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Protecting critical information from a cyber pandemic

Having up to date and effective cybersecurity is more vital now than ever, and a Chamber of Commerce briefing next month will focus on what businesses can do to improve their cybersecurity in the face of growing threats.

JT is sponsoring a breakfast briefing on Thursday 19th May at the Royal Yacht, which will include security specialist insights, local cyber intelligence, and a discussion on just how to secure your business-critical information.

An expert panel of specialists from the world of cybersecurity will discuss how to prepare for and mitigate against potential cyber threats.

Katie Corbett, Interim Managing Director, JT Channel Islands, said: “Mandatory training on the systems, policies and processes that make a business function has always been seen as a core requirement for any company. But now, more than ever before, it has become vital that companies prioritise the training for all staff on cybersecurity threats. They must be kept up to date with the latest methods utilised by attackers and how to spot and prevent cyberattacks. As corporate governance and regulatory bodies place more and more emphasis on meeting security compliance metrics it is a significant challenge for any business to keep up. It’s often by learning from experts at events such as this that those responsible for setting the standards in their own organisation can feel adequately equipped to deal with such pressures.”

Jennifer Carnegie, President of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce, added: “Cyber criminals have no respect for national boundaries, so we are all vulnerable to attack.  It is vital that businesses, large and small, are aware of the threat, pass that awareness on to their people and make sure they are properly trained to deal with it. It only takes one slip up to cause a breach that puts a company and their customers’ data at risk.”

 

JT provides cyber threat advisory and managed cybersecurity services that help organisations identify, understand and control their security risks.



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JT protects Australian consumers from fraud

JT International, a division of the JT Group headquartered in Jersey, Channel Islands, is partnering with mobile network operators across Australia to help businesses identify and prevent fraudulent activity. JT’s Fraud Protection Services (FPS) platform has the ability to access rich network data in real time, to help businesses identify and prevent fraudulent activity.

The Australian Telecoms industry (Comms Alliance and all the leading Australian Mobile Network Operators) have selected and implemented the JT FPS solution to identify SIM Swap activity. JT’s FPS was chosen as the only real time solution which could identify SIM Swap fraud across all Australian operator networks.

Implemented with a leading bank in Australia, the network data provided by the JT FPS solution has already proven to be highly effective in protecting their clients against account takeover fraud.

By working with mobile and virtual network operators worldwide, JT’s Fraud Protection Services provide the broadest global coverage possible to help prevent account takeover fraud. The service is widely used by banks, financial institutions and payment solution providers throughout the UK and around the world, providing additional security to mitigate risk; and is now available to all business sectors in Australia.

The risk of compromising personal and financial data remains a major challenge for many businesses as they seek to protect their customers from scams, despite stricter online security measures. In addition to rich data sources, JT provides an SMS firewall solution that protects consumers against smishing attacks. In conjunction with its Mobile Network Operator partners around the world, JT provides secure connectivity for mobile communication channels and authentication processes that validate transactions.

Clare Messenger, Head of Fraud Protection Services at JT, said: “Account take over by criminals is a significant problem. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have the ability to provide rich information that in turn helps businesses determine if a customer’s account has been compromised. Working on behalf of MNOs, JT has developed a platform that provides them with real time data, crucial to preventing scams such as Sim Swap Fraud. I’m delighted that our launch in Australia has been so successful.’’



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Daragh McDermott appointed as CEO of JT Group

Following a rigorous appointment process, the Board of JT Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Daragh McDermott as its new Chief Executive Officer, who takes over with immediate effect from Interim CEO John Diamond.

He has worked in JT for over 20 years, with a key role across all strategic decisions during that time, from the rollout of fibre to the creation and development of JT’s recently sold IoT business. The Board concluded that Daragh’s experience and deep understanding of the business made him the ideal person to lead the company into its next phase of development.

Chairman of the JT Group, Phil Male, commented: “JT has a proud tradition of developing its people, and it is with great pleasure that we have appointed Daragh to the role of Chief Executive Officer.

“He has an exceptional track record of service to JT and understands the business and the ambitious five-year strategy recently approved by the Board and our shareholder. We ran a thorough process, overseen by the Jersey Appointments Commission, and I am delighted that we are now able to announce Daragh’s successful appointment. He thoroughly deserves this opportunity and I am certain that our people, our customers and our stakeholders will join me in congratulating him.

