News

IT for government and public 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

• September 09, 2015 09 Sep'15

  Early plans for Universal Credit show DWP expected to complete project in two years

  An early plan drawn up by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for its Universal Credit scheme reveals unrealistic ambitions for the troubled project

• September 08, 2015 08 Sep'15

  Burnley Council signs 10-year IT outsourcing deal with Liberata

  Burnley Council is the latest to outsource its IT services in a bid to save money

• September 08, 2015 08 Sep'15

  Cornwall Council and BT to meet in court over botched outsourcing deal

  Cornwall Council and BT will meet in the High Court in December 2015 as the council attempts to end its £260m outsourcing deal with the company

• September 08, 2015 08 Sep'15

  Open-data incubator for Europe Odine hands out €650,000 to seven startups

  Odine – an open-data incubator involving the Open Data Institute – has awarded €650,000 to seven European businesses

• September 08, 2015 08 Sep'15

  CityFibre ousts BT from Edinburgh Council WAN

  Edinburgh City Council to connect 294 of its sites to CityFibre’s Edinburgh Core fibre network as it ends a long-term contract with BT

• September 04, 2015 04 Sep'15

  US State Department plans cyber security playbook

  The US State Department issues a request for information to determine the capabilities of commercial industry to provide and maintain a cyber security playbook

• September 04, 2015 04 Sep'15

  US cracks down on mobile phone tracking by federal agencies

  For years, the FBI has sought to keep secret information about stingrays that can be used to determine mobile phone location by spoofing a mobile cell tower

• September 03, 2015 03 Sep'15

  CCGs to submit paper-free roadmap footprint to NHS England by end of October

  Clinical commissioning groups will have to start work on going digital across their local health economies and submit project templates by the end of October

• September 03, 2015 03 Sep'15

  HSCIC launches cyber security service for health and care

  The Health and Social Care Information Centre sets up cyber security service as sexual health clinic accidentally releases patients’ information

• September 02, 2015 02 Sep'15

  Patients to access full GP medical records online by 2016

  Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has promised full online access to medical records, a review of data security standards and a new opt-out model for Care.data

• September 02, 2015 02 Sep'15

  Islington and Camden Councils set out shared IT services plans

  London councils want to tackle the government's austerity measures through adopting shared IT services model by April 2016

• September 02, 2015 02 Sep'15

  GDS sees “significant demand” for government’s unused IPv4 addresses

  GDS says it has released some value from the sale of unused IPv4 addresses belonging to the Department of Work and Pensions

• September 02, 2015 02 Sep'15

  Four in five G-Cloud buyers fail to share savings data with government, FOI response reveals

  FOI response reveals four in five G-Cloud buyers are failing to share details of the savings they have made through using the framework

• September 02, 2015 02 Sep'15

  NHS England to publish interoperability handbook

  Guidance will enable information sharing about patients across different care settings, says head of enterprise architecture Inderjit Singh

• September 01, 2015 01 Sep'15

  DDoS attack on NCA highlights need to be prepared, says Barracuda Networks

  A Lizard Squad DDoS attack the NCA says is a fact of life highlights the need for organisations to be prepared, according to Barracuda Networks

• August 27, 2015 27 Aug'15

  Genomics England to recruit cancer patients for genome sequencing

  Government-funded 100,000-genomes project will begin to recruit cancer patients as part of its Oxford cancer programme

• August 27, 2015 27 Aug'15

  Kellogg Brown and Root wins ESN Delivery Partner contract

  Kellogg Brown and Root has won the contract to supply Lot 1 of the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme

• August 26, 2015 26 Aug'15

  Northern Ireland police to tender for managed IT services contract worth up to £100m

  The Police Service of Northern Ireland hunt for a managed IT services supplier to replace Fujitsu once the current contract expires in 2016

• August 26, 2015 26 Aug'15

  Millennials dissatisfied with online data security, study shows

  Fewer than 5% of UK and US 16 to 35 year olds believe their digital identity is completely protected by effective safeguards

• August 26, 2015 26 Aug'15

  Torbay Council uses Logi Info for budget management

  Council's Jeff Scott explains the authority’s move away from its previous business intelligence software to focus on managing financial data

• August 25, 2015 25 Aug'15

  Barnsley College dumps IBM SANs for Tegile hybrid flash arrays

  IBM DS3200 SANs retired as South Yorkshire college standardises on Tegile hybrid flash arrays in a move that cuts spend on new disk by £30,000 a year

• August 24, 2015 24 Aug'15

  Scottish government launches £9m community broadband project

  Scottish Rural Development Programme will offer grants to community-led fibre broadband projects around Scotland

• August 24, 2015 24 Aug'15

  Edinburgh Council signs £186m IT outsourcing deal with CGI

  Seven-year contract aims to introduce integrated digital services across the authority

• 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