BT faces tough new broadband tests

15 January 2015 Last updated at 12:52

BT could be forced to raise broadband prices or slash the charges for rivals to use its network under tough tests being proposed by regulator Ofcom.

The new rules are designed to ensure that BT cannot price rivals such as Sky and TalkTalk out of the market.

Currently Ofcom judges that BT's retail and wholesale prices comply with the new test.

The telecoms firm said the test was "misconceived". It is unhappy about the scope of future tests.

Previous regulation required BT to allow rival operators to use its network to sell superfast broadband to consumers. The process is known as "virtual unbundled local access" (Vula). Some 3.4 million superfast broadband connections in the UK are currently offered under this agreement.

In order to allow rivals to be able to make reasonable profits, there needs to be a sufficient gap between the price BT charges them to use its network and the retail price at which BT sells its own broadband services.

Ofcom has decided that regular tests are required "to ensure that other communication providers have sufficient margin to be able to compete with BT in the provision of superfast broadband packages to consumers".

TalkTalk welcomed the decision to regulate the price of broadband.

"They [Ofcom] are right to be concerned that BT could abuse its position to undermine competition in superfast broadband. Robust regulation creates a more competitive market that better serves consumers and small businesses," the firm said in a statement.

Regulatory assistance

In response, BT described the plans as "misconceived but not unexpected".

'We're not opposed to the principle of a test... Ofcom has said our current prices will also pass this new test when it comes into force," said a BT spokesman.

"However, we do not think our sports costs should be part of any assessment and we reject the notion that Sky and TalkTalk require further regulatory assistance. They have more than 40% of the broadband market between them compared to BT's 31%."

Mobile acquisition

BT Sport - which costs the telecoms firm hundreds of millions of pounds per year - is currently offered free to its broadband customers.

Matthew Howett, an analyst with research firm Ovum, thinks the new rules may make BT more cautious when it comes to bidding for sports coverage next time around.

"The more BT has to pay for the rights, the more of a cost it is to them, which has the effect of reducing the margin they make," he said.

"If BT loses out on sports rights, then the argument goes that there is less competition in the provision of pay TV," he said.

BT is also in talks to buy mobile firm EE. Ofcom has indicated that this cost may also be taken into account in the new competition tests.

"It will be more interesting to see what happens in a couple of months' time when Ofcom performs the test again using more recent data," said Mr Howett.

The proposed test will now be subject to review by the European Commission and, if approved, will come into force at the beginning of March.

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Google calls end to Glass experiment

15 January 2015 Last updated at 18:00

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Rory Cellan-Jones: "There will be a lot of disgruntlement from people who invested in Google Glass smart glasses"

Google is ending sales of its Google Glass eyewear.

The company insists it is still committed to launching the smart glasses as a consumer product, but will stop producing Glass in its present form.

Instead it will focus on "future versions of Glass" with work carried out by a different division to before.

The Explorer programme, which gave software developers the chance to buy Glass for $1,500 (£990) will close.

The programme was launched in the United States in 2013. It was then opened up to anyone and was launched in the UK last summer.

It had been expected that it would be followed reasonably quickly by a full consumer launch.

From next week, the search firm will stop taking orders for the product but it says it will continue to support companies that are using Glass.

New home

The Glass team will also move out of the Google X division which engages in "blue sky" research, and become a separate undertaking, under its current manager Ivy Ross.

She and the Glass team will report to Tony Fadell, the chief executive of the home automation business Nest, acquired by Google a year ago.

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WATCH: Rory spent a week with Glass in April 2014

He said the project had "broken ground and allowed us to learn what's important to consumers and enterprises alike" and he was excited to be working with the team "to integrate those learnings into future products".

Google says it is committed to working on the future of the product, but gave no timescale for the launch of any new version.

Restaurant ban

The Glass project received the enthusiastic backing of Google's co-founder Sergey Brin. He presided over a spectacular unveiling which saw skydivers jump out of an aircraft wearing Glass and beam what they were seeing to a conference in San Francisco.

