News

Europe and Middle East information technology (IT)

• June 11, 2021 11 Jun'21

  FBI planned a sting against An0m cryptophone users over drinks with Australian investigators

  Australian Federal Police and the FBI came up with the idea over drinks: build a cryptophone network with a built-in backdoor and sell it to crime gangs around the world

• June 09, 2021 09 Jun'21

  FBI arrests distributors accused of selling An0m encrypted phones to crime groups

  Working with overseas law enforcement, the FBI has arrested eight people and named a further 13 accused of distributing An0m phones to organised crime groups

• June 09, 2021 09 Jun'21

  BBVA to cut 3,000 jobs in Spain as digital technology transforms industry

  Spanish bank is the latest to announce swingeing branch and job cuts amid increased digital competition

• June 09, 2021 09 Jun'21

  Klarna takes on UK credit card providers with feature that breaks up online payments

  Fintech unicorn introduces feature to its app in the UK which will challenge traditional credit card providers

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  EC launches digital identity framework

  The European digital identity will be available to citizens, residents and businesses across the EU, and member states will offer digital identity wallets on a national level

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  Updated standard contractual clauses will provide ‘legal certainty’ for transfer of data

  Organisations have 18 months to update data transfer agreements, known as standard contractual clauses, or SCCs, to continue sharing data outside the European Union

• June 04, 2021 04 Jun'21

  Secrecy around EncroChat cryptophone hack breaches French constitution, court hears

  French lawyers claim that investigators are unlawfully withholding details of a cryptophone hacking operation in a case that could impact UK prosecutions

• June 03, 2021 03 Jun'21

  Reports raise alarm over Huawei access to Dutch networks

  Espionage accusations raise security questions for Netherlands organisations using Chinese supplier’s equipment and services

• June 03, 2021 03 Jun'21

  Norway’s auditor general lifts lid on energy industry’s cyber security risks

  Auditor General’s Office questions the security posture of Norway’s energy industry

• June 03, 2021 03 Jun'21

  Swedish university is behind quantum computing breakthrough

  Chalmers University of Technology simplifies the process of measuring the temperatures of quantum computers during complex calculations

• May 27, 2021 27 May'21

  TCS opens its first European innovation centre in Amsterdam

  Netherlands capital hosts TCS’s latest innovation hub, which will bring together an ecosystem to address the challenge of sustainability

• May 27, 2021 27 May'21

  How the pandemic accelerated the Gulf’s edtech revolution

  The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital learning technologies in the Gulf region’s education sector

• May 27, 2021 27 May'21

  NGOs file complaints against Clearview AI in five countries

  Privacy and human rights organisations have asked data protection regulators in the UK, France, Austria, Italy and Greece to investigate controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI

• May 26, 2021 26 May'21

  Nordic CIO interview: Tommi Tuovila, Neste

  Former Olympian talks to Computer Weekly about the challenges facing CIOs in a rapidly changing world

• May 25, 2021 25 May'21

  Stockholm’s startup scene seeks more diversity

  Swedish capital has created a world-leading tech startup environment, but it still lacks the diversity of people needed to move it to the next level

• May 24, 2021 24 May'21

  Dutch researchers build security software to mimic human immune system

  Software could help IT systems develop immunity to some cyber attacks in a similar way to how the body fights infection

• May 24, 2021 24 May'21

  MEPs urge European Commission to revise UK adequacy decisions

  Members of the European Parliament are calling for the European Commission to ensure EU citizens have greater privacy rights

• May 14, 2021 14 May'21

  Dutch police used deep learning model to predict threats to life

  Dutch police developed a deep learning model in their EncroChat investigation to predict which messages contain serious threats to life

• May 13, 2021 13 May'21

  Financial and technical obstacles hit Danish datacentre heat recycling plan

  A datacentre project in Denmark is grappling with the challenges of reusing waste heat in local central heating systems

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  Business Finland rolls out 5G industrial initiative

  Finland is incentivising technology businesses to invest in 5G research and development to create export opportunities

