Thousands of institutions around the world were subject to a series of "WannaCry" ransom attacks over the weekend (starting Friday, May 12), causing data to be encrypted with a claim for payment. The virus was a malicious program that affects smartphones and computers, encrypts and locks their data so that it cannot be accessed until payment is made.

Chinese vendor Huawei and Telefonica have formally announced a world first in vehicle communications at their 5G joint innovation lab in Madrid.

SEAT President Luca de Meo and Telefonica's Spanish President Luis Miguel Gilperez have signed an agreement that aims to promote a joint effort to develop innovative initiatives in the automotive industry. The agreement reached, which makes Telefónica a strategic IT supplier to SEAT, is set within the framework of SEAT's strategy to position itself as a benchmark company in connected, digitized mobility solutions.

Spanish telecom giant Telefónica and Huawei have announced the opening of an Open IoT Lab to work on the development of products and applications related to Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) technology.

Telefonica Germany has said that it is currently in talks with Mercedes-Benz for a 5G mobile network which will be used to produce vehicles at the automaker’s Factory 56 plant in Sindelfingen, Germany.

At the 2017 Global Antenna Technology & Industry Forum recently held in Munich, Huawei partnered with Telefónica Deutschland to launch the world's first 5G-oriented antenna deployment solution. During the evolution to 5G, this solution can resolve the challenge of insufficient antenna installation space for the deployment of both high-band 4T4R over Sub 3 GHz and Massive MIMO.

44% of Telefónica's electricity consumption is already renewable, which is equivalent to the average annual consumption of 203,749 households. This means that the company has doubled its use of renewable electric energy from 21% one year ago. Telefónica is accelerating the fulfillment of its goals to help support the Paris Agreement: to reach 50% renewable energy by 2020 and 100% by 2030, combined with a reduction in energy consumption.

Telefónica announced its active participation in the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA). The company joins a group of other leading telecommunications and automotive companies with the objective of accelerating the penetration of mobility services such as connected and autonomous car and intelligent road infrastructures.