News

IT for government and public sector

November 30, 2017 30 Nov'17
Security community urges caution on offensive cyber defence

Some Nato countries are reportedly considering responding to cyber attacks with offensive cyber strikes, but security industry commentators warn of dangers
November 30, 2017 30 Nov'17
Lauri Love could face jail in detention centre condemned by US judges

Appeal court hears conditions in Metropolitan Detention Centre, where alleged hacker Lauri Love is likely to be sent if extradited to the US, described by US judges as 'unconscionably bad', and that Love would be at 'real risk'
November 30, 2017 30 Nov'17
Transport researchers get 2PB of Scality object storage

Transport Systems Catapult retires ageing NetApp filers with 2PB of Scality object storage in a £1.5m project that future proofs the organisation with built-in DR
November 30, 2017 30 Nov'17
CCS extends G-Cloud 9 until May 2019

The government has extended G-Cloud 9 for up to 12 months, meaning the next iteration of the framework is unlikely to go live before May 2019

November 29, 2017 29 Nov'17
TechUK calls for swift action to safeguard data exchange after Brexit

TechUK and UK Finance raise fear of “cliff edge” if legal basis for data transfers between the EEA and the UK lapses overnight in March 2019
November 29, 2017 29 Nov'17
Lauri Love would face ‘medieval’ conditions in US prison if extradited over hacking charges

Engineering student Lauri Love should be tried in the UK, court hears, as new evidence is presented on the “medieval” conditions in US jails for people with medical problems
November 29, 2017 29 Nov'17
IT problems cost UK companies £6.9bn in lost labour

IT issues and the time it takes to fix them is costing UK companies billions of pounds due to employees not being able to work
November 28, 2017 28 Nov'17
CCS invites more SMEs to bid for NHS networking contracts

NHS Digital’s HSCN Dynamic Purchasing System framework has gone live, and the government is keen to get smaller services providers signed up
November 28, 2017 28 Nov'17
TfL forges ahead with 4G for the Tube after successful test

Having built a pilot 4G network for ESN on the Waterloo & City Line during the summer, TfL is pressing ahead with plans to roll out mobile broadband for all London Underground users
November 27, 2017 27 Nov'17
NHS trust gets Commvault to cut backup times and get set for GDPR

North Derbyshire hospital trust cuts 70 physical servers to 11 Nutanix hyper-converged nodes, with Commvault replacing multiple backup software products in three-year project

November 27, 2017 27 Nov'17
UK IT professionals could lose out in a free trade deal between UK and India

There could be an increase in Indian IT professionals coming to work in the UK post-Brexit if a new trade deal is signed with India
November 27, 2017 27 Nov'17
Focus on innovation and AI in government Industrial Strategy

The government’s Industrial Strategy whitepaper aims to make the UK the “the most innovative nation by 2030” and commits to investing further £275m in Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund
November 27, 2017 27 Nov'17
Moscow to build on its smart city credentials

Moscow ranks in the world’s top 10 smart cities, but is keen to develop more technologies to boost its growing status
November 26, 2017 26 Nov'17
UK only average in terms of digital public services

UK government has the innovation skills to become a digital public services leader, but needs to improve the ID and authentication that sits underneath it to reach this goal
November 26, 2017 26 Nov'17
Blockchain could be used for citizen identity services, says Reform

Reform think tank argues that government could use blockchain technology to create a secure identity for citizens to use across public services
November 24, 2017 24 Nov'17
Public sector IT suppliers demand clarity over G-Cloud 10 launch date

G-Cloud listed IT suppliers are getting concerned that the next iteration of the framework agreement could be delayed by up to a year, and claim it could harm the public sector’s digital transformation efforts
November 24, 2017 24 Nov'17
Academics and public sector organisations collaborate on London Wi-Fi project

Students and public sector staff across London will get easier access to the Jisc eduroam and govroam Wi-Fi networks through a new scheme spearheaded by City, University of London and Camden Council
November 23, 2017 23 Nov'17
DCMS opens local fibre broadband fund to applicants

Public sector bodies invited to apply for funding from £190m fund designed to stimulate local-level investment in FTTP broadband services
November 23, 2017 23 Nov'17
Geospatial Commission announced in Budget to open up OS data

Chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond announced in his November 2017 budget a £40m Geospatial Commission to open up Ordnance Survey data to stoke new business for small companies
November 22, 2017 22 Nov'17
IR35 reforms: Consultation on private sector roll-out confirmed in Autumn Budget 2017

The government has confirmed it is preparing to consult on whether or not to roll out the controversial IR35 tax avoidance reforms to the private sector
November 22, 2017 22 Nov'17
Chancellor Philip Hammond pledges more than £500m for tech in 2017 Budget

Autumn Budget promises major investment in tech to drive the UK post-Brexit, including money for artificial intelligence, driverless cars, a new national centre for computing and a geospatial data commission
November 22, 2017 22 Nov'17
Government urged to improve redress for mass data breaches

Open letter calls for UK government to make it easier for consumers to get compensation for mass data breaches by implementing an effective system for collective redress
November 21, 2017 21 Nov'17
IR35 reforms: Economic concerns raised over prospect of private sector roll-out

With the government’s stance on rolling out the IR35 reforms to the private sector appearing to soften, IPSE and others air concerns over the threat this move could pose to the post-Brexit economy
November 21, 2017 21 Nov'17
UK cyber defenders set to build on existing capability

UK national cyber attack response and investigation is a well-defined and rehearsed process, but the responsible agencies say they are building more capability and closing the gaps
November 20, 2017 20 Nov'17
Universal Credit moves into Amazon Web Services cloud

Parts of the digital system underpinning the controversial welfare reform programme are now running on AWS under DWP’s hybrid cloud strategy
November 20, 2017 20 Nov'17
MPs press Theresa May to explain why alleged hacker Lauri Love is being extradited to US

MPs question the attorney general and prime minister about why alleged hacker Lauri Love is to be extradited to the US, when at least 13 other hackers have been tried for US hacking offences in the UK
November 20, 2017 20 Nov'17
Budget 2017 to promise huge UK technology boost

Wednesday’s Budget will include funding for artificial intelligence, driverless cars, 5G, digital skills and more computer science teachers
November 20, 2017 20 Nov'17
Tech industry demands clarity on Brexit ahead of key budget

TechUK warns government that this week's budget could be its last chance to give tech firms confidence in the post-Brexit UK economy
November 17, 2017 17 Nov'17
Business crucial to cyber crime fight, say UK cyber cops

Business has a crucial role in fighting cyber crime in terms of intelligence sharing and pursuing cyber criminals, according to the country’s top cyber cops
November 17, 2017 17 Nov'17
ICO funds first four privacy tool development projects

The UK’s privacy watchdog has begun funding innovative research into data privacy tools for children and the medical and financial sectors
November 17, 2017 17 Nov'17
Computer science student wins 2017 UK Cyber Security Challenge

Cyber attack simulation challenge sees 22-year-old computer science student crowned UK amateur cyber security champion
November 16, 2017 16 Nov'17
Europe not ready for imminent cyber strikes, say infosec professionals

Information security leaders in Europe believe a major breach of critical infrastructure is coming and that data breaches in their own organisations are imminent – yet most are not ready
November 16, 2017 16 Nov'17
MPs warn of ‘deeply worrying’ risks if new customs IT systems are not ready for Brexit

Home Affairs committee calls on government to improve contingency planning in case new systems miss Brexit deadline at end of March 2019
November 15, 2017 15 Nov'17
DWP insourced 400 staff from HPE into new IT services subsidiary

New arrangement allows Department for Work and Pensions to pay higher base salaries to encourage staff expecting private sector wages
November 15, 2017 15 Nov'17
Oxford University gets deep learning supercomputer

Academics and the IT industry will be able to use university’s Atos-supplied supercomputer as a service
November 15, 2017 15 Nov'17
Critical IT problems cost UK organisations £200,000 a month

UK companies are losing hundreds of thousands of pounds a month because of IT problems, but are relatively good at preventing the same issues recurring
November 15, 2017 15 Nov'17
Data skills could improve employment options as AI accelerates

House of Lords artificial intelligence select committee hears evidence on societal risks of AI, data, life-long learning and the changing role of white-collar workers
November 14, 2017 14 Nov'17
Dubai Road and Transport Authority pilots artificial intelligence to measure customer happiness

Initiative is part of the UAE’s strategy to make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world
November 14, 2017 14 Nov'17
Prime minister Theresa May offers extra support for 'world-class' UK tech sector