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  Swedish court finds ambiguities in hacked EncroChat cryptophone evidence

  Defence lawyer claims evidence obtained by hacking the EncroChat encrypted phone network has ‘no legal’ value following Swedish appeal court ruling

• May 07, 2021 07 May'21

  Nordic real estate industry moves digital

  The Nordic real estate is investing in technologies like IoT to prepare the sector for the changing demands from customers post-Covid

• May 06, 2021 06 May'21

  Netherlands to build new national supercomputer

  The Netherlands has laid out plans for its next national supercomputer, to be known as Snellius

• May 05, 2021 05 May'21

  Delivering international talent to Helsinki’s tech ecosystem

  Finland’s capital is the envy of the world as a tech hub, but it still faces challenges in attracting skills in a highly competitive global market

• April 30, 2021 30 Apr'21

  EncroChat: Top lawyer warned CPS of risk that phone hacking warrants could be unlawful

  Lord David Anderson QC warned prosecutors that there were formidable arguments against the lawfulness of a police operation to infiltrate the encrypted phone network, EncroChat

• April 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  Norway’s agritech innovators are ready to expand to pastures new

  A tech startup industry aimed at modernising farming is making hay in Norway and laying down roots in other countries

• April 26, 2021 26 Apr'21

  French legal challenge over EncroChat cryptophone hack could hit UK prosecutions

  Lawyers are challenging the legality of a French police operation to harvest tens of thousands of messages from the EncroChat encrypted phone network in a move that could overturn criminal prosecutions in the UK

• April 21, 2021 21 Apr'21

  Anti-food-waste app Karma taps up Google Cloud to power global expansion plans

  Swedish startup Karma is on a mission to help consumers and businesses across the globe fight food waste, and it has enlisted the Google Cloud Platform to help it achieve its goal

• April 20, 2021 20 Apr'21

  Banco Santander moving more than 200 servers to cloud per day

  Banco Santander has migrated about 60% of its IT infrastructure to the cloud and is reaping the benefits

• April 20, 2021 20 Apr'21

  Transatlantic relationship strengthens Sweden’s startup sustainability

  Nordic startup network is taking lessons from Canada in getting women into the IT industry

• April 16, 2021 16 Apr'21

  Finnish government strengthens country’s IT network security

  Finland’s government has created a new national organisation to help public and private bodies improve network security

• April 15, 2021 15 Apr'21

  Dutch accuse UK of ‘damaging confidence’ by disclosing details of EncroChat police collaboration

  The Dutch Public Prosecution Service claims Britain has damaged confidence by disclosing details of an international investigation into the EncroChat encrypted phone network to the courts

• April 13, 2021 13 Apr'21

  EncroChat lawyers raise questions over use of PII secrecy orders on UK decryption capabilities

  Lawyers claim that public interest immunity certificates may have been used to withhold information on UK intelligence agencies’ ability to decrypt encrypted communications

• April 12, 2021 12 Apr'21

  Another 27 Danish banks get access to open banking APIs

  Nordic banks gain access to open banking capabilities from Nordic API Gateway, with an agreement through their shared IT service provider

• April 09, 2021 09 Apr'21

  Global demand for IT and business services highest ever for first quarter

  Global demand for IT and business services began the year strongly, with a record first quarter

• April 01, 2021 01 Apr'21

  EncroChat hearings delayed as lawyers seek disclosure on police hacking

  Court hearings precipitated by police cracking the EncroChat secure mobile phone network have been delayed after defence lawyers request further disclosures on police decryption capabilities

• March 31, 2021 31 Mar'21

  Nordics run information sharing on digital vaccination passports

  Nordic countries advance plans for digital Covid-19 vaccination passports in a bid to kick-start their economies

• March 30, 2021 30 Mar'21

  Belgium’s Federal Justice Service advances digitally with fast networks

  Security and networking firms team to claim 20 times faster connectivity for Belgium’s justice system so it can hold court hearings and prison visitations remotely and exchange information between services and applications securely

• March 29, 2021 29 Mar'21

  How Gulf SMEs are building digital resilience amid the pandemic

  SMEs in the Gulf region have accelerated their digital transformations during the Covid-19 pandemic

• March 29, 2021 29 Mar'21

  How far has open banking come in Europe?

