News

IT for government and public sector

• May 18, 2023 18 May'23

  Defra's tech review reveals legacy IT issues across government

  The Public Accoubts Committee recently found that Defra has been unable to measure inefficiencies due to running legacy IT

• May 17, 2023 17 May'23

  Home Office pushes for more police facial-recognition deployments

  An independent report commissioned by the biometrics commissioner of England and Wales reveals that the UK policing minister is pushing for wider adoption of facial-recognition technology by police, and further criticises the government’s proposed ...

• May 16, 2023 16 May'23

  Plexal launches Cyber Runway 3.0 accelerator programme

  The latest iteration of Plexal’s government-backed cyber security startup accelerator will run four work streams to boost startups at various stages of maturity and growth

• May 16, 2023 16 May'23

  No10 Innovation Fellowship Programme ramps up AI focus

  Second round of the programme, run jointly by Number 10 and the Government Digital Service, focuses on AI and automation

• May 16, 2023 16 May'23

  UK renews tech and science deal with Japan

  Deal focuses on innovation and will see countries collaborate on networking and investment, joint R&D programmes, and exchange schemes

• May 12, 2023 12 May'23

  MEPs vote in raft of amendments to EU AI Act

  The proposed amendments to the EU’s AI Act have garnered a mixed reception from both industry and civil society, with the former seeing it as too stringent and the latter as not stringent enough in many areas, despite positive progress in others

• May 12, 2023 12 May'23

  Post Office lawyer bragged how team ‘destroyed attack on the Horizon system’ and put woman in prison

  A senior Post Office lawyer appeared gleeful in email about how his team helped prosecute a subpostmaster who was sent to prison

• May 11, 2023 11 May'23

  Investigatory Powers Tribunal finds NCA EncroChat hacking warrants were lawful

  Investigatory Powers Tribunal refers questions over whether messages obtained from the EncroChat encrypted phone network are legally admissible back to the criminal court

• May 11, 2023 11 May'23

  AI outcry intensifies as EU readies regulation

  Policymakers are battling to keep pace with AI developments, while experts warn of societal impact

• May 11, 2023 11 May'23

  Journalists’ confidential communications subject to unlawful spying, court hears

  Campaign group Liberty and the National Union of Journalists tell Court of Appeal the government has not gone far enough to protect confidential journalist information and sources from surveillance

• May 11, 2023 11 May'23

  Fujitsu staff had ‘unrestricted and unauditable’ remote access to Post Office branch systems

  Fujitsu engineers could make changes to Post Office branch accounts without anyone knowing

• May 10, 2023 10 May'23

  UKtech50 2023: Vote for the most influential person in UK technology

  Our judges have selected the top 50 leaders from a shortlist of more than 300 people – now it’s your chance to tell us who you think is the most influential person in UK technology

• May 10, 2023 10 May'23

  Black Basta ransomware attack to cost Capita over £15m

  Exceptional costs arising from the March 2023 Black Basta ransomware attack on the systems of outsourcer Capita will be somewhere between £15m and £20m, the organisation says

• May 09, 2023 09 May'23

  UKtech50 2023: The longlist of the UK’s influential tech leaders

  Each year, Computer Weekly launches a search for the most influential people in UK IT, asking the tech community who it thinks should be in the top 50 – here is the longlist of everyone nominated for 2023

• May 08, 2023 08 May'23

  Chat control: EU lawyers warn plans to scan encrypted messages for child abuse may be unlawful

  Leaked legal advice warns that European ‘chat control’ proposals to require tech companies to scan private and encrypted messages for child abuse are likely to breach EU law

• May 05, 2023 05 May'23

  Capita pension clients told data may have leaked

  Capita has told trustees of some of the pension funds for which it provides outsourced services that their customer data may have been stolen by the Black Basta ransomware operation

• May 02, 2023 02 May'23

  HMRC confirms potential April 2024 end date for double-taxation issue in IR35 compliance cases

  HM Revenue & Customs launches eight-week consultation on plans to roll out a legislative tweak that would put a stop to the government tax collection agency over-collecting tax in IR35 non-compliance cases

• April 28, 2023 28 Apr'23

  Government is playing ‘psychic war’ in battle over end-to-end encryption

  Peers hear that the UK government is being deliberately ambiguous about its plans to require technology companies to scan the content of encrypted messages

• April 28, 2023 28 Apr'23

  More Post Office software-related convictions overturned takes total to 86

  A total of 86 former subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted for financial crimes after computer errors showed phantom losses have had convictions overturned

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  Police Scotland receive formal notice about cloud system

  Scotland’s biometrics watchdog has issued Police Scotland with an information notice over its deployment of a cloud-based digital evidence system, following disclosure of major data protection concerns by Computer Weekly

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  UK government introduces Digital Markets Bill to Parliament

  The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will seek to level the playing field in digital markets by empowering regulators with new tools and powers to directly enforce competition and consumer protection laws

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  Post Office paid IBM millions when it ended proposed contract to replace Horizon

  The Post Office ended a proposed contract with IBM to replace its controversial Horizon system after work had already started

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  UK taskforce set to drive generative AI safety and opportunities

  The government has committed £100m to helping the UK develop and build out generative artificial intelligence capabilities

