News

IT for government and public sector

June 19, 2014 19 Jun'14
Top European court to rule on NSA Facebook data privacy challenge

Europe’s top court will rule on whether data protection authorities should audit data Facebook allegedly gives to the US National Security Agency
June 18, 2014 18 Jun'14
Don’t let bean counters determine your cloud strategy, says Bank of England CIO

John Finch, the CIO of the Bank of England, warns users to be wary of financial promises made by cloud providers
June 18, 2014 18 Jun'14
Tesco Clubcard founder worried about Care.data

One of Britain’s pioneers of big data has raised his concerns about NHS England’s use of data and its Care.data programme
June 18, 2014 18 Jun'14
Deputy mayor of London wages war on Oracle

Deputy mayor of London for business and enterprise, Kit Malthouse, has waged war on the database giant Oracle over its licensing fees

June 18, 2014 18 Jun'14
GCHQ launches pilot to share cyber threat intelligence

GCHQ is to help critical national infrastructure firms defend against cyber attack in a pilot for sharing threat intelligence
June 18, 2014 18 Jun'14
Interview: G-Cloud director Tony Singleton

The future of G-Cloud is safe, says its director Tony Singleton - and it is only going to grow and become more important for digital government
June 17, 2014 17 Jun'14
Department of Health sets out technology priorities for coming year

The Department of Health (DoH) has outlined changes in the way technology and information will be used over the coming year
June 17, 2014 17 Jun'14
Data sharing key to fighting document fraud, says former cop

Sharing data on lost, stolen and fraudulent identity documents would go a long way to stamping out fraud, says former cop
June 17, 2014 17 Jun'14
HSCIC tightens controls over patient data following data lapse

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) aims to guarantee stricter controls over the use of patient data within the NHS
June 17, 2014 17 Jun'14
UK forced to reveal online snooping policy

A top UK counter-terrorism official has been forced to reveal a secret government policy justifying the mass surveillance of UK citizens

June 17, 2014 17 Jun'14
Iraqi government blocks social media

The government in Iraq is reportedly blocking access to social media sites amid growing armed conflict in the country
June 17, 2014 17 Jun'14
Domino’s breach underlines value of personal data, say experts

The latest cyber breach to hit a high-profile brand underlines the high value of personal data, say security experts
June 17, 2014 17 Jun'14
Cyber security an economic opportunity, says UK government

Cyber security should not be seen as a necessary evil, but an economic opportunity, says UK government
June 16, 2014 16 Jun'14
G-Cloud chief receives OBE in Queen’s birthday honours list

G-Cloud and digital commercial programme director, Tony Singleton, has received an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list
June 16, 2014 16 Jun'14
Technology key to secure document future, says UK Home Office

Physical security is just as important as digital security in documents such as passports, says UK Home Office
June 16, 2014 16 Jun'14
Specsavers appoints Phil Pavitt as global CIO

Specsavers has appointed former Aviva and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) IT chief Phil Pavitt as its new global CIO
June 16, 2014 16 Jun'14
House of Lords sets up Digital Skills Select Committee

The House of Lords has set up a select committee for digital skills
June 16, 2014 16 Jun'14
Government removes G-Cloud from list of risk-monitored projects

The G-Cloud programme has been removed from the Cabinet Office’s portfolio of government projects monitored for risk
June 16, 2014 16 Jun'14
Microsoft admits running out of IP addresses for Azure

Microsoft has assured US Azure customers data remains in the US, despite running out of US-registered IP addresses at times
June 13, 2014 13 Jun'14
Government watchdog set for second investigation into Universal Credit IT

The National Audit Office (NAO) is considering a second investigation into the controversial Universal Credit IT project
June 13, 2014 13 Jun'14
Boards need to get behind application security, says Owasp

CISOs are becoming more concerned about web application security, but there is still a long way to go, says Owasp
June 13, 2014 13 Jun'14
Svpeng Android ransomware targets UK users

A variant of the Svpeng Trojan is holding Android users to ransom in the UK and other English-speaking countries
June 13, 2014 13 Jun'14
Apple’s iOS8 set to improve Wi-Fi privacy

Apple’s iOS8 uses randomly generated MAC addresses in scanning for Wi-Fi to make it difficult for advertisers to spy on users
June 13, 2014 13 Jun'14
Cloud suppliers call for clearer guidelines over revised security classifications

Cloud suppliers have raised concerns over the lack of guidance surrounding the government’s latest security classifications.
June 12, 2014 12 Jun'14
UK business not taking mobile security seriously, survey shows

