Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Alternative network operator Elevate, which back in April 2025 secured the contract to build a new “hyperfast” full fibre broadband network in the Merseyside (England) town of St Helens (here), has today revealed that they’ve made “substantial progress” on the deployment with 4,874 metres worth of fibre already installed.

Elevate, which are using their own engineers, added that this means they’ve already completed the subducting required for the project and laid over 99% of the track, helping to pave the way for faster internet speeds and better reliability for residents and businesses in the town centre – less than six months after the project began.

The new network, which is said to be supported by funding from the previous Government’s £3.6bn Town Fund Programme (details), is being built on behalf of the St Helens Borough Council and its Digital Infrastructure Programme. “The network will significantly increase internet speeds and reliability for residents and businesses across the Town Centre,” said Elevate’s original announcement.

The deployment itself adopts a “Dig Once” strategy, which typically reflects the wide reuse of existing cable ducts, street furniture and other infrastructure to run new fibre (i.e. reducing the need for new street works). Projects like this tend to focus on building a full fibre network to connect local public sector sites, rather than individual homes and businesses, although the latter may often follow via additional private investment.

We should point out that the central part of the town is already partly covered by gigabit-capable broadband from Openreach (BT) and Virgin Media (O2), with outer areas also being reached by various alternative networks.

Councillor Keith Laird, St Helens Borough Council’s Cabinet Member, said:

“We’re really pleased with the rapid progress that’s been made, and the reception from businesses and residents across the town centre who recognise the social and economic benefits this project will deliver. The new full fibre network is essential digital infrastructure which will help to make us one of the most digitally connected towns in the region.

We’ve also been working with Elevate to absolutely maximise the social value of this project, providing new opportunities and better connections for hundreds of people across the borough.”

Elevate has also been working proactively with local institutions and community interest companies to extend the impact of the project, such as via a £30,000 contribution to Thrive, which will fund targeted services for SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities). The operator also donated £10,000 to St Helens Borough Council to cover the cost of 800 lessons through the Tute ‘Virtual School’ program.

Finally, the operator is providing a free, lifetime 1Gbps internet connection to the St Helens Coalition of Disabled People (Buzz Hub), based at Nuttall House.

The Council were supported in the development of the Project by Digital Infrastructure experts CJ Founds Associates, who helped to develop the Commercial Case and Contracting Strategy.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Internet provider TalkTalk has today continued their efforts to boost the take-up of their home broadband services by launching their self-proclaimed “lowest ever price” on a 900Mbps full fibre (FTTP) package, which drops it from £38 to £30 per month on a 24-month minimum term for new subscribers.

The package also includes a wireless router, free installation, built-in HomeSafe online security (inc. features like KidSafe, scam site filtering, and protection from malicious content). But as usual it’s worth noting that customers will be subject to the provider’s mid-contract price hikes policy, which raises the monthly price by £3 every April (i.e. £33 from April 2026 and then £36 from April 2027).

So far as we can tell, the £30 offer appears to be available regardless of whether you’re covered by their CityFibre or Openreach based networks, although TalkTalk hasn’t said how long they’ll keep offering the package at this price point to new customers.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The CEO of Hull-based alternative UK network operator MS3, Guy Miller, has today announced his intention to “step away” from the company at Christmas after an “incredible four years“. The provider’s full fibre (FTTP) broadband network currently covers 234,000 premises (212k RFS) in the North of England and has connected 20,000 customers.

The provider, which offers access to its network at wholesale for retail ISPs to harness, has become known for helping to weaken KCOM’s grip on the broadband market in Hull (East Yorkshire). But in recent times they’ve also had to slow their network build in order to focus more on commercialisation of their existing network, due to wider market pressures (here).

Guy’s full statement doesn’t explain why he’s leaving, although that’s not uncommon when bosses depart.

Guy Miller said:

“A couple of weeks ago I announced internally that I will be stepping away from MS3 at Christmas. It’s been an incredible four years, but the time is right now for this amazing local business to be run by an incredible local team.

In that time we’ve secured over £100m in investment, taken the business to over 20,000 customers and 200,000 RFS, signed 40+ wholesale partners including recently Zen Internet and PXC, we’ve won Fibre Provider of the Year twice in a row and set the record for most award wins; we’re maintaining an amazing 4.8 stars on Trust Pilot, we’re debt-free, about to have our first EBITDA+ year and are fully funded to cashflow positive.

