News

IT for government and public sector

• April 10, 2013 10 Apr'13

  Future Cities funding awarded to three more cities

  Local authorities in London, Bristol and Peterborough will each get £3m to spend on technology in the 'Future Cities' programme

• April 10, 2013 10 Apr'13

  Case study: Playtech bolsters code security with Checkmarx

  Online gaming software supplier Playtech implements automated code review system from Checkmarx to optimise secure development lifecycle

• April 10, 2013 10 Apr'13

  UK companies unable to stop employees stealing data, study shows

  Businesses are placing too much trust in their employees when it comes to safeguarding company data, a study from LogRhythm has revealed

• April 10, 2013 10 Apr'13

  UK financial regulator FCA probes RBS IT failure

  The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) probes an IT failure at Royal Bank of Scotland that also affected NatWest and Ulster Bank customers

• April 10, 2013 10 Apr'13

  Google rolls out super-fast broadband to Austin, Texas

  After weeks of media speculation, Google has confirmed that it will be extending its super-fast fibre broadband service to Austin, Texas.

• April 10, 2013 10 Apr'13

  Three UK LulzSec members plead guilty to hacking charges

  Three UK members of LulzSec have pleaded guilty to attempting to break into computers run by the NHS, Sony and News International

• April 10, 2013 10 Apr'13

  Royal Military Police cuts digital forensics costs with distributed processing

  Royal Military Police (RMP) Service Police Crime Bureau (SPCB) cuts case backlog by 42% and reduces costs per initial case by nearly 33%

• April 09, 2013 09 Apr'13

  What do the changes to the NHS mean for IT?

  Healthcare experts talk about the implications for IT and the informatics agenda across the NHS as it begins a programme of structural change

• April 09, 2013 09 Apr'13

  Check Point CEO Gil Shwed unveils 2013 plans

  Check Point will focus on mobile data, simplifying security management, protecting branch offices and collaborative attack intelligence in 2013

• April 08, 2013 08 Apr'13

  Security updates likely to keep admins busy in April

  Security updates from Microsoft, Oracle and PostGreSQL are likely to keep security administrators busy this month

• April 08, 2013 08 Apr'13

  Windows XP will expose businesses to cyber risk from April 2014

  Businesses that fail to update their OS from Windows XP are putting themselves at increased risk of cyber attack

• April 08, 2013 08 Apr'13

  Israel claims Anonymous cyber attacks caused minimal impact

  Hacker collective Anonymous launched cyber attacks on Israeli websites in a pro-Palestinian campaign, but officials say the damage was minimal

• April 05, 2013 05 Apr'13

  Anonymous threatens cyber attack on Israel

  Members of the Anonymous hacktivist have threatened cyber strikes on Israel within days of issuing a similar threat against North Korea

• April 05, 2013 05 Apr'13

  British Library archives the web

  The British Library is to archive 4.8 million UK websites and one billion web pages, following statutory changes to copyright legislation

• April 05, 2013 05 Apr'13

  UK calls for opt-out of online right to be forgotten

  The UK wants to opt out of the right to be forgotten, enshrined in proposed data privacy regulations for the European Union

• April 05, 2013 05 Apr'13

  Hack attacks hit value of Bitcoins

  Online services and exchanges dealing in the Bitcoins have been hit by hack attacks that led to a drop in the value of the digital currency

• April 05, 2013 05 Apr'13

  Anonymous claims first strikes against North Korea

  Members of the Anonymous hacktivist collective claim to have launched the first strikes against North Korea as part of its Operation Free Korea

• April 04, 2013 04 Apr'13

  Malware hits businesses 20 to 60 times an hour, say researchers

  Advanced cyber attacks hit businesses 20 times an hour on average, say researchers at security firm FireEye

• April 04, 2013 04 Apr'13

  Researchers discover new Android Trojan

  Cyber threat researchers have discovered a new Android Trojan called Stels which is designed to steal text messages

• April 04, 2013 04 Apr'13

  Digital capability drive is key focus for government departments, says GDS

  Digital capability has been a key focus for the Government Digital Service Strategy with the Ministry of Justice recruiting a 40-strong service

