News

IT for government and public sector

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
October 16, 2017 16 Oct'17
Government launches £25m trial fund to develop UK 5G industry

DCMS is drawing down £25m from the £740m National Productivity Investment Fund to fund a number of testbeds and trials of 5G mobile network technology in the UK
October 14, 2017 14 Oct'17
Artificial intelligence industry should get strategic government boost

The UK’s artificial intelligence sector will squander a historic lead unless government, industry and academia come together to give it cohesive support, says a government-sponsored report
October 13, 2017 13 Oct'17
UK and Canada sign digital government Memorandum of Understanding

The UK and Canada have signed Memorandum of Understanding on working together to strengthen digital government services in both countries
October 13, 2017 13 Oct'17
MEPs push for stronger data protection by EU institutions

All EU institutions, bodies and agencies should live up to strong data protection safeguards when processing personal data, says the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee
October 12, 2017 12 Oct'17
Government announces digital 'T-level' to encourage technical skills

A digital T-level has been announced among the first of the new technical qualifications the UK is introducing to tackle technical skills gaps
October 12, 2017 12 Oct'17
Australian defence contractor hacked for fighter jet data

The hacking of an Australian defence sub-contractor has once again highlighted the importance of supply chain cyber security
October 12, 2017 12 Oct'17
IT industry more reliant on non-UK workers than economy as a whole

The UK IT sector is more reliant on workers from other countries than the average for other sectors.
October 12, 2017 12 Oct'17
CW500: A perfect storm – the cyber attack that hit Parliament

The former director of the Parliamentary Digital Service shares details and lessons learned from the cyber attack that hit UK parliament in June and explains why it was a “good experience”
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
Sharjah Department of eGovernment sets out aims at Gitex 2017

The emirate of Sharjah has set out its plans for digital transformation at the Gitex 2017 event in Dubai
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
Dubai Police launches Fajwa to streamline staff recruitment

Dubai police are improving recruitment processes through new system announced at Gitex 2017
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
Australia outlines space ambitions

A national space agency would put the country in the league of nations with space capabilities, but questions about its true value remain
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
House of Lords committee hosts clash between AI enthusiasts and sceptics

In the first session of its enquiry into artificial intelligence and the UK economy, a House of Lords select committee takes contrasting testimony from academic enthusiasts and press sceptics
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
Dutch government agreement increasingly focuses on IT security

The coalition government in the Netherlands has agreed its plan for the next four years, with IT security prominent
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
Industrial control systems under attack, warns MIT researcher

Industrial control systems are under attack, and these attacks are likely to get worse, according to a security researcher and former NSA inspector general
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
Government proposes changes to make Britain safer online

The UK government has unveiled plans for an internet safety strategy to protect the British public from ‘worrying or nasty’ content online
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
Cyber threats are among top dangers, says Nato

Nato’s adviser on emerging security challenges tells conference of growing challenge posed by security threats
October 10, 2017 10 Oct'17
Abu Dhabi transport department uses drones to improve traffic flows

Data collected by live video stream from drones is analysed at control centre to help alleviate traffic jams and other issues
October 10, 2017 10 Oct'17
More than three-quarters of global email protected by Dmarc

Support for email authentication among the world’s internet service providers has surged in the past two years, a two-year study has revealed
October 10, 2017 10 Oct'17
Some IT contractors earning more than £700 a day

Research shows 40% of contractors reach the average annual IT salary within three months
October 10, 2017 10 Oct'17
World at a cyber security crossroad, warns expert

Governments need to agree on cyber security realities and priorities, and move towards more effective regulation, legislation and law enforcement to enable tech interoperability for business
October 09, 2017 09 Oct'17
Euro commissioner calls for more collaboration on cyber security

European commissioner for security union has called for greater awareness of cyber security risks and increased collaboration in defending against them
October 09, 2017 09 Oct'17
NCSC to host cyber practitioner summit

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is to host a summit for cyber security practitioners in February 2018
October 09, 2017 09 Oct'17
Dubai’s integrated government on Gitex catwalk

At this year’s Gitex, Dubai's smart city project is showing off its successes in integrating government services
October 06, 2017 06 Oct'17
All EU countries sign up to implement digital-by-default services

Declaration reaffirms commitment to bring public sector services into the digital age and improve citizens’ interaction with government
October 05, 2017 05 Oct'17
HMRC accused of suppressing IR35 stakeholder views on public sector contractor walkouts

Stakeholders are accusing HMRC of trying to suppress their take on how the tax avoidance reforms are affecting contractors, following claims their views were omitted from the latest IR35 Forum minutes
October 05, 2017 05 Oct'17
UK at risk of AI skills crisis

The UK is at risk of being left behind when it comes to artificial intelligence advances, with the current shortage of AI skills likely to get a lot worse
October 05, 2017 05 Oct'17
Singapore’s public sector finds agility and speed in AWS

City-state’s government has been able to meet peak demands and address security issues through a cloud-based web-hosting platform powered by Amazon Web Services
October 04, 2017 04 Oct'17
‘Formality’ puts Evry’s £278m outsourcing contract in Sweden at risk

Court of appeal overrules City of Stockholm’s decision to award IT deal to Norwegian firm
October 04, 2017 04 Oct'17
Global IT spending to hit $3.7tn next year, says Gartner

IT spending is taking on a different shape as organisations embark on, and accelerate, digital transformation projects
October 04, 2017 04 Oct'17
Daisy and Redcentric named HSCN compliant as launch date nears

Managed service providers Daisy Group and Redcentric have both been named as HSCN-compliant suppliers as the network service launch date nears
October 04, 2017 04 Oct'17
Russia’s state-owned bank backs blockchain

Vneshekonombank puts its weight behind blockchain technology as the country’s public sector looks on