Government announces expansion of visa scheme for top overseas tech talent, and additional funding to support startups and broadband
November 14, 2017 14 Nov'17
Emergency Services Network delay to cost hundreds of millions

The Emergency Services Network roll-out has hit further delays and is likely to become very costly indeed, the Public Accounts Committee has heard
November 14, 2017 14 Nov'17
GDPR is a business opportunity, says Belgian minister

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation should not be viewed only as a compliance issue, says Belgium’s minister for privacy
November 14, 2017 14 Nov'17
Government will deliver at least 89 digital services by 2020, says Caroline Nokes

New minister for digital government talks about plans for more digital services, the importance of digital in Brexit, and the roll-out of Gov.uk Verify
November 14, 2017 14 Nov'17
Waltham Forest Council gives 5G network plans a boost

Waltham Forest Council in London is to allow Arqiva to deploy small cell technology on 16,000 lampposts across the borough
November 14, 2017 14 Nov'17
IPSoft’s latest robot will process helpdesk requests from users and automate fixes

AI software maker combines a cognitive front end and automated back end to simplify enterprise service requests from workers
November 13, 2017 13 Nov'17
GE Digital to transform Middle East industry using the power of the internet

Bill Ruh, CEO at GE Digital, outlines the company’s vision of the industrial Internet of things (IIoT) in the Middle East and how it plans to transform industry through the power of the Internet
November 13, 2017 13 Nov'17
Muslim hactivists hack “unhackable” IS news site

A Muslim hacktivist group has hacked into Islamic State’s news site and published thousands of subscribers’ details just hours after the site claimed it was impenetrable
November 13, 2017 13 Nov'17
Nordic states deepen cyber defence collaboration

Nordic and Baltic government leaders discuss pooling technologies and competences to counter hybrid threats within the cyber security domain
November 12, 2017 12 Nov'17
Slow technology adoption linked to low productivity among UK business, CBI says

CBI calls on businesses to adopt more “tested technologies” and says government should highlight the need for tech adoption in the industrial strategy
November 10, 2017 10 Nov'17
Exiting large government IT contracts could take four years, document warns

Government Commercial Function's guidance on exiting large, monolithic outsourcing contracts says disaggregation takes longer than thought, and must be run as a business transformation programme
November 10, 2017 10 Nov'17
CIOs admit digital transformation strategy will not be fully implemented

Research by Vanson Bourne, on behalf of HCL, shows that the majority of CIOs doubt digital transformation strategies will be fully put into effect
November 10, 2017 10 Nov'17
UK calls for more anti-terror tools in social media

The UK is calling on social media campaigns to do more to detect and remove “militant messaging” automatically, while former MI5 head issues another caution against tampering with encryption
November 10, 2017 10 Nov'17
WikiLeaks publishes code and analysis of CIA hacking tool

Security experts are questioning the wisdom of WikiLeaks releasing more source code for US intelligence agency hacking tools
November 09, 2017 09 Nov'17
University of East Anglia investigates another data leak

University is investigating a second leak in six months, illustrating that data breaches are often caused by non-malicious insiders and that organisations are not getting to grips with the problem
November 09, 2017 09 Nov'17
ISPs can play unique role in cyber security, says BT CEO

Internet service providers are perfectly positioned to make a significant contribution to cyber security for everyone, BT’s Gavin Patterson believes
November 09, 2017 09 Nov'17
Cyber attacks not impossible to manage, says ex-GCHQ head

Ex-GCHQ head says despite the growing number of sophisticated cyber threats, tackling them is not impossible, but business has to find new ways of finding cyber defenders in previously untapped pools of talent
November 09, 2017 09 Nov'17
Bangalore offers the best ecosystem for digital transformation, says Economist report

Bangalore ranked as the number one location for businesses looking to access the right ecosystem to support digital transformation
November 08, 2017 08 Nov'17
Everyone has cyber security responsibility, says Euro commissioner

Everyone has a role to play in cyber security, including big market players – but if this is not done voluntarily, legislation may be required, says the European commissioner for security union
November 08, 2017 08 Nov'17
Estonian e-resident population growth exceeds birth rate

