News

IT for government and public sector

• October 28, 2015 28 Oct'15

  Ministry of Defence hoarding £38.5m worth of unused IPv4 addresses

  A Freedom of Information request by network control specialist Infoblox has revealed that the MoD is hoarding millions of pounds worth of unused IPv4 addresses, while the UK government remains woefully unprepared for IPv6

• October 28, 2015 28 Oct'15

  Government will tackle barriers to sharing and linking data, says Cabinet Office minister Hancock

  Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock highlights transparency, open data and disruptive technology as key to delivering better public services for less expenditure

• October 27, 2015 27 Oct'15

  Public trust is key to sharing health data successfully, says Fiona Caldicott

  Sharing healthcare data could deliver better care for patients, but people must be allowed to assess the benefits and risks themselves, says Caldicott

• October 27, 2015 27 Oct'15

  More than 70% of teachers still think students are better at using tech

  Teachers are still struggling to adapt to the new curriculum, and more than 70% believe their students are more technology-savvy than they are

• October 27, 2015 27 Oct'15

  Online extortion set to increase in 2016, says Trend Micro

  2016 will see continued growth in cyber extortion, hacktivism and mobile malware, alongside a shift to an offensive cyber security posture for governments and corporations, say researchers

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Post Office looking for IT head as CIO quits

  Post Office CIO Lesley Sewell will leave the organisation in November 2015, with an interim IT chief appointed until a permanent replacement is recruited

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Security Serious Week kicks off in London

  Some 70 organisations and more than 50 cyber crime and security experts are supporting Security Serious Week to help others become more security savvy and cyber aware

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Adur and Worthing councils take low-code approach to digital

  Adur and Worthing councils are moving away from legacy systems operating in silos to a low-code local government as a platform

• October 23, 2015 23 Oct'15

  Ex-government digital chief Mike Bracken brings GDS colleagues to Co-operative Group

  Mike Bracken, former government digital chief, has outlined his plans for digital transformation in his role at the Co-operative Group

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  How the Cabinet Office is using open data to tackle youth unemployment

  The Cabinet Office invited IT professionals and young people to a Job Hack event with the aim of using open government datasets to help more young people into work

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  Future GDS plans to be announced before Christmas 2015

  The Government Digital Service (GDS) will publish further plans on the future of digital government by Christmas 2015

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  Bain & Company to help HMRC move away from Aspire contract

  HMRC has awarded its transformation partner contract to Bain & Company to help the department transition away from the Aspire outsourcing deal

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  Kent signs £23m digital services contract with Agilisys

  Agilisys to manage Kent County Council's digital services and customer contact in a six-year contract

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  Police and industry to tackle cyber crime together, says TechUK

  A TechUK report calls for collaboration between police and industry to raise standards of reporting, recording and responding to cyber crime

• October 21, 2015 21 Oct'15

  James Arbuthnot takes Post Office IT fight to House of Lords

  James Arbuthnot takes his seat in the House of Lords and continues campaign for subpostmasters who claim to have been wronged by faulty Horizon IT system

• October 21, 2015 21 Oct'15

  Stuxnet: A wake-up call for nuclear cyber security

  There is no way for nuclear operators to manage threats such as Stuxnet as they are beyond normal risk analysis, according to industry expert Andrea Cavina

• October 20, 2015 20 Oct'15

  CIO interview: Steve Watt, University of St Andrews

  CIOs at universities have very demanding clients in the form of tech-savvy students, but this is only part of the story, explains University of St Andrews CIO Steve Watts

• October 20, 2015 20 Oct'15

  Government publishes graduate earnings data

  UK government plans to publish anonymised datasets on earnings cross-referenced with university records to inform students of the earning potential of courses

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  David Cameron faces personal headache over Safe Harbour

  The UK “intervened strongly” in the legal challenge brought by Austrian law student Max Schrems that ruled Safe Harbour invalid, jeopardising data sharing between Europe and the US

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  HMRC VAT rules cut cloud costs by 20% for NHS and government departments

  An HMRC ruling on reclaiming tax on cloud services could drive up the use of off-premise technologies in the public sector