Early users of Glass were very excited about the product, which enabled them get information in a small screen above their right eye, take photos and videos, and get directions. The technology blogger Robert Scoble said he could not now imagine living a day without the product, and was even photographed wearing it in the shower.

But he and others soon tired of Glass, complaining that it was not evolving in the ways that had been promised. There were also concerns about privacy and safety, with some bars and restaurants banning the use of the smart glasses on their premises.

Other companies have launched smart glasses and various other forms of wearable technology. But no single product has yet proved the major hit that technology companies are looking for as they seek out the next big thing.

Analysis: Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC technology correspondent

Google has tried to present this announcement as just another step in the evolution of an amazing innovation. But make no mistake - Google Glass is dead, at least in its present form.

As I found when I spent a couple of months wearing Glass, it has a number of really useful aspects - in particular the camera. There is however one huge disadvantage - it makes its users look daft, and that meant that it was never going to appeal to a wide audience.

But Google will now have to deal with a disgruntled community of Explorers who paid a large sum for a device which they must have believed would eventually evolve into something more useful.

The Glass team can at least continue its work out of the spotlight without the pressure of deadlines. Tony Fadell, the former Apple designer Google acquired with his smart thermostat firm Nest, will oversee the future of the product.

Both he and the Glass team leader Ivy Ross, who has come from the fashion world, will know that form as well as function will have to be at the centre of any successful piece of wearable technology.

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Xiaomi takes aim at iPhone 6 Plus

15 January 2015 Last updated at 11:32 By Rajeshni Naidu-Ghelani Technology Reporter, BBC News

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WATCH: The BBC's Celia Hatton attends the launch of Xiaomi's latest device - and finds more than one similarity to a certain US tech giant

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has unveiled two flagship phablets in Beijing on Thursday, comparing them directly with Apple's largest iPhones.

Chief executive Lei Jun introduced the Mi Note, saying it was shorter, thinner and lighter than the iPhone 6 Plus.

Priced at 2,299 yuan ($371; £244), the 16 gigabyte model is less than half the price of Apple's handset and Samsung's phablet, the Galaxy Note 4.

Analysts say Xiaomi became the world's third bestselling phone firm in 2014.

Phablets are generally mobile devices that have features of both a smartphone and a tablet, but are too big or small in size to be classified as either one.

Xiaomi - which was only founded in 2010 - announced that the Mi Note was 6.95mm (0.27in) thick and weighed 161g (5.7oz).

That makes it 1.05mm thinner than the iPhone 6 Plus and 11g lighter.

It also features a 13 megapixel (MP) rear camera, made by Sony, and a 4MP front one.

In addition, Xiaomi announced the higher-end Mi Note Pro, which will be released at a later date. This model has:

• a higher resolution 2K display (515 pixels per inch)
• a faster 64 bit Snapdragon processor and 4G chip, which is capable of 450 megabits per second (Mbps) downloads
• more RAM memory (4GB)
• 64GB of built-in storage

It will sell for 3,299 yuan ($532; £350).

The company has been accused of copying iPhones in the past and Wee Teck Loo, head of consumer electronics research at market research firm Euromonitor, said a lot of emphasis was put on a side-by-side comparison with the iPhone 6 Plus at the start of the launch.

"Xiaomi appears like a teenager who wants to act like an adult and yet, clings on to his blanket for comfort - Apple bashing," he said.

Kiranjeet Kaur, senior market analyst at IDC Asia Pacific, said Xioami's comparisons to the iPhone implies the firm believes it is a product they look up to.

"They are trying to position against Apple or are trying to appeal to the Chinese consumer who still aspire to iPhones," she said.

Price war

In terms of features, analysts said that the specifications of Xioami's new devices did not show a "breakthrough in innovation" and its low prices were still the biggest attraction.

"Xiaomi changed the game in a way. Instead of keeping everyone's focus on ground-breaking innovative features coming on flagship phones, it has switched attention to packing great specs at modest price points," Ms Kaur said. "The key would be if they surpass the competition and its earlier models at those price-points."

