News

IT for government and public sector

• April 18, 2016 18 Apr'16

  The Middle East’s home-grown app market now really growing, but from a low base

  Despite massive smartphone penetration, native app developers in the region need to listen more closely to what locals want

• April 18, 2016 18 Apr'16

  Los Alamos puts 30PB of Scality object storage into production

  Los Alamos National Laboratory uses Scality object storage for disk access to Trinity supercomputer and marries it with GPFS in MarFS homegrown posix/object hybrid file system

• April 15, 2016 15 Apr'16

  Israeli volunteers ready their cyber defences as Anonymous affiliates attack

  Every April, Israel braces itself for an onslaught from pro-Palestinian hackers, but the occupants of a small conference room in Tel Aviv stand in their way

• April 15, 2016 15 Apr'16

  Microsoft steps up campaign against government surveillance

  Microsoft is the latest technology firm to push back against the secrecy of US government data access requests, which it claims are rapidly increasing in number

• April 15, 2016 15 Apr'16

  BBC turns micro:bit computers into IoT devices

  The BBC and Nominet demonstrate a new use case for the micro:bit computer and hope to turn Britain’s schoolchildren into internet of things pioneers

• April 15, 2016 15 Apr'16

  Stockholm’s public sector boosts productivity with a move towards mobility

  The city has a mobile strategy that’s been embraced by staff and citizens

• April 14, 2016 14 Apr'16

  Data protection law sails through European Parliament

  The European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation has successfully passed through the European Parliament

• April 14, 2016 14 Apr'16

  Business needs education in cloud value and security, study shows

  Improved trust and security are critical to encouraging continued adoption of the cloud, an Intel Security report shows

• April 14, 2016 14 Apr'16

  Government surveillance under fire across Europe

  UK and US government surveillance programmes are facing criticism from the courts, MPs and data protection regulators

• April 13, 2016 13 Apr'16

  NCA attempts 'back door' access to obtain activist Lauri Love’s passwords

  Court told that use of civil proceedings to force disclosure of alleged hacker Lauri Love's passwords is disproportionate and would breach human rights law

• April 13, 2016 13 Apr'16

  Public sector IT leaders gamble on digital projects, says survey

  More than a third of European public sector leaders have no clear digital strategy, and half say they don’t have the right IT skills to deliver digital projects, according to a survey

• April 13, 2016 13 Apr'16

  UK would need its own Privacy Shield deal with EU if it votes for Brexit

  If the UK voted to leave the EU, it could face a difficult negotiation to conform to new data protection regulations, say experts

• April 13, 2016 13 Apr'16

  GDS strengthens collaboration with Australian counterpart

  The Government Digital Service has signed an agreement with Australia’s Digital Transformation Office to collaborate on digital government developments

• April 13, 2016 13 Apr'16

  Released documents show scale of Universal Credit problems before 'reset'

  It took four years, several appeals and the persistence of project manager John Slater for the DWP to release documents relating to its Universal Credit programme

• April 12, 2016 12 Apr'16

  European Court of Justice ruling on Snoopers' Charter delayed until July 2016

  The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will not rule on the legality of the so-called Snoopers’ Charter legislation until after the UK’s June 2016 EU referendum

• April 12, 2016 12 Apr'16

  GDS appoints Public Services Network head

  Government Digital Service (GDS) elevates Mark Smith to head of the Public Services Network (PSN)

• April 12, 2016 12 Apr'16

  Singapore releases cloud outage guidelines

  The Singapore government releases a set of tiered guidelines for organisations to follow if they have a cloud outage

• April 12, 2016 12 Apr'16

  DWP knew of Universal Credit problems in mid-2012 despite insisting all was well

  Documents released after a four-year legal battle show that DWP officials knew of problems with Universal Credit in 2012 despite insisting it was on time and budget

• April 12, 2016 12 Apr'16

  BAE Systems warns about shape-shifting strain of Qbot malware

  Qbot malware will become a potent threat, facilitated by exploit kits for initial infection and automated to gain maximum victim count, warns BAE Systems

• April 12, 2016 12 Apr'16

  UK cyber crime growing exponentially

  UK ranks highly in phishing, social media and ransomware attacks as cyber criminals professionalise and take advantage of unpatched websites, Symantec’s latest threat report reveals

