News

IT for government and public sector

• March 18, 2019 18 Mar'19

  UKCloud secures £25m investment to support multi-cloud public sector push

  G-Cloud-listed IT services firm UKCloud has received a sizeable financial boost to support its efforts to cater to the differentiated demands of public sector technology buyers

• March 15, 2019 15 Mar'19

  Subpostmasters achieve ‘stunning victory’ against Post Office in Horizon case

  Judge rules that Post Office showed “oppressive behaviour” in response to claimants accused of accounting errors they blamed on Horizon IT system

• March 14, 2019 14 Mar'19

  National Cyber Security Programme at risk of missing targets

  The National Audit Office has sharply criticised the Cabinet Office over failings in how it set up the National Cyber Security Programme that mean it may struggle to meet its goals

• March 14, 2019 14 Mar'19

  Avoid infosec mistakes of the past, urges Robert Hannigan

  Technology innovators need to avoid security mistakes of the past by building in integrity so that products and services can be used with trust and confidence, says former GCHQ director

• March 14, 2019 14 Mar'19

  Met Police collaborated with US prosecutors in WikiLeaks investigation

  The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it exchanged information on WikiLeaks staff in the UK with the US Department of Justice, which is conducting criminal investigations into the organisation

• March 14, 2019 14 Mar'19

  NHS Shared Business Services seeks suppliers for £500m cloud procurement framework

  NHS Shared Business Services is seeking suppliers for a four-year procurement framework designed to streamline how public sector organisations source cloud services

• March 14, 2019 14 Mar'19

  Spring Statement 2019 allocates £200m to technology

  Chancellor Philip Hammond's latest statement announces funding to support progress in areas including supercomputer development, photonics and bioinformatics, promises tighter digital regulation and attempts to ensure flow of skilled professionals ...

• March 13, 2019 13 Mar'19

  Furman Review urges greater competition for tech giants

  The six-month review into the UK digital economy includes recommendations of a new code of conduct for large companies, along with greater data openness and mobility

• March 13, 2019 13 Mar'19

  Bank of England’s large IT spend partly due to use of manual processes and legacy systems

  The Bank of England admits there is room for improvement when it comes to IT efficiency

• March 13, 2019 13 Mar'19

  Shetlands get broadband upgrade to support local NHS services

  Shetland Islands Council is to receive £1.91m of funding to expand full-fibre broadband expansion to NHS sites on remote islands through the government’s Local Full-Fibre Networks initiative

• March 12, 2019 12 Mar'19

  Defra criticised over no-deal IT systems plan

  The introduction of slower, burdensome systems brought about by the challenges of preparing for Brexit must not become the ‘new normal’, MPs warn

• March 12, 2019 12 Mar'19

  Post Office considered Horizon IT system ‘high risk’, court told

  The Post Office considered Horizon a high operational risk in an internal review, a trial focused on alleged fallibilities in the system used in thousands of Post Office branches has heard

• March 11, 2019 11 Mar'19

  Department for Transport kicks off cloud transformation

  A major system has been moved to Google Cloud Platform as part of a wider modernisation exercise

• March 11, 2019 11 Mar'19

  HMRC CDIO Jacky Wright on why building diverse tech teams is socially responsible

  During a wide-ranging Q&A session at this year's everywoman in tech forum, HMRC CDIO Jacky Wright set out why diversity matters when building government services, while worrying about workplace stereotypes is a waste of time

• March 11, 2019 11 Mar'19

  Citrix breach once again highlights password weaknesses

  A reported breach of Citrix, which has potentially exposed data at hundreds of thousands of customer organisations, has once again highlighted the need for an alternative to passwords and the importance of supply chain security

• March 08, 2019 08 Mar'19

  House of Lords committee calls for creation of a digital authority to oversee regulation

  The proposed regulatory framework would coordinate regulators, assess rules and make recommendations to respond to developments in digital services

• March 08, 2019 08 Mar'19

  Government announces changes to immigration rules

  The government has announced changes to immigration rules, which will provide two new visas designed to allow skilled talent into the UK

• March 08, 2019 08 Mar'19

  How supercomputing is transforming experimental science

  NERSC lead data scientist Debbie Bard talks about how large-scale data analytics using super computers is making new types of science possible

• March 07, 2019 07 Mar'19

  Half of government IT jobs in 2023 do not exist today

  Widespread digital transformation in the public sector means government CIO responsibilities will change rapidly in the next four years and many of those future roles do not yet exist, says Gartner