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  Turning data into action still tricky for Australia's data scientists

  Australian businesses need to change their attitudes towards data scientists if they are to unshackle the benefits of data

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  China hacked US firms despite cyber pact, says CrowdStrike

  Hackers linked to the Chinese government have attempted to hack into at least five US technology and two pharmaceutical firms, according to security researchers

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  CBI wants government to focus on innovation spend

  The Confederation of British Industry wants government to create a strategy to boost technology adoption and continue to digitise public services

• October 16, 2015 16 Oct'15

  Social media the main cyber terror threat facing the UK, says former MI6 officer

  Social media is the most powerful cyber tool terror groups use, counter-terrorist expert Richard Barret tells the London First Global Resilience Summit 2015

• October 16, 2015 16 Oct'15

  ONS cyber crime stats 'tip of iceberg', say experts

  Adding the traditional and cyber crime estimates together gives a total of 14.5 million for the past year, which is below the 1995 peak of 19 million, but well above last year’s estimate

• October 16, 2015 16 Oct'15

  Uninstall Adobe Flash, experts advise as zero-day hits

  A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Flash Player 19.0.0.207 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux

• October 15, 2015 15 Oct'15

  GDS payments platform Gov.uk Pay to start taking real payments

  GDS launches beta version of payment system that aims to provide standardised electronic payments for public services

• October 15, 2015 15 Oct'15

  CEOs want CIOs to stop using jargon and focus on business needs

  Chief executives want CIOs to stop using 'tech speak' and improve collaborative working, according to a report from not-for-profit organisation Eduserv

• October 15, 2015 15 Oct'15

  Technologies to consider when renewing an IT services contract

  Technology changes quickly, so organisations should ensure flexibility is built into IT services contracts to avoid missing out on the benefits of the latest advances

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  Snowden showed need for new laws, says former MI5 director

  There is a lot of work to be done in building trust and accountability in the wake of the Snowden revelations, says former MI5 director

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  HS2 and Crossrail site to deliver high-tech innovations

  The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation partners with HyperCatCity to embrace smart technologies to create “an exciting and thriving place”

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  NHS 24 IT system runs two years behind and £41m over budget

  A two-year delay and 55% increase in costs for the IT system of NHS 24 compromises its chances of meeting financial targets, according to an Audit Scotland report

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  Staff have IT skills but there aren’t enough of us, say public sector workers

  Public sector IT leaders say the people they have are appropriately skilled, but there is not enough staff in public sector organisations to get things done

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  NCA warns UK of serious cyber attack on financial companies

  Hackers target global financial institutions and payment systems with Dridex malware, with UK losses estimated at £20m, warns the National Crime agency (NCA)

• October 13, 2015 13 Oct'15

  TfL appoints 12 companies for IT systems framework

  Capita, CSC, Atos and CGI are among the firms on TfL’s IT systems framework contract, which is worth between £80m and £95m

• October 13, 2015 13 Oct'15

  Somerset MP brands council incompetent over BDUK fiasco

  MPs whose constituencies have been affected by Connecting Devon and Somerset’s decision to throw out its Phase 2 BDUK contract have hit out over council mismanagement

• October 13, 2015 13 Oct'15

  Australia expands communication data retention programme

  Australia has introduced a communications data retention law along the same lines proposed for UK legislation, despite opposition from citizens

• October 13, 2015 13 Oct'15

  MPs weigh in over future of Openreach during superfast broadband debate

  MPs have their say on the future of Openreach, with many agreeing it would benefit broadband competition and investment if it were split from the BT group

• October 12, 2015 12 Oct'15

  Encryption is a double-edged sword, says Blue Coat

  Seven more security suppliers join Blue Coat encrypted traffic management programme amid fresh warnings of attackers using encryption to hide malicious activity

• October 12, 2015 12 Oct'15

  Data breach hits Dow Jones

  Hackers may have accessed the payment card details of up to 3,500 customers, warns finance publisher Dow Jones

• October 09, 2015 09 Oct'15

  Lack of trust for banks causes NHS rethink over government online identity scheme

  NHS trials of the Verify ID assurance system found patients concerned over using banks to allow access to medical data

