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IT for government and public sector

January 08, 2019 08 Jan'19
Second Lorca cohort to focus on supply chain security

The second cohort of companies to benefit from the new London cyber innovation centre will focus on user-centric security and securing supply chains
January 08, 2019 08 Jan'19
A very digital plan for the NHS

The NHS Long Term Plan aims to empower people through the use of technology and create a digital-first NHS, offering virtual outpatient appointments, digital GP consultations and improved cyber security. But how and when will the government achieve ...
January 08, 2019 08 Jan'19
AWS secures cloud hosting role in UK government Crown Marketplace programme

Amazon Web Services’ cloud platform to play key role in how public sector organisations procure common goods and services
January 07, 2019 07 Jan'19
NHS Long-Term Plan to bring health service into the digital age

The long-term plan to transform the NHS by using Theresa May’s £20.5bn-a-year birthday present promises use of artificial intelligence, genomic testing and digital GP appointments for all

January 04, 2019 04 Jan'19
German politicians’ data leak shows need for global action

Hacked data includes contacts’ email addresses, private chats, mobile numbers, photographs and credit card details, which were published on Twitter
January 03, 2019 03 Jan'19
IT regulators and practitioners need common language

There needs to be greater understanding between lawmakers and technologists to ensure regulations do not have unintended consequences, says a US computer security researcher and bug bounty pioneer
January 03, 2019 03 Jan'19
Fortinet to lead cyber security discussion at WEF annual summit

The head of cyber security firm Fortinet has been named as a discussion leader at the upcoming World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland
January 03, 2019 03 Jan'19
Hancock promises GP IT overhaul

New £450m framework will “shake up” primary care IT by getting rid of old systems, using new standards and exploring moving patient data to the cloud, says health secretary
January 02, 2019 02 Jan'19
Brighton and Hove gets ready for Orbis migration

Brighton and Hove City Council has already moved its co-location servers onto Nutanix nodes. It is now looking at moving its primary Hove datacentre
January 02, 2019 02 Jan'19
Nordic digital transformation driven by traditional businesses

More traditional Nordic businesses are fuelling the region's digital transformation, finds report

January 02, 2019 02 Jan'19
SMEs urged to get on board with Network Services 2 framework

Suppliers have until the end of January 2019 to sign up to the new government network services purchasing framework
January 02, 2019 02 Jan'19
Subpostmasters suing Post Office over IT failures stunned by CEO’s honour

Subpostmasters’ campaign group attacks Post Office CEO Paula Vennells’ New Year honour amid ongoing court case
December 31, 2018 31 Dec'18
New Year’s Honours 2019 lauds women in IT and data specialists

The New Year’s Honours list 2019 features accolades for leading women in IT and data, as well as other specialists in data
December 28, 2018 28 Dec'18
Top 10 stories on national security in 2018

From Russian disinformation, state surveillance, and police stop and seizure powers, to Facebook and WikiLeaks
December 28, 2018 28 Dec'18
Top 10 HR technology stories of 2018

Companies are turning to artificial intelligence, robotic automation and chatbots to take the drudgery out of human resource management
December 27, 2018 27 Dec'18
Top 10 CIO interviews of 2018

IT leaders from across the UK and Europe shared their plans, strategies and best practice advice with Computer Weekly in 2018
December 27, 2018 27 Dec'18
Top 10 Middle East stories of 2018

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Middle East enterprise IT stories of 2018
December 24, 2018 24 Dec'18
Top 10 public sector IT stories of 2018

In the year the UK government couldn’t decide if Brexit really meant Brexit, departments continued to struggle with the workload of EU exit technology projects, the chancellor’s budget promised lots of money for tech, and ministers played musical ...
December 21, 2018 21 Dec'18
Top 10 cyber crime stories of 2018

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 cyber crime stories of 2018
December 20, 2018 20 Dec'18
Top 10 NHS IT stories of 2018

In 2018, the NHS celebrated its 70th birthday, NHS Digital began a huge restructure, Matt Hancock swooped in as new health secretary and the health service launched its all-singing, all-dancing app
December 19, 2018 19 Dec'18
Lauri Love battles police for return of computers as NCA confirms live investigation

