The number of workers in the UK who admitted they "hijack" the wireless connection of others has gone up from six per cent to 11 per cent over the last 12 months. Globally the figure is 12 per cent*, with big increases all over the world. That's among the findings of the second annual survey of remote working commissioned by networking giant Cisco Systems, which paints a picture of general (and increasing) slackness about IT security threats. The poll of 2,000 remote workers and IT pros from ten countries, including the UK, found that many remote workers were happy to risk opening suspicious emails and attachments. Nearly half (48 per cent) admitted to opening dodgy emails in the UK, something of a black spot for the issue. The US scored better (by comparison, at least) with 27 per cent of those surveyed admitting that they exposed themselves to this risk. 

News of another nail in the coffin of one of UK broadband's most venerable names reaches Vulture Central. Pipex Business, one of the remnants spun out of the Pipex group as part of its voluntary self-dismemberment, has dimmed the lights, cranked up the whalesong, and is changing its name to Vialtus (pronounced vee-altus). 

Dough-faced Carphone Warehouse chief and Daily Mail director Charles Dunstone has decided to keep his thoughts to himself from now on - he's deleted his blog from the TalkTalk website. Blogging got marketing wonks very excited a couple of years ago, when the strategy boutique convinced them it heralded a new paradigm of "conversations" with customers. 

O2 is considering introducing business tariffs for customers who want to use iPhones at work. At the moment the iPhone is only available on an 18-month consumer contract once you've passed a credit check. The iPhone tariffs are being changed from tomorrow. 

Vodafone is mounting a legal challenge to Ofcom's call for mobile operators to allow their customers to shift their number to another network within two hours. It is already possible to take your number with you when you shift network but it takes a few days. Ofcom said in July last year that it wanted the process speeded up - from being one of the first countries to get operators to offer the service the UK has fallen behind. 

Thousands of ex-Pipex customers have been suffering unexplained interruptions in their broadband service in recent weeks, as their new provider Tiscali stealthily works to cut costs. People suffering a broadband outage as a result of the work are told by customer services, recently outsourced overseas, that their line is undergoing "essential engineering work". One Reg reader was initially told the downtime was BT's fault. 

Virgin Media has announced plans to upgrade its mid-range "L" broadband from maximum 4Mbit/s downstream to maximum 10Mbit/s at no extra cost to customers. The upgrade will start in late February on a region-by-region basis, and will take until late summer to complete. 

1.5Mbps customers now included in free Wi-Fi offer If you're an AT&T DSL customer with a connection 1.5Mbps or faster, you've now got free, unlimited access to AT&T's network of 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots. AT&T customers, who already got discounted access to the Wi-Fi network, should save about $60 annually from the deal. Non-AT&T customers would normally pay $240 yearly for access to the Wi-Fi network. It's a smart way for AT&T to add competitive value to their DSL service, and is a perk they were already offering higher speed (3Mbps+) customers. 

The idea of laying fibre along sewer lines has been sloshing around the networking business for years. Now a UK firm claims today's broadband will seem a trickle compared to the torrents of data it'll soon offer. It's always been hard to argue with the logic. Sewers are deep underground where cable would be protected from clumsy drilling. They also run into the heart of virtually every building in Britain. 

Tiscali customers and employees can look forward to more turmoil in the next two years. The Italian-owned group's boss Tommaso Pompei says he's expecting to sell up to rivals as it struggles to compete with richer players in the broadband market. Up until now, Tiscali has been a predator in the ISP consolidation game, snapping up Pipex customers and IPTV outfit Home Choice. That's set to change soon, Pompei told the Financial Times today, predicting a second wave of takeovers that he expects to be part of - as prey.