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Knowing who to trust in the digital universe is a key sucess factor for your future. Come and see how Symphony can help you with your compliance goals.

Today it's location, tomorrow it could be communication. Regulatory scrutiny continues to focus on the commoditization of personal, and even professional data. And as mobile communication practices grow within and between financial enterprises, the importance of partnering with trusted providers - who have #datasecurity and #compliance at their core - has never been greater. Contact us to learn how you can meet your mobile communication AND security and compliance needs: https://lnkd.in/eAGJY-TS

𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝘁, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯. The Telecommunications Act got the Presidential assent on December 24, 2023. It brings a significant change in the Indian telecom sector as it repeals out-of-date laws like the 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵 𝗔𝗰𝘁, 𝟭𝟴𝟴𝟱, 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝘁, 𝟭𝟵𝟯𝟯, 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵 𝗪𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀 (𝗨𝗻𝗹𝗮𝘄𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻) 𝗔𝗰𝘁, 𝟭𝟵𝟱𝟬. It also amends the 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗔𝗰𝘁, 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟳. Here are 7️⃣ things you need to know about this Act! 1. It mandates persons wishing to provide telecom services, establish, operate, maintain or expand telecom networks, or possess radio equipment to get prior Govt. 'authorisation'. Before the enactment of the new Act, Govt. used to grant 'licenses' for the same. 2. It considers spectrum as a national asset, which is owned by the Govt. on people's behalf. It thereby allows for auctioning of spectrum as per the National Frequency Allocation Plan except for certain purposes like national security, disaster management, etc. 3. It empowers the Govt. to prescribe standards for telecom services, telecom networks, sale, manufacture, import and distribution of telecom equipment, telecom services' cybersecurity, and data processing and encryption in telecom. 4. It provides a framework for seeking the Right of Way (RoW) from both public entities and private persons. It also allows the Govt. to permit RoW and give compensation if private entities do not accept the application for RoW. 5. It brings out a 3-tiered adjudicatory mechanism for civil violations. The first tier consists of an Adjudicating Officer (AO) who conducts inquiries and imposes civil penalties. The second constitutes an Appeal against the AO's order, which will be before the Designated Appeals Committee (DAC). The third tier constitutes an Appeal against the DAC's order which will be before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). 6. The civil penalties range from a written warning to a monetary penalty of up to ₹5 crore. The Govt. can also increase the penalty up to ₹10 crores. 7. The offences under the Act are cognizable and non-bailable. Alternatively, imprisonment of up to 3 years or both imprisonment and fine may also be imposed. What are your thoughts about the new Telecommunication Act? Ramanuj Mukherjee Abhyuday Agarwal Archana Chaudhary Ankita Roy Komal Shah Dr. Harsh Jain #telecommunications #telecommunicationsact #telecommunicationsact2023 #medialaw #media #technology #cyberlaw #lawstudent @

The FCC revised its breach notification rules for telecommunication providers, expanding the instances when notifications are required. Despite limited exceptions to the new requirements, the final rule further complicates the existing maze of federal reporting requirements. Erik Dullea and Carissa Maher share a table that summarizes the various notification permutations for agencies and customers: https://lnkd.in/gXxQK96M #dataprivacy #telecommunication #databreach

Do we sometimes forget how critical mobile networks are to the safety and security of our community? Today our mobile phone number is often the only means for someone to reach us quickly. In an emergency, having it readily accessible is paramount to our safety in a critical situation. This article is an example of how challenging it can be to maintain even the most simple aspects of critical infrastructure, supporting those who need information from it or access to it. We need to appreciate that building resilient systems, especially when it comes to telecom and mobile infrastructure, can be difficult and that balancing the need for consumer affordability and regulatory compliance do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. #governance #regulation #compliance #telecom #criticalinfrastructure https://lnkd.in/gUPeKJGg

In Case You Missed It! Starting March 13th, telecommunications companies must report data breaches impacting customers' personally identifiable information within 30 days, as required by FCC's updated data breach reporting requirements. They expand the scope of breach notification requirements beyond customer proprietary network information (CPNI) to personally identifiable information (PII), as well as to include "inadvertent access, use, or disclosure of customer information." Is 30 days too long? What length is appropriate for PII disclosures? https://lnkd.in/d3GVpq3E

In response to Ofcom's April 2023 consultation on whether the UK should follow the steps of the USA to implement STIR/SHAKEN, we expressed our serious concerns and objections, together with many other people and organizations. Today, Ofcom published an update to that consultation, and they concluded that the UK "should not proceed with CLI authentication [STIR/SHAKEN] at this time" (https://lnkd.in/eW-pSepD). Our response to the April 2023 consultation is quoted in Ofcom's update (1/2/2024) in various places under "Warwick University Research Team". The decision to discard STIR/SHAKEN at this time in the UK is sensible and should be welcomed. In this update, Ofcom proposed a few other measures (e.g., call blocking/tracing), which they argue might be effective. However, these measures are nothing new. If they were effective, the spoofing problem would have been solved a long time ago. In a paper published at ACM TOPS (https://lnkd.in/et5PVmTQ), we proposed a Caller ID Verification (CIV) protocol to authenticate caller ID securely and effectively. We are evaluating the feasibility of CIV for the UK telecom, together with our industrial collaborators. Stay tuned.

FCC Fines Wireless Carriers $200 Million For Sharing Customer Data: The Federal Communications Commission has fined the nation's largest wireless carriers for illegally sharing access to customers' location information without consent and without taking reasonable measures to protect that information against unauthorized disclosure. From a report: Sprint and T-Mobile -- which have merged since the investigation began -- face fines of more than $12 million and $80 million, respectively. AT&T is fined more than $57 million, and Verizon is fined almost $47 million. "Our communications providers have access to some of the most sensitive information about us. These carriers failed to protect the information entrusted to them. Here, we are talking about some of the most sensitive data in their possession: customers' real-time location information, revealing where they go and who they are," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. "As we resolve these cases" which were first proposed by the last Administration -- the Commission remains committed to holding all carriers accountable and making sure they fulfill their obligations to their customers as stewards of this most private data." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Department of Telecommunications ( DOT ) has asked telecom operators to deactivate unstructured supplementary service data (USSD)-based call forwarding with effect from April 15, 2024 and move to alternative methods to re-activate it. In an order dated March 28, 2024, DoT said that it has come to its notice that USSD-based call forwarding facility, most commonly known *401# services for unconditional call forwarding services, is being misused for some unwarranted activities. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eh6ZvDmJ #DoTOrder #USSDDeactivation #TelecomRegulation #MobileSecurity #CallForwarding #OnlineFraudPrevention #TelecomCompliance #MobileSafety #IMEIcheck #TelecomRegulation #TelecomIndia #TelecomSector #Technology #Infrastructure #IndiaInfrastructure