The National Crime Agency (NCA) confirms there is a live investigation into Lauri Love in the UK, as Love brings legal action against UK police for the return of seized computer equipment
December 19, 2018 19 Dec'18
Top 10 broadband stories of 2018

The networking industry swung firmly behind full-fibre broadband in 2018, with encouraging signs that the gold-standard of broadband service delivery technology is at long last taking off in the UK
December 18, 2018 18 Dec'18
Defra unveils green government tech vision

Printing reams of paper and travelling to meetings are among the areas targeted in the new, green ICT makeover
December 17, 2018 17 Dec'18
NICE debuts standards to help ease NHS adoption of new technology

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is calling on the tech community to provide feedback on its plans to help NHS commissioners make better-informed technology adoption decisions
December 14, 2018 14 Dec'18
Iranian cyber espionage highlights human element

State-backed hackers in Iran have reportedly upped efforts to compromise US officials’ email accounts using phishing scams
December 14, 2018 14 Dec'18
Australia passes controversial encryption law

Arguments continue over law that requires companies to work with government agencies to ensure that encrypted communications can be read if a crime is suspected
December 14, 2018 14 Dec'18
CIO interview: Mayank Prakash, CDIO, DWP

Outgoing DWP chief digital and information officer Mayank Prakash looks at challenges and accomplishments during his time at the department, and talks about finishing the roll out of Universal Credit
December 13, 2018 13 Dec'18
ICO and government help UK businesses prepare for no-deal Brexit

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the government are providing guidance for UK businesses, particularly SMEs, on how to prepare for a possible no-deal Brexit
December 13, 2018 13 Dec'18
Social engineering at the heart of critical infrastructure attack

Social engineering is the core technique used in a series of cyber attacks targeting government, defence, nuclear, energy and financial organisations around the world, which means people are key to defence
December 13, 2018 13 Dec'18
Government urged to create one million high tech jobs by 2030

The Trade Union Congress has called on the government to create a million new high tech and manufacturing jobs over the next 12 years
December 12, 2018 12 Dec'18
DWP completes Universal Credit roll-out

The Department for Work and Pensions concludes the deployment of Universal Credit across the UK, meaning the full digital service is now available nationwide
December 12, 2018 12 Dec'18
UKtech50 2018: Women are making their mark

Women are making strong progress in the UK technology industry, with seven of the top 10 on Computer Weekly’s UKtech50 list being female
December 12, 2018 12 Dec'18
UKtech50 interview: Jacky Wright, CDIO, HMRC

The UKtech50’s most influential person in UK IT 2018, HM Revenue and Customs’ chief digital and information officer, Jacky Wright, on balancing priorities, leveraging new technologies and the changing role of the CIO
December 12, 2018 12 Dec'18
UKtech50 2018 – the most influential people in UK IT

Computer Weekly has announced the ninth annual UKtech50 – our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK IT sector
December 12, 2018 12 Dec'18
Criminals act like nation-state attackers in Russian campaign

Security researchers have uncovered evidence of a sustained effort targeting Russian state-owned critical infrastructure companies by financially motivated non-state actors
December 10, 2018 10 Dec'18
Councils awarded funding for digital innovation projects

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government digital innovation fund awarded to a range of projects, including chatbots, artificial intelligence and town planning transformation
December 10, 2018 10 Dec'18
UK businesses feel let down by government on cyber security

Government needs to provide more support around cyber security issues in 2019, according to the majority of UK IT leaders polled
December 07, 2018 07 Dec'18
Finnish government announces research and development ecosystem

Finland has launched an innovation ecosystem that will support IoT and AI developers amongst others
December 07, 2018 07 Dec'18
Court orders Post Office to explain inability to access encrypted file

Post Office unable to open encrypted recording of an interview that forms part of its evidence in High Court case
December 07, 2018 07 Dec'18
Complex Post Office Horizon case set to continue into 2020

Court case where subpostmasters are suing the Post Office set to span at least four trials and extend into 2020
December 06, 2018 06 Dec'18
UK genome sequencing project reaches 100,000 genomes goal