• April 04, 2013 04 Apr'13

  Fraudsters widen card-skimming operations in Europe

  Criminals using card-skimming devices are targeting not just bank ATMs but transport and parking ticket machines as well, a report has revealed

• April 03, 2013 03 Apr'13

  Case Study: 192business switches to tokenisation to speed up business processes

  Online payment card verification firm 192business uses tokenisation to speed up its processes and protect credit card details from fraud

• April 03, 2013 03 Apr'13

  Universal Credit IT systems could lead to wide-scale fraud, say MPs

  Undeveloped IT on the Universal Credit programme could lead to fraud and error, the Communities and Local Government Committee warns

• April 03, 2013 03 Apr'13

  St Andrews upgrades to Dell Compellent SANs with SSD tier

  St Andrews university gets dual FCOE-linked Compellent SANs with an SSD tier as it consolidates storage from DAS/NAS at 50 locations to two sites for disaster recovery provision

• April 03, 2013 03 Apr'13

  US Army practises poor data security on mobile devices

  Pentagon inspector general finds smartphones and tablets the US Army buys are not configured to protect sensitive data and allow remote wipe

• April 03, 2013 03 Apr'13

  Anonymous threatens to declare cyber war on North Korea

  Anonymous hacktivist collective has threatened North Korea with cyber war if leader Kim Jong-un does not resign and install free democracy

• April 02, 2013 02 Apr'13

  Google closer to action from European privacy regulators

  Google is another step closer to action by privacy regulators across Europe for failing to change the way it manages user data

• April 02, 2013 02 Apr'13

  Howard Shiplee latest to lead Universal Credit delivery

  Howard Shiplee has been appointed the latest lead on the DWP Universal Credit programme

• April 02, 2013 02 Apr'13

  UK CIOs spending more time and money on security, study shows

  On average, UK CIOs are spending almost a quarter of their time managing IT security and 40% have increased spending, a study shows

• April 02, 2013 02 Apr'13

  Security incident response below par at most firms, says Guidance Software

  Most organisations are not as prepared as they should be for responding to cyber attacks, says Guidance Software

• April 02, 2013 02 Apr'13

  Government seeks partner for £2bn shared services centre deal

  Government is seeking a private sector partner to deliver its second shared services centre in a deal worth around £2bn

• April 02, 2013 02 Apr'13

  Cyberbunker’s Sven Kamphuis denies unleashing DDoS attacks on Spamhaus

  The internet activist accused of being behind one of the biggest distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to date claims he is the victim of an establishment conspiracy.

• March 28, 2013 28 Mar'13

  Patients and doctors must push for a paperless NHS, says Intellect report

  IT trade body Intellect says patients and doctors must undergo cultural change to realise government's ambition of a paperless NHS by 2018

• March 28, 2013 28 Mar'13

  Somerset council settles out of court with service provider Southwest One

  Somerset County Council has settled a dispute out of court with its outsourced service provider Southwest One

• March 28, 2013 28 Mar'13

  Government must address digital divide, says NAO

  Despite the public appetite for greater digital public services, government must start putting its plans into action to address the ‘digital divide’, according to a National Audit Office report.

• March 28, 2013 28 Mar'13

  Activists unleash biggest DDoS cyber attack to date

  Activists unleash a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack in support of a web hosting firm, Cyberbunker, blacklisted by an anti-spam website

• March 27, 2013 27 Mar'13

  Demos urges police to gather intelligence from social media

  Think tank Demos urges UK police forces to appoint a senior officer to take charge of gathering intelligence from social media

• March 27, 2013 27 Mar'13

  Home Office needs to boost capability to fix UKBA IT

  The Home Office must improve its internal capability to fix the siloed IT systems behind the soon-to-be-scrapped UK Border Agency

• March 27, 2013 27 Mar'13

  UK government launches cyber threat data-sharing partnership

  The UK government has announced a partnership with industry to share information and intelligence on cyber security threats