“I would also like to thank John Diamond for his hard work as Interim CEO – his calm and incisive leadership has been a real asset to all at JT.”

Daragh McDermott added: “It is a huge privilege to step up to the position of CEO and to continue working with the fantastic team here in JT to take full advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead, as well as manage some significant challenges that are coming down the line. Central to this will be putting customers interests’ at the very heart of what we do, while continuing to invest heavily in the Channel Islands’ critical national infrastructure and rebuilding and growing our international portfolio. Our ambitious investment plans for the next five years will see JT invest in excess of £100m in our networks and I want to ensure this is done in a way that benefits both the wider economies that we serve and every single customer that will be making use of the reliable and robust world-class networks that we operate.”



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Solar energy trial for JT exchange

Although the west of the island is generally more known for its fabulous sunsets, now the sun’s rays are being put to another use in a trial that will see one of JT’s telephone exchanges using renewable energy. In the first trial of its kind by JT, 84 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are being installed on the roof of the West Exchange in St Ouen’s Village.

JT’s 10-year Sustainability Strategy commits the company to move 50% of its energy consumption to renewable sources by 2025. This has already resulted in a successful project with the Little Green Energy Company in Sark to use the sun’s energy to help power the JT mobile network on the island.

In Jersey, JT is working with solar energy experts SunWorks to install the panels on the roof of the West Exchange building. The pilot will see the extent to which the solar can provide a supplementary source of electricity, if successful, it could be used across more sites around the island reducing JT’s reliance on the grid.

Tom Noel, JT’s Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, said: “We made a clear promise when we launched our Sustainability Strategy that we would apply its principals across every part of our business. One of the most visible demonstrations of that is to install solar panels on prominent sites and we hope that the trial will tell us whether it will work elsewhere. As a technology business, we use a large amount of energy and if we can switch to renewable sources of power where possible,  we will make less impact on the planet – using energy generated in the sunniest place in the British Isles.”

Mark Brandon, Director of SunWorks, said: “When a company like JT comes to us with plans to use renewable energy in a practical way, we know we are dealing with a client that’s speaking the same language as us. It is important for the larger local businesses like JT to consider where their electricity comes from and make all efforts to use local resources for electricity generation. This supports the global transition to renewables and can deliver significant long term savings on electricity.”



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Pedalling their way to work, JT joins EVie travel scheme

JT team members are being offered a 20% discount on using e-bikes and e-vehicles to help meet targets on reducing carbon emissions. The telecom company has joined the EVie Corporate Partner Programme which offers reductions on using EVie’s sustainable transport solutions.

The benefits of encouraging more people to cycle or use an electric vehicle include boosting productivity and wellbeing, but it also means fewer vehicles on Jersey’s roads as greener alternatives are chosen for getting to and from work and to meetings and work appointments.

The scheme offers JT team members discounted access to EVieBikes, EVie cars and vans, bike servicing and the BlueBike subscription that provides full-time use of a bike.

Tom Noel, JT’s Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, said: “We see this as a really positive step towards sustainable business travel. We already have a bike discount scheme where we provide our people with help towards buying a bike and the ongoing maintenance, but this partnership means they don’t have to own their own bike. Instead, they get the benefit of leading a healthier lifestyle through the scheme which is also helping JT meet its sustainability goals and contributes to the reduction of air pollution on Channel Island roads – it’s a win all round.”

Jamie Kelly, CEO of EVie, said: “We see our corporate partner programme as a way of making a real difference to reducing carbon emissions. Our programme aims to provide convenient, healthy and sustainable shared use travel. It helps by reducing the need to have private parking and cuts down on the use and demand for public parking spaces. To date, EVie users have displaced 55 tonnes of CO2. What works well for many businesses that have joined our Corporate Partner Programme is the BlueBike subscription that provides their people with a bike for their full-time use. It reduces the hassle and if something goes wrong, we’ll replace it with a new one.”



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Telecoms & postal services to be made free to support Ukraine

JT and Jersey Post are working together to support Islanders who have relatives and friends in Ukraine.

As of 1st March 2022, all fixed and mobile calls and SMS messages from the Channel Islands to numbers in Ukraine will be free.