• April 11, 2016 11 Apr'16

  Met Police tenders for integrated police system

  The Metropolitan Police is looking to procure an integrated policing system in a 10-year contract worth up to £150m

• April 11, 2016 11 Apr'16

  Activist Lauri Love faces order to disclose encryption keys

  The UK’s National Crime Agency takes an unusual legal step to force a former university student accused of hacking to disclose encryption keys

• April 11, 2016 11 Apr'16

  BBC outsources finance and accounting technology to IBM

  IBM will take over the BBC’s accounting and payroll services from SopraSteria in November 2016 as part of a five-year contract

• April 08, 2016 08 Apr'16

  Interview: GDS CTO Liam Maxwell and deputy CTO Andy Beale

  Government Digital Service’s Liam Maxwell and Andy Beale talk about the service’s future, its relationship with departments, tactical outsourcing extensions and lessons learned

• April 07, 2016 07 Apr'16

  Digital Leaders Awards open for public vote

  The Digital Leaders 100 is open for a public vote to decide the winners of this year’s awards, including Digital Leader and FinTech Innovation of the Year

• April 07, 2016 07 Apr'16

  FBI briefs senators drafting anti-encryption bill on iPhone hack

  US senators drafting a bill aimed at limiting encryption on consumer devices are being briefed on how the FBI hacked into the San Bernardino gunman’s iPhone

• April 07, 2016 07 Apr'16

  Maynooth University modernises network to meet growth challenges

  Maynooth University in Ireland has installed a Juniper-based campus network to support its future growth plans

• April 06, 2016 06 Apr'16

  Local Digital Coalition to advance local government digital projects

  Organisation takes over from Department for Communities and Local Government’s local digital programme with the aim of delivering joined-up local services

• April 06, 2016 06 Apr'16

  The Met Office deploys Weather Cloud on AWS

  Amazon Web Services will help the Met Office’s servers weather the storm of data requests as demand increases for location-based forecasts

• April 06, 2016 06 Apr'16

  Capgemini strengthens its Indian backbone

  With half of its global staff now based in India, Capgemini expands its operations there by opening a facility for a further 30,000 staff

• April 05, 2016 05 Apr'16

  Two-thirds of farmers didn’t need to use ‘digital by default’ rural payments system

  Internal review produced by Defra reveals full catalogue of errors that led to the withdrawal of the digital farm subsidy system in 2015

• April 05, 2016 05 Apr'16

  Lincolnshire Health and Care to deploy integrated patient records

  Thirteen health and care organisations across Lincolnshire will integrate records using the Intersystems HealthShare platform

• April 05, 2016 05 Apr'16

  'Citizens will be stripped naked' by Turkey’s data law

  Turkey's data protection law, introduced in March 2016, will make Turkey a near total surveillance state, yet the EU, apparently more concerned about securing Turkey's help in controlling immigration, is turning a blind eye

• April 04, 2016 04 Apr'16

  EU cyber security agency urges action to avoid crisis

  EU countries lack a harmonised framework to respond to the challenges of a large-scale cyber incident, according to a report by security agency Enisa

• April 04, 2016 04 Apr'16

  Digital Single Market: European Commission warned not to over-regulate online platforms

  Ministers from 11 EU member states warn European Commission off over-regulating use of online platforms during the creation of the Digital Single Market

• April 04, 2016 04 Apr'16

  Middle East enterprises warm to wearable technology

  Organisations in the region are increasingly investing in wearable technology, but there are hurdles to overcome before there is broad take-up in the enterprise sector

• April 04, 2016 04 Apr'16

  EY invests heavily in Singapore IT expertise

  New centres of excellence will offer business transformation strategy, cyber security, analytics and manufacturing capabilities across the Asia-Pacific region

• April 01, 2016 01 Apr'16

  IT services firm creates 500 jobs in Welsh local authority

  IT services firm CGI creates 500 jobs in south Wales following a £3.2m investment from the Welsh government

• March 31, 2016 31 Mar'16

  New London mayor urged to take ‘drastic action’ on capital broadband

  A YouGov poll for the Foundation for Information Society Policy finds widespread disillusionment among Londoners when it comes to broadband provision in the capital

• March 31, 2016 31 Mar'16

  Build out networks and mobile to rebalance UK economy, says O2

  In a major report, mobile operator O2 suggests that access to better digital infrastructure could boost the UK economy by £1.5bn outside of London and the South East

• March 30, 2016 30 Mar'16

  HMRC reaches agreement with IT suppliers on Aspire contract exit

  HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) plans on going to market next month for a number of smaller IT services contracts for a phased exit of its Aspire outsourcing deal

• March 30, 2016 30 Mar'16

  What is behind the slowdown in public-sector sales of ‘true cloud’ services via G-Cloud?