  Open banking is a relatively new concept, having come into effect in Europe only in the last couple of years. So what is the state of play?

• March 26, 2021 26 Mar'21

  Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences combines AI and practice

  University ensures cooperation between scientists and industry when developing artificial intelligence

• March 18, 2021 18 Mar'21

  Reshaping the women-in-tech debate in Denmark, from the top down

  Tech Nordic Advocates adopts a different approach to closing the gap between women and men in the Danish tech startup sector

• March 17, 2021 17 Mar'21

  Digital Green Certificate proposed for travel in Europe

  Digital Green Certificates will supposedly help re-establish freedom of movement within the European Union

• March 17, 2021 17 Mar'21

  Nordic healthcare digitisation drives medtech growth

  Nordic medtech is growing rapidly as the healthcare sector adopts technologies such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things

• March 15, 2021 15 Mar'21

  Judges refuse EncroChat defendants’ appeal to Supreme Court

  Experts suggest Parliament and Investigatory Powers Tribunal need to consider the implications of a court decision on police use of data from the EncroChat phone network

• March 14, 2021 14 Mar'21

  Arrest warrants issued for Canadians behind Sky ECC cryptophone network used by organised crime

  The US has issued arrest warrants for the CEO of Sky Global and a former distributor for racketeering, aiding and abetting the distribution of illegal drugs by supplying encrypted phones to criminals

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  Norwegian government falls victim to Microsoft attacks

  Norway’s parliament, the Storting, suffers second major cyber incident in a year as threat groups capitalise on vulnerable Microsoft Exchange Servers

• March 10, 2021 10 Mar'21

  Police crack world’s largest cryptophone network as criminals swap EncroChat for Sky ECC

  Belgian and Dutch police have breached the encryption of users of Sky ECC, the world’s largest cryptophone network. There are significant parallels with the international police operation against the EncroChat cryptophone network which led to ...

• March 09, 2021 09 Mar'21

  Belgian police raid 200 premises in drug operation linked to breach of encrypted phone network

  More than 1,600 police and law enforcement officials conduct drug raids after the compromise of an encrypted mobile phone network that has parallels with EncroChat

• March 09, 2021 09 Mar'21

  Cibicom taps Nokia to supply mission-critical LTE network across Denmark

  Finnish comms provider inks deal with Danish operator to roll out new 450 MHz LTE infrastructure for mass volume IoT and mission critical data coverage

• March 09, 2021 09 Mar'21

  EBA restores services after Microsoft Exchange attack

  European Banking Authority was breached through vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server, but is now back online

• March 08, 2021 08 Mar'21

  Nordic innovators change emphasis on gender equality in society

  Female technology innovators in the Nordics take a different approach to trying to improve opportunities for women

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  EU seeking pan-European Covid-19 passport solution

  The European Union’s proposal could see the creation of a Covid-19 vaccine passport to enable travel across the EU

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  HPE called in to overhaul Swedish university’s supercomputing setup

  The Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing has commissioned HPE to build a supercomputer for one of Sweden’s largest technical universities

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  FINN completes Covid-delayed migration to the cloud

  Norwegian online advertising marketplace completes cloud migration in a single night after months of delay due to the pandemic

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  Nordic startups strive to fuel international e-commerce transformation

  Nordic startups are developing technology for retailers that want to improve the customer experience when buying online

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  Amsterdam to open environmental talks with datacentres

  City authorities and datacentre operators will open dialogue about sustainable datacentre industry expansion in the Dutch capital

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  Swedish police fined for unlawful use of facial-recognition app

  Sweden’s data watchdog has found that Swedish police failed to conduct the data protection checks required by law before using controversial facial-recognition tool

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  City of Helsinki adopts MyData principles to improve digital services

