Universal Broadband May Trigger Security Risks: David Blunkett

 

David Blunkett has sounded a warning that broadband connections of higher speeds may create an ideal hunting ground in the country for hackers as well as other internet crime perpetrators. One can definitely not extract something from his words that goes against the Digital Broadband plan put forth by Stephen Carter, which is all about broadband connection to all UK households by 2012 at 2Mbps access speed.

This is apparent in his words that clearly stress on the term ‘high-speed broadband’, and a 2Mbps broadband connection definitely cannot by listed under the high-speed category. According to him, the Broadband UK sector could easily tackle the menace if a synergic approach is put forth by the segment collectively. The former home secretary of Britain has also said that priority must be given to the security aspect, by not only the government, but also the consumers and businesses.

Blunkett added that the unification of all the parties in the country that dealt with fraud and counter-terrorism, as well as all those who were interested in championing awareness and infrastructure development was the requirement of the present times to minimize the risks posted by cyber-crimes. Blunkett’s comments had come on the occasion of the Infosecurity 2009 conference that was held recently.

Currently, it is widely perceived that Blunkett was hinting at the higher speed government rollout envisaged by Lord Mandelson, rather than the super-slow 2Mbps broadband service of the Digital Britain.  Nonetheless it is quite evident that the government is not going to ignore the security threat, which has clearly reflected from the words of Gareth Thomas, the minister for consumer affairs in the UK that a soon-to-be released white paper by the government will contain the essence of its plans focusing on tackling online crime.