• March 07, 2019 07 Mar'19

  Ministry of Justice concludes prison biometrics pilots

  Use of iris scanning and facial recognition software is part of a wider crackdown on drug trafficking in UK jails

• March 07, 2019 07 Mar'19

  UK military robotics get multimillion-pound boost

  A budget of £66m from the Ministry of Defence's Transformation Fund has been allocated to a project that will see mini-drones and autonomous vehicles deployed to the battlefield

• March 05, 2019 05 Mar'19

  Government must prioritise replacement of legacy IT, MPs told

  Science and Technology Committee inquiry into digital government told that Treasury needs to offer funding in next spending review to eliminate ageing technology in Whitehall

• March 04, 2019 04 Mar'19

  GDS cut expected benefits of troubled Gov.uk Verify system by 75%

  In a highly critical report, the National Audit Office says it is 'difficult to conclude' that past decisions to continue with the flagship digital identity system have been justified

• March 04, 2019 04 Mar'19

  Cyber awareness of UK boards found wanting

  Boards of many of the UK’s biggest firms must do more to be cyber aware, according to a government report.

• March 04, 2019 04 Mar'19

  Clearer North Korean link to global infrastructure malware campaign

  Researchers have uncovered clearer links between a North Korean hacking group and a cyber espionage campaign targeting government, defence, nuclear, energy and financial organisations around the world

• March 02, 2019 02 Mar'19

  Facebook asked George Osborne to influence EU data protection law

  Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg invited one of the chancellor’s children to Facebook’s office as part of a intensive lobbying programme to influence European data protection legislation

• March 01, 2019 01 Mar'19

  Teen becomes first millionaire through HackerOne bug bounties

  A self-taught teen hacker from Argentina has become the first bug bounty hacker to become a millionaire by hacking to create a safer internet

• February 28, 2019 28 Feb'19

  Six out of eight key government systems unlikely to be ready by Brexit day

  National Audit Office update on the UK government’s readiness for Brexit identifies processes and IT systems that will not be finished by the 29 March deadline

• February 28, 2019 28 Feb'19

  Sextortion accounts for one in 10 spear-phishing emails

  Email sextortion scams have increased in frequency and scope in the past four months, as well as evolving to bypass spam filters and trick recipients into reading the messages, research shows

• February 27, 2019 27 Feb'19

  Icann calls for community collaboration to protect the internet

  The domain name system watchdog Icann has reaffirmed its commitment to engage in collaborative efforts to ensure the security, stability and resiliency of the internet’s global identifier systems

• February 27, 2019 27 Feb'19

  Chinese cyber attack group Bronze Union targeting weapons tech

  Weapons technology is among the latest targets of a highly adaptable cyber espionage group that uses a wide range of publicly available and custom attack tools, presenting a challenge to network defenders

• February 27, 2019 27 Feb'19

  NHS software deal tops public sector spending on new IT contracts in 2018

  Department of Health’s Windows 10 contract was the biggest public sector deal signed last year

• February 27, 2019 27 Feb'19

  Interview: London Grid for Learning CEO on putting technology to work in schools

  John Jackson, CEO of the London Grid for Learning, discusses how the organisation supports technology adoption in schools

• February 26, 2019 26 Feb'19

  Over 100 rural primary schools to get gigabit broadband

  Primary schools could become high-speed broadband hubs for rural communities if government plans reach fruition

• February 26, 2019 26 Feb'19

  TechUK: Digital ethics has to hit the boardroom this year

  UK IT industry lobby organisation releases a position paper contending that digital ethics must become a boardroom matter in 2019

• February 25, 2019 25 Feb'19

  EU gathers momentum in cyber security legislation and cooperation

  The past two years have seen a step-change in the rate at which the European Union is putting legislation in place to support improved cyber security standards, collaboration and sharing of resources, says digital commissioner’s representative

• February 25, 2019 25 Feb'19

  Nordic tech is increasing diversity but more needs to be done

  The shortage of women in the boardroom is a problem in the Nordics, like other regions, but work in its tech sector means the future could be more promising

• February 25, 2019 25 Feb'19

  Cyber power needs wider discussion, says GCHQ director

  The topic of cyber power needs wider discussion, says GCHQ head in a speech about the opportunities of digital innovation such as 5G, as well as the accompanying complexity and risk, with particular mention of China and Huawei

• February 25, 2019 25 Feb'19

  Nominet and Learning Foundation launch digital inclusion taskforce

  Taskforce aims to tackle digital exclusion, which leaves many people in the UK without access to digital technology

• February 22, 2019 22 Feb'19

  Health Secretary Matt Hancock orders ban on use of pagers by NHS staff before end of 2021

