‘I Know You Are Busy, But…’ Cyber Insights for 7th December from The National Cyber Skills Centre
Look I know you are busy, no doubt knee-deep in tinsel, wrapping paper, food preparation and all the other festive delights that go into making the holiday season work. I’m also aware that by any measure it’s been a heck of a year, so many things have changed, so many things that were unthinkable just twelve short months ago are now a stark reality.
With all of that going on you could be excused for not noticing that the government passed a bill at the end of last month allowing them to keep an eye on and store all your electronic communications, just to make sure that you are not up to anything naughty. I’m guessing you’ve put down that tinsel now as that can come as quite a surprise.
By any stretch of the imagination the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, to give it its full title, has not really hit the headlines in a way that it may have done in the past, as other more colourful news has ensured that its has been relatively buried. You may have heard it mentioned in passing by its stage name of ‘The Snoopers Charter’.
What this law means is that Internet service providers and mobile phone companies are to maintain records of each user’s internet browsing activity (including social media), email correspondence, voice calls, internet gaming, and mobile phone messaging services and store the records for 12 months. Yes, folks 12 months of your online activity from any device, on any communications platform is going to be stored and should it be deemed necessary looked at by ‘the powers that be’. That Twitter rant at 3am in the morning – yep, that will be kept. Those vicious texts you have sent off to somebody you feel has wronged you, or disagreed with – stored safely for posterity. How about those embarrassing social media photos taken on a company away day – yep, kept for viewing on a rainy afternoon if required...
Read the rest over at Cyber Insights, brought to you by the National Cyber Skills Centre.
Certes specialise in IT staffing for all sectors and industries. We are now working with the National Cyber Skills Centre in order to provide staffing to companies in need of cyber security. For cyber security jobs, Click here.