JT publishes 2019/20 Progress Report

St. Helier, Jersey: the JT Group has released its annual update report detailing progress over the last 12 months, as it continues to support its local communities through the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the last eight weeks JT has doubled the minimum broadband speeds (from 500 Mb/s to 1Gb/s) for all fibre customers at no cost, to help them work, and stay connected at home, as well as extending that network to more of those islanders who previously only relied on a landline.

Overall, the Report details a stable financial performance over the last 12 months, with revenue, profits and dividends to JT’s owner, the Government of Jersey, remaining broadly on a par with previous years.
The 2019/20 Progress Report mainly focusses on the last full calendar year before the pandemic changed the way many people across the world are living their lives, and JT has a formal requirement to publish it at this time every year. The Group’s CEO & Chairman, Graeme Millar & Phil Male, have also written a special introduction to the document which sets out how JT has responded to this time of national emergency.

JT Chairman, Phil Male, commented: “We know that our customers and stakeholders have more on their minds at the moment than JT’s performance, however we hope they will find this review of the last twelve months interesting and informative.

“Clearly it mainly focusses on the year before the Covid-19 pandemic, which was another strong one for the Group, as we continued to invest heavily in Channel Island networks. This investment has stood islanders in good stead now so many of us are working from home, and using technology to interact with family, friends and colleagues.

“2019 was also a year when we upped our investment in emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, Cyber security and 5G. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the team at JT for their continued hard work and commitment, not least in recent weeks when despite the worrying global health situation, they have worked tirelessly to ensure islanders can stay connected.”

CEO Graeme Millar added: “I’m proud of the way JT has played its part in recent weeks to help its communities deal with the disruption posed by Covid-19. It has been a tough, worrying and uncertain time for many of our customers which is likely to continue for a while yet.

“Our teams and networks have responded very well indeed to the challenge. We have also done what we can to financially support our customers who may be finding it tough, such as by suspending all charges for late payments, or going over broadband usage limits, offering better terms to suppliers and providing local landline calls for free. Throughout this period JT will be calmly focussed on its core role: to make sure the islands, our people, and our businesses, stay connected.”

You can read JT’s Progress Report 2019/20 and Financial Statements by clicking here.



What Is DDoS? How To Protect Your Business From A Quietly Growing Threat

Author:
David Salisbury
Product Portfolio Manager - Security

According to Cisco, the annual number of DDoS attacks is expected to reach 15.4 million in 2023 (up from 7.9m in 2018 and 10.8m in 2020).

That steep growth signals a heightened danger to businesses, ecommerce retailers, SaaS providers, financial institutions and many other operations that are at risk of DDoS attack — which, at best, can interrupt operations and damage a business’s reputation and, at worst, can be a precursor to something much more malicious indeed.

So how can we stop DDoS attackers before they succeed?

In this post, we'll explain how DDoS attacks work and what you can do to protect your business against them.

What is a DDoS attack?

A DDoS attack, or Distributed Denial of Service, is when a hacker disrupts a website or internet connection’s normal mode of operations by flooding its network servers with requests. This causes the server or firewall to become overwhelmed and, eventually, shut down, preventing user access.

DDoS attacks can happen to any organisation. In theory, service the size of Netflix could be disabled by overwhelming its servers in a DDoS attack.

In fact, something of this magnitude has happened in the past, when hacktivist group 'Anonymous’ took down Sony's PlayStation network, blocking PlayStation users from being able to play online multiplayer games. Although it's difficult to take down large networks like these, Anonymous has proven that no one is completely safe.

What happens during a DDoS attack?

The first step in a DDoS operation is to gather a network of bots (simple computer programs that perform one or two functions). These bots are installed on existing devices, most often IoT devices that the attacker has hacked into.

Once a sufficient number of bots have been gathered (the amount needed will depend on the strength of the website/network), all of the bots begin simultaneously sending requests to a website, service, or network. That network's bandwidth is then overloaded, causing it to crash and preventing users from accessing the network, website, or service.

From there, the hacker(s) will make demands upon the business — usually financial — in exchange for letting up on the DDoS attack. Other times, the attack is simply carried out by teens or internet communities as a joke amongst themselves.

The dangers of DDoS are growing

Although this may seem like a minor threat in the world of hacking (no one's data is lost or stolen, and nothing is permanently affected) the risks of DDoS attacks  have started to become more and more serious over the last few years.

Namely, DDoS is now being used as a way to distract from greater simultaneous risks. A group of hackers will overwhelm a business's servers, causing them to scramble to fix the problem. Meanwhile, the hackers will start targeting sensitive information, firewalls, and even user accounts. By the time the company realises what's happening, the DDoS attack is over and the hackers have taken what they want.

One of the major difficulties in preventing a DDoS attack is that the bots are effectively invisible to most security systems. They look like any other user on the network, making it difficult to identify and remove attackers without affecting genuine users.