Meanwhile, Jersey Post will waive postage charges for mail addressed to Ukraine from today.

Pip Carpenter, Head of Consumer Market at JT, said: “We have all seen the deeply disturbing images and news coming from Ukraine and our hearts go out to the people caught up in this tragedy. We want to do what we can to help and, working with Jersey Post and others, we hope by making phone calls free will support those who are trying to contact and stay in touch with friends and loved ones.”

David McGrath, Group Marketing Director from Jersey Post, said: “As both JT and ourselves are in a position to help, we started working on how to make this happen over the weekend. Keeping in touch with people at moments like this are vital, and we will do all we can to help those caught up in these tragic events.”

Mail should be hand-delivered to both Broad Street Post Office and Rue des Pres Post Office for processing by Jersey Post.



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Autism Jersey to be JT’s chosen charity in 2022

JT’s people have chosen to support Autism Jersey as their main charity this year. The company’s team members have always played a central role in choosing which charity to support and decided that Autism charities across JT’s locations in Jersey, Guernsey and Australia would be the focus of their attention in 2022.

Autism Jersey was set up in 2005 by a group of committed parents and now has Preferred Partner status in the provision of autism-related services to the Department of Health and Social Services. Its charitable services, which are not funded by the Government, are provided to autistic adults and children, their families and carers and are free at the point of delivery.

JT and the charity are planning to work together to increase fundraising, awareness of services and needs while also helping to recruit people into critical support roles.

Nick Winsor, Chair of Autism Jersey, said: “We are really excited as we begin a dedicated year of partnership with JT, a longterm supporter of the charity. Although awareness around Autism has increased in recent years, with JT’s help, we hope to move on from awareness to acceptance and greater inclusion for people on the autism spectrum in everyday life. As we continue to grow as a charity, the demands on our services are increasing. One of our main challenges, like for so many other charities, is recruiting people of the right calibre to fill roles supporting people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). With JT’s help this year, we will set the charity further along the path towards providing the best quality care, assistance and support for people on the autism spectrum.”

Daragh McDermott, Managing Director JT Channel Islands, said: “ Our relationship with Autism Jersey is well established and will grow from strength to strength as we work closely together this year. We’re immensely proud to have this long-term connection with an organisation that does such vital work in our community. Helping and supporting charities has always been part of the culture at JT and we’re really keen to explore new ways of supporting Autism Jersey using our technology, expertise, and network.”

For more information about Autism Jersey or to make a donation, please visit www.autismjersey.org



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A Very ‘Techy Christmas’ thanks to JT partnership with global Wi-Fi leaders

JT’s superior performing Wi-Fi and super-fast fibre broadband network enabled islanders to keep connected with loved ones, ensure gamers were seamlessly able to multiplay, and allowed families to binge watch their favourite shows without interruption over the festive period.

Christmas is always the busiest time of the year for internet traffic and JT’s fibre broadband network, which recently became the world’s fastest, handled an incredible 9,641 Terabytes of data in December which was a 12% increase in volume compared to the same period in 2020.

Although Wi-Fi signals can vary within people’s homes; everything from building materials like steel, granite, insulation to domestic appliances and electronics can block or potentially disrupt Wi-Fi signals, that wasn’t an issue for the many Jersey households now enjoying the exclusive JT Total Wi-Fi service. JT Total Wi-Fi is powered by an industry defining global technology developed by world leader Plume. It means Wi-Fi is evenly and seamlessly distributed throughout the home, guaranteeing superior Wi-Fi no matter what the size, or how many people or devices are using it. Christmas alone saw over 30,000 devices, of which Apple represented nearly 50% connected to JT Total Wi-Fi units across the islands.

Thomas Helbo, JT Group Chief Operations Officer, said: “The figures from this Christmas and over the New Year when people were almost permanently on their devices show how resilient our local network is. This Christmas we saw a rise in the use of tablets/phones/games consoles which our network and those homes connected to JT Total Wi-Fi products, managed with ease. Since we introduced JT Total Wi-Fi our customers have told us there’s been a massive improvement in their user experience. We started working with Plume in 2020 and have recently extended this partnership with them, given how well their next generation Wi-Fi service is working on our fibre network in the Channel Islands, further improving our customers quality of experience.”



