News
IT for government and public sector
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October 27, 2023
27
Oct'23
Germany: European Court opinion kicks questions over EncroChat back to national courts
Germany lawfully obtained data on German EncroChat users from France, but whether the evidence is legally admissible is a matter for national courts
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October 26, 2023
26
Oct'23
Sunak sets scene for upcoming AI Safety Summit
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has outlined how the UK will approach making AI safe, but experts say there is still too big a focus on catastrophic but speculative risks over real harms the technology is already causing
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October 25, 2023
25
Oct'23
Government-led Smart Data Discovery Challenge launched to stoke innovation
A government-led coalition has launched an open-call competition for ideas using smart data to help support individuals and small businesses, emulating open banking
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October 25, 2023
25
Oct'23
UK IT professionals express concerns about government’s generative AI goals
Research reveals 93% of UK IT professionals are concerned by the government’s current plan to become a global leader in artificial intelligence because of lack of training and risk assessment
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October 24, 2023
24
Oct'23
Michelle Donelan reaffirms UK's commitment to AI safety
In a keynote speech, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology discussed the UK's pro-innovation approach to AI safety
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October 24, 2023
24
Oct'23
Government puts £75m into innovation hubs
Eight innovation ‘launchpads’ will each get a share of the funding for projects covering sectors such as agri-tech, digital healthcare, renewable energy and technologies for the creative industry
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October 23, 2023
23
Oct'23
Taxpayers to fund a further £150m for Post Office IT scandal
Total bill for the scandal goes well over £1bn, as subpostmaster campaign leader considers private prosecutions of Post Office executives
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October 20, 2023
20
Oct'23
Five Eyes chiefs warn of Chinese spying campaign to steal high-tech secrets
Intelligence chiefs warn high-tech companies and universities they may be the target of attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to steal technology secrets
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October 20, 2023
20
Oct'23
Public Accounts Committee highlights smart meter failures
In spite of failing to meet roll-out targets, millions of smart meters are not working, and some will break once 3G and 2G networks are switched off
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October 19, 2023
19
Oct'23
Sellafield local authority unsure if data was stolen six years on from North Korea ransomware attack
Senior managers at an ‘Achilles heel’ local authority for Europe’s biggest nuclear site ‘still don’t know what was lost’ in a 2017 cyber attack, according to a council source
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October 19, 2023
19
Oct'23
Government concedes it will miss 2024 e-prescribing target
The government won’t meet its target to get rid of paper prescribing in hospitals by 2024, and has pushed the goal post back two years to 2026
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October 19, 2023
19
Oct'23
Post Office auditors presumed subpostmasters were ‘on the fiddle’ or ‘in a muddle’
Public inquiry into Post Office scandal hears how head office staff routinely made negative assumptions about subpostmasters in small branches
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October 18, 2023
18
Oct'23
Former Post Office executive admits he wouldn’t sign unfair contract he pushed on subpostmasters
Former contract manager said contract that subpostmasters had to sign with Post Office “put them on the hook” for everything
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October 17, 2023
17
Oct'23
Hacktivist attacks against Israeli websites mirror attacks following Russian invasion of Ukraine
Hacktivists supporting Gaza and Palestine have launched hundreds of website defacement attacks against Israeli websites, mirroring the pattern of attacks that occurred after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
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October 17, 2023
17
Oct'23
Government to pump £30m into NHS medtech
The government hopes the funding, which is available to integrated care systems across the country, will ease winter pressures through the help of technology
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October 13, 2023
13
Oct'23
UK startups pilot semiconductor funding
ChipStart is a new initiative from the UK government to help build out the National Semiconductor Strategy by supporting startups
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October 13, 2023
13
Oct'23
‘Angry’ lawyer warned against Post Office computer investigation in 2010 email
Angered by his exclusion from an important discussion, former Royal Mail lawyer told colleagues of the risks to the Post Office if, as planned, they publicly investigate allegations against its computer system
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October 12, 2023
12
Oct'23
Scottish biometrics watchdog outlines police cloud concerns
Police Scotland’s response to the biometrics commissioner’s formal information notice ‘did not ameliorate’ his concerns about the sovereignty and security of the sensitive biometric information being uploaded to cloud infrastructure that is subject ...