Health secretary hails scheme’s progress as “a major milestone in the route to the healthcare of the future”
December 06, 2018 06 Dec'18
Software failure paralyses O2’s 4G network

O2 is racing to fix a major outage on its 4G network that has left millions of mobile subscribers without access to data services
December 05, 2018 05 Dec'18
BT moves to strip Huawei kit from EE’s network

Telco will remove Huawei’s networking equipment from the core of EE’s 4G mobile network
December 05, 2018 05 Dec'18
Symantec unveils AI-based protection for critical infrastructure

Cyber security firm has unveiled what it claims to be the industry’s first neural network to protect critical infrastructure from USB-borne malware attacks
December 05, 2018 05 Dec'18
Australia races towards commercial quantum computing

Universities make headway in the challenge of commercialising quantum computing
December 05, 2018 05 Dec'18
Nominet brings security expertise and tech to market

The .uk domain registry is to bring its DNS expertise and technology developed for the NCSC to market to address cyber security ‘blindspot’
December 05, 2018 05 Dec'18
Phishing at centre of cyber attack on Ukraine infrastructure

Phishing is one of the key tools used by cyber attackers against critical national infrastructure (CNI), as highlighted by attacks on telecommunications in Ukraine
December 04, 2018 04 Dec'18
‘Open-minded’ DVSA cuts cost of MOT testing

Government agency harnesses customised open source platform to ensure data security while cutting costs and plans to extend its MOT testing capability to do the same for drivers’ theory tests
December 04, 2018 04 Dec'18
NHS email outage caused by ‘internal software issues’

NHSmail system shutdown, which saw staff locked out of their accounts, blamed on “software issues” in supplier Accenture’s internal infrastructure
December 04, 2018 04 Dec'18
GovTech Catalyst Fund awards contracts to five SMEs to tackle rural isolation and loneliness

Five small tech companies have been awarded contracts through the GovTech Catalyst Fund to come up with innovative solutions to rural isolation and loneliness
December 03, 2018 03 Dec'18
Digital identity market welcomes plan to hand Gov.uk Verify to private sector

Players in the UK digital identity community welcome the clarity over the future of Verify, but question marks remain over prospects for government ID system
December 03, 2018 03 Dec'18
UK government commits to opening up data in bid to push adoption of AI

Opening up data is vital to government plans to push adoption of artificial intelligence across all sectors of the UK economy
December 03, 2018 03 Dec'18
Police investigations into cyber crime up 14% in a year

Officers forced to follow up over 2,500 complaints of Instagram, Facebook, email and website hacking, and Bitcoin ransom, despite a rise in violent crime, report reveals
November 30, 2018 30 Nov'18
Government mobilises to persuade tech sector to endorse May-EU deal

Jeremy Wright, the secretary of state at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, says the prime minister’s deal with the European Union will be good for UK tech, ensuring free flow of data
November 30, 2018 30 Nov'18
CCRC may hold off subpostmaster decision until after Post Office Horizon trial

The Criminal Courts Review Commission is deciding whether to delay its decision on subpostmasters’ claims of wrongful prosecution until after a related court case
November 30, 2018 30 Nov'18
WannaCry borderline national cyber emergency

The May 2017 WannaCry attack, which disrupted services at one-third of NHS trusts and more than 600 primary care organisations is the closest the UK has come to a national cyber emergency, says the NCSC
November 30, 2018 30 Nov'18
CIO interview: Theo Blackwell, London chief digital officer, Mayor of London’s Office

After more than a year in post, London’s chief digital officer reflects on changes, collaboration between boroughs and developing a smart city
November 29, 2018 29 Nov'18
UK cyber security strategy making ‘good progress’

The National Cyber Security Strategy is making good progress, but there is much left to be done, according to a Cabinet Office official
November 29, 2018 29 Nov'18
Danish government launches wide-ranging digital services project

Denmark's government has launched an ambitious project to digitise and automate public services
November 29, 2018 29 Nov'18
120,000 police officers to receive cyber security training

Cisco is partnering with UK police forces to offer cyber security training through the Cisco Networking Academy
November 29, 2018 29 Nov'18
Health and care must prepare for a digital world, says Scotland’s digital director

