News

IT for government and public sector

• January 20, 2025 20 Jan'25

  Government plans to revamp digital services to save £45bn

  Legacy IT and the use of tech contractors is costing taxpayers billions. The government aims to fix the public sector with AI and new digital services

• January 20, 2025 20 Jan'25

  Singtel’s 5G network slicing to boost Singapore’s defence and security

  Singapore’s defence and security technology agencies will leverage Singtel’s 5G network slicing technology nationwide to combat evolving security threats and enhance national security

• January 17, 2025 17 Jan'25

  Lords debate government approach to automated decision-making

  During the second reading debate of a Lords private members’ bill seeking to better regulate public sector algorithms, the government argued existing measures were sufficient to protect the public

• January 16, 2025 16 Jan'25

  Biden signs new cyber order days before Trump inauguration

  With days left in the White House, outgoing US president Joe Biden has signed a wide-ranging cyber security executive order with far-reaching implications

• January 16, 2025 16 Jan'25

  Fujitsu staff at HMRC to strike for two days over pay

  More public image woes for Fujitsu as hundreds of staff to strike after colleagues at HMRC get significantly bigger pay rise

• January 16, 2025 16 Jan'25

  Russia’s Star Blizzard pivots to WhatsApp in spear-phishing campaign

  The Russian cyber spy operation known as Star Blizzard changed tactics after a takedown operation by Microsoft and the US authorities, turning to widely used messaging platform WhatsApp to try to ensnare its targets

• January 16, 2025 16 Jan'25

  NAO calls for ‘cross-government’ revamp of IT procurement to improve ‘big tech’ project outcomes

  The National Audit Office has highlighted a series of shortcomings in the government’s approach to digital procurement

• January 16, 2025 16 Jan'25

  Davos 2025: Digital supply chains at risk as world faces two years of turbulence

  World Economic Forum urges digital business leaders to build the resilience of supply chains, improve cyber defences and develop contingency plans

• January 15, 2025 15 Jan'25

  Government, Nesta and ODI issue £600k smart data challenge to technologists

  Department for Business and Trade, Challenge Works and the Open Data Institute have issued a Smart Data Challenge to app developers and entrepreneurs with a total prize fund of £600,000

• January 15, 2025 15 Jan'25

  Biggest Patch Tuesday in years sees Microsoft address 159 vulnerabilities

  The largest Patch Tuesday of the 2020s so far brings fixes for more than 150 CVEs ranging widely in their scope and severity – including eight zero-day flaws

• January 15, 2025 15 Jan'25

  Davos 2025: Misinformation and disinformation are most pressing risks, says World Economic Forum

  World leaders, business chiefs and civil society organisations will discuss the risks posed by misinformation, disinformation and artificial intelligence at the World Economic Forum

• January 14, 2025 14 Jan'25

  Subpostmasters won’t get financial redress until mid-2027 at current rate of progress

  Campaigning former subpostmaster warns that some members of the group that took the Post Office to court might not receive financial redress until mid-2027

• January 14, 2025 14 Jan'25

  Government funding to help businesses discover AI value

  The government is betting the bank on the power of artificial intelligence to fix the public sector, mend roads and boost the UK economy

• January 14, 2025 14 Jan'25

  Many are called, but few are chosen: Secrets of MI5 watchers revealed

  Despite advances in electronic surveillance, security service MI5 still relies on human ‘watchers’. Government documents reveal what it takes to follow suspects without being detected

• January 13, 2025 13 Jan'25

  UK government plans to extend ransomware payment ban

  A ban on ransomware payments by UK government departments will be extended to cover organisations such as local councils, schools and the NHS should new government proposals move forward

• January 13, 2025 13 Jan'25

  Metro mayors face similar digitisation challenges to banks, but lack their resources

  UK regional leaders want to be independent of central government when it comes to digital transformation decision-making, but don’t fully understand what’s ahead