  With sales of “true cloud” services via G-Cloud showing signs of slowing down, Computer Weekly asks the experts the reasons why

• March 29, 2016 29 Mar'16

  St Andrews University uses IoT to monitor seal populations

  The Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews is connecting harbour seals to the internet of things to try to learn why their populations are declining

• March 29, 2016 29 Mar'16

  IoT security not a priority for Asean organisations

  IT leaders in the Asean region need to push IoT security up their priority list, as an Intel survey finds them lagging

• March 29, 2016 29 Mar'16

  Apple vows to raise security as FBI breaks into iPhone

  Apple says it will help law enforcement with investigations, but will increase the security of its products after the FBI broke into an iPhone

• March 24, 2016 24 Mar'16

  Tech firms urge further improvements to snoopers’ charter

  Major US tech firms have told the UK’s Investigatory Powers Public Bill Committee that their main concerns have yet to be addressed, and have urged further amendments

• March 24, 2016 24 Mar'16

  Government warned of smart meter security threat back in 2012

  The government was warned four years ago that its plans for a nationwide smart meter roll-out represented a “potentially significant” security and privacy threat, Computer Weekly has learned

• March 24, 2016 24 Mar'16

  Brussels attacks prompt renewed EU focus on airline passenger data

  The controversial plans to collect passenger name records for airline travellers in the EU are under focus after the terrorist atrocities in Brussels

• March 24, 2016 24 Mar'16

  Government delays digital strategy until EU referendum

  The government has drafted Whitehall’s digital strategy – but will delay it until after local elections and the EU referendum, according to Ed Vaizey

• March 24, 2016 24 Mar'16

  Chinese man admits conspiring to hack US military secrets

  A Chinese national working in Canada has pleaded guilty to helping hackers in China access US military secrets from defence contractors, including fighter jet blueprints

• March 23, 2016 23 Mar'16

  GDS preps guidance for third-party suppliers to deliver 'government as a platform'

  Government Digital Service (GDS) chief insists "pragmatic extensions" to outsourcing contracts implies nothing permanent in push for "government as a platform" (GaaP)

• March 23, 2016 23 Mar'16

  UK tech industry welcomes government’s new anti-crime strategy

  Only a modern strategy that incorporates technological advances and the greater use of data analytics can improve UK crime prevention, says TechUK

• March 23, 2016 23 Mar'16

  Canadian Elizabeth Denham set for the UK's next information commissioner

  Canadian privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham is to become the UK's next information commissioner as government pushes ahead with the snoopers' charter

• March 23, 2016 23 Mar'16

  Gov.uk Verify not secure enough for NHS, says HSCIC

  The government’s Verify identity verification platform isn’t secure enough for the NHS, so Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group and HSCIC are working to add extra levels of security

• March 23, 2016 23 Mar'16

  University of Hull installs Avaya unified comms network

  The University of Hull is to deploy an Avaya telephone and unified communications environment to reduce costs as part of a digital transformation project

• March 22, 2016 22 Mar'16

  AWS and Microsoft UK datacentre plans could upset SME-rich Digital Marketplace, Kable warns

  SME G-Cloud providers told to brace themselves for increasing competitive threats from AWS, Microsoft and Oracle once their UK datacentres open

• March 22, 2016 22 Mar'16

  T-Systems targets Amazon cloud customers

  Deutsche Telekom's IT services division plans to take business from Amazon with a cheaper public cloud that guarantees users' data stays in Germany

• March 22, 2016 22 Mar'16

  Government indirect SME spending "fine”, says civil service chief John Manzoni

  Civil service chief executive John Manzoni tells the public account committee (PAC) it is infeasible for government to deal with every SME supplier individually

