News

IT for government and public sector

January 30, 2012 30 Jan'12
ICO fines Midlothian Council £140K for data breaches

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has imposed its highest penalty yet of £140,000 on Midlothian Council for breaching personal data
January 30, 2012 30 Jan'12
MEP quits as thousands protest ACTA signing

A European MP has resigned after thousands of people in Poland protested against the international anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA)
January 25, 2012 25 Jan'12
EC publishes proposed data protection reforms

European Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, has unveiled the new European data privacy framework that includes new regulation.
January 23, 2012 23 Jan'12
Advocacy group La Quadrature du Net rallies opposition to ACTA

As controversial anti-piracy legislation stalls in the US, a European group of free internet supporters, La Quadrature du Net, calls for a halt to similar legislation in the European Union.

January 16, 2012 16 Jan'12
NHS Trust saves £1m a year with text reminder service

Barts Hospital and the London Hospital NHS Trust have saved nearly £1m a year with an automatic appointment reminder text service.
January 16, 2012 16 Jan'12
Apple aims to improve working conditions for technology workforce

Apple has published a list of all suppliers for the first time and says it will allow independent observers into its facilities around the world to monitor working conditions.
January 16, 2012 16 Jan'12
Rupert Murdoch attacks Barack Obama over online piracy legislation

News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch has accused Barack Obama's administration of siding with "Silicon Valley paymasters" as two anti-piracy bills go through US Congress.
January 13, 2012 13 Jan'12
NHS Trust to appeal £375k data loss penalty

An NHS Trust is to appeal against a proposed monetary penalty of £375,000 after after patient records were stolen from a hospital and sold on eBay.
January 11, 2012 11 Jan'12
ICT curriculum for GCSE is scrapped

The government is to scrap the teaching of GCSE ICT in schools this September, with plans to replace the subject with the “rigorous” teaching of computer science and programming subjects.
January 10, 2012 10 Jan'12
Healthcare IT is a beneficial force, say doctors

IT in the NHS has had a bad press in recent years as a result of the problems associated with the now defunct £12bn NHS National Programme for IT, but most doctors in England believe IT improves patient care.

January 10, 2012 10 Jan'12
Accenture bolsters public sector skills

Services giant Accenture has recruited two former civil servants to its ranks to boost its UK and global public sector services capabilities.
January 09, 2012 09 Jan'12
Olympics resale site still offline after two days

The Olympics tickets resale site has been offline for more than two days, after tens of thousands of people clamoured online buy unwanted tickets on 6 January.
January 06, 2012 06 Jan'12
Ramnit worm steals 45,000 Facebook passwords

A computer worm has begun targeting Facebook accounts and has stolen at least 45,000 login credentials from users, say security researchers.
January 03, 2012 03 Jan'12
British Waterways Scotland signs £2.3m ICT deal

British Waterways Scotland has signed a £2.3m deal with business technology company Amor Group to develop its ICT systems.
January 03, 2012 03 Jan'12
Hacktivists plan to use satellites to by-pass internet censorship

Hacker activists plan to launch communication satellites to overcome the threat of internet censorship.
December 23, 2011 23 Dec'11
Top 10 SME IT stories of 2011

For small businesses, 2011 has been another tough year, with many continuing to batten down the hatches as the economy continues to stall. But at the same time it has also been a year of technological innovation, both in terms of SMEs using the ...
December 20, 2011 20 Dec'11
Atos to provide £8m GP data mining system

IT services company Atos has won an £8m five-year contract to provide a computer system which will retrieve patient information across GP practices.
December 15, 2011 15 Dec'11
How HP played a key role in RAF air crew support in Libya

The Ministry of Defence has praised HP over its Advanced Mission Planning Aid system, most recently used to support air crew in Libya.
December 14, 2011 14 Dec'11
DWP seeks £200m identity assurance framework

The Department for Work and Pensions has issued a contract notice for a £200m framework agreement to provide identity assurance services for 21 million people on benefits
December 13, 2011 13 Dec'11
CIOs believe cloud, SaaS, consumerisation and mobility increase risk

Business models such as cloud computing and trends such as the consumerisation of IT, social media and mobility are exposing performance blind spots in IT management, a CIO survey has revealed.
December 12, 2011 12 Dec'11
Cloud leaves many firewalls wanting – but could automation prove the silver bullet?

Most companies rely on firewalls, but the IT landscape is changing and so must approaches to security. Is there a silver bullet?
December 09, 2011 09 Dec'11
Martha Lane Fox launches Government Digital Service

The launch of the Government Digital Service will “fundamentally transform the lives of millions,” says digital champion Martha Lane Fox.
December 08, 2011 08 Dec'11
Adobe to release out-of-cycle patch for latest vulnerability

Adobe has issued a security advisory about a newly discovered and still unpatched vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat which is being used in "limited, targeted attacks in the wild".
December 08, 2011 08 Dec'11
UKtech50: Meet Mike Lynch, the most influential person in UK IT

Mike Lynch, voted as the most influential person in UK IT, doesn’t like to think about challenges, but about opportunities.
December 07, 2011 07 Dec'11
Government extends G-Cloud deadline

The government has extended its G-Cloud deadline following the application of more than 500 businesses to its framework.
December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11
One in four IT security staff abuse admin rights, survey shows