The flagship devices basically extended what Xiaomi was good at - models that were targeted at Apple and Samsung, the only firms that still outsell it, Mr Loo added.

"The new models are definitely an upgrade compared to their predecessors - Xiaomi desperately needed to refresh its line-up to keep up with its competitors," he said.

Analysis: Celia Hatton, BBC News, Beijing

Xiaomi unveiled a variety of shiny new products at its latest launch: two smartphones, headphones, even a powerful air purifier.

However, the company's chief executive also used this event to improve his company's image.

Lei Jun has said in the past that he doesn't want his company to be known as a cheap Chinese company selling cheap phones. He's well aware that critics believe Xiaomi is rising on the back of Apple's product innovations.

Instead, Mr Lei spent much of his presentation detailing the time and effort Xiaomi's designers pour into their work.

He told the audience that Xiaomi filed for 2,318 patents last year, including 1,380 in China and 665 international patents. In 10 years, Mr Lei promised, his company will be filing for tens of thousands of patents a year.

Xiaomi is a "world leading innovator", Lei Jun says. However, until his phones and tablets begin to look significantly different than the ones that Apple is selling, questions will remain regarding Xiaomi's ability to function as a leader, not a follower.

Xiaomi's rise

The Beijing-based firm overtook global market leader Samsung last year to become the top-selling handset brand in the world's largest smartphone market, China.

Just last month, Xiaomi was also dubbed the world's most valuable "technology start-up" after it raised $1.1bn (£708m) in a funding round, giving it a valuation of $45bn. That surpassed the $40bn value of taxi booking app Uber.

The Chinese company reported that its revenue in 2014 more than doubled to 74.3bn yuan (£7.8bn; $11.97bn) in pre-tax sales last year, up 135% from 2013.

It sold more than 61 million phones in 2014, a rise of 227% from a year earlier.

Its soaring sales come despite an intellectual property challenge faced in India last year, where sales were temporarily halted after Swedish firm Ericsson filed a patent complaint.

The firm has set a target of selling 100 million phones in 2015, but Mr Loo of Euromonitor said the goal was a little "stretched" and its success depended on overseas expansion, which has not been as successful as it had hoped for.

"Xiaomi is not well-known beyond China and only tech-savvy consumers in other markets have heard of the company, unlike Lenovo which is a household name internationally," he said.

Despite its strong numbers, Xiaomi's phones are only available in select Asian countries outside mainland China, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, India and Indonesia.

There had been speculation that it might soon announce a move into the US, but there was no mention of this at the latest launch.

Andrew Milroy, senior vice president for telecoms at Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific, said the firm would face challenges when it entered developed markets such as the US and UK, because most consumers there get smartphones on subsidised contract plans from service providers instead of buying the phones upfront.

"The actual price of a handset doesn't matter as much to you if you live in developed markets and that helps the likes of Apple and Samsung," he said. "It would be hard to find people in Western countries who'd be willing to trade their high spec Sony, Samsung or Apple phone for a Xiaomi."

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Tycoon proposes Texan 'Hyperloop'

16 January 2015 Last updated at 14:20

An ambitious plan to build a transport system that could theoretically travel at speeds of up to 700 miles per hour has taken a step closer to reality.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeted he would build a test track for his Hyperloop "most likely in Texas".

He provided few details about timetable or cost, although he said that he planned to use the test track to hold annual pod racer competitions.

Mr Musk envisages the system operating between cities.

There has not been much development since the founder of PayPal announced his plans in 2013.

But this week he tweeted :

And later added:

Later he told the Texas Tribune that the expected the test track would be about five miles long.

Air hockey

Mr Musk, founder of Space X and chief executive of Tesla Motors, first announced plans for the Hyperloop in August 2013.

The system, he suggested, could transport passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than 30 minutes thanks to an innovative design that Musk has described as a cross between Concorde, a railgun and an air hockey table.

This would see passengers sit in cars that were then fired down a tube which had had most of its air removed. A system of magnets would accelerate and brake the capsules, and also keep them from touching the sides of the tube.