  Principles on the use of personal data for the benefit of society will guide Finnish capital’s ambitious digital plans

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  Fingerprints will help payment cards retain relevance

  Biometric payment cards using fingerprint technology could add billions to global banking revenues, says UBS

• February 17, 2021 17 Feb'21

  Finnish IT sector demand increases after months of decline

  IT sector in Finland sees small signs of recovery as demand increases after months of Covid-19-related decline

• February 17, 2021 17 Feb'21

  Swedish central bank extends digital currency project

  Sweden's central bank has extended its pilot of a digital currency for at least another year

• February 16, 2021 16 Feb'21

  TransferGo to harness Google-inspired tech capability

  Payments fintech TransferGo chooses cloud-native core banking platform to build a digital wallet and expand its services

• February 16, 2021 16 Feb'21

  Qatar regulator launches platform to monitor human understanding of financial crime

  Qatari financial services regulator works with global body to provide digital platform to assess whether financial services workers understand how to prevent financial crime

• February 11, 2021 11 Feb'21

  Hacked Finnish therapy business collapses

  Vastaamo, the Finnish psychotherapy centre whose patients were blackmailed by a cyber criminal gang, has filed for bankruptcy

• February 11, 2021 11 Feb'21

  Nordic states launch joint drone development initiative

  Nordic Drone Initiative backed by 16 public and privately owned organisations in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark to probe the efficient use of airspace for drones

• February 09, 2021 09 Feb'21

  Russia’s Sber launches international AI contest for children

  Children from across the world invited to take part in artificial intelligence competition launched by Russian bank-turned-tech business

• February 08, 2021 08 Feb'21

  Data of thousands of Dutch citizens leaked from government Covid-19 systems

  Weak access controls and outdated systems blamed for leaking of the personal details of thousands of Dutch citizens tested for Covid-19

• February 08, 2021 08 Feb'21

  Sweden to establish national cyber security centre

  Sweden becomes latest Nordic state to establish a national cyber security centre as the threat landscape grows

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  EncroChat: Appeal court finds ‘digital phone tapping’ admissible in criminal trials

  Appeal Court decides EncroChat-encrypted phone records can be used in criminal trials. Critics say the decision means phone tapping no longer has a ‘clear meaning in the digital age’

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  Security firm Stormshield loses source code in cyber attack

  Source code from two products developed by French cyber security firm was compromised in a December 2020 incident

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  Denmark and Sweden to issue digital vaccine certificates

  Sweden and Denmark announce plans to develop digital certificates that prove people have been vaccinated against Covid-19

• February 02, 2021 02 Feb'21

  Nordic region provides autonomous vehicle test bed

  Nordic region has the suppliers, environment and appetite for pioneering the development of autonomous vehicles

• February 02, 2021 02 Feb'21

  Nordic countries dominate European online banking take-up

  Nordics dominate online banking take-up in Europe, but the UK is not far behind

• February 01, 2021 01 Feb'21

  ‘Victory for free speech and openness’ after tribunal confirms no territorial restrictions to FOIA

  Freedom of information tribunal rules that investigative journalists and others can use the Freedom of Information Act if they live outside the UK or are not British citizens

• January 27, 2021 27 Jan'21

  Grindr complaint results in €9.6m GDPR fine

  Norway’s data protection authority plans to apply a fine totalling 10% of LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr’s revenues over its data sharing practices

• January 26, 2021 26 Jan'21

  Saudi IT spending to hit $11bn in 2021

  Saudi Arabian organisations will spend about $11bn on IT this year, with emerging technologies high on shopping lists

• January 21, 2021 21 Jan'21

  Digital knowledge must be integral part of Dutch police training

  Research reveals gaps in digital knowledge among Netherlands police, with calls for a training ‘roadmap’ to get officers up to speed to tackle cyber crime

• January 15, 2021 15 Jan'21

  Nordic startups make advances in pet tech

  Nordic tech startups are looking to take pet tech mainstream following the acceleration of the industry during the current pandemic

