COMPLIANCE BRIEF
Hardening UK Telecom Infrastructure
How Kiteworks Supports Compliance With the Telecommunications (Security) Act
The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 established major new cybersecurity obligations for electronic communications providers in the United Kingdom that apply to both internet and telecom providers. This law is important for securing critical national infrastructure and protecting users against growing cyber threats. It requires providers to implement appropriate risk controls and resilience measures. They must take actions to prevent, detect, and respond to security compromises while also informing regulators and impacted users about significant incidents. The Act allows the government to issue strict rules for procurement and use of high-risk vendors deemed national security threats. Providers can face substantial penalties for noncompliance based on revenues and could pay steep fines for violations. Enforcement agencies like the Office of Communications (OFCOM) have extensive new authorities to proactively monitor security practices within industry through assessments, on-site inspections at short notice, and mandatory information disclosure. They can compel remediation actions if deficiencies are found. With cyberattacks increasing in frequency and severity worldwide, laws like this Act equip regulators to hold industry accountable to higher security standards vital for public safety and sustainable connectivity. Kiteworks can help organizations that store and share their unstructured electronic data in their work to be compliant. Here’s how:
Solution Highlights
- Comprehensive activity logging
- Automated breach detection
- Resilient access controls
- Third-party integration
- Least-privilege policies
Proactive Security Measures Minimize Risks
Sections 105A, 105B, and 105C of the Act impose new security duties on providers of public electronic communications networks and services. Together these sections establish an ongoing obligation for telecom providers to actively assess and confront cyber risks, while giving regulators power to dictate specific security safeguards. Kiteworks provides extensive security controls and visibility that assist compliance with telecom cybersecurity regulations. Comprehensive audit logging tracks all system and user activity to identify threats and prove due diligence, satisfying event tracking duties in 105A and 105B. Breach notification and anomaly detection facilitate early awareness and response to potential security compromises as mandated in 105A and 105C. Hardened infrastructure like encryption at rest and in transit make it tougher for attackers to gain access or move laterally if compromised, enabling key safeguards in 105A and 105B. Strong identity and access controls allow least-privilege policies to limit unauthorized activity, reducing exposure from threats as intended in 105A and 105C. The Enterprise Connect feature logs external repository access through the original system for unchanged visibility. With extensive visibility, controls, and built-in resilience, Kiteworks is purpose-built to aid communication providers in addressing emerging regulations like these.
Manage Breach Threats With Timely Alerts
Sections 105J and 105K impose security breach notification duties on telecommunications providers. By necessitating timely public and agency notifications for major security incidents, 105J and 105K aim to drive transparency, accelerate responses, and ultimately enhance infrastructure resilience. Kiteworks provides the activity tracking and threat alerting needed to facilitate communications providers’ compliance with security breach disclosure duties. Comprehensive audit logs record all system and user actions, capturing key events providers must report to regulators under 105K while also supplying data to inform required user warnings per 105J. Additionally, Kiteworks’ breach notification capability detects potential intrusions and anomalies, feeding automated alerts about suspicious activities indicative of growing security threats. By revealing both major incidents and risk precursors, this empowers providers to make timely and appropriate notifications to users and agencies as mandated. Between robust tracking that logs reportable incidents and early anomaly warnings that enable rapid response, Kiteworks delivers integrated, intelligent capabilities purpose-built to help telecom firms comply with 105J and 105K transparency requirements regarding network vulnerabilities and attacks.
The Telecommunications (Security) Act imparts stringent cybersecurity and national infrastructure protection mandates over UK telecom firms. Through integrated monitoring, alerting, controls, and threat visibility, Kiteworks is well-suited to help providers operationalize needed compliance measures across various regulation areas such as risk reduction, breach notifications, vendor oversight, and supply chain assurance. Whether tracking detailed activity to feed audit logs and incident forensics, providing always-on breach detection to facilitate fast public warnings, offering resilient controls to guard against unauthorized access, or maintaining unchanged visibility into third-party systems, Kiteworks delivers purpose-built capabilities optimized for both security and compliance assurance. And with regulators newly empowered to aggressively monitor industry security postures, the reporting and evidence Kiteworks generates become pivotal proof points for providers to certify defenses stay aligned to evolving legal standards in the face of new cross-border threats. With powerful functionality intrinsically designed to harden critical infrastructure while proving compliance, Kiteworks is an invaluable solution for telecom carriers and digital services working to fulfill expanded obligations under this Act.