Mr Musk said that a passenger-only model would cost about $6bn and that a prototype would take three or four years to complete.

Already there is a crowd-funded California-based project - Hyperloop Transportation Technologies - that has begun thinking about how such a system could be constructed, although they have not yet produced a working prototype.

Some 100 engineers from across the US are working on the development of the system but say that they are at least 10 years away from a commercially operating Hyperloop.

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UK man arrested over Sony hack

16 January 2015 Last updated at 12:35

A UK man has been arrested as part of an investigation into denial-of-service attacks on Sony Playstation and Xbox systems over Christmas.

The 18-year-old was arrested at an address in Southport, near Liverpool.

He is accused of unauthorised access to computer material and knowingly providing false information to law enforcement agencies in the US.

The investigation was a joint operation between UK cybercrime units and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Microsoft and Sony were attacked on Christmas Day, making it difficult for users to log on. The distributed-denial-of-service attack - which floods servers causing them to stop working - caused major disruptions.

'Swatting'

The arrest was part of a joint operation between officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (Serocu) and the North West Regional Crime Unit (Rocu), supported by the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU).

Craig Jones, head of the Cyber Crime Unit at Serocu said: "This investigation is a good example of joint law enforcement co-operation in relation to a type of criminality that is not restricted by any geographical boundaries.

"We are still at the early stages of the investigation and there is still much work to be done. We will continue to work closely with the FBI to identify those who commit offences and hold them to account."

He explained more about one of the charges, known as swatting.

"Offences referred to as 'swatting' involve law enforcement forces in the United States receiving hoax calls via Skype for a major incident in which Swat teams were dispatched."

Peter Goodman, national policing lead for cybersecurity at the Association of Police Officers (Acpo), added: "This is a significant arrest... of a UK citizen suspected of engaging in serious and organised cybercrime on the national and international stage."

A hacking group called Lizard Squad said it carried out the attacks which caused major disruption to the gaming platforms at one of the busiest times of the year.

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'Islamist cyber attacks' hit France

16 January 2015 Last updated at 15:36 By Kevin Rawlinson BBC News

Numerous French media websites have gone down a day after warnings of a wave of Islamist cyber attacks.

The sites of Le Parisien, Marianne and 20 Minutes were among those affected, although most were soon restored.

The French government said some 20,000 sites had been targeted after terror attacks in Paris left 17 dead.

The media sites' web host said that it was investigating whether it was one of them but it has ruled out an external distributed denial of service attack.

On Thursday, the head of cyber security for the French military, Vice Admiral Arnaud Coustilliere, said that "structured" groups and "well known Islamist hackers" were behind the attacks against the 20,000 sites, but did not elaborate.

The outage among the media websites began the following day. It is not yet known if the two are linked.

The web host Oxalide told the BBC that no line of enquiry was being dismissed, but that its initial investigations had ruled out the possibility of an external distributed denial of service attack.

Such an attack involves flooding servers with requests to render the target site, thereby causing it to fail to load.

The company told the BBC it was still in the process of determining who was behind the attack.

It said it would release a report in the early afternoon on Friday. None was forthcoming at the time of publication.

'Attacks'

That came after the vice admiral said he believed the first wave of attacks was a retaliation against Sunday's solidarity march in Paris, itself held in response to the Paris terror attacks.

According to to Agence France-Presse (AFP), he said "people who do not adhere to a certain number of values" expressed on that march were to blame.

Vice admiral Coustilliere added that some of the first wave of cyber attacks involved French army regiments and that the defence ministry "has decided to boost its security vigilance".

Besides the three named above, AFP reported that Friday's outage affected the websites of L'Express, Mediapart and France Info.

Those for France Inter, Slate and ZDNet were also among those affected from around 8am GMT on Friday.

High demand

The BBC checked the sites over the next five hours and most were quickly restored. Le Parisien and 20 Minutes remained down for a longer period but were available again by around 1pm.

The news came as it was announced that Charlie Hebdo, the magazine whose headquarters were attacked with the loss of 12 lives, has released its latest edition as a smartphone app to meet demand.

