News

IT for government and public sector

May 28, 2012 28 May'12
UK regulator PhonepayPlus shuts down Angry Birds smartphone scam

UK users of Android smartphones have been targeted by premium-rate phone scams masquerading as popular apps such as Angry Birds
May 25, 2012 25 May'12
Video: ICO publishes new guidance on cookie law

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published new guidance on cookie law and revealed the organisations it has approached on the issue
May 23, 2012 23 May'12
Overrun in big IT projects leads to one in three failures

One-third of big IT projects are likely to get derailed after they have been running for two years, according to research.
May 18, 2012 18 May'12
Mobile threats demand focus on data protection, says Websense

Business needs to focus on data protection as cyber criminals turn to mobile malware, says Websense.

May 17, 2012 17 May'12
The Pirate Bay is latest site to be hit by DDoS attack

The Pirate Bay has become the latest high-profile website to be hit by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack
May 11, 2012 11 May'12
Court stops Dutch party sharing Pirate Bay links

A court in The Hague has ordered a political party in the Netherlands to stop publicising ways to get around blocks to Swedish file-sharing site, The Pirate Bay
May 10, 2012 10 May'12
Cyber attackers increasingly targeting applications, research shows

Web and mobile applications are the new frontiers in the war against cyber attack, according to an HP cyber security risks report
May 10, 2012 10 May'12
Troubled RPA systems to be replaced by 2015

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is to roll out a new payments system for the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) by 2015
May 09, 2012 09 May'12
Government snooping plans unveiled

The Queen's Speech has revealed that the government still plans to make it easier for security and police services to spy on e-mails, phone calls and internet activity
May 04, 2012 04 May'12
London to test urban operating system

London is to test an operating system developed to support the smart cities of the future to keep buildings, traffic and services running smoothly.

May 04, 2012 04 May'12
UK to expand cyber info-sharing hub after initial success

A public/private cyber security initiative exposed a campaign of malicious emails targeting UK defence companies, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has revealed.
May 03, 2012 03 May'12
What UK citizens think about digital government

Two-thirds of UK citizens already use the internet to interact with government, according to Accenture research.
May 03, 2012 03 May'12
European copyright ruling good for IT innovation, say lawyers

The top European court's ruling on copyright is good news for innovation, say lawyers
May 02, 2012 02 May'12
US to legislate to protect Facebook passwords from employers

The US is planning legislation that will protect Facebook passwords from prying employers
May 01, 2012 01 May'12
G-Cloud cost £4.93m to set up, says Maude

The government’s G-Cloud programme and CloudStore cost £4.93m to set up, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said in response to a parliamentary question.
April 30, 2012 30 Apr'12
Half of UK networks vulnerable to APTs

Many UK corporate networks are vulnerable to advanced persistent threats (APTs), a survey has revealed.
April 30, 2012 30 Apr'12
Government launches MyCSP mutual project

The government has launched the first of a planned series of mutuals which take public services and split the ownership between government, staff and private sector.
April 26, 2012 26 Apr'12
Infosec 2012: Unscrubbed hard drives a threat to business, says ICO

Unscrubbed hard drives on computers that are decommissioned and sold on represent a significant risk to business
April 25, 2012 25 Apr'12
Infosec 2012: Internet security body to tackle SSL problems

The Trustworthy Internet Movement (TIM) is to tackle implementation and governance internet communication protocol (SSL) as its first project.
April 25, 2012 25 Apr'12
Infosec 2012: Patching alone can deliver 80% protection

Keeping software up to date with security patches can deliver 80% protection from cyber threats, says security firm Secunia.
April 23, 2012 23 Apr'12
UK firms see competitors as greater cyber attack risk than criminals

More than half of UK firms expect a cyber attack in the next six months, but see competitors as a greater risk than criminals
April 19, 2012 19 Apr'12
Supercomputers will reach 'exascale' speeds within decade

Supercomputers will be powerful enough to simulate the human brain within seven years, says founder of Top500 list.
April 19, 2012 19 Apr'12
Staff at IT services firm CSC protest redundancy policy

Workers at IT services giant CSC in the UK are holding a lunchtime protest today (19 April) to protest at the company’s redundancy policy
April 18, 2012 18 Apr'12
Government unaware how much it pays for e-mail services

Government departments do not know how much they are spending on e-mail services, according to research by Computer Weekly.
April 16, 2012 16 Apr'12
HP losing grip of EDS’s Ministry of Defence contract

HP’s grip on a flagship Ministry of Defence contract could be weakening after CSC took over a key outsourcing deal.
April 11, 2012 11 Apr'12
Busy security patch month for Microsoft administrators

Microsoft has released six patches, four critical, for 11 vulnerabilities in Office, Windows and various server products in its April security update.
April 10, 2012 10 Apr'12
CIO interview: David Jones, CIO, Crown Prosecution Service

