News

IT for government and public sector

• August 24, 2015 24 Aug'15

  Labour MP Chris Bryant calls for Openreach sell-off from BT

  Labour’s Chris Bryant says Ofcom’s communications review should be working on the basis that the split of Openreach from BT is a done deal

• August 21, 2015 21 Aug'15

  Westcountry businesses’ anger over Devon and Somerset broadband fiasco

  More than 14,000 businesses tell Connecting Devon and Somerset to get its act together over rural broadband after it binned its second-phase BDUK contract with BT

• August 21, 2015 21 Aug'15

  Hackers publish another 13GB of Ashley Madison data

  A second set of Ashley Madison data published by hackers includes source code from the website, internal emails and a note to the company's founder Noel Biderman

• August 20, 2015 20 Aug'15

  Stephen Allott leaves post as SME Crown Representative

  Crown Representative for SMEs takes up new role in G-Cloud and Digital Marketplace development

• August 19, 2015 19 Aug'15

  UK government signs new MoU with Oracle

  Memorandum of understanding builds on 2012 deal which promised to save the government £75m

• August 19, 2015 19 Aug'15

  Is Australia's cyber security-focused government underestimating the insider threat?

  Canberra is strengthening its cyber security response, but there is conflicting evidence about where the main threat is coming from

• August 18, 2015 18 Aug'15

  IaaS providers pin hopes on spending cut reprieve for G-Cloud 7

  G-Cloud suppliers are calling on the government to step up, rather than scale back, investment in the framework as spending cuts loom

• August 18, 2015 18 Aug'15

  DWP to tender for mainframe platform suppliers in contract worth up to £300m

  The Department for Work and Pensions is looking for mainframe services suppliers to help update IT systems

• August 18, 2015 18 Aug'15

  Hancock vows to support 'next phase' of GDS

  Cabinet Office minister says Government Digital Service will continue to drive “transformation across government”

• August 18, 2015 18 Aug'15

  Australian Cyber Security Centre sets baseline for businesses

  The ACSC wants more organisations to take responsibility for protecting their information resources and computer systems

• August 18, 2015 18 Aug'15

  More than 300,000 US taxpayers affected by data breach

  The IRS initially said hackers had used data from breaches of non-IRS sources to gain access to the agency’s Get Transcript feature from February to mid-May 2015 and harvest 100,000 records

• August 18, 2015 18 Aug'15

  Natural Resources Wales uses Microsoft and mobile to unify departments

  Natural Resources Wales won the Best Mobile Computing Project Award at this year's CW European User Awards. Find out why

• August 17, 2015 17 Aug'15

  Home Office develops Online Application Service for visas with Equal Experts

  The Home Office explains how its implementation of the Online Application Service for visas bagged it the 2015 Computer Weekly European User Award for Best Public Sector Project

• August 17, 2015 17 Aug'15

  FireEye latest security firm to join forces with Europol

  Law enforcement and private industry need to work together to effectively combat cyber crime, says Europol as it signs an MoU with another cyber security firm

• August 17, 2015 17 Aug'15

  Vodafone tests app-based connected vehicle parking system

  Vodafone has teamed up with Westminster City Council and plumbing firm Pimlico Plumbers to test a connected vehicle parking system in London

• August 16, 2015 16 Aug'15

  Mobile phone users at risk as hackers bug and track victims

  An investigation by Australian TV show 60 Minutes demonstrates how hackers based thousands of miles away in Germany were able to record the calls of an Australian senator and track his movements

• August 14, 2015 14 Aug'15

  Met Police seeks MSPs as digital forensic investigations move closer to the frontline

  Metropolitan Police Force wants to make it easier for frontline staff to embark on forensic investigations involving digital devices with the help of MSPs

• August 14, 2015 14 Aug'15

  Security flaw exposes billions of mobile phone users to eavesdropping

  Hackers, fraudsters, rogue governments and unscrupulous commercial operators are exploiting flaws in the architecture of the mobile phone signalling system known as SS7

• August 14, 2015 14 Aug'15

  Home Office puts out feelers for new Emergency Services Network deal

  Home Office issues a prior information notice that suggests it is planning to bring a revised version of Lot 4 of the Emergency Services Network procurement back to life