  Eradicating use of pagers will save the NHS £6.6m a year, as Health Secretary Matt Hancock outlines the next phase of his plan to modernise communication in the health service

• February 22, 2019 22 Feb'19

  Facebook planned to spy on Android phone users, internal emails reveal

  Facebook planned to use its Android app to track the location of its customers and to allow advertisers to send political advertising and invites to dating sites to ‘single’ people, confidential documents show

• February 22, 2019 22 Feb'19

  Nato supports collaboration on cyber security

  Nato supports collaboration and cooperation on cyber security as an organisation founded on the principle of collective defence, says representative

• February 21, 2019 21 Feb'19

  UK committed to working with EU cyber security partners

  NCSC CEO uses cyber security conference in Brussels to set out his agency’s position on Brexit, 5G security, Huawei, market incentives and international cooperation on active cyber defence

• February 21, 2019 21 Feb'19

  Cooperation a key theme of Brussels cyber security symposium

  Fostering trust-based cooperation of like-minded cyber security stakeholders to create new strategies, policies and standards emerged as a key theme at a cyber security conference in Brussels

• February 21, 2019 21 Feb'19

  Government and IT industry-funded AI graduate education programme to be rolled out across UK

  UK government announces the launch of a state and IT industry-funded graduate education programme in artificial intelligence, comprising masters degrees, PhDs and Alan Turing Institute fellowships

• February 21, 2019 21 Feb'19

  Government revises outsourcing guidelines to balance risk with suppliers

  The government has published its latest guidelines on public sector outsourcing

• February 20, 2019 20 Feb'19

  MWC 2019: 5G smartphones go live on Vodafone network

  Vodafone has connected three 5G-enabled smartphones to a live network during trials in Spain

• February 20, 2019 20 Feb'19

  Huawei faces battle to win Nordic trust

  Nordic countries are investigating the spying allegations made against Chinese networking supplier Huiawei

• February 20, 2019 20 Feb'19

  UK naïve to think China won’t try to exploit Huawei

  A think-tank report has branded the UK government naïve at best, irresponsible at worst, over its use of Chinese networking equipment in critical national infrastructure

• February 19, 2019 19 Feb'19

  Activist Lauri Love’s computer ‘contained hacked data’, says judge

  Lauri Love, who has been accused of hacking into US government computer systems, has lost a legal action against the NCA for the return of his computers and storage device

• February 18, 2019 18 Feb'19

  NCSC signals UK may take softer line on Huawei

  The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre suggests Huawei will be allowed to form core elements of the country’s 5G mobile network infrastructure after all

• February 14, 2019 14 Feb'19

  Government rules out blockchain at borders until after Brexit due to 'significant work' required

  A previous HMRC pilot of distributed ledger technology will not provide any short-term solution to issues around UK borders after Brexit

• February 13, 2019 13 Feb'19

  London and Helsinki digital partnership challenges big IT platforms

  CDOs of London and Helsinki meet at London’s City Hall to sign a city-to-city digital declaration around AI, open data and digital innovation

• February 12, 2019 12 Feb'19

  IR35 reforms: Contractors lack confidence in private sector to manage April 2020 rule change

  Research from IR35 consultancy Qdos suggests contractors lack confidence in the ability of private sector firms to adequately determine how they should be taxed after April 2020

• February 12, 2019 12 Feb'19

  Dutch developer offers businesses nuclear security option for communications

  Startup that created the secure platform for communication between world leaders at the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands seeks to revolutionise business mail

• February 11, 2019 11 Feb'19

  Lauri Love takes legal action against NCA for return of seized computers

  Lauri Love, a former engineering student who won a battle with the US Department of Justice against extradition to the US to face hacking charges, is suing the UK's intelligence agency, the NCA, for the return of his seized computers

• February 11, 2019 11 Feb'19

  AI and robotics to form part of curriculum for future medical students

  For the NHS to capitalise on the digital future, new technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics will have to be designed into the learning process for medical students

• February 07, 2019 07 Feb'19

  Nordic region primed to pioneer 5G

  The Nordic region could pioneer the commercial use of 5G, with Finland and Sweden hotbeds for the technology

• February 06, 2019 06 Feb'19

  US Department of Defense backs multi-cloud model to support $10bn JEDI mega-cloud deployment

  The US Department of Defense has fleshed out its cloud strategy, as the industry awaits news of who has secured the decade-long contract for its $10bn mega-cloud environment

• February 06, 2019 06 Feb'19

  CIO interview: David Walliker, Liverpool Women’s & Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen NHS Trusts