• January 13, 2025 13 Jan'25

  CNI operators should ask these 12 questions of their OT suppliers

  The NCSC, CISA and others have set out 12 cyber security considerations CNI organisations and other users of operational technology should incorporate into their buying processes to force their suppliers to do better

• January 10, 2025 10 Jan'25

  Mandiant: Latest Ivanti vulns exploited by Chinese cyber spooks

  Threat actors are once again lining up to exploit vulnerabilities in the widely used Ivanti product suite, with an apparent link to Chinese espionage activity

• January 10, 2025 10 Jan'25

  UK Defence Committee urges MoD to embrace AI

  Defence Committee outlines changes it thinks the Ministry of Defence should make to realise the battlefield advantages of artificial intelligence

• January 08, 2025 08 Jan'25

  German court finds hacked EncroChat phone evidence inadmissible

  The Berlin Regional Court has found that evidence obtained by a joint French and Dutch operation to hack the EncroChat encrypted mobile phone network is legally inadmissible, raising questions about its use in other European countries

• January 08, 2025 08 Jan'25

  Post Office scandal-stained Fujitsu orders staff to cut costs amid widening UK losses

  Japanese supplier reports a loss of £170m in the UK in its latest financial statement and orders UK staff to cut costs

• January 08, 2025 08 Jan'25

  Nato membership boosts Finnish civil and military tech startups

  Tech companies in Finland and Sweden that offer civil and military products are benefitting from Nato military alliance

• January 07, 2025 07 Jan'25

  Former subpostmasters invited to take part in Post Office Capture compensation scheme development

  Government will look at a selection of cases where subpostmasters experienced unexplained losses while using the Post Office’s pre-Horizon accounting system

• January 06, 2025 06 Jan'25

  Government develops quantum tech for military

  A high-tech atomic clock has been developed by a ‘secret lab’ and aims to decrease the reliance on GPS technology

• January 03, 2025 03 Jan'25

  US Treasury incident a clear warning on supply chain security in 2025

  A cyber incident at the US Department of the Treasury – blamed on a Chinese state actor – raises fresh warnings about supply chain risk after it was found to have originated via vulnerabilities in a remote tech support product

• January 03, 2025 03 Jan'25

  Post Office staff list 14 scandal-stained individuals who should have honours stripped

  Staff of the Post Office and Royal Mail from the past and present have written to the Forfeiture Committee requesting honours to be stripped from 14 people with links to the Horizon scandal

• January 02, 2025 02 Jan'25

  Sir Alan Bates has ‘serious concerns’ over Post Office scandal compensation budget

  Campaigning former subpostmaster welcomed ‘positive’ select committee report but voiced concern over inclusion of legal costs in compensation pot

• December 30, 2024 30 Dec'24

  Post Office scandal campaigners awarded OBEs in New Year Honours List

  Former subpostmasters and campaigners Jo Hamilton, Lee Castleton, Seema Misra and Christopher Head honoured for their part in 20-year fight against the Post Office – along with former Computer Weekly reporter Rebecca Thomson

• December 30, 2024 30 Dec'24

  Top 10 government IT stories of 2024

  The past year has provided one of the biggest changes in government for 14 years, with Labour coming to power. With it, the new government has brought plenty of tech promises

• December 24, 2024 24 Dec'24

  Top 10 police technology stories of 2024

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 police technology stories of 2024

• December 23, 2024 23 Dec'24

  Top 10 NHS IT stories of 2024

  The past year has provided a marked change in the approach to technology in the National Health Service, which has struggled to cope under significant pressure. We look back at the stories that made the headlines in 2024

• December 20, 2024 20 Dec'24

  Post Office creates CTO role to support ‘extensive and complex’ plans

  Post Office bolsters its IT leadership team as it grapples with massive tech transformation with the nation looking on

• December 20, 2024 20 Dec'24

  Government introduces technology adoption review

  Whitehall has launched a call for evidence on barriers to adopting new technologies in the UK, wanting to know what needs to change for the country to stay at the forefront of technology adoption