• August 14, 2015 14 Aug'15

  GDS saves the government £1.7bn through digital and technology transformation

  The government has made £18.6bn year-on-year savings, with £1.7bn coming from GDS-led efficiency and reform

• August 13, 2015 13 Aug'15

  Gloucester City Homes embarks on VDI-led tech transformation with Exponential-e

  Social housing firm taps into Exponential-e's Ethernet capabilities to make it easier for its staff to work flexibly

• August 13, 2015 13 Aug'15

  Interview: Government digital chief Mike Bracken – why I quit

  Mike Bracken, the outgoing director of the Government Digital Service, talks exclusively to Computer Weekly about his departure from Whitehall

• August 12, 2015 12 Aug'15

  FOI response reveals G-Cloud suppliers escape fines for missing MISO sales data deadlines

  Freedom of Information response suggests Cabinet Office is taking a softly-softly approach to clamping down on non-compliant G-Cloud suppliers

• August 12, 2015 12 Aug'15

  Mike Bracken: I turned down an increase in GDS budget

  Outgoing government digital chief says he rejected the chance of extra funding and that his platform strategy is still on the table

• August 11, 2015 11 Aug'15

  DEF CON 23: Two major roadblocks to cyber diplomacy, says former US diplomat

  The problem of attribution and the disclosure dilemma continue to hamper cyber diplomacy, but the US might just have cracked the former, according to David An

• August 11, 2015 11 Aug'15

  Four more senior leaders announce departure from Government Digital Service

  Four of GDS chief Mike Bracken's key lieutenants are following him out of the Whitehall door, but Bracken claims it is just part of a 'natural change'

• August 10, 2015 10 Aug'15

  How artificial intelligence is being tested by Asean businesses

  Organisations across the Asean region are using artificial intelligence technologies with examples in health and finance sector.

• August 07, 2015 07 Aug'15

  HMRC releases update on personal tax accounts

  A test version of HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) long awaited personal tax accounts has been launched to assess user needs

• August 07, 2015 07 Aug'15

  BT wins voice services contract with European Commission

  BT deepens its relationship with the European Commission after being awarded a €15m, seven-year contract to provide fixed voice line services for a number of European bodies

• August 07, 2015 07 Aug'15

  IET renews demand for 999 emergency call service rethink

  The Institute of Engineering and Technology has renewed its request for an overhaul of the emergency 999 call service

• August 06, 2015 06 Aug'15

  Manchester scraps Atos contract for smart transport ticketing

  Atos has been let go as the contract partner for Manchester’s Oyster-style ticketing system due to issues with delivery speeds

• August 06, 2015 06 Aug'15

  Government digital chief Mike Bracken to become chief digital officer at the Co-op

  The Co-operative Group has announced outgoing GDS director Mike Bracken as its new digital chief

• August 06, 2015 06 Aug'15

  What will happen to digital government when GDS chief Mike Bracken moves on?

  The government’s digital chief Mike Bracken has announced he will be leaving, raising concerns over the future of digital government

• August 05, 2015 05 Aug'15

  BlackHat 2015: 2FA key to defence against cyber espionage groups

  Abuse of credentials and watering-hole attacks are main tactics used by cyber espionage group TG-3390 or Emissary Panda, research reveals

• August 05, 2015 05 Aug'15

  HMRC to transfer 250 Capgemini staff in-house ready for Aspire contract end

  HMRC’s Aspire outsourcing contract will be replaced by slowly bringing staff in-house to give the department more control over IT

• August 04, 2015 04 Aug'15

  City of Liverpool College joins Jisc shared-services datacentre in Slough

  Further education college set to use facility to help support roll-out of shared-services portfolio to other colleges

• August 04, 2015 04 Aug'15

  Whitehall devolution threat means IT suppliers "must improve" at selling cloud to local councils

  Public sector IT suppliers must swot up on selling services to local councils, as Whitehall proposes devolving more power to them

• August 04, 2015 04 Aug'15

  SME G-Cloud deal volumes could be "under-reported", claim suppliers

  Cabinet Office is reviewing how SMEs report G-Cloud sales data, as reports suggest some are shunning existing online reporting process

• August 03, 2015 03 Aug'15

  HMRC explains plans for moving tax systems to the cloud

  HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) reveals more details of its plan to move tax systems into the cloud on its digital blog