• January 15, 2021 15 Jan'21

  Tech partnership to drive Finland’s quantum computing project

  Organisations in Finland are developing quantum computing capabilities through a state and private sector partnership

• January 14, 2021 14 Jan'21

  All EU states can take data protection cases against Facebook, says EU court

  An opinion from the European Court of Justice has the potential to lead to a flood of privacy complaints against Facebook if upheld

• January 12, 2021 12 Jan'21

  Bahrain hopes 5G roll-out will attract more tech firms to its shores

  Bahrain has completed its 5G roll-out, which will support its IT infrastructure in creating the right environment for technology firms

• January 11, 2021 11 Jan'21

  Jobs in fintech bounce back after brief lockdown lull

  Fintechs and payments companies need to make staff recruitment a priority as talent pool shrinks

• January 07, 2021 07 Jan'21

  Nordic digital innovation offers a proactive approach to mental health

  Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to support people suffering mental health issues – and digital technology can help

• January 07, 2021 07 Jan'21

  Robust member administration system indispensable for Dutch Coeliac Society

  Organisation had to find a dedicated member administration system to support existing members, new members and countless volunteers

• January 05, 2021 05 Jan'21

  Huawei battles for market access in Nordics

  Chinese networking equipment supplier Huawei fights to retain access to potential 5G contracts across the Nordic region

• January 04, 2021 04 Jan'21

  Journalists’ FOI bids stayed as court reconsiders freedom of information rights of people outside UK

  Tribunal questions whether people without a British passport or Britons living overseas are eligible to use the UK’s Freedom of Information Act

• December 30, 2020 30 Dec'20

  Top 10 Benelux IT stories of 2020

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Benelux IT stories of 2020

• December 24, 2020 24 Dec'20

  Top 10 Middle East stories of 2020

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Middle East stories of 2020

• December 22, 2020 22 Dec'20

  Swedish central bank moves e-krona project to next stage

  Riksbank takes digital currency project to the next phase with Accenture building a platform to test the concept

• December 21, 2020 21 Dec'20

  Nordic CIO interview: Åsa Melvanius, Lund municipality

  For Åsa Melvanius, CDO at the Swedish municipality of Lund, created a “robot factory” that has saved the city more than 6,500 hours by automating routine processes

• December 21, 2020 21 Dec'20

  Top 10 enterprise IT in the Nordics stories of 2020

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Nordic enterprise IT stories of 2020

• December 18, 2020 18 Dec'20

  Finnish government tables laws to protect data from cyber criminals

  Government is strengthening its legal framework to protect data from hackers in the wake of a massive breach at a psychotherapy centre

• December 18, 2020 18 Dec'20

  Prepare for bringing people back to the office with the Nordic tech startup blueprint

  Business can learn lessons from Nordic tech startups to prepare employees to return to the office after Covid restrictions

• December 17, 2020 17 Dec'20

  Danske Bank fights money laundering with AI

  Danske Bank is using artificial intelligence to help it prevent a repeat of the huge money laundering scandal that hit one of its operations in Estonia

• December 15, 2020 15 Dec'20

  Cyber crime victims in the Netherlands not reporting offences

  Dutch victims of online crime rarely report it to the police and when they do, they are often dissatisfied

• December 15, 2020 15 Dec'20

  Covid-19 sparks boom in Middle East digital payments sector

  Stubborn cash use could fall in the Middle East after an acceleration in the take-up of digital payments amid the coronavirus pandemic

• December 15, 2020 15 Dec'20

  Interview: Sudaman Thoppan Mohanchandralal, chief data and analytics officer, Allianz Benelux

  The financial services firm is demonstrating the value of the chief data officer role

• December 15, 2020 15 Dec'20

  Finland examines wider use of AI video camera technology

  Authorities in Helsinki will use artificial intelligence and video technologies to help them automate monitoring of crowds

• December 15, 2020 15 Dec'20

  Air purifier manufacturer creates IoT service in the cloud

  Sweden’s Blueair introduces new functionality for customers through a cloud-based internet of things platform