News

IT for government and public sector

• June 13, 2024 13 Jun'24

  AI’s environmental cost could outweigh sustainability benefits

  Artificial intelligence can help organisations manage and mitigate their environmental impacts in a number of ways, but the highly polluting nature of the technology could outweigh its other sustainability benefits if not dealt with

• June 13, 2024 13 Jun'24

  Black Basta ransomware crew may be exploiting Microsoft zero-day

  A Microsoft vulnerability that was addressed without fanfare in March may in fact have been exploited as a zero-day by the notorious Black Basta ransomware gang, threat hunters warn

• June 13, 2024 13 Jun'24

  Q&A: Adalbjorn Thorolfsson on IT project management in Iceland

  With a small, but very sophisticated population, Iceland has unique ways of keeping up with the rest of the world in the IT sector. Adalbjorn Thorolfsson, president of the Icelandic Project Management Association, describes some lessons for the rest...

• June 12, 2024 12 Jun'24

  IT witness was hidden away from Post Office court battle, but supported it from shadows

  Former Fujitsu chief architect provided evidence support to Post Office witnesses in High Court battle despite being unfit to provide it directly

• June 11, 2024 11 Jun'24

  Pure Storage hit by Snowflake credential hackers

  Pure Storage emerges as the latest victim of a fast-spreading breach of Snowflake customers targeting users with lax credential security measures in place

• June 11, 2024 11 Jun'24

  General election 2024: Conservative manifesto promises to continue tech policies

  The Conservative Party manifesto contains little by way of new commitments for tech and digital, but lays out plans to continue existing policies and promises made under the last government

• June 11, 2024 11 Jun'24

  More than 160 Snowflake customers hit in targeted data theft spree

  Mandiant reports that more than 160 Snowflake customers have been hit in a broad data theft and extortion campaign targeting organisations that have failed to pay proper attention to securing valuable credentials

• June 11, 2024 11 Jun'24

  Nuclear waste body cuts energy use by 20% as Pure replaces HPE

  French nuclear waste agency Andra has cut storage energy use by 20% and strengthened its disaster recovery capabilities by deploying Pure Storage and 10-year controller upgrades

• June 10, 2024 10 Jun'24

  General election 2024: Liberal Democrats thread digital commitments throughout manifesto

  The Lib Dems have promised a new industrial strategy and emphasised the importance of the digital sector, skills and regulating AI, as they lay out plans for the UK general election

• June 10, 2024 10 Jun'24

  NHS blood stocks running low after ransomware attack

  The NHS is appealing for people with O Positive and O Negative blood types to come forward to donate as hospitals in London struggle to keep critical services running after ransomware attack

• June 10, 2024 10 Jun'24

  AI firms can’t be trusted to voluntarily share risk information

  Workers at frontier AI firms have warned that their employers – including OpenAI, DeepMind and Anthropic – can’t be trusted to voluntarily share information about their systems capabilities and risks with governments or civil society

• June 10, 2024 10 Jun'24

  Post Office Capture software training deficit echoes systemic Horizon problems

  Post Office branch managers have told Computer Weekly they had no training on how to use Capture software, which pre-dated Horizon

• June 07, 2024 07 Jun'24

  Northern Irish police used covert powers to monitor over 300 journalists

  PSNI publishes report on police surveillance of journalists and lawyers, but Northern Ireland’s Policing Board says it does not give the assurances needed

• June 07, 2024 07 Jun'24

  DDoS gang threatens to disrupt European elections

  Russian hacktivists are threatening to disrupt the European Parliament elections, while the BBC reports on new deepfake threats to the UK’s electoral process

• June 07, 2024 07 Jun'24

  Bitdefender makes MDR services free to NHS bodies hit by Qilin

  Bitdefender offers NHS bodies affected by a major cyber incident free access to its product suite, as the health service continues to deal with the impact of the Qilin ransomware attack on partner Synnovis

• June 07, 2024 07 Jun'24

  Fujitsu had Post Office ‘over a barrel’, inquiry told

  Post Office scandal inquiry hears how board member believed Fujitsu was exploiting the Post Office