Challenges include dealing with ethical questions, data and collaboration needs in a digital environment, says Scottish government’s Colin Cook
November 29, 2018 29 Nov'18
Scottish Government and Nesta launch health data challenge

Partnership between the Scottish Government and Nesta will see funding available for innovative projects driving the use of technology to give citizens access to data and help them live healthier lives
November 28, 2018 28 Nov'18
Cyber resilience lacking due to apathy of UK leaders

An unwillingness to accept that cyber is a real threat to critical national infrastructure by UK political and business leaders has resulted in a lack of resilience, says security industry veteran
November 27, 2018 27 Nov'18
Government yet to recruit chief data officer

Two years after the government began the process to hire a chief data officer, the post continues to sit empty
November 27, 2018 27 Nov'18
GDS has lost momentum, MPs told

There are still significant culture issues in government and the Government Digital Service has stopped supporting departments to do the right thing, Science and Technology Committee hears
November 27, 2018 27 Nov'18
Treasury Committee launches inquiry into bank IT failures

With IT outages in the financial sector a regular occurrence, the Treasury Committee is investigating the causes and consequences of these failures, and what industry and regulators are doing to promote resilience
November 27, 2018 27 Nov'18
High Court trial over Horizon computer system completes witness cross-examinations

The High Court trial in which subpostmasters are suing the Post Office has reached an important stage
November 26, 2018 26 Nov'18
Barnet Council looks to bring parts of Capita contract back in house

Barnet Council is planning to bring parts of its Capita outsourcing deal back in house, and expects the supplier to pay the council £4.12m due to delivery issues with some areas of the contract
November 23, 2018 23 Nov'18
UK fails to make top eGovernment rankings

UK fails to make it into the top rankings in the European Commission’s eGovernment Benchmark report, which shows that across Europe, two-thirds of public sector services are now available online
November 23, 2018 23 Nov'18
Lords call for HMRC to delay Making Tax Digital for VAT

The government must begin to listen to small businesses and should delay the roll-out of its Making Tax Digital for VAT programme by at least a year, says the Lords Economic Affairs Committee
November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18
Finland invests in IT to upgrade electricity network

National electricity transmission grid operator Fingrid’s Datahub system will play key role in retail market’s transition to a centralised information exchange
November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18
TechUK calls on Matt Hancock to fast-track NHS digitisation

The tech industry body’s ‘Manifesto for Matt’ calls on the health secretary to focus on empowering citizens, enabling a world-class workforce and making the UK the number one place for health tech innovation
November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18
Post Office held back information about Horizon IT system errors

Post Office director admits to Horizon errors and not sharing details with subpostmaster network
November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18
Citizens don’t want the NHS to prioritise digital health, report finds

The UK public want the NHS to focus spending on cancer care, staff and mental health, and rank digital access to services lowest on their list of priorities
November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18
Lincolnshire Police signs 10-year cloud control room tech refresh deal with Motorola Solutions

Lincolnshire Police is embracing cloud technologies within its control room environment as it strives to improve the efficiency of its operations
November 20, 2018 20 Nov'18
Police challenged over refusal to disclose files on WikiLeaks staff

Lawyers will challenge the Metropolitan Police Service today to confirm or deny whether it holds correspondence with US law enforcement about three WikiLeaks staff – including two UK citizens – in a freedom of information tribunal
November 20, 2018 20 Nov'18
Sixth form college rebuilds after fire with Scale hyper-converged

Xaverian College suffered a server room fire but took the opportunity to build a hyper-converged infrastructure with Scale Computing that did away with costly VMware licence fees
November 20, 2018 20 Nov'18
Jeremy Wright announces Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation board

Secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright, announces make up of Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation board at ODI Summit
November 19, 2018 19 Nov'18
Government lacks cyber resilience leadership, according to MPs

The government lacks political leadership and urgency in dealing with cyber threats, according to Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, calling for a minister in charge of delivering cyber resilience
November 16, 2018 16 Nov'18
Tech sector split over Brexit deal

The draft EU Withdrawal Agreement has caused rifts in the tech sector, with some calling for a People’s Vote with the option to remain in the EU, and others wanting MPs to back the agreement, saying it’s better than a no-deal scenario
November 16, 2018 16 Nov'18
Post Office executives cross-examined in Horizon IT system trial

A High Court trial, where subpostmasters are suing the Post Office for damages caused by an allegedly faulty IT system, ended its second week.
November 16, 2018 16 Nov'18
UN extreme poverty monitor is critical of Universal Credit ‘digital by default’ service

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights raises significant concerns with Universal Credit, including poor digital literacy among claimants, automation errors and lack of transparency
November 16, 2018 16 Nov'18
Why is hiring a government chief security officer such a tricky business?