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JT and Macmillan Jersey – two years of making a difference

Over the past two years, JT and Macmillan Cancer Support Jersey have forged a strong relationship.

Macmillian Jersey was voted by the people of JT as their chosen charity in 2020 and 2021. It was the first time JT had extended its close working relationship with the same charity beyond one year as the JT team felt the charity deserved a second year of fundraising given the impact the pandemic had on their fundraising efforts.  With JT’s help, the local charity has;

  • Developed and launched a brand new campaign, ‘Get Together for Good’ a week of fund-raising which took the charity’s traditional annual coffee morning, to a new level, helping to raise thousands of pounds.
  • Relaunched the regular giving campaign exceeding last year’s total by £3,000.
  • Provided a much needed loan phone service to islanders traveling off-island for treatment, ensuring they can stay in touch with family and friends at no cost to them.

This year’s fundraising efforts concluded with JT’s own internal annual Christmas raffle, which included various tech prizes from the Telco, plus some prizes generously donated by the local companies that JT works with.

Whilst money is still coming in from the various events, the year’s total fundraising and donation efforts between the two is set to reach almost £40,000.

Daragh McDermott, Managing Director, JT Channel Islands, said: “We recognise how large a part Macmillan Jersey plays in the lives of many people in our community and we were delighted to continue our support through 2021, extending our relationship with the charity for a second year. I speak on behalf of everyone at JT in saying how deeply humbled we have been working with the brilliant team at Macmillan. It really has been an honour and a privilege to work with them.”

Steph Gibaut, of Macmillan Cancer Support Jersey, said: “The team at JT have been a pleasure to work with and have given our charity vital and very generous support during what has been a particularly difficult period. From the word go, JT were full of ideas about how they could support us and what they brought with them made an enormous difference. The videos that were filmed and broadcast over JT’s social media channels reached thousands of people and help us to communicate what we do to a much wider audience. We also now have a fantastic fundraising week in September thanks to JT which we will continue long into the future.”



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Macmillan Jersey’s Get Together for Good brings out the best

Last year, JT and Macmillan Jersey changed what was an annual coffee morning event into 7 days of activities that brought people together and raised over £26,000 for the local charity. Now in its second year, the  event  attracted much more support with events taking place all over the island. Funds are still coming in but the charity expects to raise in excess of £30,000, with over £6,000 coming from their partners JT, who held their own internal charity week in tandem, raising £3,000 which was then £4£ matched by the company.

The event was initially created to enable the charity to continue with a well-established fundraising tradition during a difficult fundraising period, which has now  become a new firm favourite in Jersey’s community calendar.

Steph Gibaut, Head of Income Generation for Macmillan Jersey, said: “It’s been amazing to see how ‘Get Together for Good’ is evolving alongside Jersey’s Greatest Coffee Morning, which so many people still like to hold. The contribution and support from the community has surpassed all our expectations, from the fantastic prizes to give away in our Charity Raffle, to film nights and a special coffee blend, it’s surprising how much you can pack into one week of fun. Every penny raised will go towards the essential work that we do in supporting cancer patients, their family, friends and work colleagues. As a Jersey charity that doesn’t receive any funding from Macmillan UK, our services can only be provided thanks to the generosity of the many local people who support us. After such a financially challenging year, we are so grateful to those that went the extra mile to support us and want to give special thanks to JT who have over the past two years become so much more to us than just a sponsor’’.

Daragh McDermott, JT’s Managing Director, Channel Islands said: “It’s truly  inspiring to work with a team like Macmillan Cancer Support Jersey. Over the past two years we’ve worked together to create an annual fundraising event that allows people to design their own activity, have some fun but above all, help support those, who support our loved ones.  JT offices around the world took on a very different look for that week in September, with all of our people embracing the theme and pulling together to raise money, awareness and have a good time. We held 28 independent events, ranging from  an online ‘Duck Derby’ to a pop-up clothes shop, and a coffee and cake morning across all of our global offices. The icing on the cake was to see Fort Regent glow green all week for Macmillan Jersey awareness.

Macmillan Jersey not only motivate us at JT, they’ve also captured the hearts of our entire community, with so many people and businesses around the island coming together to support this great event, it just shows how we can all be part of one team, united in our efforts to make a difference’’.