News

IT for government and public sector

• December 05, 2018 05 Dec'18

  Phishing at centre of cyber attack on Ukraine infrastructure

  Phishing is one of the key tools used by cyber attackers against critical national infrastructure (CNI), as highlighted by attacks on telecommunications in Ukraine

• December 04, 2018 04 Dec'18

  ‘Open-minded’ DVSA cuts cost of MOT testing

  Government agency harnesses customised open source platform to ensure data security while cutting costs and plans to extend its MOT testing capability to do the same for drivers’ theory tests

• December 04, 2018 04 Dec'18

  NHS email outage caused by ‘internal software issues’

  NHSmail system shutdown, which saw staff locked out of their accounts, blamed on “software issues” in supplier Accenture’s internal infrastructure

• December 04, 2018 04 Dec'18

  GovTech Catalyst Fund awards contracts to five SMEs to tackle rural isolation and loneliness

  Five small tech companies have been awarded contracts through the GovTech Catalyst Fund to come up with innovative solutions to rural isolation and loneliness

• December 03, 2018 03 Dec'18

  Digital identity market welcomes plan to hand Gov.uk Verify to private sector

  Players in the UK digital identity community welcome the clarity over the future of Verify, but question marks remain over prospects for government ID system

• December 03, 2018 03 Dec'18

  UK government commits to opening up data in bid to push adoption of AI

  Opening up data is vital to government plans to push adoption of artificial intelligence across all sectors of the UK economy

• December 03, 2018 03 Dec'18

  Police investigations into cyber crime up 14% in a year

  Officers forced to follow up over 2,500 complaints of Instagram, Facebook, email and website hacking, and Bitcoin ransom, despite a rise in violent crime, report reveals

• November 30, 2018 30 Nov'18

  Government mobilises to persuade tech sector to endorse May-EU deal

  Jeremy Wright, the secretary of state at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, says the prime minister’s deal with the European Union will be good for UK tech, ensuring free flow of data

• November 30, 2018 30 Nov'18

  CCRC may hold off subpostmaster decision until after Post Office Horizon trial

  The Criminal Courts Review Commission is deciding whether to delay its decision on subpostmasters’ claims of wrongful prosecution until after a related court case

• November 30, 2018 30 Nov'18

  WannaCry borderline national cyber emergency

  The May 2017 WannaCry attack, which disrupted services at one-third of NHS trusts and more than 600 primary care organisations is the closest the UK has come to a national cyber emergency, says the NCSC

• November 30, 2018 30 Nov'18

  CIO interview: Theo Blackwell, London chief digital officer, Mayor of London’s Office

  After more than a year in post, London’s chief digital officer reflects on changes, collaboration between boroughs and developing a smart city

• November 29, 2018 29 Nov'18

  UK cyber security strategy making ‘good progress’

  The National Cyber Security Strategy is making good progress, but there is much left to be done, according to a Cabinet Office official

• November 29, 2018 29 Nov'18

  Danish government launches wide-ranging digital services project

  Denmark's government has launched an ambitious project to digitise and automate public services

• November 29, 2018 29 Nov'18

  120,000 police officers to receive cyber security training

  Cisco is partnering with UK police forces to offer cyber security training through the Cisco Networking Academy

• November 29, 2018 29 Nov'18

  Health and care must prepare for a digital world, says Scotland’s digital director

  Challenges include dealing with ethical questions, data and collaboration needs in a digital environment, says Scottish government’s Colin Cook

• November 29, 2018 29 Nov'18

  Scottish Government and Nesta launch health data challenge

  Partnership between the Scottish Government and Nesta will see funding available for innovative projects driving the use of technology to give citizens access to data and help them live healthier lives

• November 28, 2018 28 Nov'18

  Cyber resilience lacking due to apathy of UK leaders

  An unwillingness to accept that cyber is a real threat to critical national infrastructure by UK political and business leaders has resulted in a lack of resilience, says security industry veteran

• November 27, 2018 27 Nov'18

  Government yet to recruit chief data officer

  Two years after the government began the process to hire a chief data officer, the post continues to sit empty

• November 27, 2018 27 Nov'18

  GDS has lost momentum, MPs told

  There are still significant culture issues in government and the Government Digital Service has stopped supporting departments to do the right thing, Science and Technology Committee hears

• November 27, 2018 27 Nov'18

  Treasury Committee launches inquiry into bank IT failures

  With IT outages in the financial sector a regular occurrence, the Treasury Committee is investigating the causes and consequences of these failures, and what industry and regulators are doing to promote resilience

• November 27, 2018 27 Nov'18

  High Court trial over Horizon computer system completes witness cross-examinations

  The High Court trial in which subpostmasters are suing the Post Office has reached an important stage

• November 26, 2018 26 Nov'18

  Barnet Council looks to bring parts of Capita contract back in house

  Barnet Council is planning to bring parts of its Capita outsourcing deal back in house, and expects the supplier to pay the council £4.12m due to delivery issues with some areas of the contract

• November 23, 2018 23 Nov'18

  UK fails to make top eGovernment rankings

  UK fails to make it into the top rankings in the European Commission’s eGovernment Benchmark report, which shows that across Europe, two-thirds of public sector services are now available online

• November 23, 2018 23 Nov'18

  Lords call for HMRC to delay Making Tax Digital for VAT

  The government must begin to listen to small businesses and should delay the roll-out of its Making Tax Digital for VAT programme by at least a year, says the Lords Economic Affairs Committee

