News

IT for government and public sector

• April 25, 2024 25 Apr'24

  More evidence emerges that Post Office executive misled High Court judge

  Evidence in the questioning of 35-year Post Office veteran reveals the lengths the Post Office went to in hiding computer system vulnerabilities

• April 24, 2024 24 Apr'24

  Lords debate amendment to law on use of computer evidence in light of Post Office scandal

  Peers to debate amending the law on the use of computer evidence in court, which is partly to blame for the wrongful prosecutions of hundreds of former subpostmasters

• April 23, 2024 23 Apr'24

  Post Office boss used husband’s descriptions in 'Orwellian' ploy to downplay Horizon problems

  Post Office CEO sought advice from husband on what words to use in reports to downplay known errors in software, inquiry told.

• April 23, 2024 23 Apr'24

  Expert investigating Capture system refuses to meet ‘untrustworthy’ Post Office

  A former Post Office executive has refused to meet his past employer to discuss the controversial Capture system

• April 23, 2024 23 Apr'24

  Lords split over UK government approach to autonomous weapons

  During a debate on autonomous weapons systems, Lords expressed mixed opinions towards the UK government’s current position, including its reluctance to adopt a working definition and commit to international legal instruments controlling their use

• April 22, 2024 22 Apr'24

  Fujitsu to cut UK jobs as Post Office scandal fallout hits sales

  Japanese supplier’s role in the Post Office Horizon scandal is beginning to hurt its UK business, with job cuts announced

• April 22, 2024 22 Apr'24

  NCSC announces PwC’s Richard Horne as CEO

  Former PwC and Barclays cyber chief Richard Horne set to join UK’s National Cyber Security Centre as CEO

• April 22, 2024 22 Apr'24

  Post Office lawyer was a jack of all trades, but failed his own

  Post Office IT scandal inquiry hears how a lawyer was at the centre of the Post Office’s attempts to prevent problems with its IT system becoming public knowledge

• April 22, 2024 22 Apr'24

  IT leaders hiring CISOs aplenty, but don’t fully understand the role

  Most businesses now have a CISO, but perceptions of what CISOs are supposed to do, and confusion over the value they offer, may be holding back harmonious relations, according to a report

• April 21, 2024 21 Apr'24

  Crime agency criticises Meta as European police chiefs call for curbs on end-to-end encryption

  Law enforcement agencies step up demands for ‘lawful access’ to encrypted communications

• April 19, 2024 19 Apr'24

  Report reveals Northern Ireland police put up to 18 journalists and lawyers under surveillance

  Disclosures that the Police Service of Northern Ireland obtained phone communications data from journalists and lawyers leads to renewed calls for inquiry

• April 19, 2024 19 Apr'24

  Unisys reveals no link to development of controversial Post Office software

  IT supplier finds no evidence that it was involved in the development of controversial Post Office software

• April 19, 2024 19 Apr'24

  Tech companies operating with opacity in Israel-Palestine

  Tech firms operating in Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel are falling “woefully short” of their human rights responsibilities amid escalating devastation in Gaza, says Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

• April 19, 2024 19 Apr'24

  CEST: Putting HMRC’s IR35 status checker under the microscope

  Since its launch in March 2017, HMRC's online IR35 status checker tool has come under fierce criticism and scrutiny, only exacerbated in recent weeks by the disclosure it has not been updated in five years

• April 18, 2024 18 Apr'24

  TUC publishes legislative proposal to protect workers from AI

  Proposed bill for regulating artificial intelligence in the UK seeks to translate well-meaning principles and values into concrete rights and obligations that protect workers from systems that make ‘high-risk’ decisions about them

• April 18, 2024 18 Apr'24

  Lords to challenge controversial DWP benefits bank account surveillance powers

  Members of the House of Lords are pressing for amendments to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill following concerns over government powers to monitor the bank accounts of people receiving benefits

• April 18, 2024 18 Apr'24

  Gov.uk One Login accounts on the rise

  Since August 2023, more than 1.8 million people verified their identity using the Gov.uk One Login app, while face-to-face verifications have also increased

• April 18, 2024 18 Apr'24

  IT expert who helped expose Post Office scandal offers to investigate second controversial system

  IT expert Jason Coyne, who played a critical part in exposing the Post Office Horizon scandal, said he would examine the Capture System

• April 17, 2024 17 Apr'24

  Mandiant formally pins Sandworm cyber attacks on APT44 group

  Mandiant has formally attributed a long-running campaign of cyber attacks by a Russian state actor known as Sandworm to a newly designated advanced persistent threat group to be called APT44

• April 16, 2024 16 Apr'24

  Post Office boss signed off hush money to cover up smoking gun

  A former Post Office boss admitted the pain and suffering of subpostmasters could have been avoided had the organisation done the right thing

• April 16, 2024 16 Apr'24

  CISOs not yet convinced to invest in AI

  CISOs say their eyes are fixed firmly on threats like ransomware and supply chain attacks, and while AI is becoming a threat that needs to be dealt with, it’s not yet an immediate spending priority

• April 16, 2024 16 Apr'24

  NHS England scouts for national CCIO

  The new national chief clinical informatics officer (CCIO) role comes with a salary offer of up to £146,000 and includes leading NHS England’s Transformation Directorates digital clinical informatics team

• April 16, 2024 16 Apr'24

  Alan Bates and JFSA won’t back down in fight with government and Post Office

  Over the past 15 years, Computer Weekly has learnt that Alan Bates and the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance don’t give up, and it would be crass to disregard their plans