• December 20, 2024 20 Dec'24

  Top 10 data and ethics stories of 2024

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 data and ethics stories of 2024

• December 19, 2024 19 Dec'24

  LockBit ransomware gang teases February 2025 return

  An individual associated with the LockBit ransomware gang has broken cover to tease details of a new phase of the cyber criminal operation's activity, which they claim is set to begin in February 2025

• December 19, 2024 19 Dec'24

  Latest attempt to override UK’s outdated hacking law stalls

  Amendments to the Data Bill that would have given the UK cyber industry a boost by updating restrictive elements of the Computer Misuse Act have failed to progress beyond a Lords committee

• December 19, 2024 19 Dec'24

  AWS offers Hackney Council ‘minimum 22%’ discount on cloud services through OGVA 2.0

  Amazon Web Services has renewed its cloud deal with Hackney Council, with the local authority receiving a minimum discount of 22% in exchange for agreeing to grow its AWS cloud footprint by 8% each year

• December 18, 2024 18 Dec'24

  The Security Interviews: Martin Lee, Cisco Talos

  Threat intel expert and author Martin Lee, EMEA technical lead for security research at Cisco Talos, joins Computer Weekly to mark the 35th anniversary of the first ever ransomware attack

• December 18, 2024 18 Dec'24

  Top 10 cyber security stories of 2024

  Data breaches, data privacy and protection, and the thorny issue of open source security were all hot topics this year. Meanwhile, security companies frequently found themselves hitting the headlines, and not always for good reasons. Here are ...

• December 18, 2024 18 Dec'24

  Post Office IT department fired and rehired ‘friends’ at ‘exorbitant’ rates, says former HR chief

  The Post Office got rid of permanent roles, including IT, and rehired the holders on over double the pay

• December 18, 2024 18 Dec'24

  Top 10 cyber crime stories of 2024

  From ransomware targeting the NHS to nation-state-backed intrusions, 2024 was another big year for cyber criminals and cyber spooks alike, but they didn't have it all their own way as the good guys fought back

• December 18, 2024 18 Dec'24

  Axon still in possession of Police Scotland encryption keys

  Supplier’s possession of encryption keys for Police Scotland data sharing system opens potential for access and transfer of sensitive data without the knowledge or consent of the force

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Conservative MP adds to calls for public inquiry over PSNI police spying

  Conservative MP David Davis calls for a public inquiry following a court ruling that the PSNI and Metropolitan Police unlawfully placed journalists under electronic surveillance

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Ofcom publishes Illegal Harms Codes of Practice

  The codes of practice and guidance from Ofcom outline the steps online services providers can take to protect their users from illegal harms

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Latest list of AI in government decision-making published

  The government wants to show it’s being transparent over the use of algorithms that directly impact citizens

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Digital Ethics Summit 2024: recognising AI’s socio-technical nature

  At trade association TechUK’s eighth annual Digital Ethics Summit, public officials and industry figures and civil society groups met to discuss the ethical challenges associated with the proliferation of artificial intelligence tools globally and ...

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Tribunal criticises PSNI and Met Police for spying operation to identify journalists’ sources

  The Investigatory Powers Tribunal has criticised the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Metropolitan Police for unlawfully spying on journalists

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Government promises redress and justice to Post Office Capture system users

  The government has officially recognised that users of the Post Office’s Capture software experienced shortfalls caused by the system’s errors

• December 16, 2024 16 Dec'24

  Post Office ‘weaponised’ IT system in most ‘extensive and prolonged’ miscarriage

  In closing, public inquiry counsel made clear that it’s not a computer system being investigated, but rather human beings

• December 16, 2024 16 Dec'24

  Top 10 IT leadership interviews of 2024

  The top technology leaders talk to Computer Weekly to discuss the challenges they face and the strategies, solutions and successes they are delivering