Not only that but we have done this all in the one part of the country that everybody said was impossible to compete in. The monopoly is on its way to being over.

We’ve built one of the most sustainable, efficient and dynamic altnets in the UK and with a ruthless focus now on commercialisation, it is the right time to put the business in Tony Jopling’s extremely capable hands. As someone who has spent his adult life passionately working in telecoms in Hull, there is no-one better to ensure MS3 reaches its full potential.

Every day our team work to improve the financial position of their neighbours, of their friends and of their families who for years in the area have been overcharged and had no choices when it came to broadband. It’s fitting that the business is now again run by an amazing leadership team made up of local people who understand what their communities really need.

I will leave at the end of the year with a little part of me left behind in Hull.”

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The collaboration will see thousands of sites rolled out across the company from early next year

This week, Wind River has revealed its selection by Vodafone to help deploy Open RAN in Germany and the rest of its European markets.

The partnership covers the use of Wind River® Cloud Platform as the containers-as-a-service (CaaS) layer, which Wind River says allows for the “development, deployment, operation, and servicing of distributed edge networks at scale”.

“Vodafone continues to advance and collaborate with the industry in realizing the promise of Open RAN. We’re proud to extend our partnership to enable the next wave of large-scale deployments,” said Paul Miller, chief technology officer, Wind River. “Wind River Cloud Platform delivers the scalable, distributed cloud infrastructure service providers need to run next-generation networks efficiently.”

The news follows Vodafone Group’s ‘Spring 6’ announcement earlier this month, which provided an update on the company’s ongoing RAN refreshment strategy. The update said that the company would continue to lean on Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia for its transition to 5G Advanced, but would bring in Samsung as a strategic vendor for the deployment of Open RAN across Europe.

Germany will be Vodafone’s first market to implement Open RAN at scale, with Samsung reportedly set to equip “thousands of sites” throughout the country. The first Open RAN site is already live in Hannover, with Wismar planned as the first city fully equipped with Open RAN from spring 2026.

Thousands more Open RAN sites in other markets are planned for deployment over the course of the five-year investment programme.

How is the German connectivity landscape changing in 2025? Join the industry in discussion at Connected Germany 2025

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Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

National network operator Openreach (BT) has published the latest quarterly update on their roll-out of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based gigabit broadband ISP technology. The update reflects all the recent changes and progress with their existing locations and doesn’t appear to add any new areas beyond those confirmed in July 2025 (here).

Just to recap. The operator is currently investing up to £15bn to expand the coverage of their new “full fibre” network to 25 million premises by December 2026 (here), which will include around 6.2m in rural or semi-rural areas. On top of that, they’ve also expressed an ambition to reach up to 30m by 2030 (there are c.33m in the UK), which is often said to be partly dependent upon a favourable outcome from Ofcom’s next Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR) and government policy (planning and taxation etc.).

The new network is currently capable of delivering download speeds of up to 1.8Gbps (uploads of 1Gbps are also possible in some Project Gigabit build areas) via older GPON technology. But Openreach recently revealed to ISPreview that they would trial real speeds of up to 8.5Gbps via their new XGS-PON based full fibre network with 40,000 premises in Guildford during early 2026 (here).

In terms of their network deployment. Openreach has already announced their commercial roll-out plan up to the December 2026 target – reflecting c.3,500 towns, cities, boroughs, villages and hamlets. The latest October 2025 Build Plan (and Interactive Map) thus largely represents a progress update for those locations. But take note that this only covers their commercial deployments and there are some big exclusions (i.e. new sites/retro new-sites and other smaller scale programmes or infill and publicly subsidised builds under the government’s BDUK linked contracts are sadly all excluded).

Unfortunately, the format adopted by the operator makes it very difficult to identify any key changes to this list, or even removals. Build lists like this are always tentative, which means that some locations may be removed (e.g. if found to be too expensive due to complications) or delayed and others added in their place. Inclusion should also NOT be considered as equating to 100% coverage of each area.