UK businesses are not taking mobile security seriously despite mounting costs, a survey shows
June 12, 2014 12 Jun'14
Government to launch digital marketplace in September

The government’s digital marketplace is due to go into alpha testing in the coming days, ahead of live user testing in September
June 12, 2014 12 Jun'14
UK calls for global effort to tackle IP theft

The UK is calling for international collaboration to fight piracy and counterfeiting to protect intellectual property
June 12, 2014 12 Jun'14
Twitter suspends TweetDeck over XSS security flaw

Twitter has been forced to suspend its Tweetdeck client temporarily to investigate and fix an XSS security flaw
June 12, 2014 12 Jun'14
Legal net tightens on Prism in the UK as police investigate legality of US interception

The US Prism spying programme faces a potential criminal investigation in the UK following a complaint to police
June 11, 2014 11 Jun'14
Cyber crime a top fraud concern for UK business

Cyber crime is a top fraud concern for UK businesses, according to the latest EY Global Fraud Survey
June 11, 2014 11 Jun'14
Larry Ellison lifts the lid on Oracle's in-memory database

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has taken the wrappers off the company’s in-memory database, trumpeting its 'real-time' performance capability.
June 11, 2014 11 Jun'14
Register to vote online goes live

The latest online transactional service from government has gone live as part of the ‘digital by default’ initiative
June 11, 2014 11 Jun'14
EE drives mobile phone deals with CRM software implementation

Mobile phone operator Everything Everywhere claims a 400% increase in phone deals after rolling out customer relationship management software
June 11, 2014 11 Jun'14
Google to acquire satellite firm Skybox Imaging

Google has confirmed that it is to acquire satellite firm Skybox Imaging in a $500m deal
June 11, 2014 11 Jun'14
Evernote hit by DDoS attack

US-based online note-taking and storage firm Evernote has restored services after being hit by a DDoS attack
June 10, 2014 10 Jun'14
How the FBI is using technology to put customers first

Businesses and public sector organisations are under pressure to use technology to put the needs of customers first
June 10, 2014 10 Jun'14
Government claims further £200m in digital savings

The government has claimed a further £200m worth of savings from digital over the past year
June 10, 2014 10 Jun'14
CGI to support UK radiation monitoring network

CGI will provide application support services to the UK’s Radioactive Incident Monitoring Network (RMNET 3) in a four-year deal
June 10, 2014 10 Jun'14
UK finance industry launches cyber security framework

UK finance industry launches a cyber security framework for sharing threat intelligence, testing cyber security and benchmarking service providers
June 10, 2014 10 Jun'14
Continuous monitoring key to retail cyber security, says Ponemon

Retailers should look to continuous monitoring to tackle cyber attacks, according to a Ponemon Institute survey of IT security professionals
June 09, 2014 09 Jun'14
Cybercrime costs business £265bn a year, report reveals

Cybercrime costs worldwide business an estimated at £265bn a year, a study has revealed
June 09, 2014 09 Jun'14
Google plans to flag censored search results

Google plans to indicate when search results have been censored under European right to be forgotten ruling
June 09, 2014 09 Jun'14
Turing Test 2014 marks historic milestone in artificial intelligence

A computer program has made history by passing the artificial intelligence test set by computer science pioneer Alan Turing
June 06, 2014 06 Jun'14
DWP begins IT transformational programme

The Department for Work and Pensions is starting the first roll-out of its IT transformational programme
June 06, 2014 06 Jun'14
Web apps are open doors to hackers, says Trend Micro

Web applications are very often an open door to hackers, says security company Trend Micro
June 06, 2014 06 Jun'14
Heartbleed leads to discovery of more OpenSSL flaws

Following Heartbleed, six more OpenSSL vulnerabilties have been discovered
June 06, 2014 06 Jun'14
Microsoft retaliates to China’s Windows 8 spying claims

Microsoft has launched a social media campaign against China’s claims that Windows 8 is being used for US spying
June 05, 2014 05 Jun'14
MPs accuse MPA of disguising Universal Credit in a “veil of secrecy”

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has accused the Major Projects Authority (MPA) of disguising the troubled Universal Credit programme in a “veil of secrecy” by not providing a rating on its current status
June 05, 2014 05 Jun'14
Microsoft calls for US to respect privacy

Microsoft has taken its strongest stance to date against the US government’s far reaching snooping laws
June 05, 2014 05 Jun'14
G-Cloud is lacklustre and needs transparency, says industry body CIF