A DDoS attack can happen to any business with a website, which puts nearly every business at some level of risk.

How businesses can protect against DDoS attacks

We've created the JT DDoS Mitigation Service to help businesses identify DDoS bots before they even reach the Channel Islands. This service is fine-tuned to detect DDoS bots with extremely low false-positive and false-negative ratios. In other words: JT DDoS Mitigation makes it possible to block DDoS attacks at all times before the attack even reaches your internet connection. . To date, the largest DDoS attack reached 1.3 TBps of traffic, but JT DDoS Mitigation is capable of absorbing 4.5 TBps. That's enough of a cushion for the service to absorb multiple DDoS attacks at the same time.

JT's DDoS Mitigation service is always-on and highly scalable, making it an ideal solution for companies of all sizes. Find out more about JT DDoS Mitigation and start protecting your business.

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EVie environmentally sustainable e-bikes

JT Supporting the Green Transport Revolution

A fleet of environmentally sustainable e-bikes and e-vehicles are being kept on the road thanks to the award-winning mobile network and technology developed by JT.

JT’s IoT (Internet of Things) division worked with the team at EVie while it was testing its e-bikes in Europe, and now provides the smart data connectivity that’s needed in all of its e-bikes and electric vehicles used on Jersey’s roads.

That technology is used by EVie to track the location and status of the entire fleet enabling it to keep its emission-free cars, vans and bikes moving 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It allows customers to simply use the apps to locate their nearest e-bike or to hire an electric car or van, wherever they are in the island.

Tom Noel, JT’s Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, said: “Supporting the environment and helping drive sustainability for our community are at the heart of what we do at JT. With our growing global network and our skills within IoT technology, we’ve been able to help find a viable and innovative way to change how we, as a community, think about transportation. Working with an organisation like EVie that shares our values, fits perfectly with JT’s purpose of connecting our customers to their sustainable future.”

Customers simply download EVie’s Freebike app or the EVie Car app, register and follow the process to start using one of the green machines, and in response to the COVID-19 crisis, EVie is providing 50 of its e-bikes free of charge to healthcare workers as part of its #EVieWarrior campaign. The fully electric, long range bikes can shorten the commute time for key healthcare workers.

Gavin Breeze, Director at EVie, said: “Among our aims at EVie is to convert Jersey into an all-electric island, reduce congestion on our roads and in car parks and promote healthier lifestyles. Being able to link into JT’s world-class mobile network has been key to the success of this project. Having the input from JT’s experts available on our doorstep meant we were able to launch both our electric vehicle and e-bike services with ease.”



ITC Secure forms new strategic partnership with Jersey headquartered JT Group

ITC Secure and JT Group announce partnership to provide world-class managed security services to the Channel Islands

London, 20 April 2020: ITC Secure (ITC), the managed security service provider (MSSP) and specialist cyber advisory firm, and Jersey-based JT Group, have formed a strategic partnership to bring world-class managed security services to the Channel Islands. This is a step change to cybersecurity on the islands and will be welcome news to all the islands’ businesses.

Following a year-long relationship, this announcement formalises the partnership between the two organisations. This partnership addresses the growing need for better online protection, offering enhanced cybersecurity for JT’s customers across the Channel Islands. It is especially important now as our dependency on digital communications multiplies.

Through this partnership JT has expanded its SOC Services capabilities, including security monitoring, advanced threat detection, managed detection and response, plus early warning of planned cyber-attacks. All delivered 24-hours a day, through ITC’s internationally accredited state-of-the-art Security Operations Centre. This enables closer collaboration between ITC’s security analysts and JT’s technical experts, for faster on the ground response.  Adding this world-class portfolio of managed services to JT’s existing cybersecurity capabilities is a first for the Channel Islands.

The skills gap in the cybersecurity industry is on-going; recruitment and retaining the right experts within a business can be challenging. This partnership brings a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity and risk management, providing Channel Island businesses with round the clock access to qualified analysts to support their digital transformation and protect their business.

Arno Robbertse, Chief Executive of ITC Secure said “We are proud to partner with JT and to provide our services to the Channel Islands. As a globally recognised centre for financial services, Jersey and the other islands, like most places in the world are under constant threat of cyber-attack. It is great for us to be able to make a significant and positive impact on this issue and with JT to help make the Channel Islands a safer place to do business online”.

Graeme Millar, Chief Executive of JT Group said “This new partnership has greatly enhanced our existing portfolio of services, enabling us to provide sophisticated next-generation managed security services to our customers. This is more important now than ever, as we navigate through current events affecting us all, which places an increased pressure on networks and systems, and home working for many businesses. Our relationship with ITC brings together critical skills and expertise that will enable and empower Chanel Island businesses to defend against the evolving threats of tomorrow. Together we will encourage a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to cybersecurity and risk management.”