Light Reading Podcasts

On this episode, we hear from Jennifer Alvarez, Co-founder and CEO, Aurora Insight, a company that measures the availability of spectrum and wireless networks in the rural US and abroad; as well as David Hartshorn, CEO of Geeks Without Frontiers, a nonprofit organization working to address the digital divide globally.The two organizations have recently formed a partnership to tackle the lack of reliable wireless broadband in underserved parts of the US and abroad. We discuss the details and goals of that partnership, the challenges surrounding broadband mapping across the world, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Verizon's Terrance Robinson joins the podcast to share key findings from the service provider's Mobile Security Index. In addition, Robinson shares insights about which mobile security threats are on the rise, and how enterprises and their employees can identify and address potential threats. The full report can be downloaded here. "We're seeing over a 360% year-over-year increase in phishing attempts on mobile devices," says Robinson. Bad actors are increasingly targeting text messages in their phishing attempts because the rate at which consumers read text messages is 98%, and 45% respond to those messages. By comparison – only 20% of email is viewed, with a 6% response rate, says Robinson.  In addition to addressing the rise of phishing, ransomware, shadow IT and other security threats, Robinson explains how enterprises can address these issues by developing Appropriate Use Policies and educating employees on how to better protect their devices. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week's telecom news highlights included all the damage, and damage control, surrounding T-Mobile's recent hack and data breach. We also ponder why cable operators are suddenly very popular mobile service providers and whether smaller cable operators will join the fray. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we hear from Dr. Tamarah Holmes, director of the Office of Broadband for the state of Virginia.Since the office was established in 2019, Dr. Holmes says Virginia has successfully closed half of its digital divide. Recently, the state's Governor Ralph Northam announced plans to invest $700 million in federal relief money toward achieving universal broadband access over the next three years.Dr. Holmes and I discuss how Virginia has been able to address connectivity needs through the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative, or the VATI program, for last-mile deployments, why it helps that the state's broadband office sits within the Department of Housing and Community Development, and how her office is preparing to distribute state and federal aid to close the remaining divide.Link to access the state's VATI grant program (just remember... Dog, House, Cat, Dog!): https://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/vati Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week's telecom news highlights included some M&A speculation involving Reliance Jio and T-Mobile Netherlands. We also covered the new roaming fees that are now summering in the UK. Finally, don't look up now but we have another satellite story – this one discusses SpaceX's decision to buy Swarm, a company that operates around 100 microsatellites providing IoT connectivity.Here are the stories we mentioned in the podcast:SpaceX buys IoT company Swarm amid heightened space competitionSouth Korea's Hanwha Systems sinks $300M into OneWebDesperation shows as BT and Vodafone resurrect roamingIndia's Jio may bid for T-Mobile Netherlands - reportSign up for our daily and weekly newsletters to get telecom service provider and vendor coverage, in-depth reporting and Light Reading interviews. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Verizon's Suzanne Widup joins the podcast to provide insight into cybersecurity trends and share key findings from the service provider's annual Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). The full report can be downloaded here. As the senior principal threat intel analyst for Verizon and co-author of the DBIR, Widup has her finger on the pulse of hackers' evolving efforts to undermine network security via phishing attacks, ransomware and social engineering. "We've seen tremendous growth in our data sets over time on both social attacks and ransomware," said Widup. Hacker's approach to ransomware has evolved as well – "Now you not only lose access to your data but they can give it to other people … we've seen the commoditization of ransomware, giving out ransomware-as-a-service and how mature these marketplaces have become." In addition, as enterprises became more reliant on cloud networking during the pandemic, hackers took advantage of this shift. Bad actors also took advantage of public interest in pandemic-related news by incorporating language around COVID-19 into their phishing lures. "We did see more of the attacks targeting the cloud systems than we had before," said Widup. "The phishing lures take whatever the current headline is, so COVID was all over the place there."  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we hear from Prashanth Vijay, founder and CEO of Flume, a last-mile, dark-fiber-based home broadband service.Flume was launched in New York City in 2020 to introduce competition to the service provider market and to help bring affordable broadband to underserved areas.We discuss how Flume accesses and leverages dark fiber to deliver high-speed Internet at competitive prices, Flume's commitment to deliver broadband to New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings through the NYC Internet Master Plan, and where the company plans to expand next. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week's telecom news highlights included an overview of Rakuten's impressively aggressive plans, a look at Telegram's rapid growth and the looming threat it presents to telcos, and a summary of the supply chain issues that broadband equipment providers are having as the pandemic has forced higher prices and longer wait times for many components and logistics services. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clearfield CEO Cheri Beranek joins the podcast to talk about how she's helped build a company that keeps growing as more and more community broadband providers deploy fiber. Clearfield classifies utilities, municipalities and small telcos as "community" providers because, as Beranek explains, they "were not having their needs met by the typical Tier 1 incumbent providers." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we hear from Anthony Goonetilleke, group president of media, network and technology at Amdocs: a software and services provider for communications and media companies.We discuss how a recent survey Amdocs conducted on broadband issues is informing the company's priorities, as well as how service providers in Amdocs' orbit are rethinking the future of connectivity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also talk about Amdocs' work with ISPs and tech giants like T-Mobile, Microsoft and others at the 5G Innovation Lab to find novel solutions for addressing the digital divide. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.