• March 22, 2016 22 Mar'16

  Cyber security budgets not rising in line with threats, say security pros

  While it is good news that businesses are increasing investment, it is clear that spending on security is still not at a level that matches the changing threat landscape, says IISP

• March 21, 2016 21 Mar'16

  Australian government defence report recognises cyber threat

  The cyber threat to Australia is outlined in the recent government defence white paper, but experts are unimpressed

• March 21, 2016 21 Mar'16

  Rural Payments Agency plans to issue second-wave technology tender

  The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) looks to procure several systems – including an identity management system, infrastructure and HR system

• March 21, 2016 21 Mar'16

  Britain to pay billions for monster internet surveillance network

  New questions raised about Britain’s snoopers’ charter after Denmark abandons its own UK-style surveillance programme for a second time

• March 21, 2016 21 Mar'16

  Southend Council to connect key sites with dark fibre network

  Southend-on-Sea Borough Council selects CityFibre to supply a 50km dark fibre network across 120 public sector sites in the town

• March 21, 2016 21 Mar'16

  National Cyber Security Centre to be UK authority on information security

  The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is to be the UK's one-stop authority on infosec, based in London and led by GCHQ's Ciaran Martin

• March 18, 2016 18 Mar'16

  HSCIC’s CareCERT head wants NHS and social care to be prepared for cyber attacks

  Health and care organisations should not be afraid to acknowledge that cyber attacks will happen, but must be ready to handle breaches effectively, says CareCERT’s programme head

• March 18, 2016 18 Mar'16

  PAC disappointed by Major Projects Authority’s lack of impact

  The Public Accounts Committee is concerned that the newly formed Infrastructure and Projects Authority will weaken project scrutiny and become a “champion for government projects”

• March 17, 2016 17 Mar'16

  Which IT services suppliers are European businesses most satisfied with?

  TCS has won top spot for European customer satisfaction for the third year running, according to Whitelane Research

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Budget 2016: Osborne commits to timescale for 5G planning

  In a technology-light Budget, chancellor George Osborne made new commitments to future 5G mobile networks

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Osborne vows to support digital sharing economy with tax breaks

  The 2016 Budget promises to help SMEs and entrepreneurs through financial schemes and tax allowances

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Huawei and Samsung trial connected city lighting

  Networking suppliers both announce internet of things lighting solutions for smart cities

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Environment Agency acquires new flood warning system from Fujitsu

  Agency has signed a four-year, £4.6m contract for a cloud-based flood warning system that gives people more choice on how to receive alerts

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Salford Council puts gigabit fibre into public housing

  Salford Council in Greater Manchester is to deploy fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband across its council housing portfolio

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Met Police cancels command and control system contract with Northrop Grumman

  The Met Police command and control system contract with Northrop Grumman has been cancelled as there is “no prospect of a finished product being delivered” in time

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Scottish Borders signs £92m digital services contract with CGI

  The council’s 13-year deal with CGI as its digital services partner will create 200 jobs and establish a Scottish ICT delivery centre of excellence

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Internet of things needs more innovative business models

  At a government event on IoT policy, speakers call for more innovative business models and joined up thinking to enable the IoT to live up to its potential

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Sophos raises five concerns about snoopers’ charter

  As the draft Investigatory Powers Bill takes another step to becoming law, Sophos raises five key concerns that remain even after its revision

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Councils could save 13% of their budgets by going digital, says Nesta report

  Nesta’s report recommends that “leading councils” should create a market for digital products to meet their needs

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Leaked documents foretold problems with Australia's national broadband strategy

  External and internal documents suggest Australia's national broadband network (NBN) roll-out is likely to waste A$29bn

• March 14, 2016 14 Mar'16

  TechUK to spotlight cyber threat intelligence

  The ability to sift through that data and spot trends and emerging threats is becoming a useful and important tool for security professionals, according to TechUK's Talal Rajab

• March 14, 2016 14 Mar'16

  New UK law will criminalise failure to hack on demand

  MPs have been given only two weeks to read 1,200 pages of documents which disclose new powers to require technology companies to install secret surveillance capabilities in software, computer equipment or networks