At present it seems unlikely that Openreach will announce a big list of new FTTP build locations / coverage expansions, such as for their future plan for going from 25m to 30 million premises by 2030, until after or around when Ofcom is due to publish their final telecoms market review proposals (final statement is due around March 2026). Even then they’ll probably announce it gradually, rather than all at once.

Openreach currently has 15,000 people focused on their UK deployment of full fibre technology and the average per premises build cost continues to hover around the £280 mark (roughly £1.2bn per year). The new service, once live, can be ordered via various ISPs, such as BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone and many more (Openreach FTTP ISP Choices) – it is not currently an automatic upgrade, although some ISPs have started to do free automatic upgrades as older copper-based services and lines are slowly withdrawn.

Credits to forum member ‘Some Edinburgh Guy’ for spotting the latest update.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The Kardesa submarine cable system will connect Bulgaria, Georgia, Turkey, and Ukraine

This week, Vodafone Group and Vodafone Ukraine have announced their intentions to build a new submarine cable spanning the Black Sea, the first for almost two decades.

The €116 million Kardesa cable will include landings in Bulgaria, Georgia, Turkey, and Ukraine, notably excluding Russia.

It is expected to deliver an additional 500 Tbps of capacity to the Black Sea region, providing a much-needed altnerative for limited and aging infrastructure currently in the area.

The cable is being built by specialist Xtera, with the first cable landing expected to be built in Bulgaria in 2027.

Given its prominence as a gateway to the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea is currently home to surprisingly few submarine cables. Here’s the region’s subsea cable infrastructure at a glance from Telegeography’s subsea cable map.

Source: Telegeography

Along the west coast runs Turk Telecom’s KAFOS cable (purple), connecting Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. On the east coast, is a system simply known as the Georgia–Russia cable (orange), built by the two nation’s operators to connect the countries in 2000.

The only cable currently spanning the Black Sea is the 2008 Caucasus Cable (pink), linking Bulgaria to Georgia. Another route crossing the sea – a joint energy and telecoms system called the Black Sea Submarine Cable (BSSC), running from Georgia to Romania – was announced last year.

Finally, the tiny cluster of dots at the north of the picture, at the entrance to the Sea of Azov, is in fact two cables: Russian telco Miranda Media’s Kerch Strait (blue) and Energy Bridge (orange) cables.

The question of why there are so few Black Sea subsea cables, while nuanced, can be broadly answered in two parts. Firstly, the digital economies in South and Southeast Asia have grown far more rapidly than their Central counterparts. As a result, routes passing along Asia’s south coast and through the Red Sea, have become highly developed, reducing the need for a Black Sea crossing to Europe. Secondly, the Blacks Sea’s geopolitical sensitivity has made building routes difficult, presenting projects with a myriad of complex regulatory and security challenges.

For the Kardesa cable, on the other hand, geopolitics is a major motivator. The cable will offer regional traffic a route that does not pass through Russian territory, which Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said he hoped would help “establish Ukraine as a key hub for internet traffic between Europe and Asia, bypassing Russia”.

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world with the Total Telecom newsletter

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Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Contributed Article

by James Lilley, Director of All-IP at Openreach

The UK is gearing up for a historic moment – the final full-scale infrastructure transition of our lifetimes. The Public Switched Telephone Network will be switched off on 31st January 2027 in favour of internet-based (All-IP) networks. Even though this deadline is fast approaching, many businesses are still resistant to the move. Switch-overs are continuing to happen, but the progress is slower than expected, considering the finality of the deadline. By 2027, most people in the UK will need to have a digital phone line, or risk being left behind.

Why aren’t businesses moving?

Many businesses are avoiding the switch due to the perceived difficulty of switching. Continuing with current systems seems like an easier option. The classic idea of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ echoes with businesses happy to stick to their current trusted systems. Many organisations will have only ever used their current networks and are satisfied with the way they run.

However, as the world becomes increasingly digital, PSTN simply can no longer keep up. Legacy PSTN networks already have far more service disruptions and outages than all-IP systems, and in 2024 alone the number of PSTN incidents reported to Ofcom increased by 45%.