The magazine's front cover featured a weeping Muhammad and the message "all is forgiven". Millions of copies were printed - many times more than its usual circulation of around 60,000.

The print magazine went on sale in the UK on Friday. Many French outlets sold out within minutes and queues began forming in Britain early in the morning.

The app was available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

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Hotels do U-turn over hotspot ban

15 January 2015 Last updated at 13:12

Hotel group Marriott International has announced it will stop blocking guests from using personal wi-fi kits.

The firm was fined $600,000 (£395,000) last year by a US watchdog after a complaint that it had jammed mobile hotspots at a hotel in Nashville.

Marriott responded at the time saying it wanted to block such devices only in its conference and meeting spaces and believed it had the right to do so.

But it has changed tack after facing a backlash from customers and the press.

"Marriott International listens to its customers, and we will not block guests from using their personal wi-fi devices at any of our managed hotels," the company, which is based in Bethesda, Maryland, said in a statement.

'Unacceptable' behaviour

The US Federal Communications Commission launched an investigation into the hotel's practices in March 2013 after being contacted by a hotel guest who said they had been unable to connect to the net via a mi-fi device at Marriott's Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.

An investigation by the regulator subsequently confirmed that the hotel was using a wi-fi monitoring system that de-authenticated guest-created hotspots.

This meant that if a guest connected their laptop, smartphone or tablet to either a mi-fi add-on or a hotspot created by a device already linked in to the hotel's internet system, then it would disconnect after a short time.

The FCC described the action as "unacceptable", noting that Marriott was charging conference attendees between $250 and $1,000 per device for internet access.

On top of a fine, the watchdog ordered the firm to submit compliance reports every quarter for the following three years to ensure it ended the practice.

Marriott, however, defended its right to block mobile hotspots used outside guest bedrooms on the grounds that it needed to tackle interference and security issues.

It said failure to do so would lead to "unreliable wi-fi performance, spotty coverage, and dropped connections" and that criminals might use hotspots to threaten "guests' privacy - for example, by attempting to obtain guests' credit card or other personal information".

The company found support for its claims from the American Hotel & Lodging Association lobby group, which accused the FCC of trying to tie Marriott's hands at a time of a growing number of cybersecurity threats.

But Google, Microsoft and the Consumer Electronics Association were among those to retort that such action was against the public interest, illegal and malicious, adding that the security claims being made were misleading.

'Marriott is bad'

The company subsequently faced a rash of negative press, with the Economist going so far as to headline an article earlier this month: "Marriott is bad, and should feel bad."

But while it has now changed its policy, Marriott has not backed away from claims that the move could play into the hands of hackers.

"We will continue to look to the FCC to clarify appropriate security measures network operators can take to protect customer data, and will continue to work with the industry and others to find appropriate market solutions that do not involve the blocking of wi-fi devices," it said.

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Google to pilot modular phone

15 January 2015 Last updated at 14:01

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WATCH: The BBC's Dave Lee takes a quick look at Project Ara, a Google concept smartphone that is made up of little interchangeable components

Google plans to pilot a modular phone, on which components can be swapped, this year.

It says tests will take place in Puerto Rico, where devices will be distributed from "food-truck-style stores".

The firm suggests phones with swappable parts will cost less to maintain and be more attractive to consumers who want to customise their devices.

But one expert said it remained to be seen whether the device would have mass-market appeal.

"Modules can include cameras, speakers, batteries, displays, the application processor, wireless connectivity, blood-sugar monitors, laser pointers, pico projectors, or any number of items that will be held into the shell by magnets," said Jon Erensen, at analyst at the Gartner consultancy.

"One question that remains is whether this type of modular smartphone will be limited to a niche audience of hobbyists or whether it will have broader consumer appeal."

In a video announcing the pilot of Project Ara, Google stated that its intention was to make a handset that would be attractive to the five billion people that did not currently own a smartphone.

At an event at its Mountain View headquarters the same day, Google unveiled its latest prototype.

It has a 3G modem and can support antennas. Its processor would allow for "better performance and more space", the director of Project Ara, Paul Eremenko, added.

