News

IT for government and public sector

• January 09, 2014 09 Jan'14

  DWP already struggling to recruit digital skills for Universal Credit IT development

  DWP is already struggling to recruit IT staff with the digital skills it needs – not just for Universal Credit but also other IT projects

• January 09, 2014 09 Jan'14

  Wireless charge gets electric buses on the move in Milton Keynes

  The UK’s first all-electric bus route launches in Milton Keynes, relying on wireless charging to keep the vehicles moving

• January 09, 2014 09 Jan'14

  Sky forced to update porn filter

  Sky has been forced to update its porn filter after it was found to be blocking legitimate file-sharing sites

• January 09, 2014 09 Jan'14

  “Digital government” on track to save £500m

  The government has announced it is on track to save £500m of taxpayer’s money by improving IT efficiency and tackling IT waste

• January 09, 2014 09 Jan'14

  Europeans users of Yahoo have PCs turned into Bitcoin miners

  Some malware distributed by Yahoo’s ad servers in the first week of the year, turned victims’ PCs into bitcoin miners

• January 08, 2014 08 Jan'14

  Universal Credit faces IT skills shortage risk after GDS withdrawal

  The withdrawal of the Government Digital Service (GDS) from work on Universal Credit is one of the major risks for the troubled project over the next 12 months

• January 08, 2014 08 Jan'14

  Apple calls for removal of antitrust compliance monitor

  Apple has called for the removal of antitrust compliance monitor Michael Bromwich, accusing him of personal bias against the company

• January 08, 2014 08 Jan'14

  DWP to spend further £90m on Universal Credit IT system

  Department for Work and Pensions to spend £90m enhancing heavily criticised Universal Credit IT system – much of which will be thrown away

• January 07, 2014 07 Jan'14

  Intel phases out McAfee security brand

  Intel has announced that, as it introduces new security products, it will replace the McAfee brand with that of 'Intel Security'

• January 07, 2014 07 Jan'14

  Security Think Tank: Information security strategy should support the business

  How should Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA and GCHQ influence future information security strategies in the UK?

• January 07, 2014 07 Jan'14

  Pirate Bay plans new censorship-busting browser

  File-sharing site The Pirate Bay plans to take a second censorship-avoiding browser

• January 06, 2014 06 Jan'14

  Universal Credit IT suppliers to be left out of new digital system development

  HP, Accenture, IBM and BT will have 'significantly less' involvement in the digital system developed for full roll-out of the benefits scheme

• January 06, 2014 06 Jan'14

  Infosec Skills, BCS announce winners of Cyber Security Challenge

  Stuart Pringle, Simon Robinson and Robert Wyllie have won over £2,000 of training and a place in the semi-final of the current UK Cyber Security Challenge

• January 06, 2014 06 Jan'14

  NHS collects patient care data from GPs

  NHS England expands patient data collection from hospitals to include general practice, raising data protection questions

• January 06, 2014 06 Jan'14

  Yahoo claims malicious ads under control

  Yahoo says the situation is under control after its advertising network served up malware to thousands of visitors last week

• January 03, 2014 03 Jan'14

  FireEye acquires Mandiant in $1bn deal

  Security firm FireEye has bought Mandiant in a deal worth just over $1bn

• January 03, 2014 03 Jan'14

  Snapchat to implement anti-abuse security measures

  Snapchat is to release an updated version of its app after hackers downloaded usernames and phone numbers for 4.6 million accounts

• January 03, 2014 03 Jan'14

  Facebook faces lawsuit over monitoring private messages

  Facebook is facing a lawsuit that claims it scans the contents of private messages to profile the user’s online activity

• January 02, 2014 02 Jan'14

  Apple denies creating backdoor for NSA

  Apple has denied working with the US National Security Agency to create a backdoor in any of its products

• January 02, 2014 02 Jan'14

  Hacktivists hijack Skype social media accounts

  Hacktivists have hijacked the blog and twitter accounts of Microsoft’s Skype internet voice and video calling service

