03 July 2019
03.07.2019
.jpg)
“Data reported show that if a security incident was solved, on average, in more than 8 hours in 2017, last year the operators managed to reduce the solving times up to an average of 5 hours. On the other hand, the number of security incidents grew by 66% compared to 2017 ”, Mr. Sorin Grindeanu, the ANCOM President, said.
Affected connections
According to the figures reported by the providers of telecommunications services on thesecurity and integrity of the electronic communications networks and services, 556 incidents with significant impact were registered in 2018, up by 66% from 2017. These affected, in total, almost 15 million connections. Most connections affected were mobile telephony and SMS ones (more than 7.6 million connections), followed by mobile internet (over 4.7 million connections), fixed telephony (over 1 million connections) and fixed internet (approx. 1 million connections). The least affected were audio-visual programme retransmission connections (approx. 438 thousand).
According to the data reported, one incident with significant impact on the security and integrity of electronic communications networks and services affected on average 24,252 connections last year, less than in 2017, when one incident affected on average 29,755 connections.
If the duration of a significant incident was of 8 hours and 49 minutes in 2017, and the total duration of the incidents was of 2,945 hours, an improvement was registered in 2018 as the average duration of one incident dropped to 5 hours and 3 minutes. The total duration of incidents thus decreased to 2,808 hours.
Geographic distribution
Constanta was the most affected county with 64 incidents, followed by Dolj with 57 incidents, Teleorman with 55 incidents and Olt with 54 incidents. The least affected counties were Ialomita (9 incidents), Bihor and Salaj (11 incidents each). 166 incidents impacted at least two counties.
Causes of the incidents
According to the data provided by the operators, last year, most incidents (86%) were caused by external factors (e.g. power outage, equipment malfunction or deterioration – from unknown causes – of the fibre optic). The number of incidents provoked by an external cause/third party almost doubled, from 243 (in 2017) to 477 (in 2018).
14% of the incidents were caused by system errors (software or hardware), natural phenomena (e.g. heavy snow and storms affecting various pieces of equipment) and malicious actions (e.g. vandalized fibre optic cable).
ANCOM Report
The ANCOM Report on the significant incidents which affected the security and integrity of the electronic communications networks and services in 2018 was drawn up based on the data reported by providers. The Authority collects such data following the entry into force of Decision no. 512/2013, establishing the providers’ obligation to notify ANCOM on the incidents with significant impact on the security and integrity of electronic communications networks and services, i.e. on the incidents that affected more than 5,000 connections for at least one hour.