• June 06, 2024 06 Jun'24

  Mystery Post Office software developer revealed in 1995 Horizon project document

  Capture software was used by about 2,000 subpostmasters in the 1990s, with allegations that errors in the software caused account shortfalls

• June 05, 2024 05 Jun'24

  Post Office chair was aware of Horizon concerns from day one but failed to act

  Almost immediately after joining the Post Office, Alice Perkins was told about software problems and was concerned about an imbalance of power in the Post Office’s relationship with Fujitsu

• June 05, 2024 05 Jun'24

  Qilin ransomware gang likely behind crippling NHS attack

  Security experts investigating a major cyber attack on an NHS partner that has caused frontline services across South London to grind to a halt say the Qilin ransomware gang appears to be the culprit

• June 05, 2024 05 Jun'24

  Subpostmasters consider legal action against government in pursuit of financial redress

  Campaigner says former subpostmasters may have to resort to legal action in pursuit of the money they are owed

• June 04, 2024 04 Jun'24

  NHS services at major London hospitals disrupted by cyber attack

  A major cyber attack at NHS services provider Synnovis is disrupting frontline care at hospitals across London

• June 04, 2024 04 Jun'24

  Russia used fake AI Tom Cruise in Olympic disinformation campaign

  Microsoft threat researchers report a surge in Russian disinformation campaigns targeting the 2024 Summer Olympics, including AI-enhanced propaganda

• June 04, 2024 04 Jun'24

  Post Office bosses misled subpostmasters a day before IT project problems were exposed

  Subpostmasters were reassured by Post Office executives that the Horizon replacement project was satisfactory the day before Computer Weekly reported news to the contrary

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  Police chief commissions ‘independent review’ of surveillance against journalists and lawyers

  PNSI chief constable appoints lawyer to conduct review into police phone surveillance of journalists, lawyers and NGOs

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  97 FTSE 100 firms exposed to supply chain breaches

  Between March 2023 and March 2024, 97 out of 100 companies on the UK’s FTSE 100 list were put at risk of compromise following supply chain breaches at third-party suppliers

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  AI Seoul Summit review

  Dozens of governments and tech companies attending the second global AI Safety Summit have committed themselves to the safe and inclusive development of the technology, but questions remain around whether the commitments made go far enough

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  Uktech50 2024: The longlist of the UK’s influential tech leaders

  UKtech50 received a record-breaking 434 nominations for the 2024 list. Unfortunately, there wasn’t space for everyone in the top 50, and as you can see for yourself in this year’s longlist, it was a difficult decision for the judges

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  How poor IT project management failed Birmingham Oracle implementation

  Birmingham City Council’s Oracle system – the biggest of its kind in Europe – went live in April 2022, resulting in a catastrophic IT failure. We investigate

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  Sellafield local authority slammed over response to North Korean ransomware attack

  The local authority for Europe’s biggest nuclear site has been slammed by auditors for its response to a North Korea-linked cyber attack that temporarily crippled its operations

• May 31, 2024 31 May'24

  Fujitsu set for further £180m deal as Post Office Horizon replacement delayed

  Problems with the Post Office project to replace its controversial Horizon IT system mean Fujitsu is set to receive up to £180m more in taxpayers' cash to support the system for another five years

• May 30, 2024 30 May'24

  Post Office Horizon replacement project labelled 'unachievable' as taxpayer bill reaches £1bn

  The project to replace the Horizon IT system in Post Office branches is late, over budget and lacking quality – and government auditors sent in to assess a request for £1bn funding say it is currently unachievable

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Storebrand divests from IBM over supply of biometrics to Israel

  Norwegian asset manager Storebrand’s decision to divest from IBM comes amid growing scrutiny of the role technology companies play in Israel’s human rights abuses

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Organisations value digital trust, but aren’t working at it

  Three quarters of organisations believe digital trust is relevant to their businesses, yet clear gaps in strategies still seem to persist

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Next UK government must be prepared to legislate on AI, say MPs