At least one in four IT security staff use their privileged login rights to look at confidential information, a survey has revealed.
December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11
SAP buys SaaS firm SuccessFactors in $3.4bn deal

Enterprise software company SAP announces a $3.4bn deal to acquire software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider SuccessFactors.
November 30, 2011 30 Nov'11
Essex County Council invests £15m in IT to cut costs

Essex County Council is pumping £15m into an IT infrastructure upgrade expected to create efficiency savings of £7m per year, says CIO David Wilde.
November 30, 2011 30 Nov'11
United Nations Development Programme investigates hacking claims

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is investigating claims from hacker group Team Poison that it extracted over 100 e-mail addresses and login details belonging to UN staff.
November 29, 2011 29 Nov'11
Framework accelerates safety-critical defence systems development

Manufacturers and academics are collaborating in a 3.5 million project to create a software modelling framework that will speed up the development and certification of safety-critical systems used in aerospace and defence.
November 23, 2011 23 Nov'11
Government mutual will be a beacon for IT procurement

The pension administration mutual being set up by the government will be the first of a wave of new business models that could shake-up central government outsourcing contracts.
November 21, 2011 21 Nov'11
Government opens its procurement heart to IT suppliers

The government has promised more openness with suppliers and published its first forward-looking pipeline of business, with £25.9bn of IT projects.
November 18, 2011 18 Nov'11
Olympic volunteers to use virtual communication

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog) is to deploy virtual meeting rooms to enable its 6,000 staff and volunteers to communicate during the Olympics.
November 18, 2011 18 Nov'11
MIT scientists take a step closer to artificial intelligence

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed an analogue silicon chip with 400 transistors that emulates the activity of a brain synapse in the first step to building truly intelligent systems.
November 17, 2011 17 Nov'11
Forensics key to effective info security, says E&Y

Intelligence-led security strategies are the most effective in eliminating vulnerabilities and preventing IP theft through enabling informed change, says consultancy firm Ernst & Young.
November 17, 2011 17 Nov'11
IT security not always part of cloud decision, says IDC

Cloud adoption is outstripping security concerns, says Eric Domage, programme manager for IDC in Europe.
November 15, 2011 15 Nov'11
TfL seeks BI worth £750,000

Transport for London (TfL) is setting up a framework agreement for a business intelligence tool worth up to £750,000 million to help reduce its number of head office locations.
November 14, 2011 14 Nov'11
CIO Interview: IT should drive company innovation, says SAP's Oliver Bussmann

Driving innovation has become one of the key roles of the chief information officer, says Oliver Bussmann, CIO at business software maker SAP.
November 11, 2011 11 Nov'11
New deputy CIO must possess change management skills, says Bill McCluggage

The new government deputy CIO will need a fresh set of skills to manage public sector ICT transformation, Bill McCluggage the current deputy CIO told Computer Weekly.
November 10, 2011 10 Nov'11
Welcome to the new-look ComputerWeekly.com

Computer Weekly has launched its brand new website - the most important online development in the brand’s 45-year history.
November 07, 2011 07 Nov'11
Analysis: Intelligence key to security business case

Information security is becoming an increasingly important part of any business as the value of information assets continually grow, as do the threats from cyber crime and espionage.
November 03, 2011 03 Nov'11
US and EU hold first joint cybersecurity exercise

The US and EU are holding their first joint cybersecurity exercise in Brussels on 3 November 2011, involving more than 20 EU member states and supported by the EU's cybersecurity agency Enisa and the US Department of Homeland Security.
November 01, 2011 01 Nov'11
MoD calls on academics, industry and inventors to pitch cyber security ideas

The Ministry of Defence is calling for innovative solutions from academia and industry to protect and secure UK interests in cyberspace.
November 01, 2011 01 Nov'11
Government trials voice recognition for Universal Credit benefit claims

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is testing a voice recognition system to authenticate claimants of its flagship Universal Credits system, as part of the department's work on identity assurance (IDA).
November 01, 2011 01 Nov'11
Hague calls for collaboration to realise full potential of cyberspace

It is increasingly clear that countries with weak cyber defences and capabilities will find themselves at a serious strategic disadvantage given the rise of state-sponsored cyber attacks, according to foreign secretary William Hague.
November 01, 2011 01 Nov'11
Migration committee calls for opinions on minimum salary for IT staff on ICT visas

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is calling for opinions on whether the minimum pay of £40,000 is set at the right level for overseas employees brought to the UK on Intra Company Transfer visas (ICT)
October 31, 2011 31 Oct'11
Government earmarks £10m for Identity Assurance

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has earmarked £10m for implementation of the government's Identity Assurance (IDA) programme, with the cash coming from its £650m cyber defence fund - with the potential for more near £1bn of savings if the ...
October 31, 2011 31 Oct'11
Japan may be facing sustained cyber attack

Japan's mapping agency is the latest in a series of government agencies to be targeted by hackers, raising fears that the breaches are part of a series of sustained attacks.
October 31, 2011 31 Oct'11
UKtech50: We launch the search for the most influential people in UK IT

Computer Weekly has launched the second annual UKtech50, the definitive list of the real movers and shakers in UK IT - the leaders driving the creation of a high-tech economy.
October 28, 2011 28 Oct'11
Open University expands computer-aided teaching portal for educators worlwide

The Open University has completed the second stage of a £2.5m Department of Education funded initiative to deliver computer-aided teaching to the classroom.