Many businesses aren’t fully aware that though the PSTN switch-off is scheduled for January 2027, the practical deadline for businesses to act is December 2025. After that, support for legacy services will diminish, and businesses could be exposed to operational risks. The reason being, that Openreach has formally notified Communication Providers (CPs) that the current Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) contracts will terminate on 31 December 2025.  After this date, any remaining WLR assets i.e. services not yet migrated or cancelled, will be subject to new contract terms. Under the revised terms, Openreach reserves the right to terminate any remaining WLR services with just 90 days notice.  After that, services may continue only at Openreach’s discretion, and with reduced service guarantees. This could mean businesses facing things like slower repair times and reduced service response guarantees.

So, while ‘it ain’t broke’ currently, delaying the switch will only create bigger problems for businesses in the near future as well as further down the line

There are common misconceptions about the difficulty of switching over from PSTN to all-IP. The switch over is simple and for many can be completed in just a number of days. By resisting the transition, businesses may actually be costing themselves more money and time. Legacy infrastructure is expensive to maintain. Reliance on copper materials and outdated hardware means that maintenance and replacement parts are costly and difficult to source. This not only drives up maintenance costs but also leads to longer repair times, meaning that delaying the switch ultimately results in greater disruption and downtime for businesses

Alongside technological improvements, an all-IP network is actually cheaper to run and maintain than the current legacy network. Streamlined all-IP systems use less hardware than legacy networks. With fewer pieces of hardware involved, there’s less that can break, and if something does go wrong, repairs are faster and more affordable.

A final reason that businesses may be delaying is due to assumptions that the deadline may move but there are several reasons why the January 2027 deadline is non-negotiable. Since September 2023, Openreach has enforced a “stop sell” on PSTN and ISDN services. This means no new analogue lines can be activated and existing ones can’t be expanded which means the infrastructure is already being phased out, not just planned for future removal. The January 2027 extension was granted to allow more time to safely migrate vulnerable customers, especially those using telecare devices like personal alarms. Around 2.3 million people rely on these services, and some devices failed during early migrations. Since then, more safeguards have successfully been brought in to protect those deemed vulnerable.  This was more of a one-time reset than a rolling extension. In addition, industry-wide migration is well underway with providers already migrating tens of thousands of customers weekly.

The role of CSPs in helping businesses transition NOW

Customer Service Providers (CSPs) are crucial to this switch-off. To begin the transition, businesses should reach out to their communications providers (CPs), who can guide them through the process. The deadline is the same across the UK, but some CSPs will require businesses to move ahead of the switch-off. Transferring to the all-IP and VoIP system will bring different benefits across the various service providers so businesses should check for any extra benefits.  With some CSPs, calls over the internet may be cheaper than analogue phone lines or even mobile, particularly if you’re calling someone abroad, and some providers will be offering add-ons and enhanced services made available by the digital system.

Improvements for businesses using all-IP networks

Even without the extra benefits provided by CSPs, all-IP networks will bring significant improvements for businesses. All-IP networks are purpose-built to meet the demands of modern businesses that operate in the digital world.

• Reliability – They are more reliable than traditional networks, as fibre is more resistant to environmental damage. This means reduced downtime for businesses whose critical services run on connectivity.
• Scalability – Running services over the internet means new lines and services can be added easily, without needing to adjust physical infrastructure, to scale with business needs.
• Bandwidth – Fibre technology can handle massive amounts of data at the same time. This makes it possible for technologies such as IoT that demand high bandwidth to be more performant. As more business operations become digital, we need the infrastructure to keep up.

Moving to all-IP allows businesses to gain the network performance required to keep pace with today’s digital demands.

New revenue opportunities

All-IP can also create new revenue streams unavailable on the legacy network. All-IP networks will allow businesses to harness more modern technologies, including cloud-based communication systems such as Zoom or Teams, more efficiently. These advanced communication platforms can play an essential role in opening new revenue streams. For example, chat functions between businesses and customers can be better supported by an all-IP network. An all-IP network enhances chat functions by handling all communication types – text, voice, and video—as data packets over a single, unified infrastructure. This can help create upselling opportunities that were difficult or impossible to achieve over legacy networks. Many businesses are already reaping the rewards of the all-IP network and PSTN connections are now only 27% of residential landline connections.

