News

IT for government and public sector

• February 27, 2026 27 Feb'26

  Australia inks five-year deal with Microsoft to drive AI and cloud adoption

  The Digital Transformation Agency’s new agreement promises cost certainty, improved discounts, and a skills fund to support the government’s digital transformation agenda

• February 26, 2026 26 Feb'26

  Qilin crew continues to dominate ransomware ecosystem

  The Qilin ransomware gang remained ‘top dog’ in January 2026, with over 100 observed cyber attacks to its name, amid a rapidly evolving and fragmenting cyber criminal ecosystem

• February 26, 2026 26 Feb'26

  India AI Impact Summit: Open source gains ground, but sovereignty tensions persist

  While open source artificial intelligence gained unprecedented recognition during the latest global AI summit, divisions over governance, market concentration and regulatory power cast doubt on whether the technology will benefit society as a whole

• February 26, 2026 26 Feb'26

  Deputy prime minister vows to reform justice system with AI

  Initiatives to transform UK courts include launching a justice AI academy, an AI listing assistant and a new High Court digital system

• February 26, 2026 26 Feb'26

  US artificial intelligence developers accuse Chinese firms of stealing their data

  Artificial intelligence developers are accusing Chinese firms of stealing their intellectual property following a spate of ‘distillation attacks’, despite their own alleged theft of training data

• February 25, 2026 25 Feb'26

  The UK’s proposed social media ban explained

  The UK government will use new legal powers to lay the groundwork for an under-16 social media ban after its consultation on children’s digital well-being, but opponents warn the measures being considered will only treat the symptoms of the problem ...

• February 25, 2026 25 Feb'26

  Application exploitation back in vogue, says IBM cyber unit

  IBM’s X-Force unit observes an uptick in the exploitation of vulnerable public-facing software applications

• February 25, 2026 25 Feb'26

  Police created ‘intelligence profile’ of BBC journalist subject to phone surveillance

  Police and MI5 conducted seven unlawful operations to obtain phone data relating to former BBC journalist Vincent Kearney, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal heard today

• February 25, 2026 25 Feb'26

  UK government commits £483m to Post Office for IT transformation

  The UK government is to provide the next round of funding to support the Post Office’s move away from its controversial Fujitsu Horizon IT system

• February 24, 2026 24 Feb'26

  Email from 1999 reveals Post Office ECCO+ system crash problems

  ECCO+ system experienced freezes during transactions, which could have left Post Office branch account discrepancies

• February 23, 2026 23 Feb'26

  Governments urged to step up enforcement of big tech amid rush to ban social media for under-16s

  The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights says that European governments should consider better enforcement against big tech companies before banning children from social media

• February 23, 2026 23 Feb'26

  €126bn in Dutch tech projects blocked by permits and grid limits

  Ex-ASML chief Peter Wennink’s deregulation solution triggers warnings from academics and government advisors

• February 20, 2026 20 Feb'26

  UK AI alignment project gets OpenAI and Microsoft boost

  Altogether, £27m is now available to fund the AI Security Institute’s work to collaborate on safe, secure artificial intelligence

• February 19, 2026 19 Feb'26

  European politicians amplify disinformation about UN rapporteur

  Government officials from the US and Europe have condemned UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese for remarks about Israel she never made, based on a truncated clip circulating online that takes her statements out of context

• February 19, 2026 19 Feb'26

  UKRI sets out strategy to make UK an AI leader by 2031

  The strategic framework for 2031 lays out the steps the UK needs to take to drive forward innovation and academic research in artificial intelligence

• February 19, 2026 19 Feb'26

  Minister wants ‘logical conclusion’ to review of digital evidence in light of Post Office scandal

  House of Lords debate saw government minister make an ambiguous promise in regard to the treatment of computer evidence in court

• February 19, 2026 19 Feb'26

  India AI Impact Summit begins

  The summit aims to democratise AI and bridge the growing divide between countries, but critics warn that it risks becoming a mere spectacle if the technology only serves the interests of power and profit

• February 18, 2026 18 Feb'26

  Flaws in Google and Microsoft products added to Cisa catalogue

  Cisa has added six CVEs to its Kev catalogue this week, including newly disclosed issues in Google Chromium and Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines, and some older flaws as well

• February 18, 2026 18 Feb'26

  0APT ransomware crew makes embarrassing splash

  A ransomware gang called 0APT has attracted attention, but many of its victims may not even be real, and its operators are being accused of over-egging their criminal pudding

• February 18, 2026 18 Feb'26

  Eradicating Fujitsu and Horizon from the Post Office, step by step

  Post Office IT chief tells Computer Weekly about the challenges and progress in removing the controversial Horizon system from Post Office branches

• February 17, 2026 17 Feb'26

  Defence and education see big gains in public sector IT spend, Tussell report finds

  Tussell Tech200 finds big growth in IT supplier revenue in defence and education, with gains for suppliers in IT services and digital transformation

• February 17, 2026 17 Feb'26

  Artificial intelligence ‘creeping into’ high-risk stock trading

  Growing reliance on artificial intelligence is encroaching into the stock market, finds research

• February 17, 2026 17 Feb'26

  House of Lords committee concerned over digital forensics backlog

  Lords’ Science and Technology Committee warns policing and justice system is unequipped to make use of technologies such as AI, and calls on government to handle digital forensics backlog

• February 17, 2026 17 Feb'26

  Government pumps £20m into using tech to fight addiction

  Funding grants from Innovate UK will be used for medical technologies and digital tools such as artificial intelligence and wearables to reduce substance misuse and addiction

• February 17, 2026 17 Feb'26

  Government wages cyber campaign as half the UK’s SMEs are breached

  UK government says half of all small businesses have been cyber breached in the recent past as it urges them to ‘lock the door’