  Being CIO for two different NHS trusts is not an easy task, but David Walliker splits his time between the two, aiming to deliver digital transformation across the board

• February 06, 2019 06 Feb'19

  NHS screening programmes plagued by ‘not fit for purpose’ IT

  ‘Complex and ageing IT’ is causing issues for several NHS screening programmes, according to the National Audit Office

• February 06, 2019 06 Feb'19

  Suffolk County Council awards 20-year WAN contract

  MLL Telecom will work with CityFibre to extend Suffolk County Council’s existing WAN to 600 sites and offer them ultrafast connectivity services

• February 06, 2019 06 Feb'19

  UK’s IT and BPO spend plummets because of Brexit uncertainty

  UK businesses cut their investment in IT and business process outsourcing last year because of confusion over Brexit, but there was a 68% rise in public sector spending

• February 06, 2019 06 Feb'19

  Tech sector tells government that digital identity policy is 'urgently required'

  The UK tech sector has urged the government to publish policy to support the creation of a “fully functioning” digital identity market, to boost the digital economy

• February 05, 2019 05 Feb'19

  Civil liberties groups to challenge bulk surveillance and intelligence sharing in Strasbourg

  Coalition of campaigning groups wins the right to challenge the UK’s use of bulk surveillance powers, which allows suspicionless surveillance of the population and sharing of intercepted data with overseas intelligence agencies, in European Court of...

• February 05, 2019 05 Feb'19

  Cambridge launches urban data IoT project

  The city of Cambridge will use Telensa IoT sensors and a Microsoft Azure platform to better manage its urban data assets

• February 04, 2019 04 Feb'19

  Government restates SME spend commitment as large suppliers win more cloud hosting deals

  An analysis of the G-Cloud and Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) framework sales figures suggests proportion of cloud hosting deals going to big suppliers is continuing to rise

• February 01, 2019 01 Feb'19

  Met Police deploys live facial recognition technology for ninth time

  Police say technology is helping to prevent and detect crime by identifying wanted criminals, but privacy groups have voiced their opposition

• February 01, 2019 01 Feb'19

  Innocent people arrested following surveillance blunders, IPCO reveals

  Interception of communications commissioner Adrian Fulford warns of “grave” repercussions for people wrongly identified as suspects due to errors made when government bodies access email, phone and telephone data

• January 31, 2019 31 Jan'19

  No-deal Brexit could lead to data issues, MPs told

  Trade body TechUK is concerned smaller companies are far from ready for a no-deal scenario, while warning that leaving without a deal could lead to serious data issues for businesses

• January 31, 2019 31 Jan'19

  Government launches data trust programme

  Digital secretary Jeremy Wright sets out plans for scheme using data sharing to tackle global challenges such as illegal wildlife trade and food waste

• January 30, 2019 30 Jan'19

  Department for Transport revamps police road traffic accident reporting system

  Working with Civica Digital, the Department for Transport has ramped up the mobile capabilities of its road traffic accident reporting service for police forces across England and Wales

• January 29, 2019 29 Jan'19

  Government makes progress on green IT, according to report

  Defra report on sustainable digital services shows improvements have been made, but highlights challenges with legacy systems and waste, as well as the importance of departments measuring progress

• January 29, 2019 29 Jan'19

  IT leaders grapple with workforce skills gap as they deploy AI and digital technology

  Organisations will have to find new ways of reskilling their workforce as they get to grips with artificial intelligence and other digital technologies. CIOs also need to keep their skills updated if they are to succeed

• January 28, 2019 28 Jan'19

  Minister urges UK firms to prepare for no-deal Brexit

  On International Data Protection Day, the UK’s digital minister has added her voice to calls by the data protection watchdog for UK firms to prepare for a no-deal Brexit

• January 28, 2019 28 Jan'19

  UK IT spending worth £27bn held back due to Brexit uncertainty

  UK businesses are putting billions of pounds of IT investments on hold until they know the terms that the UK will leave the EU

• January 28, 2019 28 Jan'19

  Government to pump £70m into ‘designing out’ cyber threats

  Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund cash to be used for designing and developing more secure hardware in a bid to eradicate cyber threats

• January 28, 2019 28 Jan'19

  UK cyber security agency investigates DNS hijacking

  NCSC is probing the large-scale DNS hijacking campaign that has reportedly affected government and commercial organisations worldwide, and has issued defence advice

• January 25, 2019 25 Jan'19

  Budding UK cyber strategists gear up for national competition 

  Teams of UK university students are preparing to compete for the second time in analysing the threat of a simulated cyber attack to develop policies and strategies

