News

IT for government and public sector

• August 19, 2025 19 Aug'25

  Google spins up agentic SOC to speed up incident management

  Google Cloud elaborates on its vision for securing artificial intelligence unveiling new protections and capabilities across its product suite

• August 19, 2025 19 Aug'25

  US says UK has agreed to drop encryption ‘backdoor’ demands against Apple

  US and UK end diplomatic row over UK encryption ‘backdoor’ order against Apple, but it remains unclear whether Apple will restore advanced encryption services to UK users

• August 18, 2025 18 Aug'25

  Workday hit in wave of social engineering attacks

  A campaign of voice-based social engineering attacks targeting users of Salesforce’s services appears to have struck HR platform Workday

• August 15, 2025 15 Aug'25

  UK cyber leaders feel impact of Trump cutbacks

  The ripple effects of US cyber security cutbacks have reached this side of the Atlantic, according to a report

• August 15, 2025 15 Aug'25

  Whitehall IT projects face complex challenges, Nista report finds

  The annual report from the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority gives major police IT project ‘red’ rating, while several others are rated ‘amber’, including Gov.uk One Login and Making Tax Digital

• August 13, 2025 13 Aug'25

  Fujitsu orders staff to retain Post Office-related documentation as it braces for legal action

  Japanese supplier tells all UK staff to preserve documents related to its work with the Post Office

• August 13, 2025 13 Aug'25

  ODI tells EU to balance AI safeguards with innovation promotion

  The Open Data Institute has published a manifesto to guide European Union data and artificial intelligence policy formation

• August 12, 2025 12 Aug'25

  Eight critical RCE flaws make Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday list

  Microsoft rolls out fixes for over 100 CVEs in its August Patch Tuesday update

• August 12, 2025 12 Aug'25

  Researchers firm up ShinyHunters, Scattered Spider link

  ReliaQuest researchers present new evidence that firms up a potential link, or outright partnership, between the ShinyHunters and Scattered Spider cyber gangs

• August 12, 2025 12 Aug'25

  UK work visa sponsors are target of phishing campaign

  Mimecast identifies a phishing campaign targeting UK organisations that sponsor migrant workers and students, opening the door to account compromise and visa fraud

• August 11, 2025 11 Aug'25

  McCullough Review into PSNI spying on journalists and lawyers delayed

  Angus McCullough KC is to present findings of an independent review of police spying on phone data of lawyers, journalists and NGOs in Northern Ireland in October  

• August 11, 2025 11 Aug'25

  Watching the watchers: Is the Technical Advisory Panel a match for MI5, MI6 and GCHQ?

  Dame Muffy Calder is chair of the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP), a small group of experts that advises the Investigatory Powers Commissioner on surveillance technology. Do they have what it takes to oversee the intelligence community?

• August 06, 2025 06 Aug'25

  Government looks at tech to tackle peak electricity demand

  Forecasting, AI, smart meters and electrical vehicle batteries are part of an ambitious project to reduce the use of fossil fuels on the UK's energy grid

• August 06, 2025 06 Aug'25

  Black Hat USA: Startup breaks secrets management tools

  Researchers at Cyata, an agentic identity specialist that has just emerged from stealth, found 14 CVEs in the widely used CyberArk Conjur and HashiCorp Vault enterprise secrets management platforms

• August 06, 2025 06 Aug'25

  Cyber criminals would prefer businesses don’t use Okta

  Okta details a phishing campaign in which the threat actor demonstrated some unusually strong opinions on what authentication methods they would like their targets to use

• August 06, 2025 06 Aug'25

  Companies House ID verification to start in November 2025

  Companies House plans to start vetting director identities from mid-November, but its reliance on the troubled One Login digital identity service may be cause for concern

• August 06, 2025 06 Aug'25

  NCSC updates CNI Cyber Assessment Framework

  Updates to the NCSC’s Cyber Assessment Framework are designed to help providers of critical services better manage their risk profiles