The number of non-Estonian people who applied for e-residency of the Baltic state exceeds the birth rate so far for this year
November 07, 2017 07 Nov'17
Cyber security skills a priority for UK government

The UK government is pursuing various short and long-term initiatives aimed at promoting the cyber security profession and growing skills in the sector, including supporting a professional body
November 07, 2017 07 Nov'17
UK spies face landmark challenge over mass surveillance in human rights court

Ten human rights organisations challenge lawfulness of UK surveillance legislation and mass internet surveillance by UK intelligence agencies in Strasbourg court
November 06, 2017 06 Nov'17
Automation and AI require education and training, says CBI

Industry and government must collaborate on skills and retraining to get to grips with new innovations, CBI conference told
November 06, 2017 06 Nov'17
UKtech50 2017: Vote for the most influential person in UK IT

Tell us who you think should be chosen as the most influential person in the UK tech scene for 2017 by submitting your vote now
November 06, 2017 06 Nov'17
UK must ‘embrace technological change’, says Theresa May

As Brexit approaches, prime minister Theresa May says the country must work together to make Britain an “international centre for transformative technologies of the future”, and calls on industry to increase its R&D investment
November 03, 2017 03 Nov'17
UK supercomputer is now world’s biggest Panasas scale-out NAS cluster

Jasmin network supercomputer storage expands to 20PB of Panasas scale-out NAS, which has helped to cut analysis times for environmental data from days to hours
November 02, 2017 02 Nov'17
Society needs to work together to gain control of cyber space

Cyber space is influencing human development and behaviour, but no one is in control and it will take a collective effort to ensure the cyber effect is more positive than negative, says cyber psychology expert
November 02, 2017 02 Nov'17
Nordic CIO interview: Filippa Jennersjö, Sweden’s Public Employment Agency

The CIO at Sweden's Public Employment Agency has been bringing the organisation in line with other departments’ digital developments
October 31, 2017 31 Oct'17
NHS to get open source API lab

NHS Digital plans on launching an API lab before the end of the year, with the goal accelerating development of interoperability in health and social care
October 31, 2017 31 Oct'17
Spoofing of Dutch politicians causes heated debate

A report about how easy it is to spoof the email addresses of Dutch politicians causes wider security debate in the Netherlands
October 30, 2017 30 Oct'17
EU may struggle to prove cyber attack links, warns expert

EU governments are reportedly planning to respond to cyber attacks as an act of war, but a cyber security expert says links to nation states may be hard to prove
October 30, 2017 30 Oct'17
Heathrow to probe leak of security files

Heathrow is investigating how and why files containing security information were stored without any protection on a USB stick found by a member of the public
October 30, 2017 30 Oct'17
Court dates set for Post Office accounting system trials

An end is in sight for sub-postmasters’ campaign against alleged wrongful prosecution, which they blame on a faulty computer system
October 27, 2017 27 Oct'17
First female Capgemini UK apprentices graduate

The Capgemini UK apprentice scheme gets its first three female graduates
October 26, 2017 26 Oct'17
NAO calls on NHS to ‘get its act together’ after WannaCry attack

The NHS could have prevented the WannaCry cyber attack had it followed basic IT security best practice, according to National Audit Office boss
October 26, 2017 26 Oct'17
EU to collect biometrics of all visitors - which could include UK citizens post-Brexit

European Parliament approves entry/exit system which will cover all non-EU visitors to the European Union
October 26, 2017 26 Oct'17
No guarantees HMRC’s customs declaration service ready for Brexit

HMRC CEO tells MPs the department needs an extra £7.3m to upgrade current Chief system as a contingency, should new customs IT system not be ready in time for Brexit
October 26, 2017 26 Oct'17
Health and Social Care Network connects first customer

Digital dictation and clinical records management systems firm Crescendo Systems has become the first customer to officially connect to NHS Digital’s Health and Social Care Network
October 26, 2017 26 Oct'17
Kaspersky Lab explains how NSA data was uploaded

Malware detection triggered an upload of data from a National Security Agency contractor’s home computer, Kaspersky Lab says an internal investigation has revealed
October 25, 2017 25 Oct'17
Oversight of intelligence agencies’ data sharing has ‘failed’, court hears

UK’s intelligence services lack adequate oversight and written guidelines when sharing databases of sensitive information, Privacy International argues in secret court
October 24, 2017 24 Oct'17
Nearly 200 arrested for airline ticketing fraud