CPS CIO David Jones is leading a comprehensive technology revamp to modernise operations across the entire criminal justice system.
April 05, 2012 05 Apr'12
Department of Health and CSC in deadlock over Lorenzo records system

The Department of Health and CSC failed to meet the deadline to agree new terms for the troubled electronic records systems Lorenzo
April 04, 2012 04 Apr'12
South West police roll out £1.1m central data repository

Police forces in the South West of England are going live with a £1.1m data sharing system across the region
April 03, 2012 03 Apr'12
STFC ploughs £30m into high performance computing centre with IBM

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has signed a £30m deal with IBM to develop high performance computing (HPC)
April 02, 2012 02 Apr'12
UK business fears impact of new EU data protection framework

More than half of senior UK IT managers in large enterprises believe the proposed new EU data protection framework will cost their business more money, a survey has revealed
April 02, 2012 02 Apr'12
Eight UK universities awarded excellence in cyber security research status

The first eight UK universities have been awarded 'Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research' status
March 27, 2012 27 Mar'12
Warwickshire-based company to revamp data protection following breach

A Warwickshire-based company has committed to taking action to protect personal data, following a breach of the Data Protection Act
March 26, 2012 26 Mar'12
Department for Work and Pensions outsources IT for universal credit welfare to India

The government is outsourcing IT development for the universal credit welfare programme to India despite promises to keep data projects in the UK
March 23, 2012 23 Mar'12
Information management: lessons from the public sector

Freeform Dynamics identifies the lessons organisations can learn from the public sector's approach to information management
March 21, 2012 21 Mar'12
Half of education institutions victims of mobile IT theft

According to research, 45% of UK education establishments claim to have had mobile IT equipment stolen during the last three years.
March 20, 2012 20 Mar'12
Birkbeck College consolidates servers to cut PUE rating to 1.3

Birkbeck College has consolidated four equipment rooms into one £700,000 datacentre with a PUE rating of just 1.3
March 19, 2012 19 Mar'12
UK hacktivist cases should spur business to action, says lawyer

The last of four alleged UK members of hacktivist group LulzSec has appeared in Westminster magistrates court in London
March 16, 2012 16 Mar'12
Hampshire and Oxfordshire councils sign SAP ICT partnership

Hampshire County Council and Oxfordshire County Council have signed an ICT partnership to save £1m, focusing on SAP systems for HR and financial services
March 16, 2012 16 Mar'12
SourceForge takes down Anonymous operating system

The open-source collaboration website SourceForge has taken down an Ubuntu Linux OS project purportedly affiliated with online hactivist group Anonymous, after a review by security experts
March 15, 2012 15 Mar'12
BBC cyber attacks highlight difficulty of attribution

The BBC has said it is was targeted by cyber attacks following a campaign by Iran against its Persian service, but stopped short of accusing Tehran of ordering the cyber attacks
March 14, 2012 14 Mar'12
Interview: Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude on open data

Francis Maude, Cabinet Office minister, talks to Computer Weekly about the importance of open data to the UK economy.
March 14, 2012 14 Mar'12
NHS trust to use iPads for real-time access to patient records

An NHS trust in the Midlands is planning to equip medical staff and community nurses with iPads to give real-time access to patient records on the move.
March 08, 2012 08 Mar'12
Councils meet first superfast broadband deadline

All but two local authorities have met government deadlines to submit plans to roll out superfast broadband
March 07, 2012 07 Mar'12
Systems integrators 'charge more in paperwork than SMEs do in delivery’

A systems integrator asked for more money from the government for an IT product proposal than an SME was able to deliver the actual service for.
March 07, 2012 07 Mar'12
Government’s shared services strategy failing, says NAO

The government’s £1.4bn shared services centres have failed to achieve value for money, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO)
March 07, 2012 07 Mar'12
FBI informer Hector Xavier Monsegur aids in arrest of LulzSec hackers

Authorities in the US, UK and Republic of Ireland have arrested seven suspected members of hacktivist group LulzSec, including Hector Xavier Monsegur, who helped investigators
March 05, 2012 05 Mar'12
NHS trusts to be freed from CSC contract commitments

The Department of Health has proposed a deal with CSC to release trusts in the National Programme for IT from their contractual obligations to use software from the troubled supplier.
March 02, 2012 02 Mar'12
Somerset Council to bring Southwest One services back in house

Somerset County Council is seeking to bring key services back in house from Southwest One , the troubled joint-venture it created with IBM in 2007.
March 01, 2012 01 Mar'12
RSA 2012: IT security experts urge enterprises to ban smartphone BYOD schemes

Enterprises should ban employees from using their own smartphones for work, a panel of IT security practitioners told the RSA Conference 2012