Industry body blames G-Cloud's lack of transparency for poor uptake of cloud by public sector organisations
June 05, 2014 05 Jun'14
2015 general election manifestos need IT in their DNA

All the major political parties must put IT at the core of their manifestos, with policies to support IT for individuals, businesses and the government, says an influential think-tank
June 05, 2014 05 Jun'14
CIOs should 'leave innovation to marketing'

CIOs should focus on managing the technical infrastructure and leave innovation to other parts of the business – conclusion of a major study.
June 04, 2014 04 Jun'14
Gloucester City Council outsources IT

Gloucester City Council is aiming to save £600,000 through a contract with Civica to provide IT services for six years
June 04, 2014 04 Jun'14
Revised EU data protection in effect already, says lawyer

Proposed changes to European Union (EU) data protection laws are already in effect, says privacy lawyer Stewart Room
June 04, 2014 04 Jun'14
Turkey finally restores access to YouTube

Turkey has restored access to YouTube, two months after banning the site and attempting to block access to it
June 03, 2014 03 Jun'14
Most data security relatively simple, says NHS security officer

Most of data security is relatively simple, says NHS trust information security officer Derrick Bates
June 03, 2014 03 Jun'14
Met Office swaps Oracle for PostgreSQL

UK weather service the Met Office has started swapping Oracle for Postgre SQL in a strategy to deploy more open source technology
June 03, 2014 03 Jun'14
Councils spent less than 1% of IT budget on G-Cloud

Less than 1% of the £440m spent on IT by 26 county councils was invested in services on the G-Cloud public sector app store, says IT supplier
June 03, 2014 03 Jun'14
European retail data breaches largely hidden, SC Congress told

European data breaches in retail and other sectors are largely hidden due to a lack of breach disclosure laws
June 03, 2014 03 Jun'14
Coventry to become gigabit city with core metro fibre upgrade

Coventry City Council entrusts upgrade of its 140km Coventry Core metro fibre network to CityFibre
June 03, 2014 03 Jun'14
Russian cyber crime kingpin sought after worldwide server raids

Businesses urged to take action after a worldwide raid on GameOver Zeus servers
June 02, 2014 02 Jun'14
Clearswift bets on adaptive redaction technology

Clearswift is betting on adaptive redaction to secure best-of-breed rating in content-aware data loss prevention
June 02, 2014 02 Jun'14
Top firms failing on security awareness training, CISOs reveal

Top companies are failing to provide cyber security awareness training to employees, a poll of CISOs reveals
June 02, 2014 02 Jun'14
Cyber threats hiding in plain sight, says Palo Alto Networks

Cyber attackers exploit commonly used business applications to bypass security controls, research shows
May 30, 2014 30 May'14
Highways Agency selects Lockheed Martin for application refresh

The Highways Agency has signed a two-year contract with Lockheed Martin to modernise its applications.
May 30, 2014 30 May'14
UK shoe retailer Office hit by data breach

Data breach at UK shoe retailer Office prompts calls for online firms to beef up security around customer details
May 30, 2014 30 May'14
IT supplier insolvencies fall for first time as economy recovers

Technology companies have reached a turning point as insolvencies fall for the first time in 2014
May 30, 2014 30 May'14
Turkey’s constitutional court rules against YouTube block

Turkey’s constitutional court has ruled that a government block on YouTube violates laws on freedom of expression
May 30, 2014 30 May'14
Google launches right-to-be-forgotten application form

Google has introduced an online application form for Europeans who want personal data to be removed from online search results
May 29, 2014 29 May'14
The challenges of going digital at the DVLA

The DVLA is seen as one of the early adopters in the public sector drive to provide digital services to save government £1.8bn per year
May 29, 2014 29 May'14
UK National Cyber Crime Unit open to business

The UK's National Cyber Crime Unit is open to working with the private sector, says deputy director Andy Archibald
May 28, 2014 28 May'14
Smart city specialist GOWEX brings free public Wi-Fi to Tyneside

Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council go halves on a public Wi-Fi network to be installed by ‘smart city’ network provider GOWEX
May 28, 2014 28 May'14
Gowex brings free public Wi-Fi to Tyneside

Newcastle and Gateshead councils go halves on public Wi-Fi network to be installed by ‘smart city’ network provider Gowex
May 28, 2014 28 May'14
Many UK firms failing to identify cyber security risks, says Schillings

Many UK businesses are still failing to identify their true cyber security risks, says risk consulting, law and cyber security firm, Schillings
May 28, 2014 28 May'14
Microsoft warns against hack that allows Windows XP updates