• February 17, 2026 17 Feb'26

  British Transport Police start using live facial recognition

  British Transport Police will deploy facial recognition for six months despite calls for the government to halt its rapid expansion of the technology

• February 16, 2026 16 Feb'26

  Noah Donohoe inquest reveals issues with police ControlWorks system

  An inquest heard that there were major issues with the system used by the Police Service of Northern Ireland to record information reported by the public

• February 16, 2026 16 Feb'26

  UK government risks ‘perpetuating’ Post Office injustice through response to Capture appeals

  Peers question government’s approach to wrongful conviction appeals from former users of Capture software

• February 13, 2026 13 Feb'26

  UK National Crime Agency seeks CDIO, offering more than £100k for the role

  The chief digital and information officer will be expected to set the National Crime Agency’s digital, data and technology sourcing strategy, secure multi-year investment and manage a £100m budget

• February 12, 2026 12 Feb'26

  Government bank digital project a ‘full-spectrum disaster’ exposing taxpayers to risk

  National Savings and Investments is unable to tell Public Accounts Committee the cost of its modernisation programme

• February 12, 2026 12 Feb'26

  Thousands of unread emails and 20 million database errors cause civil service pension hardship

  Capita is to ‘fast-track’ any technology, including artificial intelligence, that can help it clear a backlog in civil service pension work

• February 12, 2026 12 Feb'26

  Large language models provide unreliable answers about public services, Open Data Institute finds

  Research questions AI’s trustworthiness in giving people accurate information about government services

• February 12, 2026 12 Feb'26

  European Commission: TikTok’s addictive design breaches EU law

  In a preliminary ruling, European Commission says TikTok’s additive design features are in breach of laws designed to create safer digital spaces

• February 12, 2026 12 Feb'26

  e& drives AI-first workforce transformation with Oracle Cloud

  UAE technology group deploys Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM on OCI Dedicated Region to embed artificial intelligence across human resources while meeting national data sovereignty requirements

• February 12, 2026 12 Feb'26

  College of Policing accounts ‘disclaimed’ by auditor for second year in wake of IT failure

  Government auditors have refused to endorse the financial accounts of the professional body for policing in England and Wales for a second year, following IT project blunders

• February 11, 2026 11 Feb'26

  CVE volumes may plausibly reach 100,000 this year

  The number of vulnerabilities to be disclosed in 2026 is almost certain to exceed last year's total, and may be heading towards 100,000, according to analysis

• February 11, 2026 11 Feb'26

  London Assembly member: Police should halt facial-recognition technology use

  In lieu of a full-blown ban on the technology, Green London Assembly member Zoë Garbett has called for a number of new safeguards to be implemented that she feels would protect Londoners from ‘escalating’ biometric surveillance

• February 11, 2026 11 Feb'26

  Peer ‘disappointed’ that DWP review of subpostmaster prosecutions is still months away

  Government indicates that there are 108 DWP prosecutions of subpostmasters that will be reviewed so far, but little progress has been made

• February 11, 2026 11 Feb'26

  Lack of resources greatest hurdle for regulating AI, MPs told

  Regulators warned that statutory powers alone cannot address the ethical harms of artificial intelligence

• February 11, 2026 11 Feb'26

  Fujitsu will be out by next summer, says Post Office CTO

  Post Office’s project to replace its controversial core system will contract suppliers by the summer of this year, with the aim to remove Fujitsu by summer 2027, according to its chief technology officer

• February 10, 2026 10 Feb'26

  February Patch Tuesday: Microsoft drops six zero-days

  Microsoft releases patches for six zero-day flaws in its latest monthly update, many of them related to security feature bypass issues

• February 10, 2026 10 Feb'26

  Researchers delve inside new SolarWinds RCE attack chain

  Researchers at Huntress and Microsoft have shared findings from their analysis of a new SolarWinds Web Help Desk vulnerability

• February 10, 2026 10 Feb'26

  Apple and Google pledge to improve app fairness

  The CMA is seeking views on Apple and Google’s commitments to ensure fair app store practices to stoke the UK’s app economy, fintech and improve developer confidence

• February 10, 2026 10 Feb'26

  Is the EU’s free trade deal with India the dawn of a new era?

  Trade deal between European Union and India simplifies the visa system for professionals from India, which could make the country’s suppliers more accessible

• February 10, 2026 10 Feb'26

  Second ever international AI safety report published

  More than 100 artificial intelligence experts have produced the second international AI safety report ahead of a summit in India, outlining a high degree of uncertainty about the development and risks of AI

• February 10, 2026 10 Feb'26

  G42 expands global AI ambitions with sovereign cloud partnership in Vietnam

  UAE artificial intelligence champion takes its sovereignty-first model to Southeast Asia

• February 09, 2026 09 Feb'26

  Fractile expansion demonstrates UK growth opportunity

  AI chip firm’s £100m expansion and facility in Bristol is being used to showcase the government’s AI opportunity plan in action

• February 09, 2026 09 Feb'26

  Russia’s cyber attacks on Polish utilities draws NCSC alert

  A series of Russian cyber attacks targeting Poland’s energy infrastructure has prompted a warning from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre

• February 09, 2026 09 Feb'26

  UAE’s TII challenges big tech dominance with open source Falcon AI models

  Through its Falcon models and an open, efficiency-driven research strategy, the Technology Innovation Institute is positioning the UAE as a producer of foundational AI, not merely a consumer of global platforms

• February 09, 2026 09 Feb'26

  Ireland to procure national electronic health record

  The Irish government has approved project to digitally transform the Irish health service by introducing integrated health records as part of Digital for Care strategy