• April 24, 2023 24 Apr'23

  Emergency alert test review confirmed after ‘small number’ of mobile users excluded

  In wake of emergency alert test on 23 April, government confirms review into why some 4G and 5G mobile phones were excluded

• April 24, 2023 24 Apr'23

  Finland and Estonia deepen cross-border digital partnerships

  Finland and Estonia, two global tech pioneers, are increasingly sharing their expertise

• April 21, 2023 21 Apr'23

  UK biometrics watchdog questions police cloud deployments

  The UK biometrics commissioner has warned that policing and justice bodies must be able to demonstrate ‘immediately and unequivocally’ that their cloud deployments are lawful

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  UK Emergency Alert Test sparks cyber fraud warning

  Fraudsters and scammers are likely to use the upcoming test of the UK's new mobile Emergency Alert system as bait in their attacks, while misinformation and conspiracy theories spread

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  New GovAssure cyber regime launches across UK government

  An enhanced cyber security regime is being put in place to better protect UK government IT systems from growing threats

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  Capita customer data was stolen in March ransomware attack

  Capita says it has uncovered evidence of data exfiltration from a small proportion of its server estate following a cyber attack at the end of March

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  TUC says government is failing to protect workers from AI harms

  TUC issues warning about artificial intelligence leading to more widespread workplace discrimination if the right checks are not put in place

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  Surrey and Sussex police spared fines after recording 200,000 phone calls without people’s knowledge

  Police forces escape potential £1m fines following change of policy by ICO to protect the finances of public sector bodies

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  IT Priorities 2023: Budget optimism among EMEA IT leaders

  IT leaders across the EMEA region are optimistic that their budgets will increase over the coming year

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  Global finance firms take part in NATO cyber attack simulation

  Global financial services organisations take part in NATO annual event which simulates cyber attacks on critical infrastructure

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  CyberUK 23: Alert over mercenary Russian threat to CNI

  Russian hacktivists supportive of their government’s war on Ukraine are turning their attention to disruptive or destructive attacks on critical infrastructure in the UK, the NCSC has warned

• April 18, 2023 18 Apr'23

  Fintechs get more certainty about open banking’s future direction

  Fintechs have welcomed the UK open banking regulators recommendations for the future of the sector

• April 18, 2023 18 Apr'23

  Reduced spending on cloud services weighs European IT services market down

  Reduced spending on cloud services in the EMEA region meant a year-on-year drop in total IT and BPO services spend

• April 18, 2023 18 Apr'23

  Tech companies and NGOs urge rewrite of Online Safety Bill to protect encrypted comms

  The Online Safety Bill faces amendments in the House of Lords amid concerns that it could weaken the security of end-to-end encrypted communications for UK citizens

• April 17, 2023 17 Apr'23

  Government launches Smart Data Council to lower utility bills

  The council aims to find ways to use and encourage uptake of smart data to make it easier to switch utility providers and save money

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  Thousands at risk from critical RCE bug in legacy MS service

  Thousands of organisations worldwide are at risk from three vulnerabilities – one critical – in a legacy Microsoft service that they may not be aware they are running

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  Sweden and Finland make advances in quantum computing

  Separate Swedish and Finnish quantum computing projects make promising advances in the technology of the future

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  ICO responds to UK government AI regulation plans

  The ICO has officially responded to the government’s plans for regulating artificial intelligence as outlined in its recent whitepaper, but called for clarity on certain aspects before the proposals are taken further

• April 12, 2023 12 Apr'23

  UK police double down on ‘improved’ facial recognition

  The Met and South Wales Police have doubled down on their use of facial recognition technology after research found improved accuracy in their algorithms when using certain settings, but civil society groups maintain that the tech will still be used...

• April 12, 2023 12 Apr'23

  April Patch Tuesday fixes zero-day used to deliver ransomware

  A zero-day in the Microsoft Common Log File System that has been abused by the operator of the Nokoyawa ransomware is among 97 vulnerabilities fixed in April’s Patch Tuesday update

• April 12, 2023 12 Apr'23

  Gartner: Rebalance cyber investment towards human-centric elements

  Security decision-makers need to reprioritise their investment outlooks towards people, rather than technology, according to the latest market forecast from Gartner

• April 12, 2023 12 Apr'23

  Bank of England starts recruiting Britcoin team

  The Bank of England is recruiting people to join its team focused on the development of a digital pound

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  Anne Keast-Butler named as new director of GCHQ

  The government has appointed current MI5 deputy director general Anne Keast-Butler to head signals and cyber agency GCHQ

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  UKtech50 2023: Help us find the most influential people in UK IT

  Computer Weekly’s annual search for the 50 most influential people in UK IT is back – let us know who you would like to nominate for this year’s list

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  Scotland links its tech scaler programme with the NHS

  As part of the deal, firms part of the tech scaler programme aimed at helping startups scale up will be given access to NHS regional test beds

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  Controversial Fujitsu contract with Post Office extended after technical challenges moving to cloud

  The Post Office has extended a contract with Fujitsu after being unable to resolve technical issues related to migrating its IT to the cloud

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  DWP appoints former Boots IT chief Richard Corbridge as CDIO

  In his new role as the chief digital and information officer for the Department for Work and Pensions, Corbridge will be responsible for a £1.4bn annual budget