• October 09, 2015 09 Oct'15

  Sussex college dumps EMC for hyper-converged Scale Computing HC3

  St Richard’s Catholic College deploys Scale Computing hyper-converged HC3 clusters to get log-in times down from more than two minutes to 30 seconds, saving £200,000 in the process

• October 09, 2015 09 Oct'15

  Another senior GDS leader bites the dust

  Deputy chief technology officer Magnus Falk is the latest senior leader to leave GDS after chief Mike Bracken announced his departure

• October 09, 2015 09 Oct'15

  California adopts landmark law protecting digital privacy

  New California state legislation aims to ensure digital data has the same kinds of protection applied to non-digital communications

• October 09, 2015 09 Oct'15

  UK digital economy needs 2.3 million digital workers by 2020

  The UK will need the skills of 2.3 million digital workers by 2020 if it hopes to power the promised digital economy, according to research from O2

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  Gloucester City Council extends Civica IT outsourcing deal

  The council’s outsourcing deal with Civica will not end until October 2021, as it signs a three-year extension contract

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  Scottish Natural Heritage logs onto Capita’s Swan

  Scottish Natural Heritage has joined the Scottish Wide Area Network, the national public services network being delivered by Capita IT Enterprise Services

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  DWP looks to Facebook and LinkedIn for social services' digital future

  The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says it intends to learn from social networking firms and use external data to better understand people's lives

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  Estonian government IT initiative increases virtual population

  Estonia is leading the way when it comes to providing easy and secure access to government services for citizens and foreigners alike

• October 07, 2015 07 Oct'15

  Interview: Nils Knutsson, senior advisor public sector, Tieto

  Tieto executive Nils Knutsson is an expert in Swedish public sector IT. In this interview he tells Computer Weekly about the IT challenges and opportunities for Sweden's public sector

• October 06, 2015 06 Oct'15

  EU Safe Harbour ruling requires a rethink of data processes

  The European Court of Justice's decision to invalidate the Safe Harbour agreement has far-reaching implications for businesses

• October 06, 2015 06 Oct'15

  ICO orders Welsh council to improve data protection

  Anne Jones, assistant commissioner for Wales at the ICO, said it is not acceptable for an organisation to disregard the findings of audits or fail to deliver promised improvements

• October 06, 2015 06 Oct'15

  Max Schrems welcomes ECJ ruling that Safe Harbour is invalid

  The European Court of Justice declares the Safe Harbour framework invalid as a mechanism to legitimise transfers of personal data from the EU to the US

• October 05, 2015 05 Oct'15

  Facebook ruling not only landmark data protection case in Europe, say experts

  A landmark ruling against Slovakia-based website Weltimmo could impact the Max Schrems case against Facebook and new European data protection rules currently being finalised

• October 05, 2015 05 Oct'15

  Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2015: Shortlist announced

  Find out who made the shortlist for this year's Best of VMworld Europe User Awards, which is set to take place on Tuesday 13 October at VMworld, Barcelona

• October 05, 2015 05 Oct'15

  DVLA brings IT back in-house after decades of outsourcing

  After the DVLA's two-year project to bring its IT back in-house, its outsourcing strategy – set up during the Thatcher years – came to an end in September 2015

• October 05, 2015 05 Oct'15

  Most nuclear plants not prepared for cyber attack, says Chatham House

  The cyber threat to nuclear facilities is indicative of the threat to much of all critical infrastructure, says cyber security expert Alan Woodward

• October 03, 2015 03 Oct'15

  What to consider when IT outsourcing contracts come up for renewal

  Outsourcing contracts worth billions of pounds come up for renewal over the next few years – but unprecedented industry change complicates the CIO's decision

• October 02, 2015 02 Oct'15

  Collaboration needed to drive IT in Finland’s local government

  Finland's local government organisations need to improve their IT operations if they are to cut costs and become more efficient. Formailsed roles and collaboration with other authorities would help.

