selling point, will be the option to put timed locks on certain websites, such as Facebook or game portals, to stop children viewing them when they should be doing school homework.

Rik Ferguson, senior security researcher at Trend Micro is not entirely impressed; one of his most significant concerns is the danger posed by larger sites frequently hit by threats.  He suggested that the 24-hour "all clear" white list might not work for sites such as Facebook due to the frequency and speed that rogue apps are developed.  

Cyber Attacks on the Rise

Around the world, internet based attacks are increasing on critical systems according to a McAfee report.

The latest report from the Internet Security company took a survey of 200 IT executives working for utility companies in 14 countries, and 8 out of 10 said their networks had been targeted by hackers during the past year.

Since October 2010 in the UK, potential cyber attack has been recognized as one of the top four national security threats facing the country, but are we doing enough?