• January 02, 2014 02 Jan'14

  Snapchat hackers expose details of 4.6 million users

  Hackers have posted the usernames and mobile phone numbers of 4.6 million US Snapchat account holders online

• December 31, 2013 31 Dec'13

  New Year’s Honours hails open data, digital delivery

  A week after Alan Turing was granted a royal pardon, a group of contemporary British IT luminaries has been recognised in the New Year’s Honours list

• December 31, 2013 31 Dec'13

  Top 10 mobile networking stories of 2013

  Computer Weekly takes a look back over the past 12 months at the biggest headlines in the mobile networking industry

• December 30, 2013 30 Dec'13

  Top 10 supplier profiles 2013

  Are you thinking of doing business with an IT technology supplier? Check out our independent profiles of the leading technology companies.

• December 30, 2013 30 Dec'13

  CIO interview: Mike Ives, IT director, University Hospital Southampton

  University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS) has upgraded its wireless infrastructure to enable staff to become more efficient by having a great choice of mobile devices across the hospital.

• December 27, 2013 27 Dec'13

  Snowden: 'A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy'

  Future generations will not have any personal privacy, said Edward Snowden during the Channel 4 Alternative Christmas Message

• December 27, 2013 27 Dec'13

  Top 10 UK cyber security stories of 2013

  Cyber security has moved up the national agenda in the past year, with the UK government paying increasing attention to bolstering UK cyber defences

• December 24, 2013 24 Dec'13

  Top 10 IT security stories of 2013

  The need to evolve IT security strategies to match new and emerging threats has come clearly to the fore in the past year

• December 24, 2013 24 Dec'13

  Top 10 IT outsourcing stories of 2013

  Controversy and outsourcing are never far apart. While the controversy surrounding IT outsourcing is a mere trifle compared with the shenanigans of Serco and G4S, which were accused of overcharging by the government, it is never far from the front ...

• December 24, 2013 24 Dec'13

  Top 10 IT privacy stories of 2013

  Stories related to whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations about internet mass surveillance programmes by the US and the UK have dominated this year

• December 23, 2013 23 Dec'13

  RSA denies secret contract with NSA

  Security firm RSA has strongly denied allegations of a secret contract with the US National Security Agency (NSA)

• December 23, 2013 23 Dec'13

  DFID tenders £300m supply chain framework

  The Department for International Development (DFID) has tendered a £300m contract to procure and manage a supply chain of goods and equipment across the world

• December 23, 2013 23 Dec'13

  Consumer Rights Bill needs more protection for digital consumers, says committee

  The government’s draft Consumer Rights Bill must resolve inconsistencies from digital purchases before reaching its potential to consolidate, simplify and modernise consumer law

• December 23, 2013 23 Dec'13

  Top 10 CIO interviews of 2013

  The top IT leaders in the UK talked to Computer Weekly throughout 2013 to share their opinions and experiences of modern technology leadership

• December 23, 2013 23 Dec'13

  Top 10 public sector IT stories of 2013

  This year has been up and down for public sector IT within government

• December 20, 2013 20 Dec'13

  Government releases security guidance for cloud services

  The Cabinet Office has published guidance for the security considerations that should be made by public sector organisations choosing cloud service providers

• December 20, 2013 20 Dec'13

  Fujitsu set to lose three government outsourcing deals

  A number of outsourced contracts with Fujitsu will not be renewed by government over the coming year

• December 20, 2013 20 Dec'13

  Met Police IT strategy expected 9 months late

  A new Metropolitan Police IT strategy is to be released in January nine months later than recommended by a critical report into the force’s IT

• December 20, 2013 20 Dec'13

  UK citizen wins legal round against Facebook over Prism leaks

  A British citizen has applied for a judgement against Facebook in a case that will test the right of tech firms to give UK personal data to the NSA.