  The House Science, Innovation and Technology Committee says the next government should be ready to legislate on artificial intelligence to plug any regulatory gaps

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Interview: EU data chief Ulrich Ahle on obstacles to Europe’s digital single market

  EU data scheme Gaia-X is trying to plug the UK into Europe’s planned digital single market as opposition mounts to efforts to extend the reach of Europe’s vast and controversial data laws over global supply chains

• May 28, 2024 28 May'24

  Executive Interview: Why Dell wants to be your one-stop AI shop

  At Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, artificial intelligence was the talk of the town as Dell staked out an all-encompassing strategy ahead of an anticipated goldrush. Dell’s Nick Brackney explains why the tech giant believes it's onto a winner

• May 28, 2024 28 May'24

  Government appoints investigators to analyse Post Office Capture software used before Horizon

  PC-based accounting software used by subpostmasters in the 1990s will be investigated by forensic specialist Kroll after reports that Post Office workers may have been wrongly prosecuted in the years before Horizon

• May 28, 2024 28 May'24

  Post Office scandal: Met Police investigation set to go national

  The police investigation into Post Office and Fujitsu executives is about to gain the status of a major national investigation – but it could be years before any individuals are charged with crimes or face trial

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  Parliamentarians warn of UK election threat from Russia, China and North Korea

  Joint parliamentary security committee chair Margaret Beckett writes to prime minister urging government to prepare for foreign states interfering with 4 July election

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  Over 700 wrongful subpostmaster convictions overturned by new legislation

  Parliament has approved a law that will see hundreds of subpostmasters with wrongful convictions exonerated as one of the government’s final acts before the general election

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  Paula Vennells boasted about removing Horizon risk reference in Royal Mail flotation prospectus

  A reference to Horizon was removed from Royal Mail prospectus by Paula Vennells in the eleventh hour

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  UKtech50 2024: Vote for the most influential person in UK IT

  Our judges have selected the top 50 leaders from a shortlist of more than 400 people – now it’s your chance to tell us who you think is the most influential person in UK technology

• May 23, 2024 23 May'24

  Government was aware of Post Office strategy to fight subpostmasters

  Former CEO Paula Vennells reveals that the government was aware of the controversial Post Office strategies to suppress subpostmasters' campaign for justice

• May 23, 2024 23 May'24

  Northern Ireland police face £750,000 fine after data protection blunder put lives at risks

  Information commissioner John Edwards uses discretion to reduce proposed fine from £5.6m to £750,000

• May 23, 2024 23 May'24

  Third police probe into Post Office scandal under consideration

  The Metropolitan Police Service is looking into investigating potential corporate and individual crimes committed in the Post Office Horizon scandal

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  ‘You knew’ – former ally accused Paula Vennells of knowing about Horizon problems

  Former Royal Mail CEO messaged Paula Vennells following the broadcasting of ITV’s dramatisation of the Post Office scandal, questioning what the former Post Office boss knew and removed her support

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  AI Seoul Summit: 27 nations and EU to set red lines on AI risk

  The countries will now work together to identify thresholds at which the risks presented by an AI model or system would be unacceptable without safeguards in place, as well as develop interoperable safety testing regimes for the technology

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  UK government announces £8.5m in grants for AI safety research

  The funding programme will be directed by the UK’s AI Safety Institute, with grants being used to understand and mitigate the impacts of artificial intelligence, including any systemic risks it presents at the societal level

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  G-Cloud 14: Overseas suppliers risk non-compliance as CCS changes stance on UK VAT requirements

  After assuring overseas suppliers multiple times during the G-Cloud clarification period that they did not need a UK VAT number to participate in the framework, government procurement chiefs have now backtracked on this guidance by telling non-UK ...

• May 21, 2024 21 May'24

  AI Seoul Summit: 10 nations and EU recommit to safe inclusive AI

  During the latest AI Summit in South Korea, the participating governments reaffirmed their prior commitments to deepening international cooperation on AI safety, and have agreed to launch an international network of ‘safety institutes’