News
IT legislation and regulation
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November 17, 2023
17
Nov'23
Microsoft and Meta quizzed on AI copyright
Large language models are trained using vast amounts of public data – but do the hyperscalers comply with copyright laws?
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November 16, 2023
16
Nov'23
Outgoing police tech watchdog warns of declining oversight
The outgoing biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner for England and Wales discusses police deployment of powerful new surveillance technologies, and the declining state of oversight in this area
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November 16, 2023
16
Nov'23
Ransomware gang grasses up uncooperative victim to US regulator
The ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware gang has added a new tactic to its playbook, going to ever more extreme lengths in search of a pay-off
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November 13, 2023
13
Nov'23
Rogue state-aligned actors are most critical cyber threat to UK
The prospect of rogue nation-state-aligned attackers bringing down the UK’s critical infrastructure is keeping the NCSC up at night
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November 13, 2023
13
Nov'23
Lloyds Bank warns over rising threat of crypto scams
Report by Lloyds Banking Group finds there has been a 23% increase in cryptocurrency scams in 2023 compared with last year, targeting mostly younger investors
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November 13, 2023
13
Nov'23
Victims’ legal action over 2015 Carphone Warehouse breach moves forward
A class action against Currys Retail over the 2015 data breach of Carphone Warehouse customers has been granted permission to move forward in the courts
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November 10, 2023
10
Nov'23
UN disarmament body calls for global action on autonomous weapons
UN draft resolution highlighting the dangers of autonomous weapons passes with overwhelming majority
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November 09, 2023
09
Nov'23
Ex-Coca-Cola VPs debut ChatGPT-like AI tool to help enterprises solve their sustainability woes
The Ubuntoo AI tool is already in use within several Fortune 500 companies to help these firms hone their sustainability strategies
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November 09, 2023
09
Nov'23
UK government does not see need for specific AI legislation
The UK government does not currently see the need for new artificial intelligence legislation, as many regulators are already dealing effectively with AI-related harms
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November 08, 2023
08
Nov'23
Data-sharing management gap highlights cyber risk, says report
Organisations are struggling to secure their use of communications tools to share data with third-party partners and suppliers, and in the process are exposing themselves to heightened levels of risk, according to a report
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November 08, 2023
08
Nov'23
AI Summit not the place for human rights, says French finance minister
Despite commitments at the UK’s AI Safety Summit to respect and protect human rights, the French finance minister said it was not the right forum to discuss signatories' human rights records
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November 08, 2023
08
Nov'23
King’s Speech misses the mark on cyber law reform, says campaign
A group of activists who want to reform the UK’s computer misuse laws to protect bona fide cyber pros from prosecution have been left disappointed by a lack of legislative progress
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November 08, 2023
08
Nov'23
The Security Interviews: ISC2’s Clar Rosso on cyber diversity and policy
Computer Weekly catches up with ISC2 CEO Clar Rosso to talk about diversifying the cyber workforce and supporting cyber pros as they keep up with growing compliance and security policy demands
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November 07, 2023
07
Nov'23
Post Office disclosure failures delay Horizon scandal inquiry again
Many of the 300,000 emails unearthed could be relevant to evidence from future and past witnesses in the Post Office scandal inquiry
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November 07, 2023
07
Nov'23
Unesco unveils seven-point anti-disinformation plan
United Nations body outlines seven proposals for civil society, governments, regulators and tech platforms to adopt to combat the source of disinformation
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November 07, 2023
07
Nov'23
AI Safety Summit review
Computer Weekly takes stock of the UK government’s AI Safety Summit and the differing perspectives around its success
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November 02, 2023
02
Nov'23
Pension changes set to boost UK tech
UK technology and science startups could benefit from changes to UK pension funds
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November 02, 2023
02
Nov'23
EU digital ID reforms should be ‘actively resisted’, say experts
Over 300 cyber security experts have called for the EU to rethink its proposals for eIDAS digital identity reforms, saying some of the provisions risk damaging user privacy and security
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November 01, 2023
01
Nov'23
AI Summit: 28 governments and EU agree to safe AI development
In a joint communique at the UK government’s AI Safety Summit, all participating governments agreed to deepen their cooperation around the risks associated with artificial intelligence