• October 02, 2015 02 Oct'15

  Disabled consumers significantly more likely to be digitally excluded

  Ofcom research on disabled consumers’ access to and use of communications devices and services find a large number are digitally disconnected

• October 01, 2015 01 Oct'15

  London launches cyber defence centre for small businesses

  The London Digital Security Centre has been set up by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime as part of the mayor’s business crime strategy

• October 01, 2015 01 Oct'15

  Facebook court judgement threatens Safe Harbour data-sharing agreement with US

  The European Court of Justice (ECJ) could torpedo the EU/US Safe Harbour agreement following the US National Security Agency's (NSA) mass surveillance on EU citizens using Facebook data

• September 30, 2015 30 Sep'15

  The next steps for digital government - a question of accountability

  The Government Digital Service (GDS) enters a new phase, with the departure of chief Mike Bracken and a different relationship with Whitehall in the future

• September 29, 2015 29 Sep'15

  Two thirds of UK businesses never meet important customers

  British businesses don't always meet their best customers or the people they do most business with, because of trends in modern technology

• September 29, 2015 29 Sep'15

  Universal Credit digital service moves into the cloud

  New system under trial in south London has been migrated to an IaaS platform ready for further roll-out

• September 28, 2015 28 Sep'15

  Australian telecoms industry welcomes replacement communications minister

  Australian prime minister names Mitch Fifield as minister for communications

• September 25, 2015 25 Sep'15

  UK and US governments announce digital collaboration

  The US and UK have announced plans to work together on digital government initiatives

• September 25, 2015 25 Sep'15

  Government Digital Service readies for change as its chief Mike Bracken prepares to leave

  GDS is setting up executive training for senior civil servants and looking to work closely with departments to continue the digital transformation of Whitehall

• September 23, 2015 23 Sep'15

  Metropolitan Police Service’s £240m network procurement opens for tenders

  London’s Metropolitan Police Service has invited tenders for the supply of network services over a five-year period

• September 23, 2015 23 Sep'15

  Government IT spending to be hit hardest by rising US dollar strength, warns Gartner

  Gartner predicts IT spending declines across all industries and vertical markets during 2015

• September 22, 2015 22 Sep'15

  Industry is 12 months out from mass IoT adoption, says IDC

  An IDC survey of global IT decision-makers reveals that almost three-quarters have either deployed or plan to deploy internet of things systems in the coming year

• September 22, 2015 22 Sep'15

  Business leaders want better digital services from government, says research

  A survey of corporate decision-makers suggests executives waste an average of five hours per week using outdated online public services

• September 22, 2015 22 Sep'15

  DVLA looking for new CIO after completing major insourcing project

  The DVLA is looking for a new CIO as incumbent Iain Patterson completes major insourcing projects and moves back to Cabinet Office

• September 21, 2015 21 Sep'15

  MPs launch inquiry into the UK's digital economy

  Business, Innovation and Skills Committee investigation will examine the challenges facing digital industries

• September 21, 2015 21 Sep'15

  Gigabit network is more than a fringe benefit for city of Edinburgh

  As CityFibre begins a 150km fibre dig in Edinburgh, local businesses and the city council outline their objectives and plans for ultrafast broadband

• September 21, 2015 21 Sep'15

  Labour appoints Chi Onwurah as shadow minister for digital industries

  Former Labour digital government spokeswoman takes on role of shadowing digital economy minister Ed Vaizey, with Louise Haigh taking her old role

• September 21, 2015 21 Sep'15

  Department for Culture, Media and Sport takes over responsibility for data protection policy

  Government transfers responsibility for data protection policy and ICO oversight from Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

• September 18, 2015 18 Sep'15

  Technology drives patient power in Norway

  A health authority in Norway is using technology to help patients understand their conditions and make better decisions

• September 18, 2015 18 Sep'15

  Oxford City Council chooses SCC for 10-year datacentre hosting contract

  Local authority has selected IT services giant SCC to assist with fulfilling its datacentre hosting, infrastructure and server requirements

• September 17, 2015 17 Sep'15

  Head of NCA's cyber crime unit leaves for private sector job

  Andy Archibald, The National Crime Agency’s head of cyber crime leaves to take up a job in the private sector