Police have arrested nearly 200 people for airline ticketing fraud in an international operation involving public and private sector organisations
October 24, 2017 24 Oct'17
Microsoft drops lawsuit after US revises data access policy

Microsoft has dropped a lawsuit pushing for reforms of state surveillance practices in response to changes in US data access request policy, but says more reform is necessary
October 24, 2017 24 Oct'17
Inside Australia’s supercomputing journey

The country’s Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation has upgraded its high performance computing infrastructure to keep pace with global research
October 23, 2017 23 Oct'17
Kaspersky Lab announces global transparency initiative

Faced with a US government ban and media reports alleging co-operation with Russian spies, Kaspersky Lab has announced a global transparency initiative
October 23, 2017 23 Oct'17
US warns of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure

The US government has issued a warning about ongoing cyber attacks targeting critical national infrastructure, saying some networks and at least one power generator have been compromised
October 20, 2017 20 Oct'17
CW500: Rise in cyber attacks means you have to be brave

As cyber attacks are on the rise, experts share their views, tips and lessons learned in how to handle being hit by one
October 20, 2017 20 Oct'17
Transport Research Lab to run £13m autonomous vehicle trials in London

A consortium led by the Transport Research Lab has been awarded government funding to run connected and autonomous vehicle tests in the capital
October 20, 2017 20 Oct'17
IBM’s Joanna Davinson to become new Home Office tech boss

IBM executive to replace Sarah Wilkinson as chief digital, data and technology officer
October 20, 2017 20 Oct'17
National Police Technology Council launches set of ICT principles

The national ICT strategic principles include cloud first, enabling data sharing and interoperability standards, and ensuring any tech decision made benefits the organisation as a whole
October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
Safeguards permit GCHQ to share huge databases on public, court hears

Intelligence commissioners did not need technical expertise or support staff to check whether GCHQ and MI5 were lawfully sharing huge databases, court told
October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
Southend-on-Sea to become a smart city

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council will use Cisco’s Kinetic for Cities platform to improve service delivery, development and citizen engagement through digitisation as it transitions to a smart city model
October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
Post Office computer system legal case reaches important procedural juncture

Sub-postmasters group action against the Post Office reaches an important milestone
October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
China and Russia set to drive growth in PC market in 2018, says Gartner

The market will be buoyed by stronger spending on business PCs in Russia and adoption of Windows 10 in China, according to Gartner
October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
Norway’s Trondheim embraces the cloud with Google G Suite

Municipality is reaping the benefits of moving productivity software to the cloud
October 18, 2017 18 Oct'17
Shadow Cabinet Office minister slams Gov.uk Verify for being ‘inefficient’

Labour’s Jon Trickett says the government’s identity assurance platform is a poor use of taxpayers’ money and is “being handled appallingly”
October 18, 2017 18 Oct'17
Cloud service spending almost matches traditional IT outsourcing

Traditional outsourcing spending has plummeted in the latest three-month period, but spending on cloud-based IT services is going some way to filling the void
October 18, 2017 18 Oct'17
UK businesses losing half a million pounds per cancelled digital project

UK businesses are losing almost £500,000 pounds for every cancelled digital project, with a lack of the right skills a major contributing factor
October 17, 2017 17 Oct'17
RSA’s Middle East cyber security conference gains its own identity

RSA Abu Dhabi conference focuses on region’s cyber security needs as digital technology deployments expand
October 17, 2017 17 Oct'17
Government gives ODI £6m to improve data knowledge

The Open Data Institute has been awarded £6m in funding from InnovateUK for a series of projects aiming to improve the UK’s data expertise
October 17, 2017 17 Oct'17
UK intelligence agencies ‘unlawfully’ sharing sensitive personal data, court hears

A secret court will decide whether Intelligence agencies are “unlawfully” sharing huge datasets containing sensitive information about the population with industry, government departments and overseas intelligence services.
October 16, 2017 16 Oct'17
The Met Office automates functional testing of weather warnings sites

The UK’s national weather service automates testing using eggPlant to ensure integrity of weather warnings system
October 16, 2017 16 Oct'17
ADMCC monitors Abu Dhabi with Cisco technology

Abu Dhabi's surveillance system is using technology from Cisco