• December 20, 2013 20 Dec'13

  Ofcom threatens BT with fines over repairs

  Telecoms regulator Ofcom tells BT Openreach to fix faults with telephone and broadband services in two days or it could face fines

• December 19, 2013 19 Dec'13

  London Assembly launches Smart London Plan

  The London Assembly has released its Smart London Plan, which highlights how innovative technologies can be used to help sustain future growth of the capital

• December 19, 2013 19 Dec'13

  BT launches proceedings against Scotland's NHS over SWAN project

  Telecoms giant BT has launched a court case against the Scottish health service after failing to win the contract for the Scottish Wide Area Network project

• December 19, 2013 19 Dec'13

  Civil Liberties Committee calls for tighter data protection for EU, following NSA revelations

  The preliminary conclusions of an inquiry into the NSA surveillance of EU citizens call for political and technology changes

• December 19, 2013 19 Dec'13

  Huddle sees 132% increase in UK public sector contracts

  Adoption of cloud services in the public sector is continuing to increase, according to Huddle’s financial results

• December 18, 2013 18 Dec'13

  BBC publishes PwC report into its failed £98m Digital Media Initiative

  The BBC has today published a report by PwC into the broadcaster’s failed Digital Media Initiative (DMI)

• December 18, 2013 18 Dec'13

  Evelina London Children's Hospital uses real-time video to aid heart treatment

  The London hospital saves time, money and stress through Polycom’s video-conferencing solution within their theatres

• December 18, 2013 18 Dec'13

  Cabinet Office commissions PSN working group

  Conversations between Socitm and the Cabinet Office over the compliance issues around the public service network (PSN) for local government continue

• December 17, 2013 17 Dec'13

  Greater Manchester signs penultimate BDUK contract with BT

  Eight councils in Greater Manchester sign a £15m contract with BT to bring 39,000 homes high-speed broadband by March 2016

• December 17, 2013 17 Dec'13

  NHS clinical research body uses QlikView to forward open data

  The clinical research delivery arm of the NHS is developing an open data platform using QlikView

• December 17, 2013 17 Dec'13

  GCHQ told to tighten reins on Huawei security centre

  A report commissioned by David Cameron has called for tighter controls on Huawei’s Cyber Security Evaluation Centre amid fears around the company’s ties with the Chinese government

• December 16, 2013 16 Dec'13

  EU launches €15m Horizon 2020 fund for IT entrepreneurs

  Horizon 2020 fund will help support school leavers as well as established startups to encourage more risk-taking in business

• December 13, 2013 13 Dec'13

  Foreign Office agile crisis response IT system goes live

  The Foreign Office’s new crisis response IT system, Crisis Hub, is now live.

• December 13, 2013 13 Dec'13

  Copyright compromise keeps UK internet archive offline

  When the UK unveils its internet archive, it will be in an incongruous setting: the reading room of a library.

• December 13, 2013 13 Dec'13

  CIO interview: Joan Miller director of Parliamentary ICT

  Parliamentary ICT director Joan Miller talks about how Parliament should use technology and the challenges of the digital world

• December 13, 2013 13 Dec'13

  TCS expands UK public sector footprint with Scottish deal

  Scottish citizens will have a single point of access to digital local government services via a system supplier by Indian IT services firm, TCS.

• December 12, 2013 12 Dec'13

  UK cyber security progress welcomed

  The UK government’s report on progress the National Cyber Security Programme has widely been welcomed by the IT security community and industry

• December 12, 2013 12 Dec'13

  BT launches scheme to get Plymouth residents online

  BT teams up with local charities and government organisations to put £330,000 into helping Plymouth residents get online and learn digital skills

• December 12, 2013 12 Dec'13

  UK to review laws governing spy agencies in 2014

  Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) is calling for written submissions for its inquiry into the laws governing intelligence agencies