• March 27, 2013 27 Mar'13

  EC proposes broadband installation savings

  European Commission (EC) proposes to cut costs of installing fibre broadband by 30% to address the lack of standards across Europe

• March 27, 2013 27 Mar'13

  UK government sets up cyber security fusion cell

  A cyber security “fusion cell” for cross-sector threat data sharing aims to put government, industry and information security analysts side-by-side

• March 26, 2013 26 Mar'13

  Fujitsu HQ shows confidence in UK operation

  Fujitsu Japan has revealed its confidence in its UK operation with an £800m investment which will plug a pensions gap and free up capital to invest in the UK business.

• March 26, 2013 26 Mar'13

  Police national procurement hub failing to deliver

  Savings estimated to be made through a police national procurement hub set up in 2011 have fallen ‘well short’ of expectations, according to a National Audit Office report.

• March 26, 2013 26 Mar'13

  Employees ignore security rules, say infosec pros

  Most information security professionals believe corporate employees wilfully ignore security rules, survey at RSA Conference 2013 reveals

• March 25, 2013 25 Mar'13

  Cloud security still top concern for UK CIOs, survey shows

  Data security in the cloud is still a top concern for UK companies, a survey of 250 IT decision makers has revealed

• March 25, 2013 25 Mar'13

  Web and FTP top malware risks, study finds

  Study finds traditional antivirus solutions not identifying the majority of malware infecting networks via real-time applications such as browsing

• March 25, 2013 25 Mar'13

  Study casts doubts on cost-effectiveness of telehealth

  Telehealth is not a cost-effective treatment, according to an in-depth study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ)

• March 25, 2013 25 Mar'13

  Hackers used stolen credentials to attack South Korea, say researchers

  Cyber attacks that shut down computers at banks and broadcasters in South Korea used stolen user IDs and passwords, say researchers

• March 25, 2013 25 Mar'13

  Malware in counterfeit software to cost business $114bn in 2013

  Dealing with malware in counterfeit software will cost global enterprises an estimated $114bn in 2013, says research firm IDC

• March 25, 2013 25 Mar'13

  Carl Icahn and Blackstone fight Michael Dell for Dell PC company

  US billionaire investor Carl Icahn and private-equity group Blackstone will fight Michael Dell in a bidding war for the computer company he founded

• March 22, 2013 22 Mar'13

  Six security issues to tackle before encrypting cloud data

  Concern about security and privacy is likely to drive adoption of cloud encryption, but there are six security issues businesses should tackle

• March 22, 2013 22 Mar'13

  Barnet outsourcing: High Court decision expected after Easter

  The verdict on the case that disabled resident Maria Nash brought against Barnet Council for a judicial review of its outsourcing will come after Easter

• March 22, 2013 22 Mar'13

  Universal Credit not at odds with agile, says former chief

  Former programme director of Universal Credit, Malcolm Whitehouse, has denied the mega-project is at odds with agile development

• March 22, 2013 22 Mar'13

  Millions of vulnerable devices on the internet, researcher reveals

  A scan of the internet by an anonymous security researcher has revealed millions of IP-enabled devices protected only by default passwords.

• March 22, 2013 22 Mar'13

  Why government must boost the information economy

  Distinguished professor of technology and economics Carlota Perez on why the government needs to boost the 'information economy’

• March 22, 2013 22 Mar'13

  BBC Twitter feeds breached

  The BBC is the latest high-profile organisation to have its Twitter feed breached

• March 22, 2013 22 Mar'13

  Apple debuts two-factor authentication to protect against hackers

  Apple is introducing two-factor authentication (2FA) for iCloud and other services to protect users from hackers trying to access their accounts

• March 22, 2013 22 Mar'13

  South Korea admits mistake in linking cyber attacks to China

  Investigators admit IP address linked to cyber attack on South Korean banks and broadcasters is not Chinese, as was originally thought

• March 21, 2013 21 Mar'13

  GCHQ sets up £4.5m cyber vulnerability research institute

  GCHQ has announced a second academic research institute to find new ways of analysing software automatically to combat cyber threats