With the 2027 deadline rapidly approaching, the reasons for businesses’ hesitance to switch must be addressed. The deadline will not move again, and holding back from switching means a delay to the benefits of an all-IP system. The increased capabilities of an all-IP network will allow for digital transformation for businesses previously reliant on outdated hardware, so while business can wait until the end of 2026 to switch, the benefits of switching earlier are clear.

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world with the Total Telecom newsletter

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Original article Total Telecom:Read More

London – October 20, 2025 – RETN, the leading independent global network services provider, today announces the launch of Flex IX, a new wholesale connectivity solution that, for the first time, combines Remote Internet Exchange (IX) access and IP Transit in a single service.

RETN analysis shows that at least 70% of capacity at industry peering and interconnect points goes unused – highlighting a long-standing inefficiency: IX bandwidth often sits idle when peers are inactive. Flex IX solves this by combining Remote IX and IP Transit on a single port, automatically converting unused peering bandwidth into IP Transit with the option to burst beyond the committed rate – allowing operators to fully utilise purchased capacity without the cost and complexity of separate services.

“This is a first in our industry,” said Tony O’Sullivan, CEO of RETN. “Flex IX ends wasted capacity. Carriers, ISPs and Content networks can commit once and be certain that their bandwidth is always working for them – whether for peering or transit. It simplifies operations, increases efficiency, and builds resilience into networks.”

Key benefits of Flex IX include:

• Zero waste – unused IX capacity automatically becomes available for IP Transit.
• Resilience by design – if a peering partner or IX has an outage, traffic continues over transit (based on BGP setup).
• One solution – peering and transit combined on a single RETN port and CDR.
• Global reach – access to RETN’s Remote IX portfolio, including: AMS-IX (Amsterdam), BBIX (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore), BCIX (Berlin), BIX (Budapest), DE-CIX (Frankfurt), DTEL-IX (Kyiv), ESpanix (Madrid), France-IX (Paris), INEX (Dublin), JPNAP (Tokyo), JPIX (Tokyo), LINX (London), MIX (Milan), Netnod (Stockholm), VIX (Vienna).

William Manzione, Product Manager at RETN, added: “We designed Flex IX because we care about the quality of our customers’ networks. Every network buyer knows the frustration: you commit to IX capacity, but traffic patterns shift, peers aren’t always active, and valuable bandwidth sits unused. Meanwhile, you’re managing separate contracts for IX and transit, adding cost and complexity. Flex IX is designed to address this.”

Discover more about Flex IX here: https://retn.net/trending/FlexIX 

About RETN 

RETN is one of the fastest-growing independent Eurasian network services providers, awarded the title of Innovation Disruptor of the Year, at the Global Connectivity Awards 2024, and the Digital Infrastructure Action Award, by The Tech Capital in 2025.

RETN’s unique solution to connect Europe and Asia is built on its own homogenous DWDM and IP/MPLS Network Platform and widely branched land routes, passing through Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia up to the border with China and further onwards into Southeast Asia.

RETN provides telecommunication services throughout its Eurasian network with short lead times, industry-leading uptimes, and multiple layers of redundancy.

For more information on RETN and its services, please visit the company’s website at www.retn.net

For press enquiries, please contact pr@retn.net

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The UK Government has announced the launch of the Sterling 20 initiative, which is a partnership of the country’s twenty largest pension funds and insurance companies (Nest, Aviva, Legal & General, M&G etc.) that have all agreed to pump extra investment into local infrastructure and businesses to boost growth. Rural broadband will be one of the winners.

All of the participants say they’ve agreed to “channel the nation’s savings into key infrastructure and fast-growing businesses in key modern industrial strategy sectors like AI and fintech”. As part of this, Nest, which is currently said to represent approximately 46% of the UK’s working population, has already committed to invest £40m into expanding the reach of fibre optic broadband across rural parts of Scotland and northern England.

At present the full details of how this new broadband funding will be used have not yet been revealed, although it’ll need to be respectful of the existing Project Gigabit programme. The latter is already doing a fair bit of the heavy lifting alongside existing commercial investments in remote rural areas.

It’s possible that other members of the new scheme may also commit some funding toward broadband, although the main focus seems to be on other areas like housing development. For example, Legal & General has made a £2bn commitment to invest in delivering 10,000 affordable homes by 2030.

The UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is expected to reveal more details when she hosts a related Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham this week.

Rachel Reeves said:

“This is about getting Britain building again – bringing our savings, our investors and our regions together to deliver the homes, infrastructure and industries that will drive growth and create good jobs in every corner of the country.

Our country’s pension funds are some of the biggest in the world. When they invest in Britain, everyone benefits – from the construction worker on site, to the small business on the high street, to the saver seeing their pension grow.

Sterling 20 shows what can be achieved when we all pull in the same direction to build a stronger economy that works for, and rewards, working people.”

The announcement follows shortly after the government launched a fresh drive to encourage pensions firms to commit more of their private investment toward the country’s science and technology sectors – supported by a new Innovation Cluster Map (here). Prior to that, the Mansion House accord, which was agreed in July 2025, had seen 17 pension providers pledging to commit at least 5% of their main default funds in UK private markets (c.£25bn).

As we say, little detail currently exists over how any funds that are committed to improve rural broadband will actually be spent, although the most likely area of focus will probably be on tackling those very hard to reach remote rural communities. Such areas are often too expensive for even Project Gigabit to tackle (this represents somewhere around 0.3% of UK premises).

The government has yet to set a clear strategy for such areas and the 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband is now overdue for a proper review (here).

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband, phone and TV provider Virgin Media (O2) and their security partner, Akamai, have this morning warned that they’ve seen a 285% rise in phishing attempts this year. This figure has jumped to a huge 232,365 average new phishing threat entries to their threat intelligence feeds each day between April to June 2025.

Phishing typically reflects the fraudulent use of legitimate / trustworthy business or personal images (brands) that have been designed to fool users into entering their personal, financial or security information (scammers sending you fake bank emails etc.). This data is then stolen and abused by the fraudsters.

As part of its ongoing ‘Swerve the Scammers’ campaign, VMO2 has continued to invest in new tools and technologies to keep customers safe online. This year, the company has blocked over 600 million scam messages so far and rolled out AI-powered scam call detection to flag potentially fraudulent calls to customers before they even pick up the phone.

Take note that all Virgin Media customers receive their Essential Security software as standard to help fight phishing scams, viruses and to provide other protections. Customers can optionally add Advanced Security, for three months free via a trial, or pay £3 monthly or £30 annually, which offers on-the-go protection in and out of the home. The ISP also offered a few security tips.

Virgin Media’s Security Tips to Avoid Phishing Scams

1. Be sceptical of unexpected messages: If you receive an email, text, or call out of the blue, especially one asking for personal or financial information, pause and think. You can act as an additional layer of security yourself. Scammers often pretend to be from trusted organisations like banks, supermarkets, HMRC, or even the NHS. If you’re unsure, don’t click any links or give out personal details. Instead, apply caution and contact the organisation directly using a verified number on its website to verify the request.

2. Check the sender carefully: Phishing messages often use email addresses or phone numbers that look almost legitimate. Look for misspellings, extra characters, or generic greetings like “Dear customer.” If something feels off, it probably is. Keep an eye out for the below examples.

• “Lookalike” characters from non-Latin character sets, for example virginme~diạ.com  
• Typos that evade a quick glance, i.e. Virgenmedia.com 
• Domain name links that contain lots of extra info at the end such as Virginmedia.com.winner.ru    
• Different top-level domain “.xyz” is NOT the same as “.com” i.e. virginmedia.xyz

 

3. Never share sensitive information: No genuine organisation will call you and ask to confirm your PIN, password, or bank details via email, text, or phone. If you’re being pressured to act quickly or share private info, it’s a red flag.

4. Use strong security tools: See if any extra security comes with your broadband package. All Virgin Media customers get Essential Security, software that fights against phishing scams, as standard. On top of this, customers can also add Advanced Security, for three months free via a trial, or pay £3 monthly or £30 annually, which offers on-the-go protection in and out of the home. In addition to security software, where possible, enable two-factor authentication (2FA) to add an extra layer of protection to your devices, even if your password is compromised.

5. Report and Get Help: If you think you’ve received a phishing message, report it. In the UK, you can forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk, and report calls and texts to 7726 (free on any network).