• January 25, 2019 25 Jan'19

  Former EU data protection tsar joins ICO

  Former EU data protection supervisor joins the UK’s privacy watchdog as non-executive director, strengthening its commitment to international work

• January 24, 2019 24 Jan'19

  CIO interview: Charles Ewen, Met Office

  The Met Office’s CIO is working on a new, digital approach, using supercomputers, establishing pioneering partnerships and creating change

• January 24, 2019 24 Jan'19

  Emergency services organisations ranked slowest public sector cloud adopters in Eduserv poll

  Latest research from EduServ and Socitm into public sector cloud adoption trends reveals slow response to cloud calls from the emergency services sector

• January 23, 2019 23 Jan'19

  Facebook’s objections to court concerns over privacy more about ‘optics’ than facts

  Facebook’s challenge to a High Court ruling that raises serious concerns about data transfers between Europe and the US is more about appearance than facts, lawyers for the Irish Data Protection Commission told Dublin's Supreme Court

• January 23, 2019 23 Jan'19

  MPs challenge Huawei over spying allegations

  The chair of the cross-bench Science and Technology Committee has written to Huawei seeking answers over its activities in the UK

• January 23, 2019 23 Jan'19

  NHS England launches public roll-out of NHS App

  The all singing and dancing NHS App is now being rolled out publicly across England following a private beta phase with more than 3,000 patients

• January 23, 2019 23 Jan'19

  HMCTS suffers major IT issues

  HM Courts and Tribunals Service has been experiencing problems with several of its IT systems over the past few days, including secure email and network issues

• January 23, 2019 23 Jan'19

  US issues emergency directive to halt DNS hijacking

  US government agencies have been given 10 days to complete a four-step action plan to stop DNS hijacking attacks

• January 22, 2019 22 Jan'19

  Young Dutch cyber criminals get re-education rather than jail time

  Young hackers in the Netherlands are being rehabilitated through punishments that educate rather than incarcerate

• January 22, 2019 22 Jan'19

  London cyber innovation centre expands global ties

  London innovation centre Plexal has announced international partnerships aimed at boosting global cyber security cooperation

• January 22, 2019 22 Jan'19

  Scottish Police Authority awards £21m mobile services deal to EE

  EE will oversee a three-year deal to transform police mobile capabilities in Scotland, alongside Motorola Solutions, Samsung and BlackBerry

• January 22, 2019 22 Jan'19

  Dowden announces five new successful GovTech Catalyst challenges

  Five public sector projects will receive funding as part of the third round of the £20m GovTech Catalyst programme, says implementation minister

• January 22, 2019 22 Jan'19

  Facebook: US government does not engage in mass and indiscriminate surveillance

  Social media giant challenges a ruling by Dublin’s High Court over a judgment that it says made ‘extraordinary and incorrect’ findings about the US legal system

• January 21, 2019 21 Jan'19

  Public procurement key to cyber security

  Using public procurement as a means of boosting cyber security is the top recommendation for 2019, according to a report based on expert views

• January 21, 2019 21 Jan'19

  DCMS puts digital ID policy team on no-deal Brexit work

  Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s digital identity policy team shifts focus to prepare for the UK leaving the EU without a deal

• January 21, 2019 21 Jan'19

  Home Office vetoes privacy campaigner from senior post in surveillance watchdog

  The Home Office refuses academic and privacy campaigner, Eric King, security clearance for a senior role at the intelligence services watchdog, despite high-level backing from officials

• January 18, 2019 18 Jan'19

  Prepare for no-deal Brexit, says ICO

  The UK data protection authority is urging businesses to prepare for a no-deal Brexit to ensure there is no interruption in data flows from Europe

• January 17, 2019 17 Jan'19

  Vodafone and IBM prep user clouds for future network tech

  Companies expand existing collaboration to enable enterprise customers to prepare for the impact of advanced networking technologies

• January 17, 2019 17 Jan'19

  Swedish state and industry back autonomous vehicle testing facility

  AstaZero facility will “road-test” next-generation 5G and digital innovations to support the development of self-driving cars and other vehicles

• January 17, 2019 17 Jan'19

  UK tech firms favour second referendum as next move in Brexit stalemate

  UK tech firms want to remain as close to the EU as possible and believe a second referendum on membership of the trading bloc would be the best way out of the current political stalemate

• January 15, 2019 15 Jan'19

  NHS England chief digital officer Juliet Bauer leaves to work for a supplier

  NHS England’s chief digital officer is jumping ship, just as the NHS begins implementing its long-term plan, to join Swedish GP video consultation provider Livi