• March 21, 2013 21 Mar'13

  University shuns cloud archiving and Quantum for Spectra Logic tape

  Bristol University builds Spectra Logic tape archive with NexSan disk front-end, rejecting cloud archive due to uncertainties over data control

• March 21, 2013 21 Mar'13

  ICO calls for action on future funding

  Sorting out an acceptable system for funding the UK’s privacy watchdog needs to be tackled now, says UK information commissioner

• March 21, 2013 21 Mar'13

  Click fraud botnet costs advertisers £3.9m a month

  Security researchers find a botnet costing online display advertising £3.9m a month by simulating 14 billion clicks on at least 200 websites

• March 21, 2013 21 Mar'13

  South Korea says cyber attack came from IP address in China

  South Korea says a cyber attack that shut down thousands of computers at several major broadcasters and banks came from an IP address China

• March 21, 2013 21 Mar'13

  HP shareholders challenge directors

  HP shareholders have challenged the board with a strong protest vote against the re-election of five directors at its annual meeting

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  CESG denies BlackBerry 10 insecurities

  CESG - the the information assurance arm of GCHQ - denies reports BlackBerry’s latest OS doesn’t pass muster when it comes to security

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  IT industry slams chancellor’s “tech-light” Budget

  IT industry slams government failure to identify IT as a key economic growth driver, following George Osborne’s 2013 Budget announcement

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  South Korea computer shutdowns spark speculation of cyber-jousting

  South Korea investigates the shutdown of networks at major banks and broadcasters, amid speculation of cyber-jousting by North Korea

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  Budget 2013 round-up: What it means for IT

  Read Computer Weekly's round-up to see what George Osborne's 2013 Budget means for the technology and IT sector

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  UK public sector outsourcing is a global giant

  The UK accounts for 84% of total public sector outsourcing in Europe and the single biggest market outside the US, says ISG

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  IT security professionals break USB stick virus rules

  Most IT security professionals polled at RSA Conference 2013 admitted to picking up and plugging in USB flash drives they found lying around

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  High court hears evidence against legality of Barnet outsourcing

  Barnet council faces potential judicial review as resident's case alleges the public was not properly consulted on a £320m outsourcing deal

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  IDL activates ‘cat-signal’ to protest against Cispa

  Activists use an internet signalling system to co-ordinate protests against the proposed US Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (Cispa)

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  The tech sector's Budget wish list

  The technology industry tells us the key budgetary measures it wants enacting to stimulate the IT sector and get UK plc back on its feet, ahead of chancellor George Osborne’s Budget

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  CESG says BlackBerry’s new BB10 software not secure enough

  The government's technical security advisor CESG says BlackBerry's new BB10 software is not secure enough for essential work

• March 20, 2013 20 Mar'13

  ARM will remain independent, says incoming CEO Simon Segars

  ARM president Simon Segars has vowed to maintain the chip designer’s independence when he takes over from outgoing CEO Warren East

• March 19, 2013 19 Mar'13

  US DHS cyber security head to join Chertoff Group

  Mark Weatherford, a top cyber official in the US department of homeland security (DHS) has announced he is to join the private sector

• March 19, 2013 19 Mar'13

  Cyber attacks must avoid civilian targets, says Nato manual

  State-sponsored cyber attacks must avoid sensitive civilian targets such as hospitals, dams and nuclear power stations, according to an advisory manual on cyber warfare compiled for Nato

• March 19, 2013 19 Mar'13

  RAF Operations Wing pilots iPads

  The Operations Wing of RAF Brize Norton is using 20 iPads and five iPad minis as part of a trial to evaluate flight management technologies

• March 19, 2013 19 Mar'13

  Easynet opts for HP compute/storage with SSD tier for Agile Platform

  Managed services provider Easynet shuns point solutions for HP compute and storage with SSD tier for Agile Platform end-to-end services

• March 19, 2013 19 Mar'13

  Government develops single registration system to attract SME suppliers

  Government Procurement Service develops Single Supplier Registration – so suppliers need only register once – to attract more SMEs