Microsoft has warned against using a hack that enables Windows XP to continue to receive security updates
May 28, 2014 28 May'14
Hacker turned FBI informant spared jail

A former LulzSec hacktivist turned FBI informer has been spared further time in jail for co-operating with authorities
May 28, 2014 28 May'14
Spotify warns of data breach

Music-streaming service Spotify is the latest high-profile online service that has had to admit that it has been hit by a data breach
May 27, 2014 27 May'14
Cloud innovation boosts card data security

Cloud innovation is enabling businesses to access a secure, cost-effective means of protecting sensitive card payment data
May 27, 2014 27 May'14
Android Outlook app has privacy issues, warn researchers

Microsoft’s Outlook.com app for Android is exposing users' data, warn security researchers
May 27, 2014 27 May'14
Apple calls for patent retrial to get bigger payout from Samsung

Apple has asked for a retrial in the hopes of increasing a $119.6m damages payout from rival Samsung
May 27, 2014 27 May'14
FBI informer Hector Xavier Monsegur helps halt over 300 cyber attacks

Prosecutors call for lenience for LulzSec hacktivist Hector Xavier Monsegur, for stopping hundreds of cyber attacks since his arrest
May 23, 2014 23 May'14
More than 20 government IT projects are at serious risk, says watchdog

The government’s project watchdog has warned that more than 20 IT projects require urgent action or reassessing to be delivered successfully
May 23, 2014 23 May'14
Loan management firm deploys data-centric leak prevention

Loan management firm Whitestar has reduced the risk of leaking personal or confidential information by deploying a data-centric classification and encryption system
May 23, 2014 23 May'14
eBay under fire over handling of data breach

eBay is coming under increasing criticism over its handling of the data breach that exposed millions of user records
May 22, 2014 22 May'14
Government to help UK business get cyber security basics right

Government is to launch a scheme soon aimed at helping UK businesses get the basics of cyber security right
May 22, 2014 22 May'14
Milton Keynes to get open access internet of things network

Milton Keynes council teams up with BT and base station builder Neul to build a city-wide internet of things network
May 22, 2014 22 May'14
Anonymous suspects arrested for hacking government websites

Australian police have arrested two suspected members of Anonymous for hacking government and corporate websites
May 22, 2014 22 May'14
Political parties open sites to search engines after Tories' 2013 deletion

The Conservative Party’s deletion and purge of its archive of speeches from internet search engines last October was unique among political parties
May 22, 2014 22 May'14
ZDI outs Microsoft for failing to patch critical IE8 zero-day flaw

A critical flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 has gone unfixed since October 2013, says HP's Zero-Day Initiative
May 21, 2014 21 May'14
Germany leads the internet of things, says Cisco

Cisco's Rob Lloyd says Germany leads the internet of things with its automotive industry, with Israel and Mexico close behind
May 21, 2014 21 May'14
Recruitment firm secures mobile email with containers

Global recruitment firm SThree has boosted productivity through mobilising email using secure containers
May 20, 2014 20 May'14
Businesses increase IT spending at fastest rate for eight years, say IT leaders

IT spending is up, but role of CIOs under threat as companies appoint chief digital officers
May 20, 2014 20 May'14
NHS trust improves processes with secure iPad apps

The Stockport NHS Foundation Trust has boosted efficiency and cut delays and costs using secure applications on tablet computers
May 20, 2014 20 May'14
Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College switches to Google cloud

Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College has migrated to a Google cloud system to support education outside the classroom
May 20, 2014 20 May'14
MPs slam 10 years of poor progress on joined-up IT in justice system

Despite more than 10 years of efforts to join up IT in criminal justice, it is still not possible to share or transfer information electronically, say MPs
May 20, 2014 20 May'14
US cyber criminal jailed for 20 years

US authorities have jailed a cyber criminal for 20 years, for trading in stolen credit cards and identities
May 20, 2014 20 May'14
US charges Chinese military officers with cyber espionage

The US has charged five Chinese military officers with hacking into US companies to steal trade secrets
May 19, 2014 19 May'14
Public sector dominates UK outsourcing so far this year

Public-sector outsourcing accounted for three-quarters of spending in the first three months of this year, according to analyst NelsonHall
May 19, 2014 19 May'14
UK operation nets 17 suspected Blackshades cyber attackers

A UK-wide cyber crime operation has netted 17 suspected users of Blackshades data-stealing malware
May 19, 2014 19 May'14
Retail easy pickings for hackers, says Verizon

Retailers are making it relatively easy for hackers to steal lucrative financial data, says Verizon