• September 17, 2015 17 Sep'15

  Rugby World Cup host city Gloucester gets free city Wi-Fi network

  BT tries out a free public wireless network in the centre of Gloucester as the city prepares to host the Rugby World Cup

• September 17, 2015 17 Sep'15

  F-Secure warns of Russian state-supported cyber espionage

  Russian state-sponsored hackers work office hours and target western governments, according to F-Secure report

• September 17, 2015 17 Sep'15

  MI5 chief Andrew Parker: Social networks have a responsibility to spy on users

  MI5 director general Andrew Parker calls for more surveillance powers for the agency and says social networks have a responsibility to report suspicious activity

• September 17, 2015 17 Sep'15

  Singapore general election reveals growing importance of social media

  Organisations in all sectors in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries are recognising the influence of social networking

• September 16, 2015 16 Sep'15

  Datacentre consolidation drive saves US federal agencies $2bn

  IT reforms pushed through by White House spending watchdog generate $3.6bn in overall savings

• September 16, 2015 16 Sep'15

  Defence minister Michael Fallon promises increased MOD spending with SMEs

  Opening up the Ministry of Defence (MOD) supply chain to access SME innovation is vital to meet its technology needs, says secretary for defence Michael Fallon

• September 16, 2015 16 Sep'15

  Australia's tech community has high hopes for digitally-literate prime minister

  Australia's IT community has high hopes for the country's new prime minister who has a strong digital pedigree

• September 15, 2015 15 Sep'15

  Most DDoS attacks hiding something more sinister, Neustar warns

  Smaller DDoS attacks can be more dangerous than a powerful attack that knocks a company offline but does not install malware or steal data, warns Neustar

• September 14, 2015 14 Sep'15

  Civica: Public sector IT needs shake-up

  The government needs to change its IT culture and focus on smarter use of data if it is to deliver its much-needed cost savings

• September 14, 2015 14 Sep'15

  Openreach rivals say no to more Openreach regulation

  Members of the Infrastructure Investors Group pressurise Ofcom to support fairer competition in infrastructure investment with lighter regulation

• September 14, 2015 14 Sep'15

  Scottish Government to launch public services website

  The Scottish Government will launch its mygov.scot website this autumn with the aim of improving access to public services in Scotland

• September 11, 2015 11 Sep'15

  Security industry welcomes GCHQ password guidelines

  GCHQ's guidance on password policy covers some of the most pressing issues facing UK businesses and employees today, according to Skyhigh Networks

• September 11, 2015 11 Sep'15

  Companies House investigates large firms' reluctance to provide open financial data

  The public registrar Companies House wants to understand why FTSE100 organisations have resisted its call to file accounts as open data

• September 11, 2015 11 Sep'15

  DD4BC cyber extortion gang adds social media to arsenal

  Cyber extortion gang DD4BC is using social media campaigns to garner more attention for its ability to create service disruptions by publicly embarrassing large organisations

• September 11, 2015 11 Sep'15

  David Cameron hails Government Digital Service as 'unsung triumph'

  Prime minister David Cameron announces legislation to join up IT across the emergency services, hailing the Government Digital Service (GDS) as a triumph

• September 11, 2015 11 Sep'15

  Ashley Madison data breach escalates with password encryption failure

  At least 15 million improperly encrypted Ashley Madison passwords are reported crackable, with enormous implications for members and their employers

• September 10, 2015 10 Sep'15

  Government-backed IoTUK programme launches

  IoTUK programme is backed by £40m of government funding and will explore how the internet of things can be used to enable growth and improve quality of life

• September 09, 2015 09 Sep'15

  Open Data Institute: Public sector could save money using SME consultancies

  The Open Data Institute (ODI) investigates public sector spending on consultancy services from large and small companies

• September 09, 2015 09 Sep'15

  Transport for London awards O2 mobile networking services contract

  Three-year services contract will see mobile network operator O2 supply bespoke mobile services and devices to Transport for London (TfL)

• September 09, 2015 09 Sep'15

  Government Digital Service builds in-house PaaS to host government services

  Industry watchers query why the Government Digital Service (GDS) decided to build its own cloud platform, when many commercially available options exist