• August 06, 2025 06 Aug'25

  Australian scaleup to bring AI-led data protection to the MoD

  The UK’s Ministry of Defence is embracing AI-led data protection in the wake of a major privacy breach, enlisting Australian cyber firm Castlepoint Systems to oversee sensitive records

• August 05, 2025 05 Aug'25

  Attacker could defeat Dell firmware flaws with a vegetable

  Cisco Talos discloses five vulnerabilities in cyber security firmware used on Dell Latitude and Precision devices, including one that could enable an attacker to log on with a spring onion

• August 04, 2025 04 Aug'25

  Black Hat USA: Halcyon and Sophos tag-team ransomware fightback

  Ransomware experts Halcyon and Sophos are to pool their expertise in ransomware, working together to enhance data- and intelligence-sharing and bringing more comprehensive protection to customers

• August 04, 2025 04 Aug'25

  Proliferation of on-premise GenAI platforms is widening security risks

  Research finds increased adoption of unsanctioned generative artificial intelligence platforms is magnifying risk and causing a headache for security teams

• August 01, 2025 01 Aug'25

  Met Police to double facial recognition use amid budget cuts

  The UK’s largest police force is massively expanding its use of live facial recognition technology as it prepares to lose 1,700 officers and staff

• August 01, 2025 01 Aug'25

  Ministry of Justice unveils strategy for safe, secure AI

  A new chief AI officer, together with a framework co-developed with the Alan Turing Institute, form part of a three-year AI action plan at the MoJ

• July 30, 2025 30 Jul'25

  Scattered Spider tactics continue to evolve, warn cyber cops

  CISA, the FBI, NCSC and others have clubbed together to update previous guidance on Scattered Spider's playbook, warning of new social engineering tactics and exploitation of legitimate tools, among other things

• July 30, 2025 30 Jul'25

  MS Authenticator users face passkey crunch time

  The deadline for moving to passkeys in Microsoft Authenticator is rapidly approaching, and users are advised to take action now

• July 30, 2025 30 Jul'25

  AI-enabled security pushes down breach costs for UK organisations

  Organisations that are incorporating AI and automation into their cyber security practice are seeing improved outcomes when incidents occur, according to an IBM study

• July 29, 2025 29 Jul'25

  Austrian government faces likely legal challenge over state spyware

  Civil society groups are talking to opposition MPs about bringing a legal challenge to the Austrian constitutional court over ‘state trojan’ law

• July 29, 2025 29 Jul'25

  European Commission ignores calls to reassess Israel data adequacy

  The European Commission is ignoring calls to reassess Israel’s data adequacy status in spite of concerns raised about its data protection framework and use of personal data in ‘repressive practices’

• July 29, 2025 29 Jul'25

  Global cyber spend will top $200bn this year, says Gartner

  Worldwide spending on cyber security will hit another record high in 2025, and will go higher still next year

• July 28, 2025 28 Jul'25

  European digital market figurehead pleads to Westminster

  Big EU industry joins with Europhile MP to persuade obstinate government officials to join the dataspaces intended to become the bedrock of Europe’s digital single market

• July 24, 2025 24 Jul'25

  US seeks ‘unquestioned’ AI dominance

  US AI action plan sets out aims to expand American dominance in the world of artificial intelligence

• July 24, 2025 24 Jul'25

  SharePoint users hit by Warlock ransomware, says Microsoft

  Microsoft’s security analysts confirm a number of cyber attacks on on-premise SharePoint Server users involve ransomware

• July 24, 2025 24 Jul'25

  Dutch researchers use heartbeat detection to unmask deepfakes

  Dutch method to counter deepfakes analyses blood flow patterns in faces that current deepfake generation tools cannot yet replicate

• July 23, 2025 23 Jul'25

  WhatsApp is refused right to intervene in Apple legal action on encryption ‘backdoors’

  Investigatory Powers Tribunal to hear arguments in public over lawfulness of secret UK order requiring Apple to give UK law enforcement access to users’ encrypted data stored on the Apple iCloud

