An industry body has said that a co-ordinated cyberattack is underway against multiple UK-based providers of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services.

The warning was issue by the Comms Council UK, which said several of its members had been targeted by distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in the past four weeks.

DDoS attacks, which work by flooding websites with traffic to overwhelm them, taking them offline have long been a popular tool. They have been used by trolls or hacktivists, the Comms Council UK has claimed that the attacks are part of extortion attempt.

Chair of Comms Council UK Eli Katz said: “Several Comms Council UK members and international IP-based communications service providers have been subjected to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks over the past four weeks which appear to be part of a coordinated extortion-focused international campaign by professional cyber criminals.”

In comments to the BBC, a Comms Council spokesperson was unable to specify the exact scale of the attack, but described it as “unprecedented”. They added that ransom threats have been delivered to providers.

Katz added: “We are liaising closely with the UK Government, National Cyber Security Centre, Ofcom & international agencies to share information and details about the nature of the attacks in the expectation of halting this criminal activity as quickly as possible.

“As our members supply telecoms services to critical infrastructure organisations including the Police, NHS and other public services, attacks on our members are attacks on the foundations of UK infrastructure.

“We are confident that, with a joined-up Government-led initiative, this damaging criminal activity can be halted.”

Ofcom has said that it is aware of the situation.

Recommended

• 6 mindset changes needed to make the most of digital transformation
• ‘International organised criminals’ likely culprits behind SEPA cyber-Attack
• New tech could make Scotland world leader in green steel

Commenting on the attack, security specialist at Comparitech Brian Higgins warned: “It’s very naïve to dismiss DDoS as an unsophisticated attack vector.

“Like most criminal methodologies it has evolved over time into a very useful tool for cybercriminals. It’s often a vehicle for distraction whilst other data breach activity takes place but is equally useful as a Ransomware technique.

“Ransomware relies on the inaccessibility of data and, whilst commonly achieved by network infiltration and encryption, denying access is equally effective albeit for a shorter period of time.

“The VoIP service providers currently under attack have clearly taken the best approach by informing and liaising with the relevant authorities.”

He added: “Whilst it may take some time to resolve the issue, their customers should be patient and observant, follow any advice provided, and be confident that this approach will make the sector a much less attractive target in the future.”

Join the Conversation: Digital Transformation 2021 Summit

The benefits of digital transformation will be a key themes at the upcoming Digital Transformation Summit on 28th October.

Now in its sixth year, the Summit has established itself as Scotland’s largest annual conference focussed on digitalisation and organisational change.

For more information on how to register a free place visit: www.digifutures.co.uk