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November 01, 2023
01
Nov'23
Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson on her AI Safety Summit goals
As the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park takes place, Computer Weekly caught up with Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson to find out what one of the UK’s most prominent AI advocates wants from proceedings
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October 31, 2023
31
Oct'23
SEC sues SolarWinds, alleging serious security failures
SolarWinds and its CISO have been charged with fraud and internal control failures by the US authorities amid allegations of a series of cyber security failings leading up to the 2020 Sunburst attacks
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October 31, 2023
31
Oct'23
Over a quarter of UK adults use buy now, pay later fintechs
Latest research from UK financial services regulator shows BNPL more likely to be used by people experiencing financial difficulty
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October 30, 2023
30
Oct'23
UK government AI Summit already branded ‘missed opportunity’
The dominance of big tech firms, a focus on speculative risks over real-world harms, and the exclusion of affected workers, mean the AI Safety Summit is a wasted opportunity, say civil society groups
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October 27, 2023
27
Oct'23
Tech firms cite risk to end-to-end encryption as Online Safety Bill gets royal assent
Tech firms continue to be concerned that the Online Safety Bill could undermine end-to-end encryption despite government reassurances
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October 27, 2023
27
Oct'23
Domestic abuse charities surface fresh worries over NHS data sharing
With new NHS data access options coming into effect at the end of October, a group of campaigners including womens' charities and the BMA have warned that the revived GP-patient data sharing scheme risks putting vulnerable people at risk
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October 27, 2023
27
Oct'23
‘Egregious’ to link passport data with facial recognition systems
The Scottish biometrics watchdog has spoken out against the UK policing minister’s plans to integrate passport data with police facial recognition systems
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October 27, 2023
27
Oct'23
Germany: European Court opinion kicks questions over EncroChat back to national courts
Germany lawfully obtained data on German EncroChat users from France, but whether the evidence is legally admissible is a matter for national courts
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October 26, 2023
26
Oct'23
ChatGPT, Bard, lack effective defences against fraudsters, Which? warns
Consumer advocacy Which? warns that popular generative AI tools are vulnerable to loopholes that render existing protections against malicious usage easily bypassed
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October 26, 2023
26
Oct'23
Sunak sets scene for upcoming AI Safety Summit
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has outlined how the UK will approach making AI safe, but experts say there is still too big a focus on catastrophic but speculative risks over real harms the technology is already causing
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October 26, 2023
26
Oct'23
Boardrooms losing control in generative AI takeover, says Kaspersky
C-suite executives are increasingly fretful about what they perceive as a ‘silent infiltration’ of generative AI tools across their organisations
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October 25, 2023
25
Oct'23
UK Finance paints mixed picture of fraud as losses top £500m
UK losses to fraud in the first six months of the year topped £500m, but a slight decline in overall crime rates was observed, according to UK Finance’s latest data
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October 24, 2023
24
Oct'23
Kaspersky opens up over spyware campaign targeting its staffers
Kaspersky has shared more details of the TriangleDB spyware that was used against its own workforce by an unknown APT group
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October 19, 2023
19
Oct'23
Nuclear regulator raps EDF over cyber compliance
The Office for Nuclear Regulation says EDF has come up short on needed measures to improve cyber security standards at several critical UK nuclear facilities
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October 19, 2023
19
Oct'23
Need for ‘significant’ public and private investment in UK infrastructure
Second long-term review sets out role of digital infrastructure in supporting economic growth in UK, but stresses importance of government continuing to support network competition and market deployment
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October 19, 2023
19
Oct'23
Sellafield local authority unsure if data was stolen six years on from North Korea ransomware attack
Senior managers at an ‘Achilles heel’ local authority for Europe’s biggest nuclear site ‘still don’t know what was lost’ in a 2017 cyber attack, according to a council source
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October 12, 2023
12
Oct'23
Scottish biometrics watchdog outlines police cloud concerns
Police Scotland’s response to the biometrics commissioner’s formal information notice ‘did not ameliorate’ his concerns about the sovereignty and security of the sensitive biometric information being uploaded to cloud infrastructure that is subject ...