• July 22, 2025 22 Jul'25

  Microsoft confirms China link to SharePoint hacks

  Microsoft confirms two known China-nexus threat actors, and one other suspected state-backed hacking group, are exploiting vulnerabilities in SharePoint Server

• July 22, 2025 22 Jul'25

  Chinese cyber spies among those linked to SharePoint attacks

  Exploitation of the ToolShell RCE zero-day in Microsoft SharePoint continues to gather pace, with evidence emerging of exploitation by nation state-backed threat actors

• July 22, 2025 22 Jul'25

  UK government to bring in ransomware payment ban

  Critical infrastructure operators, hospitals, local councils and schools will be among those banned from giving in to cyber criminal demands as the UK moves forward with proposals to address the scourge of ransomware

• July 22, 2025 22 Jul'25

  UK government signs partnership with OpenAI

  Deal sees firm behind ChatGPT collaborate with government on AI security research to explore investment opportunities

• July 22, 2025 22 Jul'25

  The Bank of England’s quiet ‘Big Bang’

  The Bank of England has completed its generational project to replace part of the UK’s critical infrastructure, which went unnoticed beyond the sector it underpins

• July 22, 2025 22 Jul'25

  Fresh allegations of ‘sustained’ police and MI5 surveillance against BBC reporters

  The Investigatory Powers Tribunal is investigating claims that police spied on the phone of investigative journalist Chris Moore amid further claims of a sustained monitoring operation against BBC reporters in Northern Ireland between 2006 and 2022

• July 21, 2025 21 Jul'25

  UK may be seeking to pull back from Apple encryption row with US

  UK government officials say that attempts by the Home Office to require Apple to introduce ‘backdoors’ to its secure encrypted storage service will cross US red lines

• July 21, 2025 21 Jul'25

  Patch ToolShell SharePoint zero-day immediately, says Microsoft

  The active exploitation of a dangerous zero-day vulnerability chain in Microsoft SharePoint – which was disclosed over the weekend – is underway. Immediate action is advised

• July 21, 2025 21 Jul'25

  The Security Interviews: Jason Nurse, University of Kent

  Jason Nurse, reader in cyber security at the University of Kent, discusses the psychological side of cyber and online safety, why placing blame on users as ‘the weakest link’ is wrong – and why security pros should think about user needs more

• July 21, 2025 21 Jul'25

  Government consults public on self-driving vehicles

  The consultation will inform the creation of laws and regulations for autonomous vehicles as the government aims to begin piloting self-driving taxis in spring 2026

• July 18, 2025 18 Jul'25

  NCSC exposes Fancy Bear's Authentic Antics malware attacks

  Amid a new round of UK government sanctions targeting Moscow's intelligence apparatus, the NCSC has formally attributed attacks orchestrated with a cleverly-designed malware to the GRU's Fancy Bear cyber unit

• July 18, 2025 18 Jul'25

  DWP accused of shielding AI deployments from public scrutiny

  Amnesty International and Big Brother Watch say Department for Work and Pensions’ ‘unchecked’ and opaque use of AI in the UK benefits system treats claimants as suspicious and is shielded from public scrutiny

• July 18, 2025 18 Jul'25

  Is history repeating itself with the government’s push to open public sector cloud deals to SMEs?

  The UK government wants to help public sector IT buyers do away with legacy tech and migrate to the cloud, with the help of a soon-to-be-launched procurement marketplace. But haven’t we heard all this before?

• July 18, 2025 18 Jul'25

  Peer warns IT suppliers against partnering with Fujitsu in government contracts

  According to publicly available figures, Fujitsu has won over half a billion pounds in government business as prime contractor since January 2024, but there is more than what has been reported

• July 18, 2025 18 Jul'25

  First Post Office Capture conviction referred to Court of Appeal

  A former Capture software user’s 1998 theft conviction is the first to be referred to the Court of Appeal

• July 17, 2025 17 Jul'25

  UK government plans to ramp up sovereign computer capacity

  Isambard-AI and Dawn are two of the supercomputers that mark the beginning of the UK’s goal to deliver 420 Exaflops of computer by 2030