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October 11, 2023
11
Oct'23
Public sector buyers of AI tech must interrogate its suitability
The Ada Lovelace Institute has published a review on public sector use of artificial intelligence foundation models, looking at the risks and opportunities associated with the technology, and how these can be dealt with from the early stages of ...
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October 11, 2023
11
Oct'23
Why only 1% of the Snowden Archive will ever be published
Speaking to Computer Weekly after we published new revelations from the Snowden archive, the Guardian’s Pulitzer Prize winner, Ewen MacAskill, explains why more of the Snowden trove is unlikely to see the light of day
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October 05, 2023
05
Oct'23
Microsoft: Nation-state cyber espionage on rise in 2023
Microsoft’s latest Digital Defence Report outlines how nation-state cyber activity has largely moved from destructive attacks to espionage and intelligence gathering
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October 05, 2023
05
Oct'23
Red Cross issues rules of engagement for hackers in conflicts
The digital rules of engagement are the first time cyber activity has been looked at by the conflict watchdog, but a number of hacker groups have already come out and said they will not be following them
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October 05, 2023
05
Oct'23
Government launches £60m Regional Innovation Fund
The £60m fund aims to support universities in areas with lower R&D investment, while the government is also pumping £8m towards AI scholarships
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October 05, 2023
05
Oct'23
Policing minister wants to use UK passport data in facial recognition
The policing minister’s plans to integrate the UK’s passport database with police facial-recognition systems have been met with criticism from campaigners, academics, and the biometrics commissioner for England and Wales
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October 04, 2023
04
Oct'23
IR35: HMRC completes first phase of CEST upgrades with Ocelot platform migration
HMRC has confirmed that its online IR35 status checker tool has completed its migration to a new platform, as the government tax collection agency’s revamp of the service continues apace
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October 04, 2023
04
Oct'23
ICO issues guidance on workplace surveillance
Guidance on employee monitoring covers how employers can conduct their digital surveillance lawfully, transparently and fairly, and warns against businesses intruding on their workers’ private lives
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October 03, 2023
03
Oct'23
Cyber experts urge EU to rethink vulnerability disclosure plans
The European Union’s proposed cyber security vulnerability disclosure measures are well-intentioned but ultimately counterproductive, as making unmitigated vulnerabilities public knowledge increases the risk of their exploitation by various actors, ...
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October 03, 2023
03
Oct'23
Amnesia hides names of individuals behind Post Office’s ‘head on a spike’ strategy
Former Post Office lawyer deflects individual responsibility for a strategy that crushed subpostmasters, blaming the organisation as a whole
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October 03, 2023
03
Oct'23
Public sector needs systemic reform of capacity to innovate
Improving the public sector’s capacity to innovate requires a culture of innovation underpinned by people, skills and new ways of working with the private sector
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October 03, 2023
03
Oct'23
Top science journal faced secret attacks from Covid conspiracy theory group
A conspiratorial group of extreme Brexit lobbyists mounted an extraordinary campaign against one of the world’s most prestigious science journals – part of a series of joint investigations between Byline Times and Computer Weekly
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October 02, 2023
02
Oct'23
Versity targets Exabyte volumes in data archiving
Versity builds archiving for Exabyte data volumes on tape and in object storage. It has built its own S3 and transitioned to a GPL licence for supercomputing archives
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October 02, 2023
02
Oct'23
How the Australian government is approaching AI
The Australian government is experimenting with AI use cases in a safe environment while it figures out ways to harness the technology to benefit citizens and businesses
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September 29, 2023
29
Sep'23
Government hands over £12.5m to farming tech innovators
Some 19 projects focusing on automation and robotic technology will get funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to boost the agricultural sector
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September 29, 2023
29
Sep'23
UK tech sector ‘let down’ and ‘betrayed’ over Rishi Sunak’s net-zero policy tweaks