• March 19, 2013 19 Mar'13

  US hacker jailed for 3.5 years over AT&T breach

  US hacker Andrew Auernheimer has been imprisoned for obtaining the email addresses of iPad users from AT&T's website

• March 19, 2013 19 Mar'13

  Norway’s Telenor hit by cyber espionage campaign

  Attackers stole files and emails from unnamed executives at Norwegian telecoms provider Telenor

• March 18, 2013 18 Mar'13

  Nominet to join new government cyber crime reduction partnership

  Nominet, which runs the .uk registry is to join the government’s recently announced Cyber Crime Reduction Partnership.

• March 18, 2013 18 Mar'13

  Fujitsu pulls out of BDUK

  Fujitsu, BT’s only rival in BDUK – the government-funded roll-out of superfast broadband – has withdrawn from the process

• March 18, 2013 18 Mar'13

  Reuters journalist charged with Anonymous hacking professes innocence

  A Reuters journalist charged with helping Anonymous hack the LA Times website maintains he is innocent

• March 18, 2013 18 Mar'13

  Court rules FBI access to private data unconstitutional

  A US court has ruled that “national security letters” to obtain citizens’ private data are a breach of the constitution’s first amendment

• March 15, 2013 15 Mar'13

  Government mandates 'preference' for open source

  The government has, for the first time, mandated a preference for using open source for future developments

• March 15, 2013 15 Mar'13

  Reuters journalist charged in Anonymous hacking

  Reuters journalist charged with conspiring to help members of the Anonymous hacktivist collective to break into LA Times' website in 2010

• March 15, 2013 15 Mar'13

  North Korea accuses US of cyber attacks

  North Korea has accused the US of carrying out cyber attacks against its internet servers, blocking access to some websites

• March 15, 2013 15 Mar'13

  Terror groups lack cyber skills to disrupt critical services, says academic

  Terror groups do not currently have the expertise required to disrupt key public services such as water and electricity, an academic has told MPs

• March 15, 2013 15 Mar'13

  UK government announces Cyber Crime Reduction Partnership

  Government announces another initiative of the national cyber security strategy, to co-ordinate the efforts of police, experts and academics

• March 15, 2013 15 Mar'13

  Cabinet Office to axe government CIO and boards in governance shake-up

  The Cabinet Office is to axe the government CIO role in a governance shake-up that will put digital leaders at the heart of technology change

• March 14, 2013 14 Mar'13

  IDA services put on ice for Universal Credit delivery

  The DWP's Universal Credit programme is unlikely to use identity assurance services

• March 14, 2013 14 Mar'13

  Cornwall Council finally signs off outsourcing deal with BT

  Cornwall Council has awarded a £14m outsourcing deal to BT, ending months of often heated debate and major changes to its scope

• March 14, 2013 14 Mar'13

  eBay study highlights big problem for search advertising

  A study by online auction company eBay has revealed that paying for keywords to boost rankings by search engines has little effect on sales

• March 13, 2013 13 Mar'13

  Spectrum auction and HS2 funding should go to broadband

  The money from the 4G auction should go back into connectivity, while funding for HS2 should be redirected to digital infrastructure, say parliamentarians

• March 13, 2013 13 Mar'13

  Software suppliers have local authorities over a barrel, says CIO

  Local authorities are faced with a choice of either forking out for costly software licence upgrades or keeping staff, says Geoff Connell, CIO

• March 13, 2013 13 Mar'13

  Case Study: Telestroke Network hastens stroke treatment

  The public sector winner of our European User Awards for Networking worked with Virgin Media to bring treatment to stroke patients

• March 13, 2013 13 Mar'13

  PayPal CISO Michael Barrett bullish on password alternative standard

  An alliance of technology firms, including PayPal and Lenovo, says it can provide alternatives to passwords to authenticate users for online services.

• March 13, 2013 13 Mar'13

  UK start-ups lack government support, say MPs

  The government is failing to secure financial funding for UK start-up companies, warns the Science and Technology Select Committee