• December 12, 2013 12 Dec'13

  Four arrested in £1m London cyber bank heist

  Police have arrested four people suspected cyber criminals and seized £80,000 in cash and a live grenade after the theft of £1m from two banks

• December 12, 2013 12 Dec'13

  Government to expand cyber security partnerships

  The UK government introduces security kitemark pas part of plans to expanding partnerships on cyber security with the private sector in 2014

• December 11, 2013 11 Dec'13

  Government seeks deputy CTO

  The government is seeking a deputy chief technology officer who will report to CTO Liam Maxwell

• December 11, 2013 11 Dec'13

  Research reveals widespread mobile app hacking

  The top 100 paid Android apps and 56% of the top 100 paid Apple iOS apps have been hacked, research has revealed

• December 11, 2013 11 Dec'13

  NAO slams Universal Credit for not achieving value for money

  The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has failed to achieve value for money during the development of the Universal Credit IT system.

• December 11, 2013 11 Dec'13

  EU quashes Cisco complaint on Skype sale

  The General Court of the European Union rules Microsoft’s $8.5bn acquisition of Skype adheres to competition rules

• December 11, 2013 11 Dec'13

  US researchers share plans for low-cost metal 3D printer

  Researchers at Michigan Technological University (MTU) have developed a low-cost 3D printer capable of producing steel objects

• December 11, 2013 11 Dec'13

  London Fire Brigade engages public with risqué social media campaign

  London Fire Brigade (LFB) captures public interest with 'Fifty Shades of Red' social media campaign, saving substantial costs of advertising

• December 11, 2013 11 Dec'13

  Thirteen plead guilty to Anonymous DDoS attack on Paypal

  Thirteen people have pleaded guilty to taking part in DDoS attacks on eBay’s Paypal, organised by the Anonymous hacker group in 2010

• December 11, 2013 11 Dec'13

  Ransomware looks set to increase, warns Sophos

  Cyber criminals are planning to produce new forms of ransomware on an unprecedented scale, according to IT security firm Sophos

• December 11, 2013 11 Dec'13

  Government’s digital strategy is progressing, but inconsistently

  A review into the government’s digital strategy has been made one year after it was first published.

• December 09, 2013 09 Dec'13

  Case study: London Borough of Islington’s smart working journey

  The London Borough of Islington is using technology to ensure its staff are as productive as possible travelling along a ‘smart working journey’

• December 09, 2013 09 Dec'13

  DWP writes off £40m on Universal Credit but insists the IT is working

  The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is scrapping £40.1m of IT work on Universal Credit, and a further £91m will be written off over five years

• December 09, 2013 09 Dec'13

  More than 200,000 benefit claimants per month to move to new system

  The roll-out for Universal Credit will see 200,000 benefit claimants transferred to new IT system every month over a 14-month period to end of 2017

• December 09, 2013 09 Dec'13

  DCMS offers small businesses broadband grants

  The government allocates £100m of the Urban Broadband Fund to enable small businesses in 10 cities across the UK to get faster internet connections

• December 09, 2013 09 Dec'13

  Computer system failure delays hundreds of UK flights

  Hundreds of flights at several UK airports were delayed or cancelled at the weekend because of a computer failure at National Air Traffic Services (NATS)

• December 09, 2013 09 Dec'13

  Top tech firms call for worldwide surveillance reform

  Top technology firms have joined forces to call for urgent reforms of all internet surveillance programmes

• December 06, 2013 06 Dec'13

  PM David Cameron opens Cisco’s startup centre IDEALondon

  Cisco’s innovation centre in London has been officially opened by Prime Minister David Cameron this morning on the third anniversary of Tech City.