Now the dust has settled on the news Rishi Sunak is tweaking several of the policies underpinning the government’s net-zero goal, the UK tech industry has hit back at the news
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September 29, 2023
29
Sep'23
First subpostmaster Horizon conviction overturned in Scotland
Scotland has seen its first Post Office Horizon conviction overturned, taking the UK total to 92
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September 29, 2023
29
Sep'23
Government to hire 2,500 people for digital roles by 2025
Government is aiming to ramp up digital skills in Whitehall with a promise to recruit 2,500 new tech and digital roles through apprenticeships and talent programmes
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September 29, 2023
29
Sep'23
Government ‘breached privacy’ of Horizon victims with compensation offer, says lawyer
The government breached the privacy of victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal through making a compensation offer public
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September 29, 2023
29
Sep'23
Government launches £65m space tech fund
The funding from the UK Space Agency is part of the National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP), and aims to support and accelerate innovation in the sector
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September 29, 2023
29
Sep'23
Scottish watchdog urges wider biometric oversight
Scotland’s biometrics watchdog urges Scottish Parliament to extend oversight of biometric information to include the entire criminal justice system, not just police
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September 28, 2023
28
Sep'23
Strasbourg court condemns Turkey for jailing teacher for using ByLock encrypted messaging app
The case is expected to have implications for the use of digital evidence in prosecutions against users of other encrypted phone apps
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September 27, 2023
27
Sep'23
Five more subpostmasters have IT system-related convictions overturned
Over 90 former subpostmasters have so far seen wrongful convictions overturned since it was proved that software errors were to blame for accounting shortfalls
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September 27, 2023
27
Sep'23
Post Office had no interest in subpostmaster welfare when taking legal action, says Fujitsu memo
Fujitsu memo reveals Post Office didn’t care how legal action would affect its subpostmasters as it placed the reputation of its computer system before their welfare
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September 27, 2023
27
Sep'23
City of Las Vegas masters cyber incident response with Darktrace
The high-rolling city of Las Vegas experiences unique cyber security challenges rarely seen elsewhere. CIO Mike Sherwood reveals how he turned to Darktrace to help address incidents quicker and with confidence
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September 26, 2023
26
Sep'23
UK government quietly disbands data ethics advisory board
The government has disbanded its Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation’s advisory board in favour of pulling the relevant artificial intelligence (AI) and data knowledge from a pool of external experts
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September 26, 2023
26
Sep'23
HMRC names and shames non-compliant umbrella firms for running tax avoidance schemes
The government tax collection agency is stepping up its efforts to prevent contractors falling victim to non-compliant umbrella firms with three new names added to its list of known tax avoidance schemes
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September 25, 2023
25
Sep'23
Visa to fund AI scholarships for underrepresented students in government scheme
Payments giant supports UK scheme to increase diversity in the data and artificial intelligence sector through funding
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September 25, 2023
25
Sep'23
Apple fixes three vulnerabilities found by spyware researchers
Apple has patched three more vulnerabilities uncovered by spyware and surveillance researchers at The Citizen Lab
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September 22, 2023
22
Sep'23
Cyber experts set out plan to secure future US elections
A group of experts are setting out to enhance election cyber security in the United States, and restore public faith in a process tainted by interference and misinformation in the past
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September 22, 2023
22
Sep'23
Lords begin inquiry into large language models
Lords will examine the risks and opportunities of large language models and look at how government can effectively manage them in the coming years
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September 20, 2023
20
Sep'23
Parliament passes sweeping Online Safety Bill but tech companies still concerned over encryption
Ofcom will consult on standards to enforce new powers, but tech companies remain concerned about the impact of the bill’s ‘spy clause’, which could require them to scan encrypted messages