News

IT for government and public sector

• August 12, 2019 12 Aug'19

  South Wales Police starts facial recognition trial despite opposition

  The use of the facial recognition app by South Wales Police marks the latest deployment of controversial facial recognition technology by police forces in the UK

• August 12, 2019 12 Aug'19

  Department for Work and Pensions claims payments progress

  Key milestones were completed as the government department seeks to evolve its service delivery with innovations such as distributed ledger technologies

• August 12, 2019 12 Aug'19

  Hundreds of Post Office branches hit by new Horizon problem

  Subpostmasters suffering slow running and frozen terminals while Post Office searches for a fix to issues apparently caused by a software update

• August 09, 2019 09 Aug'19

  Prime minister to launch fast-tracked visas for skilled workers

  Prime minister Boris Johnson has urged government departments to work on a new fast-tracked visa for those skilled in sciences, and may scrap other visa caps to attract top talent

• August 09, 2019 09 Aug'19

  F-Secure warns of F5 Big IP-related security issue

  F-Secure has discovered security issues relating to an F5 device that it says could potentially turn hundreds of thousands of load balancers into beachheads for cyber attacks

• August 09, 2019 09 Aug'19

  Whistleblowers: James Glenn’s battle with Cisco opens new front on cyber security

  James Glenn, a 42-year-old security specialist, fought a 10-year legal battle with Cisco after blowing the whistle on serious security flaws. He lost his job, but has no regrets

• August 08, 2019 08 Aug'19

  Ransomware a continued threat to business, report warns

  Businesses are increasingly becoming the most popular targets for ransomware, which remains a top cyber threat around the world, especially in the US, a report reveals

• August 08, 2019 08 Aug'19

  NHS gets £250m boost for AI and genomics

  National Artificial Intelligence Lab will work on new treatments for cancer, dementia and heart disease

• August 07, 2019 07 Aug'19

  Digital transformation hampered by lack of C-suite support

  Most organisations are driving digital projects, but only a small percentage is happy with the board support they receive, according to research

• August 07, 2019 07 Aug'19

  The $10bn question: Why is the US government’s JEDI cloud contract taking so long to award?

  The announcement of who has won the US government’s controversial $10bn, decade-long cloud contract is nearly 12 months overdue. So what’s holding it up?

• August 06, 2019 06 Aug'19

  African bank foils suspected North Korean cyber attack

  An African bank is among the financial institutions to be targeted by North Korea’s multi-billion dollar cyber theft campaign to support its weapons programmes

• August 06, 2019 06 Aug'19

  Scottish government launches £30m Cloud Services Framework with a 50% SME supplier list

  Framework has gone live with 14 suppliers making the cut, who will be on hand to provide public sector organisations in Scotland with access to public, private and hybrid cloud services, as well as colocation capacity

• August 06, 2019 06 Aug'19

  Problems around police algorithms emerge in government debates

  Information sharing across agencies, data protection and governance implications are discussed as the government attempts to appropriately use data-driven technologies

• August 05, 2019 05 Aug'19

  Most UK university applicants at risk of email fraud

  The majority of hundreds of thousands of applicants to UK universities are at risk of email fraud before and after A-level results day, due to a failure to implement full Dmarc protection, a study reveals

• August 02, 2019 02 Aug'19

  CDEI concludes public engagement on online targeting

  The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has concluded a major events programme supporting one of its upcoming reviews

• August 02, 2019 02 Aug'19

  Birmingham City Council ends 13-year IT contract with Capita

  Local authority to bring IT services in-house, saying “the time is right to transfer the services back to the council”

• August 01, 2019 01 Aug'19

  IR35 reforms: Contractor poll highlights lack of faith in new UK government

  Research into how the contractor community views the government and its ability to deliver the private sector IR35 reforms should provide “food for thought” for prime minister Boris Johnson

• August 01, 2019 01 Aug'19

  Industrial control system cyber security risk high, report warns

  The industrial control system cyber risk to global oil and gas companies is high and rising, as new attack groups continue to enter the arena

• August 01, 2019 01 Aug'19

  Central government data infrastructure threatens digital progress

  Leaders across UK public sector see their current legacy technology as a key hurdle to modernisation, according to research

• July 31, 2019 31 Jul'19

  Cisco pays $8.6m after whistleblower discloses security flaws in video surveillance system

  James Glenn, a video surveillance expert working for a Cisco reseller in Denmark, alerted Cisco to security faults and stands to gain a share of a multimillion-dollar settlement with the US government

• July 31, 2019 31 Jul'19

  Middle East businesses welcome Amazon Web Services region launch

  Bahrain AWS region, with three datacentres, links Middle East to AWS's global network and will help to accelerate digital transformation

• July 31, 2019 31 Jul'19

  Police Scotland awards National Network contract to BT

  Police Scotland is embarking on a £3.9m network project as part of its wider digital transformation strategy

• July 31, 2019 31 Jul'19

  5G mobile networks transformative for health and social care, says TechUK

  A new report produced by TechUK and the Liverpool 5G testbed shows how 5G can be used effectively in the NHS, and offers recommendations to government

• July 30, 2019 30 Jul'19

  UK government announces new online safety body

  The UK Council for Internet Safety has an expanded scope to tackle digital abuse and will inform future policy development

