24.06.2021

”In 2020, although communications networks witnessed new usage records, they also proved higher levels of security and resilience. Thus, the number of security incidents with significant impact decreased by about 28% compared to 2019, these incidents having a shorter duration and affecting a smaller number of connections. Nevertheless, some types of incidents occurred repeatedly, had recurring causes and impacted the same geographical area. In this context, we draw attention once more to the synergies between the energy and telecom sectors, and we remind operators that they have the obligation to take all necessary measures to ensure service continuity and prevent the occurrence of such incidents, according to the legislation in force”, declared Eduard LOVIN, ANCOM Vice president.

Affected connections

According to the notifications received in 2020, seven providers of public electronic communications networks or of publicly available electronic communications services reported 575 incidents with significant impact on the security and integrity of the electronic communications nerworks and services i.e., 28% less compared to 2019. These incidents affected a total number of approximately 12 million connections.

In 2020, mobile telephony and SMS connections were the most affected by significant incidents (5.9 million connections affected), followed by mobile internet connections (4.6 million connections), audio-visual programme retransmission connections (550 thousand connections), while the least affected by such incidents were fixed internet connections (approximately 451 thousand connections affected) and fixed telephony transmissions (approximately 400 thousand connections).

Compared to recent years, 2020 saw a significant decrease in the number of connections affected, in the categories of fixed telephony services and mobile telephony and SMS services. Furthermore, compared to 2019, the number of affected connections dropped significantly for all electronic communications services (e.g. for fixed telephony by 67%, for mobile internet and mobile data transmissions, by 56%).

The average number of connections affected in 2020 was 20,582, less than in 2019 (28,859 connections).

The total duration of the incidents reported in 2020 was 3,339 hours, the average duration of an incident being 5 hours and 48 minutes, similar to that registered in 2019 (5 hours and 46 minutes). The total duration of incidents decreased, compared to 2019 – when it was 4,573 hours.  

Geographic distribution

Regarding the geographic area affected in 2020, in 363 cases (63% of the total number of incidents) one county was affected, while four incidents had a countrywide impact.

The counties affected by the highest number of incidents were Olt (75 incidents), Teleorman (65 incidents), Dolj (58 incidents) and Gorj (57 incidents), while the least affected were Satu Mare (7 incidents), Covasna and Botoșani (8 incidents each).

Affected resources

Concerning the resources affected, most of the incidents affected the transmission means, base stations and mobile controllers and equipment in transmission nodes.

13 incidents affected several categories of resources simultaneously and had various causes: natural phenomena (yellow and orange code warnings for severe weather, heavy snow, blizzard) – which resulted in power outage for multiple categories of equipment –, or the simultaneous occurrence of two different events.

ANCOM Report

ANCOM’s Report on the significant incidents that affected the security and integrity of electronic communications networks and services in 2020 was drawn up based on the data reported by providers and is available, in Romanian, here. The Authority collects such data following the entry into force of Decision no. 512/2013, establishing the providers’ obligation to notify ANCOM on the incidents with significant impact on the security and integrity of electronic communications networks and services, i.e. incidents that affected more than 5,000 connections for at least one hour.