• August 03, 2015 03 Aug'15

  Government digital chief Mike Bracken announces he is leaving

  GDS director Mike Bracken is leaving government, and his unexpected departure will inevitably raise questions about the future of GDS

• August 03, 2015 03 Aug'15

  MoD shells out £1.5bn on two IT contracts

  The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signs two IT contracts costing more than £1bn, which it hopes will save money over the next 10 years

• July 31, 2015 31 Jul'15

  Interview: CCS director Sarah Hurrell on improving government technology purchasing

  The government's procurement agency has plenty of critics, but its technology lead insists that IT and digital purchasing is improving fast

• July 31, 2015 31 Jul'15

  Obama orders superfast computer for 2025

  The US is aiming to build a supercomputer that is able to process one exaflop or a billion billion operations a second to process big data

• July 31, 2015 31 Jul'15

  IaaS mega-framework tender raises hopes of Europe-wide G-cloud launch

  Géant publishes contract notice seeking providers for IaaS frameworks, which will serve 50 million across Europe

• July 31, 2015 31 Jul'15

  Ark Data Centres to underpin delivery of BT's managed cloud services

  BT signs multi-year deal with datacentre provider to support its push into the cloud integrator market

• July 30, 2015 30 Jul'15

  United Airlines hack could signal bulk spying campaign

  The latest United Airlines hack makes the case for better data breach notification laws and better network activity monitoring capabilities

• July 30, 2015 30 Jul'15

  BT refunds £129m public funding on reaching broadband targets

  Public funds will be re-invested in extending government-backed programme to deliver superfast broadband to 95% of the UK by 2017

• July 29, 2015 29 Jul'15

  Local government cyber security awareness low, study shows

  A poll of local government employees reveals that almost half do not know if their current IT security practices would offer suitable protection against the growing threat of cyber crime

• July 29, 2015 29 Jul'15

  MPs to investigate superfast broadband roll-out to final 5% of UK

  Select committee inquiry will assess what is needed to provide high-speed connectivity to the 1.5 million premises outside current roll-out plans

• July 29, 2015 29 Jul'15

  Technology experts warn of dangers of artificial intelligence arms race

  An open letter signed by more than 12,000 technology experts calls for a ban on artificial intelligence (AI) to manage weapons “beyond meaningful human control”

• July 28, 2015 28 Jul'15

  Digital adoption boosts GDP, says Accenture

  Digital technologies boost a country's competitive advantage and drive up its economic growth, Accenture has found

• July 28, 2015 28 Jul'15

  UK cyber insurance report recommends reinsurance scheme

  A scheme along the same lines as the UK’s state-backed Pool Re scheme for terrorism cover will help improve UK competitiveness as an attractive economy for cyber business, according to a report

• July 28, 2015 28 Jul'15

  UK youngsters need support online, says iRights

  A report by the iRights initiative aims to provide an insight into how government can join with technology companies, civil society and business to make a better digital world for young people

• July 27, 2015 27 Jul'15

  MPs examine visa rules over immigration for software and digital skills

  Home Affairs committee launches an inquiry after the number of skilled worker visas issued reached its monthly cap for the first time

• July 24, 2015 24 Jul'15

  Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee launches big data inquiry

  The Science and Technology Committee is to launch an inquiry into big data to discover whether the government is doing enough to promote its benefits to businesses

• July 24, 2015 24 Jul'15

  GDS targets three million new users of Gov.uk Verify service in next 12 months

  Roll-out of the system for logging in to digital public services is taking longer than expected, but user numbers are expected to grow significantly in 2015

• July 23, 2015 23 Jul'15

  GDS unveils payments platform prototype in government-as-a-platform strategy

  New system would provide a standardised way to take payments from citizens for online public services

• July 23, 2015 23 Jul'15

  Scottish government denies "cloud-washing" mobile device procurement framework

  Scottish government's National Framework for Cloud Computing and Proprietary Devices risks confusing suppliers, claim analysts

• July 23, 2015 23 Jul'15

  APMG opens door to military-grade cyber security assessments

  Developed for the MoD, the CDCAT tool enables any business to assess and manage its cyber defence capabilities using continually updated multiple cyber security controls and inputs