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October 05, 2023
05
Oct'23
Policing minister wants to use UK passport data in facial recognition
The policing minister’s plans to integrate the UK’s passport database with police facial-recognition systems have been met with criticism from campaigners, academics, and the biometrics commissioner for England and Wales
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October 04, 2023
04
Oct'23
IR35: HMRC completes first phase of CEST upgrades with Ocelot platform migration
HMRC has confirmed that its online IR35 status checker tool has completed its migration to a new platform, as the government tax collection agency’s revamp of the service continues apace
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October 04, 2023
04
Oct'23
UK emphasises EU split by kicking digital trade scheme into long grass
Former Gaia-X CEO talks exclusively to Computer Weekly about UK inertia on cross-border data tech
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October 04, 2023
04
Oct'23
ICO issues guidance on workplace surveillance
Guidance on employee monitoring covers how employers can conduct their digital surveillance lawfully, transparently and fairly, and warns against businesses intruding on their workers’ private lives
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October 03, 2023
03
Oct'23
Cyber experts urge EU to rethink vulnerability disclosure plans
The European Union’s proposed cyber security vulnerability disclosure measures are well-intentioned but ultimately counterproductive, as making unmitigated vulnerabilities public knowledge increases the risk of their exploitation by various actors, ...
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October 03, 2023
03
Oct'23
Public sector needs systemic reform of capacity to innovate
Improving the public sector’s capacity to innovate requires a culture of innovation underpinned by people, skills and new ways of working with the private sector
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October 03, 2023
03
Oct'23
Top science journal faced secret attacks from Covid conspiracy theory group
A conspiratorial group of extreme Brexit lobbyists mounted an extraordinary campaign against one of the world’s most prestigious science journals – part of a series of joint investigations between Byline Times and Computer Weekly
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September 29, 2023
29
Sep'23
UK tech sector ‘let down’ and ‘betrayed’ over Rishi Sunak’s net-zero policy tweaks
Now the dust has settled on the news Rishi Sunak is tweaking several of the policies underpinning the government’s net-zero goal, the UK tech industry has hit back at the news
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September 29, 2023
29
Sep'23
Scottish watchdog urges wider biometric oversight
Scotland’s biometrics watchdog urges Scottish Parliament to extend oversight of biometric information to include the entire criminal justice system, not just police
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September 28, 2023
28
Sep'23
Strasbourg court condemns Turkey for jailing teacher for using ByLock encrypted messaging app
The case is expected to have implications for the use of digital evidence in prosecutions against users of other encrypted phone apps
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September 26, 2023
26
Sep'23
UK government quietly disbands data ethics advisory board
The government has disbanded its Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation’s advisory board in favour of pulling the relevant artificial intelligence (AI) and data knowledge from a pool of external experts
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September 26, 2023
26
Sep'23
IT contractors ‘forced against their will’ to work for umbrella companies, survey finds
Research conducted by contracting authority ContractorCalculator paints a bleak picture of the plight of IT contractors ‘forced’ to provide their services through umbrella firms
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September 26, 2023
26
Sep'23
Cover-ups still the norm in the wake of a cyber incident
Almost half of organisations that have experienced a cyber incident did not report it to the appropriate authorities, according to a report
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September 26, 2023
26
Sep'23
HMRC names and shames non-compliant umbrella firms for running tax avoidance schemes
The government tax collection agency is stepping up its efforts to prevent contractors falling victim to non-compliant umbrella firms with three new names added to its list of known tax avoidance schemes