• April 15, 2024 15 Apr'24

  EU’s AI Act fails to protect the rule of law and civic space

  Analysis reveals that the AI Act is ‘riddled with far-reaching exceptions’ and its measures to protect fundamental rights are insufficient

• April 12, 2024 12 Apr'24

  Apple iPhone security alert renews spyware concerns

  An Apple security alert received by users in 92 countries raises fresh fears over ongoing campaigns by users of mercenary spyware products

• April 12, 2024 12 Apr'24

  UK in critical need of regulation to fight misinformation online

  Misinformation, where it is generated by AI, poses a serious threat due to the ease with which plausible false content can be created and spread

• April 12, 2024 12 Apr'24

  Government could still replace Fujitsu in key nuclear contract

  Fujitsu’s first government contract of the year could be just a stay of execution as department says that all replacement options are still being considered

• April 12, 2024 12 Apr'24

  Post Office boss said subpostmasters had hands in till and blamed technology for missing cash

  Former boss reacted to 2009 Computer Weekly expose by telling a colleague that 'subbies with their hands in the till' were blaming technology for their own theft

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  PSNI criticised after ‘utterly vague’ answers on covert surveillance of journalists

  The Policing Board of Northern Ireland has asked the Police Service of Northern Ireland to produce a public report on its use of covert surveillance powers against journalists and lawyers after it gave ‘utterly vague’ answers

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  Facial recognition to play key role in UK shoplifting crackdown

  UK government will fund roll-out of police facial recognition across the country as part of its crackdown on shoplifting and violence against retail staff, but civil society groups say the government is attempting to police its way out of the ...

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  Former Post Office executive’s neglect prolonged Horizon reliability myth

  Executive’s failure to provide terms of reference for a controversial Post Office investigation into its own computer system resulted in a one-sided whitewash report

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  AI skills gap blocking public sector take-up

  A Salesforce report claims that a lack of skills in artificial intelligence is preventing effective take-up of generative AI to enhance frontline citizen services across the public sector

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  CMA set to tackle interconnected web of strategic AI partnerships

  Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Nvidia are all collaborating on AI foundation models, potentially to the detriment of fair, open and effective competition

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  IR35: HMRC restores Github access to deleted CEST source code, but confirms update data lost

  After the source code for its much-maligned online IR35 status checker tool was deleted in error from Github, HMRC confirms it has now been re-uploaded, but any data about past updates to the tool have been lost

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  Fujitsu public sector contracts dry up in Post Office scandal aftermath

  Disgraced IT supplier has won just one public sector contract following public anger over Post Office scandal

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  Government dismisses Lords’ concerns over facial recognition

  UK government is claiming police forces’ use of live facial recognition is comprehensively covered by existing laws, in response to a Lords investigation that found police lacked a clear legal basis to deploy it

• April 10, 2024 10 Apr'24

  Biden considering whether to end prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

  US president Joe Biden says he is considering requests by Australia to end the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under espionage and computer fraud charges

• April 10, 2024 10 Apr'24

  Subpostmasters stealing from branches ‘didn’t make sense,’ former judge tells inquiry

  The former judge who chaired a scheme set up by the Post Office to settle claims against its Horizon system said he told bosses their prosecutions of subpostmasters "didn't make sense"

• April 10, 2024 10 Apr'24

  The challenges of securing a UK semiconductor supply chain

  The UK’s national semiconductor strategy aims to establish the country's credentials as a leader in the sector. We look at how it stacks up

• April 10, 2024 10 Apr'24

  IR35: HMRC rushing to restore CEST source code deleted from Github ‘in error’

  HMRC has confirmed online repository containing code underpinning maligned IR35 status-checker tool has been taken down ‘in error’ by team working to decommission legacy platform that used to host platform

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  Report highlights shortcomings in UK chip plans

  The national semiconductor strategy needs to encourage greater collaboration with international parters such as South Korea

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  Civil servants more to blame for Post Office cover-up than ministers, says Alan Bates

  Campaigning former subpostmaster believes the civil service has more to answer for than ministers in the Post Office Horizon scandal

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  UK plc failing on multiple cyber measures

  Government report shows 50% of businesses and 32% of charities reported a cyber attack or breach in the past 12 months and organisations across the UK are failing on multiple cyber measures

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  Public worried by police and companies sharing biometric data

  More than half of the British public do not feel comfortable with police forces sharing biometric data with the private sector, including facial recognition images, to tackle crimes such as shoplifting

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  Is a cyber arms control treaty out of reach?

  The world needs cyber arms control more than ever, but the challenges facing a multilateral agreement will be hard to surmount, according to researchers at Germany’s Digital Society Institute

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  Labour promises digital red book and smartphones for children with diabetes

  The Labour Party has announced plans for children’s health records to be put on parents’ NHS App, while also partnering with Virgin Media O2 to give children with type 1 diabetes smartphones to check their blood sugar

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  Government struggles to upgrade legacy IT systems, says PAC chair

  In her annual report, Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier calls legacy IT one of government’s ‘big nasties’ and says money urgently needs to be spent to fix the situation

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  Police forces check intelligence and criminal databases after errors discovered in O2 phone data

  Criminal Bar Association calls for information about reliability of communications data used in criminal trials to be disclosed

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  Greek government fined over AI surveillance in refugee camps

  Greece’s Data Protection Authority has issued a €175,000 fine against the country’s migration ministry over its deployment of artificial intelligence-powered security systems in refugee camps after the watchdog’s investigation found ‘serious ...

• April 08, 2024 08 Apr'24

  UN adopts ‘landmark’ resolution on making AI safe and trustworthy

  A UN draft resolution promoting the use of artificial intelligence in sustainable development and the protection of human rights was backed by over 120 member states