• July 30, 2019 30 Jul'19

  Mobiles top target of nation state surveillance

  Nation states are targeting individual mobile users for intelligence gathering and disruption of rivals as security on mobile devices lags behind traditional computing, a report reveals

• July 29, 2019 29 Jul'19

  ODI investigates use of private sector data by cities

  The Open Data Institute is seeking to find out whether cities have the levels of access needed to access data collected by private sector organisations

• July 29, 2019 29 Jul'19

  ICO selects first innovation Sandbox participants

  UK privacy watchdog has chosen the first firms to take part in its Sandbox programme aimed at developing innovative and beneficial products and services that are privacy compliant

• July 29, 2019 29 Jul'19

  One-third of UK councils have IT budgets cut

  Many local authorities’ IT budgets are being reduced at a time when they are trying to digitally transform to cut costs and improve processes

• July 26, 2019 26 Jul'19

  New digital minister appointed as PM Johnson continues reshuffle

  Former telecoms executive Nigel Adams takes over as minister for digital and sport, succeeding Margot James

• July 25, 2019 25 Jul'19

  Crown Commercial Service to replace Crown Marketplace

  The Cabinet Office’s executive agency tweaks its modernisation strategy to boost government procurement efficiency and advances its own technology agenda

• July 25, 2019 25 Jul'19

  New ministerial appointments for tech policies in Boris Johnson Cabinet

  The new Prime Minister has brought in ministers in all the key government posts affecting digital and technology policy

• July 24, 2019 24 Jul'19

  Smart technology will transform Dutch neighbourhood

  A programme in the Netherlands is creating a smart neighbourhood as a pilot for how people could live in the future

• July 24, 2019 24 Jul'19

  Controversial ‘immigration exemption’ used in 60% of cases

  The UK government has used a controversial GDPR opt-out in response to the majority of its immigration-related data requests since the start of 2019, the High Court has heard

• July 24, 2019 24 Jul'19

  AI to advance Swedish military systems

  Swedish report into use of artificial intelligence in military systems reveals opportunities and concerns

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  Phishing attack highlights cyber security need at universities

  UK university cyber security is once again under the spotlight after Lancaster University reveals that it has been targeted by a phishing attack used to send fake invoices

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  UK government to boost AI and data use in preventive healthcare

  A programme led by Public Health England and NHSX will aim to usher in a “new era of evidence-based self-care", with patients increasingly expected to allow access to their personal data

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  Home Office hands EE additional £220m for ESN

  Home Office quietly announces a major extension to the ESN project, pumping over £200m of additional taxpayer money into its contract with EE

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  High Court to hear challenge to immigration exemption in DPA

  The High Court is to hear a challenge by two human rights groups of a controversial clause in new UK data protection legislation they say is in conflict with the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and undermines the General Data Protection Regulation

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  IT infrastructure and cyber security ‘critical’ for Student Loans Company future

  Upgrades to key systems and cyber defence capability will be required so the non-departmental public body can continue to perform key functions, according to a major review

• July 22, 2019 22 Jul'19

  CDEI publishes reports on online targeting and bias in algo decisions

  Recommendations due in late 2019 and early 2020 from Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation’s work on online targeting and bias in algorithmic decision-making

• July 22, 2019 22 Jul'19

  Big tech firms back UK cyber security initiative

  Big technology firms have pledged their support for UK investment in an initiative to “design out” of new tech the most damaging cyber security threats

• July 22, 2019 22 Jul'19

  HMRC makes cloud and data progress

  HMRC has shifted half of its systems to virtualised servers, and is nearing completion of a major core system roll out and boosting data capability to support its digital ambitions

• July 19, 2019 19 Jul'19

  Second CyberThreat Summit announced by NCSC and SANS Institute

  CyberThreat 2019 aims to bring together a more diverse set of technical professionals in cyber security from the private and public sectors in the UK and abroad to encourage collaboration

• July 19, 2019 19 Jul'19

  Government launches digital identity consultation and new pilot scheme

  DCMS is seeking views on the role of the government and private sector in developing digital identities, while a small-scale trial will open up passport data for companies to prove online IDs

• July 18, 2019 18 Jul'19

  Verify deemed ‘unachievable’ by major government projects review

  Issues around the digital identity project and a major compliance project led by the Ministry of Justice are impossible to solve, according to the Infrastructure and Projects Authority

• July 18, 2019 18 Jul'19

  Digital minister Margot James quits after Brexit vote

  James voted against the government in an attempt to stop the next Prime Minister from suspending Parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit

• July 18, 2019 18 Jul'19

  Parliamentary committee calls for halt to facial recognition trials

  Issues with biometrics and forensics pose a significant risk to effective functioning of the criminal justice system, according to a report by the Science and Technology Committee

• July 18, 2019 18 Jul'19

  Welsh council aims to cut back-office processing costs by 95% through automation

  A council in South Wales is expecting to reduce the cost of human resources business processes by up to 95% through robotic process automation

• July 17, 2019 17 Jul'19

  NHS still has thousands of PCs running Windows XP

  NHS computers are still being upgraded three years after the WannaCry ransomware attack to the health system, raising concerns over cyber security

• July 17, 2019 17 Jul'19

  Conditions ‘not quite there’ for government chief data officer

  The long-awaited appointment for government’s chief data officer requires a perception in departments that data is actually valuable, government officials said