'Light and plasticky'

The modules clip into the handset and, according to reports, Google plans to have between 20 and 30 modules available by the time it launches the pilot, each of which will lock on to a base frame. It has already produced 11.

The firm says that the design will increase the life of the phones because it will allow users to replace individual components, rather than the whole phone.

In the video, Google showed a cracked display being clipped out and swapped for a new one.

It also showed that the phone could be customised by users who wanted extra battery life or a different camera, for example.

The modules are held in place with magnets, which can be deactivated while replacements are made.

Technology website the Verge tested the device and reported that the "hardware itself feels very solid, thanks to its aluminium and steel frame, which looks like a ribcage when all the modules are popped out".

But it added: "The modules on the other hand feel light and plasticky, and made holding the phone feel a bit strange."

Latin American launch

Google said it had chosen Puerto Rico because the US territory was "mobile-first" and at the "leading edge of a global trend" - about 75% of its internet access is via mobile devices, and there are more than three million mobile phones of varying types in use on the island.

It said that, since Puerto Rico was under US Federal Communications Commission jurisdiction, Google would work with the watchdog to develop a regulatory approach for Project Ara.

"Puerto Rico is a gateway from the US to the world," Google said.

"It is a bilingual culture. It is well-connected as a communications, logistics and trade hub. It has designated free-trade zones, which we can use for importing modules from developers worldwide."

The pilot of the current prototype - the Spiral 2 - is scheduled to take place in the second half of this year and will be used to test the pricing as well as the performance of the device. Engineers are also working on follow-up kit, the Spiral 3.

A firm called Phonebloks began floating the idea of modular smartphones in 2013 and, soon after, it announced a partnership with the then Google-owned Motorola.

When the latter was sold to Lenovo, Google retained the Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group, in which Project Ara was being developed.

"The first, and perhaps biggest step for us, is to aid the existing industry in steering away from manufacturing products that are sold and repaired or replaced as whole-widgets, to products that are modular," Phonebloks said on its website.

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UK and US to stage 'cyber war games'

16 January 2015 Last updated at 17:15

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LIVE: Barack Obama and David Cameron hold a joint news briefing

The UK and US are to carry out "war game" cyber attacks on each other as part of a new joint defence against online criminals.

The first exercise, a staged attack on the financial sector, will take place later this year, Downing Street said.

The "unprecedented" arrangement between the two countries was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of talks with US President Barack Obama.

The two men discussed a range of other issues, including counter-terrorism.

They are holding a press conference in the Oval Office of The White House after talks lasting about an hour.

Mr Cameron has previously said in relation to cyber attacks that there should be no "means of communication" which "we cannot read".

He is expected to talk to the US president about getting companies such as Google and Facebook to allow governments to view encrypted messages.

'Modern threat'

In terms of the planned cyber war games Downing Street said they will aim to improve the flow of information between the US and UK about threats.

No 10 said agents will co-operate in "cyber cells", involving MI5 and the FBI, and they will be the first the UK has established with another country.

Speaking to BBC political editor Nick Robinson after arriving in Washington on Thursday night for a two-day visit, Mr Cameron said cyber attacks were "one of the big modern threats that we face".

The first war game will involve the Bank of England and commercial banks, targeting the City of London and Wall Street, and will be followed by "further exercises to test critical national infrastructure", Downing Street said.

Money will also be made available to train "the next generation" of cyber agents.

Analysis by Gordon Corera, BBC security correspondent

The tensions and confusions over what cyber security means are all too apparent this week.

Is it about defending corporate networks against hostile attackers of the type who targeted Sony? That's the focus of today's announcements about war-gaming and threat cells.

Or is it about getting hold of data and communications about terrorists? That seemed to be the focus earlier in the week, with briefings that the visit would focus on getting US companies to be more helpful in providing data to British authorities.

The two are different in focus and it is not yet clear how much progress on the latter the prime minister will make with a president whose relations with the tech sector are already difficult post-Snowden.