• November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18

  Finland invests in IT to upgrade electricity network

  National electricity transmission grid operator Fingrid’s Datahub system will play key role in retail market’s transition to a centralised information exchange

• November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18

  TechUK calls on Matt Hancock to fast-track NHS digitisation

  The tech industry body’s ‘Manifesto for Matt’ calls on the health secretary to focus on empowering citizens, enabling a world-class workforce and making the UK the number one place for health tech innovation

• November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18

  Post Office held back information about Horizon IT system errors

  Post Office director admits to Horizon errors and not sharing details with subpostmaster network

• November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18

  Citizens don’t want the NHS to prioritise digital health, report finds

  The UK public want the NHS to focus spending on cancer care, staff and mental health, and rank digital access to services lowest on their list of priorities

• November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18

  Lincolnshire Police signs 10-year cloud control room tech refresh deal with Motorola Solutions

  Lincolnshire Police is embracing cloud technologies within its control room environment as it strives to improve the efficiency of its operations

• November 20, 2018 20 Nov'18

  Police challenged over refusal to disclose files on WikiLeaks staff

  Lawyers will challenge the Metropolitan Police Service today to confirm or deny whether it holds correspondence with US law enforcement about three WikiLeaks staff – including two UK citizens – in a freedom of information tribunal

• November 20, 2018 20 Nov'18

  Sixth form college rebuilds after fire with Scale hyper-converged

  Xaverian College suffered a server room fire but took the opportunity to build a hyper-converged infrastructure with Scale Computing that did away with costly VMware licence fees

• November 20, 2018 20 Nov'18

  Jeremy Wright announces Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation board

  Secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright, announces make up of Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation board at ODI Summit

• November 19, 2018 19 Nov'18

  Government lacks cyber resilience leadership, according to MPs

  The government lacks political leadership and urgency in dealing with cyber threats, according to Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, calling for a minister in charge of delivering cyber resilience

• November 16, 2018 16 Nov'18

  Tech sector split over Brexit deal

  The draft EU Withdrawal Agreement has caused rifts in the tech sector, with some calling for a People’s Vote with the option to remain in the EU, and others wanting MPs to back the agreement, saying it’s better than a no-deal scenario

• November 16, 2018 16 Nov'18

  Post Office executives cross-examined in Horizon IT system trial

  A High Court trial, where subpostmasters are suing the Post Office for damages caused by an allegedly faulty IT system, ended its second week.

• November 16, 2018 16 Nov'18

  UN extreme poverty monitor is critical of Universal Credit ‘digital by default’ service

  The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights raises significant concerns with Universal Credit, including poor digital literacy among claimants, automation errors and lack of transparency

• November 16, 2018 16 Nov'18

  Why is hiring a government chief security officer such a tricky business?

  Security bosses and CIOs weigh in on why they think the government is struggling to recruit a chief security officer

• November 15, 2018 15 Nov'18

  Members of Parliament should back EU Withdrawal Agreement, says industry

  Industry experts say the government’s EU Withdrawal Agreement is far from perfect and still requires more clarity, but call on MPs to back it, as it’s better than a No-Deal Brexit

• November 14, 2018 14 Nov'18

  Defra still to test six ‘critical’ IT systems before Brexit

  MPs have raised concerns around Defra’s Brexit readiness as it hasn’t yet begun testing six critical IT systems needed to replace EU systems, but the department remains confident

• November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18

  Sweden’s central bank to test digital currency

  Riksbank e-krona initiative follows government plan for a cashless society by 2030

• November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18

  Panasas refreshes with ActiveStor Ultra in push to the enterprise

  Scale-out NAS maker Panasas wants to make its ActiveStor storage more attractive to enterprises by touting its ease of use and putting storage nodes on commodity hardware

• November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18

  5G will unleash digital transformation for UK enterprises

  Mobile operator EE is working hand-in-hand with its largest enterprise customers to realise the potential of its future 5G mobile network

• November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18

  Post Office trial throws up known problem with Horizon system

  High Court case in which subpostmasters are suing the Post Office has revealed a known problem with the computer system at the core of the dispute

• November 12, 2018 12 Nov'18

  Home Office to use smartphone ID for EU Exit scheme

  The Home Office will use smartphone digital identity verification to support applications for the government’s EU Exit Settlement Scheme  

• November 12, 2018 12 Nov'18

  HMRC resolves technical issue with tax-free childcare portal

  The department’s tax-free childcare website has again suffered technical issues, affecting 22,000 payments, but the problems were resolved last week, according to HMRC

• November 12, 2018 12 Nov'18

  Norway’s IT industry must tackle security vulnerabilities

  Report reveals growing threat posed by “hostile foreign actors” against Norway’s IT systems and critical national infrastructure

• November 09, 2018 09 Nov'18

  Post-quantum cryptography a major challenge, says expert

  The crypto wars are just beginning and open systems are key to improved security in future, says cryptography expert

• November 09, 2018 09 Nov'18

  High court Post Office trial puts subpostmasters’ contract under microscope

  Case against Post Office in relation to allegedly faulty computer system begins in High Court

• November 08, 2018 08 Nov'18

  Welsh NHS IT programme is ‘outdated’ and could put patients at risk, report finds

  Welsh Public Accounts Committee is concerned the country’s outdated NHS IT systems are putting patients at risk, and found the culture at NHS Wales Informatics Service is the ‘antithesis of open’

• November 08, 2018 08 Nov'18

  Dominic Raab: UK AI sector will get boost from EU exit ‘done right’

  Brexit secretary tells Tech Nation audience that leaving the EU could create opportunities for the UK technology sector