Security bosses and CIOs weigh in on why they think the government is struggling to recruit a chief security officer
November 15, 2018 15 Nov'18
Members of Parliament should back EU Withdrawal Agreement, says industry

Industry experts say the government’s EU Withdrawal Agreement is far from perfect and still requires more clarity, but call on MPs to back it, as it’s better than a No-Deal Brexit
November 14, 2018 14 Nov'18
Defra still to test six ‘critical’ IT systems before Brexit

MPs have raised concerns around Defra’s Brexit readiness as it hasn’t yet begun testing six critical IT systems needed to replace EU systems, but the department remains confident
November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18
Sweden’s central bank to test digital currency

Riksbank e-krona initiative follows government plan for a cashless society by 2030
November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18
Panasas refreshes with ActiveStor Ultra in push to the enterprise

Scale-out NAS maker Panasas wants to make its ActiveStor storage more attractive to enterprises by touting its ease of use and putting storage nodes on commodity hardware
November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18
5G will unleash digital transformation for UK enterprises

Mobile operator EE is working hand-in-hand with its largest enterprise customers to realise the potential of its future 5G mobile network
November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18
Post Office trial throws up known problem with Horizon system

High Court case in which subpostmasters are suing the Post Office has revealed a known problem with the computer system at the core of the dispute
November 12, 2018 12 Nov'18
Home Office to use smartphone ID for EU Exit scheme

The Home Office will use smartphone digital identity verification to support applications for the government’s EU Exit Settlement Scheme
November 12, 2018 12 Nov'18
HMRC resolves technical issue with tax-free childcare portal

The department’s tax-free childcare website has again suffered technical issues, affecting 22,000 payments, but the problems were resolved last week, according to HMRC
November 12, 2018 12 Nov'18
Norway’s IT industry must tackle security vulnerabilities

Report reveals growing threat posed by “hostile foreign actors” against Norway’s IT systems and critical national infrastructure
November 09, 2018 09 Nov'18
Post-quantum cryptography a major challenge, says expert

The crypto wars are just beginning and open systems are key to improved security in future, says cryptography expert
November 09, 2018 09 Nov'18
High court Post Office trial puts subpostmasters’ contract under microscope

Case against Post Office in relation to allegedly faulty computer system begins in High Court
November 08, 2018 08 Nov'18
Welsh NHS IT programme is ‘outdated’ and could put patients at risk, report finds

Welsh Public Accounts Committee is concerned the country’s outdated NHS IT systems are putting patients at risk, and found the culture at NHS Wales Informatics Service is the ‘antithesis of open’
November 08, 2018 08 Nov'18
Dominic Raab: UK AI sector will get boost from EU exit ‘done right’

Brexit secretary tells Tech Nation audience that leaving the EU could create opportunities for the UK technology sector
November 07, 2018 07 Nov'18
Fintechs advised on how to work with big banks

Advice backed by the government for fintechs on how to engage with traditional finance firms is published
November 07, 2018 07 Nov'18
BEIS to fund five healthcare AI innovation centres

Five healthcare innovation centres will receive a total of £50m in funding to use artificial intelligence to improve diagnosis and treatment of diseases
November 07, 2018 07 Nov'18
Cyber security high on European Commission agenda

The European Commission is recognising the growing importance of cyber security to the digital economy and is increasing funding to support research, resilience and cooperation
November 06, 2018 06 Nov'18
Information commissioner calls for stricter regulation on political use of data

Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham’s investigation into the use of data in elections and campaigns, finds "a disturbing disregard for voters’ personal privacy"