• July 23, 2015 23 Jul'15

  GCHQ unlawfully intercepting parliamentary communications, tribunal hears

  Tribunal hears claims that GCHQ is unlawfully intercepting MPs' and peers' communications

• July 22, 2015 22 Jul'15

  Cabinet Office launches consultation for future of Digital Services Framework

  A supplier consultation has been announced to discuss changes to the Digital Service framework before an Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) is published

• July 21, 2015 21 Jul'15

  Software audits cut government IT bill by £85m in 2014/15

  Annual accounts for the government purchasing agency show at least £220m in technology related savings

• July 20, 2015 20 Jul'15

  ViaSat UK wins £3.8m contract for military vehicle encryption

  ViaSat UK is to provide an encryption system for British Army armoured vehicles to ensure sensitive mission and intelligence stored on and gathered by Scout SVs will never be put at risk

• July 20, 2015 20 Jul'15

  HP Cloud 28+ on course to go live in December 2015 with 200 members

  HP's push to create a one-stop-shop for European Union cloud users is on course, claims Europe, Middle-East and Africa vice-president

• July 20, 2015 20 Jul'15

  UK considers 10-year jail sentences for online piracy

  The UK government is considering new measures to increase the sanctions for criminals who infringe the rights of copyright holders for large-scale financial gain

• July 17, 2015 17 Jul'15

  Stop telling patients not to Google – one man’s quest for joined-up healthcare

  Technologies such as Google, health trackers and social media will be contributing factors in the future of joined-up healthcare, says one digital healthcare advocate

• July 17, 2015 17 Jul'15

  MPs win challenge to Dripa surveillance legislation

  The High Court ruled that the UK's Dripa legislation is inconsistent with EU law, but home secretary Theresa May plans to appeal

• July 17, 2015 17 Jul'15

  UK man arrested for hacking into US government computers

  Briton Lauri Love is accused of hacking into various US agencies, including the US army, Nasa, the federal reserve and the environmental protection agency

• July 16, 2015 16 Jul'15

  UK leads critical infrastructure cyber security, but change still needed

  There is a need for cultural change at energy companies to ensure everyone understands the importance of cyber security, says National Grid security manager

• July 16, 2015 16 Jul'15

  Network Services Framework goes live across public sector

  Crown Commercial Service launches wide-ranging Network Services Framework RM1045 across the public sector

• July 16, 2015 16 Jul'15

  UK tech sector called to contribute to EC Digital Single Market consultations

  Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) says UK must feed back to the European Commission (EC) to inform the delivery of its Digital Single Market vision

• July 15, 2015 15 Jul'15

  GDS creates outcomes framework for digital inclusion

  Government Digital Service (GDS) launches Digital Inclusion Outcomes Framework to act as a template for digital inclusion evaluation

• July 15, 2015 15 Jul'15

  Collaboration key to defeat cyber threats, says Cert-UK

  The Cisp uniquely provides the opportunity to see what is happening across all industry sectors, join the dots and share insights, says Cert-UK

• July 14, 2015 14 Jul'15

  Defra could face a further £370m in penalties if CAP reform fails

  An additional £370m in fines could be faced by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs by 2021 if its revised CAP scheme fails to take off

• July 14, 2015 14 Jul'15

  Fujitsu calls up Memset to deliver infrastructure services to HMRC

  Surrey-based datacentre provider to provide infrastructure hosting services to HMRC

• July 14, 2015 14 Jul'15

  RUSI surveillance review calls for clearer UK interception legislation

  The latest surveillance review calls for a new, comprehensive and clearer legal framework in the UK to provide a fresh start on a basis of mutual trust

• July 13, 2015 13 Jul'15

  Government launches £10m smart cities contest

  DCMS teams up with Innovate UK to offer one collaborative R&D project exploring smart cities a prize fund of up to £10m

• July 13, 2015 13 Jul'15

  UK to invest £45m in digital research and skills

  Millions of pounds will be invested in building research centres to fuel the UK’s digital economy research and skills

• July 13, 2015 13 Jul'15

  Dutch college live-streams lectures with SDN and load balancers

  Deltion College in the Netherlands beefs up its network with HP SDN and Kemp load balancing technology to support growing traffic levels across its infrastructure