• March 14, 2016 14 Mar'16

  CIO Interview: Janne Suuriniemi, Finland’s National Police Board

  Finland’s National Police Board CIO overhauls a major IT transformation in mid-flight. He tells Computer Weekly about the challenges and his answers to them

• March 14, 2016 14 Mar'16

  Impact of Investigatory Powers Bill is unclear, say most Britons

  Open-Xchange privacy survey shows many Britons are unsure and concerned by controversial bill on the eve of of it moving a step closer to becoming law

• March 11, 2016 11 Mar'16

  Ex-Cabinet Office rep claims ‘simple’ tender rewrite could open up G-Cloud to Europe

  Former Cabinet Office Crown representative says a simple rework of the G-Cloud tender could open up the procurement hub to public-sector buyers across the EU

• March 11, 2016 11 Mar'16

  Ofcom data breach highlights insider threat

  That a former employee of communications regulator Ofcom stole data should act as a warning about the insider threat in every organisation, say experts

• March 11, 2016 11 Mar'16

  Europe’s CIOs examine impact of new data protection regulation

  Belgian IT leader group Beltug is joining other organisations across Europe in preparing for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

• March 11, 2016 11 Mar'16

  Royal Mail becomes eighth accredited Gov.uk Verify provider

  The Royal Mail is the latest provider to be accredited to support the government’s Gov.uk Verify identity assurance service

• March 10, 2016 10 Mar'16

  Innovate UK and UKTI lead Asean smart city mission

  Smart city technology developers are heading to Malaysia and Singapore on a government-led trade mission

• March 10, 2016 10 Mar'16

  Third of knowledge workers expect their jobs to be computerised in five years

  Knowledge workers realise their jobs will either change dramatically or disappear as the result of new technology, according to research

• March 09, 2016 09 Mar'16

  Government purchasing chief Sally Collier set to leave Crown Commercial Service

  Crown Commercial Service (CCS) CEO Sally Collier plans to take role as Ofqual chief regulator, leaving the government’s procurement agency behind

• March 09, 2016 09 Mar'16

  CityFibre opens network to public sector supplier Updata

  Urban fibre infrastructure supplier CityFibre signs a national agreement to allow Updata to offer services over its ultrafast network

• March 09, 2016 09 Mar'16

  National Audit Office casts doubt on government SME spending figures

  The National Audit Office (NAO) says government changed how it estimates spending with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) four times in five years

• March 09, 2016 09 Mar'16

  IT outsourcing consultancy Alsbridge enters overlooked Australia

  IT outsourcing consultancy sets up operations in Australia, which it says has been overlooked for outsourcing services

• March 08, 2016 08 Mar'16

  Virgin supplies Ethernet connectivity to Met Office supercomputer

  The Met Office has awarded the contract to provide Ethernet connectivity for its next-generation supercomputer to Virgin Media Business

• March 07, 2016 07 Mar'16

  Government launches review of Atos contracts

  The Cabinet Office will review all government contracts with Atos worth more than £10m per year after heavy criticism in a Public Accounts Committee hearing

• March 07, 2016 07 Mar'16

  Mobile payments fund Tanzanian ambulance taxi service

  NGOs in Tanzania use M-Pesa mobile payments to fund a life-saving ambulance taxi service in rural Tanzania

• March 07, 2016 07 Mar'16

  Australia’s digital transformation head Paul Shetler marks a first year

  The man heading up Australia's digital government transformation talks to Computer Weekly about the progress his department made in its first year

• March 04, 2016 04 Mar'16

  Australia’s corporate giants recruit digitally-minded outsiders to drive transformation

  Big Australian businesses are turning to digital professionals from outside rather than promoting from within

• March 04, 2016 04 Mar'16

  'Complacent' Home Office failed to take responsibility for e-Borders problems

  The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) criticises the Home Office for allowing the e-Borders programme to run eight years late and £500m over budget

• March 04, 2016 04 Mar'16

  Legal spears fly at Privacy Shield

  Police Scotland is investigating the implications of the end of Safe Harbour. Service providers must comply with UK law, regardless of where they are based

• March 03, 2016 03 Mar'16

  Ministry of Justice chases IT department whistleblower for tribunal costs

  The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is claiming costs from a system analyst who brought an employment tribunal raising allegations of bullying at the Legal Aid Agency