There is also some tricky overlap between the two fields, for instance on how far information should be encrypted so it cannot be read or stolen.

Encryption may foil foreign cyber spies but also stymie law enforcement.

The measures come in the wake of the recent hacking of Sony Pictures' computers and the US military's Central Command's Twitter feed, where comments were posted promoting Islamic State (IS) militants.

The cyber attack on Sony Pictures led to data being leaked from its computers exposing emails and personal details about staff and stars.

The hackers, who called themselves #GOP or Guardians of Peace, also threatened cinema chains planning to screen Sony's satirical North Korea comedy, The Interview, the plot of which involves a bid to assassinate the country's leader Kim Jong-un.

Sony initially cancelled the film's release after leading US cinema groups said they would not screen it, a move which Mr Obama later described as "a mistake".

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PM: "Cyber attacks are one of the biggest modern threats we face"

Mr Obama has said cyber threats were an "urgent and growing danger" and unveiled domestic proposals to strengthen the law.

The UK's National Audit Office warned in 2013 that a lack of skilled workers was hampering the fight against cyber crime.

Mr Cameron said the UK was already prepared for a cyber attack, saying GCHQ had "massive expertise", but added more needed to be done.

He said: "We need to be able in extremis to interrupt the contact between terrorists.

"It's also about protecting people's data, people's finances - these attacks can have real consequences to people's prosperity."

'Beef up filters'

The BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said there had been a lot of concern over Mr Cameron's inference that governments should be able to view encrypted data.

He said not only were civil rights groups worried, but major players in the technology industry said banning encrypted messages could harm British trade if UK companies were seen to be not private.

Our correspondent also told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that smaller social networking sites were just as well used by potential hackers as the well-known ones.

He said he had found an example of an exchange on the site Ask.fm which appeared to be from an IS fighter asking another user which country he should go to for weapons training.

In relation to the site being used for this type of communication Doug Leeds, the chief executive of Ask.com, which owns Ask.fm, said: "We have taken some action, and we're looking to take more, what we have done so far is beef up our filters to try and look for patterns that would suggest that this is going on."

Howard Schmidt, a former eBay and Microsoft executive, told the BBC attitudes around privacy and the right to encrypt personal data were still hotly debated in the US in light of the revelations disclosed by fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

Among other things, Snowden's leaks detailed the National Security Agency's practice of harvesting data on millions of telephone calls made in the US and around the world, and revealed the CIA intelligence agency had snooped on foreign leaders.

A recent report by GCHQ, the UK government's communications security agency, on the issue of cyber attacks said that more than 80% of large UK companies experienced some form of security breach in 2014, and attacks were on the rise.

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US news sites hacked on Twitter

16 January 2015 Last updated at 21:59

The Twitter accounts of the New York Post and United Press International (UPI) have been hacked with fake tweets on economic and military news.

In one post, the Pope was quoted on UPI's Twitter feed as saying that "World War III has begun".

Meanwhile, the New York Post's account said that hostilities had broken out between the United States and China.

It is the latest hack of a high-profile social media account, four days after US military command was compromised.

UPI, which is based in Washington, confirmed in a statement that both its Twitter account and news website had been hacked.

Six fake headlines were posted on its Twitter account and a breaking news banner was added to a fake story about the Federal Reserve on its homepage, the statement added.

A tweet on the New York Post's account said the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier, was "engaged in active combat" against Chinese warships in the South China Sea.

A Pentagon official said the tweet about hostilities with China was "not true", AFP reports. The tweets have all since been deleted.

The New York Post says it is investigating the hack.

It comes just days after US President Barack Obama unveiled proposals to strengthen cyber security laws after a spate of attacks on high-profile US targets, including the Pentagon Twitter feed and Sony Pictures.

The Twitter account of the US military command was suspended last Monday following an attack by hackers claiming to support Islamic State.

In November hackers also released reams of confidential data stolen from Sony Pictures, and in recent years cyber criminals have attacked other US companies such as Home Depot and Target.

A number of media organisations, including AFP and the BBC, have also been subjected to cyber attacks over the past two years.

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