• July 13, 2015 13 Jul'15

  Balabit bets big on Blindspotter

  At first glance behavioural analytics may seem a strange direction for security company Balabit – but it makes sense on closer inspection

• July 13, 2015 13 Jul'15

  Public sector organisations not consulting consumers about digital services

  Although most public sector organisations agree consulting with the public is essential for digital services development, only a fraction are doing so

• July 10, 2015 10 Jul'15

  Government moves to cut broadband red tape

  The government is considering making a temporary relaxation of broadband infrastructure planning regulations a permanent fixture

• July 10, 2015 10 Jul'15

  Government produces Digital Transformation Plan to boost UK productivity

  Chancellor George Osborne's Digital Transformation Plan puts digital technologies at the heart of the UK's economic future

• July 10, 2015 10 Jul'15

  Splunk acquires behavioural analytics firm Caspida in $190m deal

  Splunk's acquisition of Caspida is aimed at extending its security analytics leadership by adding behavioural analytics to improve detection of insider threats

• July 09, 2015 09 Jul'15

  Cisco invests $1bn in UK skills and startups

  Cisco commits to spending $1bn in the UK by 2020 to support the government’s digital plans following a meeting at 10 Downing Street

• July 09, 2015 09 Jul'15

  Grexit threatens to cut Greek IT spending by $3.7bn

  Greek IT spending set to fall steeply if the country leaves the Euro, following the "no" vote in the referendum

• July 09, 2015 09 Jul'15

  GDS set for share of £55m pot to boost digital government plan

  Chancellor George Osborne set aside funds in his budget to support digital transformation

• July 09, 2015 09 Jul'15

  Government finds £10m for ultrafast broadband in the South West

  The government announces a £10m funding boost for ultrafast BDUK projects in the South West of England

• July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15

  HP pulls out of ESN bid process

  HP becomes latest supplier to quit the Emergency Services Network supplier framework bid process, citing concerns over risk

• July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15

  Summer Budget 2015: George Osborne announces support for technology research

  Chancellor George Osborne delivers Budget commitments to roll out business tax reform and more money for research funding and the digital economy

• July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15

  Successful IoT projects beget further innovation, says Vodafone

  Vodafone’s M2M Barometer report says that, once organisations extract value from an internet of things (IoT) project, they quickly find further applications

• July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15

  Tech experts warn against law enforcement backdoors

  International cryptographers and computer scientists warn exceptional access to data for law enforcement could open doors for criminals and malicious nation states

• July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15

  Rolls-Royce signs up to supercomputing on-demand from HPC Midlands

  Rolls-Royce is the first company to sign up to a supercomputing brokerage scheme, giving it access to £60m worth of high-performance computing

• July 07, 2015 07 Jul'15

  Campaigners call for independent inquiry into Post Office Horizon IT system dispute

  George Freeman MP repeats Post Office claims that a report found no flaws in the Horizon IT system – but campaigners respond by calling for an inquiry

• July 06, 2015 06 Jul'15

  NCA signs cyber crime-busting MoU with Trend Micro

  Landmark MoU will formalise and extend security firm Trend Micro’s co-operative partnership with the NCA

• July 06, 2015 06 Jul'15

  East Sussex NHS data loss highlights insider threat

  The latest loss of patient data by an NHS trust underlines research that around a third of data breaches are caused either accidentally or maliciously by employees

• July 06, 2015 06 Jul'15

  Genomics England rejects open source to deploy EMC Isilon HPC storage

  100,000 Genomes Project rejects building open-source parallel file system on x86 servers and opts for EMC Isilon clustered NAS deployed by Capita S3

• July 03, 2015 03 Jul'15

  Let’s get real about decryption, says GCHQ tech director

  There needs to be more “honesty” in the discussion around GCHQ’s decryption capabilities, according to the agency's Ian Levy

• July 03, 2015 03 Jul'15

  Camden Council uses IBM data analytics to beat austerity

  Camden Council has used data integration to link council systems, enabling it to cut waste and improve efficiency – and saving £93m in the process

• July 02, 2015 02 Jul'15

  BT Security chief predicts big challenges ahead, despite progress

  Cyber security is a big opportunity, not just a threat and by systematically applying security controls defenders are raising the bar, according to BT Security chief