Following the 21st October cyber attack on the UK’s telecoms company TalkTalk the firm’s management have been facing the press to allay fears of customers over potential future security problems.

The company’s chief executive Dido Harding believes the network’s cybersecurity is far more stringent than that of its competitors whilst reports have also emerged that the recent attack may have been less serious than previously reported.

Speaking to the Guardian newspaper in an in-depth interview, Harding commenting, “We are understandably the punchball for everybody wanting to make a point at the moment. Nobody is perfect. God knows, we’ve just demonstrated that our website security wasn’t perfect – I’m not going to pretend it is – but we take it incredibly seriously.”

“On that specific vulnerability, it’s much better than it was and we are head and shoulders better than some of our competitors and some of the media bodies that were throwing those particular stones.”

Unfortunately for Harding, TalkTalk have still been unable to calculate exactly how many of its database of four million customers had their privacy violated by last Wednesday’s attack, which saw clients’ personal data such as names, addresses and some bank account details taken. Harding stated that it is too early to say whether the company will offer customers compensation for having their data hacked, whilst the company insisted that the amount of information leaked was ‘materially lower than first feared’. The firm were held to ransom by the hackers before going public about the security breach but have not revealed whether they had paid up on the ransom demands.

Specialists from BAE Systems were reportedly called to step in and track down the cyber criminals, whilst staff from Scotland Yard’s cybercrime team are on the case. The company are also unable to guarantee that another attack would be prevented and this is not the first time TalkTalk’s networks have been hacked.

About the possibility of future attacks Harding told the Guardian, “It would be naive to say something like this will never happen again to any business. Digital safety is no different to physical safety. You can do your upmost to minimise it. You can arm yourself to protect yourself, but in the end there are criminals everywhere and that’s the way of the world. It’s usually tempting to say there will never ever be another attack but that would be naive.”

Industry analysts have openly criticised TalkTalk’s security systems in the past and say that the company’s reacted slowly and poorly to breaches, failing to encrypt and make data secure.

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The Government of the United Kingdom has authorised the sale of its last remaining share of the Royal Mail, generating £591.1 in the process.

The news was confirmed on Tuesday (13^th October) as the Government sold off the remainder of its stake in the national network to institutional investors. The stake was 13% of the overall share of Royal Mail, whilst in a gesture of goodwill a remaining 1% stake was gifted to eligible Royal Mail staff in the UK.

The sale spells an end to the Government’s involvement in the operation of the

postal system which boasts 500 years of history. The privatisation process was really set in motion two years ago, sparking criticism from political opponents of David Cameron’s Tory coalition with the Liberal Democrats at that time.

Critics suggested that the Royal Mail had been sold of too cheaply, with trade unions supporting that argument.

But the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has continued the privatisation process, which culminated in Tuesday’s news of the final stake being sold off. In total the privatisation was generated proceeds of £3.3bn, with the delivery operator now fully controlled by private management for the first time in more than five centuries of operation.

Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Business, stated, “This is a truly historic day for Royal Mail with the workers gaining a share of this history. We have delivered on our promise to sell the Government’s entire remaining stake which means that for the very first time the company is now wholly owned by its employees and private investors. This is the right step for the Royal Mail, its customers and the taxpayer. Proceeds will also go to help pay off the national debt – a crucial part of our long-term plan to provide economic security for working people.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne added, “By fully leaving state ownership we have a win all round – for customers, the workforce and the taxpayer. And every penny will be used to pay down our national debt as we continue to bring our public finances under control. Once again, we are also going to recognise the hard work of the staff who have done a great job in turning the company around, and give them a 1% stake to share between them.”

A government statement also explained, ‘There is no policy need for government to hold shares in Royal Mail, as the universal postal service remains well protected by law and by Ofcom. Post Office Ltd, which operates the network of branches throughout the UK, remains wholly-owned by government and was separated from Royal Mail in April 2012.’

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Following the global Volkswagen scandal prosecutors in Germany have commenced an investigation into the “allegations of fraud in the sale of cars with manipulated emissions data”, with former Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn reportedly facing criminal charges.

Winterkorn resigned last week, after nearly a decade leading the world’s largest automakers, insisting at the time of his resignation that he had no knowledge of the deliberate manipulation of emissions results in more than 11 million diesel-engine vehicles produced by the company.