• December 06, 2013 06 Dec'13

  Tech City: 27% of London job growth comes from technology

  Over a quarter of the job growth in London comes from the technology and digital sector, according to Tech City Investment Organisation

• December 06, 2013 06 Dec'13

  EE launches 300Mbps 4G mobile network in Tech City

  EE's superfast mobile network goes live in Silicon Roundabout, bringing speeds of up to 300Mbps to the Tech City digital hub

• December 06, 2013 06 Dec'13

  Microsoft to protect customers from government snooping

  Microsoft has announced it is to take measures to increase the security of customer data to protect against government snooping

• December 06, 2013 06 Dec'13

  Microsoft leads major disruption of ZeroAccess botnet

  Microsoft, the FBI and Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) have disrupted ZeroAccess, one of the world’s largest botnets

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  Government Digital Service no longer involved with Universal Credit IT development

  The Government Digital Service ends direct involvement in the development of the “enhanced IT” for the Universal Credit sheme

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  Skills and supporting businesses top Autumn Statement 2013 agenda

  Supporting young businesses and fixing the skills gap was a recurring theme during today’s Autumn Statement in the House of Commons

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  Government begins selection of open standards for documents

  The government has begun the process to select open standards for documents

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  DCMS puts transparency before BT’s commercial interests

  The head of telecommunications policy at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport claims the need for transparency in the BDUK roll-out is more important than BT’s commercial interests, but admits government needs to do better in pushing for more...

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  Automation key to balancing agility and security, says AlgoSec

  Automated critical business application management enables a more agile business and enhances security, says security policy management firm AlgoSec

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  Norfolk and Suffolk police outsource back-office systems

  Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies are outsourcing ERP and duty management systems to Capgemini in a seven-year deal worth £3.75m

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  700,000 benefit claimants miss out on Universal Credit deadline

  The secretary for work and pensions has admitted the Universal Credit benefit scheme will miss its 2017 deadline

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  Google robotics project sparks speculation

  Google has revealed it has acquired seven robotics companies in the past six months, sparking speculation about what it plans to develop

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  UK citizen sues Microsoft over Prism private data leak to NSA

  A court action brought in the UK will test Microsoft's legal right to disclose private data on UK citizens to US intelligence services

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  Hackers post millions of stolen passwords online

  Security researchers have discovered more than two million stolen passwords for Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn and other online services

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  NSA tracks 5 billion phone records daily, Snowden docs show

  The NSA tracks nearly 5 billion mobile phone records a day, according to the latest documents revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden

• December 04, 2013 04 Dec'13

  VillageBroadband brings superfast Wi-Fi to rural Northamptonshire

  The community project turned company serves up 10-15Mbps Wi-Fi to 3,500 residents in rural parts of the East Midlands county

• December 04, 2013 04 Dec'13

  Proof-of-concept malware jumps air gap with sound card

  Researchers demonstrate proof-of-concept malware exfiltrating data using high-frequency transmissions inaudible to humans

• December 04, 2013 04 Dec'13

  University tiers HPC cloud with HDS, Spectra Logic and QStar

  Oslo University builds academic cloud for research data scalable to exabytes with HDS disk, Spectra Logic tape and QStar archive

• December 04, 2013 04 Dec'13

  Councils threatened with disconnection from PSN in escalating security row

  A London council was hours away from being disconnected from the public sector network, in an row between central and local government over security compliance

• December 04, 2013 04 Dec'13

  The Guardian denies Snowden stories damaged national security

  Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger defends decision to publish stories on documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden

• December 04, 2013 04 Dec'13

  Insurance firms invest £25bn in UK infrastructure

  UK’s biggest insurance firms will invest £25bn into infrastructure projects including broadband roll-out and railway networks

• December 04, 2013 04 Dec'13

  UK proposes formal talks on cyber security with China

  Prime minister David Cameron has called on China to be more open about cyber security

• December 03, 2013 03 Dec'13

  UK mobile operators to scrap roaming charges by 2016

  The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has signed an agreement with EE, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone to end roaming charges by 2016

• December 02, 2013 02 Dec'13

  90% of Universal Credit claims in pilot projects submitted online

  Nine out of 10 benefit claimants in a pilot project for Universal Credit submitted their claims online, according to a government survey