After Friday's major cyber-attack hit businesses and individuals worldwide, here is all you need to know.

Intercontinental hotels group (IHG) has announced that 1,175 US franchises have been struck by a payment card data breach. This malware attack means that guests money could have been stolen as a consequence.

Payday loan company Wonga has suffered a data breach that’s been labelled “one of the biggest” in UK history. Hackers are thought to have gained access to some 245,000 UK accounts, as well a further 25,000 in Poland. By comparison, the huge data breach that cost Talk Talk a record £400,000 fine impacted around 157,000 customers.

Ask any Chief Technology Officer these days about their company’s current IT strategies and the answer will almost certainly include the word “cloud”. We’ve certainly come a long way since the late 90s when Larry Ellison, head of Oracle Corporation, tried to persuade the market to buy into thin computing. The idea was to have a diskless computer (known as a network computer) that connected to a server or to the cloud.

Criminals no longer need to risk having their collar felt while climbing out of someone’s window – they can simply get hold of some ready-made ransomware designed to help them commit fraud.

Now that at least 92% of jobs in the UK require some form of digital skill, candidates need to be comfortable and confident with the latest technology.

BT’s infrastructure division, Openreach, will split from the company and operate independently, under an agreement with the sector regulator Ofcom. The new operational landscape could bring investment in superfast broadband a step closer. However, the industry’s next flashpoint may be just around the corner. Openreach was born out of an Ofcom decision in 2005, when a regulatory shake-up of the sector led to the separation of BT’s retail business and its infrastructure. That strategic review also sought to establish ‘equivalence of inputs’ – the right of other communications providers to access services on the same terms as BT. The new deal means that Ofcom won’t need to impose a change on BT through the European Commission. The threat of an imposed solution seems to have focused minds: Ofcom Chief Executive Sharon White referred to “a distinct change of tone and commitment…in recent weeks”. Meanwhile, BT has acknowledged the negotiations were long and tough, but has declared itself satisfied with a fair outcome. Openreach will have its own staff and management and control of its own budgets, but its assets will remain owned by BT. That’s good news at least for the company’s pension plans, and a way of avoiding the further delays involved in a sell-off. BT’s retail competitors also struck a pragmatic note, with Vodafone calling the move “a positive start”, and TalkTalk pressing for a clear timetable for improvements from the new Openreach. Forthcoming price consultation Their focus will now turn to Ofcom’s forthcoming consultation on pricing. BT still sets its own superfast broadband prices – a reflection of its investment in the fibre-optic network – but other players are calling for fairer controls. The solution must allow for an investment in Britain’s broadband infrastructure that makes commercial and competitive sense. An independently run Openreach is unlikely to suddenly see a business rationale for a major investment programme, but the deal with Ofcom removes a regulatory wrangle that stood in the way of a new commercial approach for BT’s infrastructure and the companies that use it.

In January 2017, UK businesses saw a price increase on Office 365, with Microsoft citing Brexit and the fall in the value of sterling as the major contributory factors. However, this cloud-based solution remains the obvious choice for SMEs.

It’s that time of year when a deluge of new malware attacks try to lure you in with infected email attachments in messages which purport to be from legitimate companies – the types of companies you would expect to be emailing you at this time of year. Amazon appears to be the worst culprit right now – or rather emails containing intriguing subject lines such as ‘Your Amazon Order Details’. Of course, it’s not really Amazon sending these bogus messages. Instead they originate from cyber criminals hoping you will open the attached file and thereby unleash havoc on your own PC. What a lazy (but effective) way to propagate malicious code! Naturally, the malware you might inadvertently install by opening an infected file threatens to compromise the performance of your machine or, worse still, the security of your personal data. Besides fake order updates from Amazon, other variations are also doing the rounds – ‘important notifications’ from HMRC containing PDF attachments and, of course, the traditional bogus documentation from all the major banks: Barclays, RBS, HSBC and Lloyds to name but a few. What can you do to protect yourself? So if your inbox is full of messages that you were not expecting on subjects you do not recognise, what can you do to avoid falling foul of the hackers? Here is some simple advice that may prevent you compromising your security. Know your sender – our simple message to you is this – do not open email attachments from unknown senders. Beware malicious files – invoices and delivery notes from Amazon and other suppliers are designed to tempt you to click. However, most online retailers do not send file attachments with their order updates and Amazon for one have made a statement to this effect in the past month. Be careful what you download! There is no such thing as a free lunch and ‘freeware’ as well as P2P programs are amongst the biggest culprits. These software applications are frequently bundled with copious amounts of bundled spyware. Phishing and ID theft. Be especially wary of hyperlinks contained in messages that appear to originate from your bank, building society, telecoms provider, PayPal account etc. A useful tip is to hover your mouse over any such link to reveal whether the URL actually does originates from the website in question. Update your antivirus – your antivirus software should be set to update at regular intervals and manual checks are advisable too. If you have any questions regarding your own internet security software, please contact us to discuss this matter as a matter of urgency.

Fifteen million UK internet users have undertaken a ‘digital detox’ in a bid to strike a healthier balance between technology and life beyond the screen, according to major new Ofcom research. The majority of internet users say they’re ‘hooked’, spending a day a week online and the Ofcom study revealed some of the effects of excessive internet use on sleep, school, family and relationships.