Regulators in the United States discovered “cheat” software in some VW built diesel engines which lowered emissions when cars were being inspected.

Several parties – apparently even including VW themselves – have raised official complaints about the matter to prosecutors in Braunschweig, near the company’s HQ in Wolfsburg.

The number one global carmaker in terms of absolute sales have apparently set aside €6.5bn to deal with the fallout of the scandal but some experts believe VW could face up to $18bn in potential fines.

The former boss of VW owned brand Porsche, Matthias Mueller, was announced as the successor to Winterkorn on Friday. The revelations about the deliberately deceptive emissions software have rocked the European car industry and senior VW executives have been called to Brussels for discussions with senior EU officials.

VW owned brand Audi say more than two million of its cars are fitted with the software worldwide, mostly in Europe but also in the United States. Several news agencies have reporting that VW has suspended senior Research & Development directors across its family of brands, including Audi and Porsche.

Volkswagen shares have lost about 35% of their value since the manufacturer acknowledged wrongdoing in the US emissions tests. In addition to potential fines from authorities across the world, senior staff are facing potential lawsuits from clients and shareholders.

Investigations have also been initiated in Italy, France and South Korea, whilst authorities in Switzerland have even temporarily banned the sale of diesel-engine VW vehicles. The company have been told to recall more than half a million vehicles in the U.S. and sales have been suspended there.

Owners of VW vehicles have been advised by U.S. regulators that their cars are safe to drive, but ultimately the cars involved need to be repaired by mechanics in order to pass emissions tests with the benefit of the ‘cheat software.’

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US tech giant Apple has admitted it is undertaking work to counter breaches of the App Store, after malware code was added to a number of apps for iPads and iPhones which are popular in China.

Apple, who earlier this year reported the biggest quarterly profit ever by a public company when a net profit of approx £12bn was reported in the fiscal first quarter, has generally been regarded as producing security tight platforms and products, so this attack comes as something of a surprise.

The attack is believed to be the first large-scale attack the App Store, after hackers produced a fake version of Apple’s iOS app-building software, which was promoted to developers to download. Apps created with the software allowed leaking of app-user data, with the information being sent back to the hackers’ servers.

The malware also prompted users to reveal passwords and additional data through fake alerts on infected apps and devices. The apps affected were typical mass consumption apps such as an Uber-style taxi app, a music download management app and the WeChat app developed by Tencent.

Most of the apps were only available in China and most users affected were Chinese, but some affected apps are also available outside China.

A spokesperson for Apple, Christine Monaghan, stated that apps created with the malicious software, called XcodeGhost, were now eliminated. She commented, “We are working with the developers to make sure they’re using the proper version of Xcode to rebuild their apps.”

For years the stability of Apple’s devices has been one of the company’s core strengths with their MacBook computers, in addition to their handheld devices, hailed by users for their consistently well performing operating systems.

computerworld.com recently said of the new iOS 9, “Apple’s free update to its mobile OS, delivers relevant information, smarter search, better security and much needed stability.” Such plaudits have long been commonplace for the California based tech giant, but this weekend’s Chinese attack shows that no-one is immune to cyber security issues.

The App Store is generally regarded as a secure marketplace as the barrier to entry is kept high by Apple and instances of malware on iOS apps have occurred.

However, on this occasion both Apple and the Chinese iOS app developers have been caught out.

Reacting to the attack Wee Teck Loo, head of consumer electronics at market research firm Euromonitor International, told the BBC he did not expect it to have any significant impact on Apple’s product sales.

“It is definitely embarrassing for Apple but the reality is that malware is a persistent problem since the days of PCs and the problem will multiply as the number of mobile devices explodes from 1.4 billion units in 2015 to 1.8 billion in 2020,” he commented.

Apple will hope this is a blip and will continue to maintain their undoubtedly high standards. Their aforementioned record Q1 profit of approximately £11.8bn ($18bn) is the biggest in history for a public company, beating the $15.9bn made by ExxonMobil in Q2 of 2012.

The company recently revealed their new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which are officially launched for sale on 25^th September. The pre-order period commenced on 12th September after the new phones were unveiled earlier in the previous week.

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