News

IT for utilities and energy

• July 22, 2024 22 Jul'24

  NCSC: Beware of criminal CrowdStrike opportunists

  Financially motivated cyber criminals are already conducting opportunistic attacks on organisations that leverage the CrowdStrike incident, and more targeted attacks are sure to follow

• July 22, 2024 22 Jul'24

  CrowdStrike chaos shows risks of concentrated ‘big IT’

  The concentration of so much mission-critical technology in the hands of a few large suppliers makes incidents like the Microsoft-CrowdStrike outage all the more dangerous

• July 17, 2024 17 Jul'24

  UK Cyber Bill teases mandatory ransomware reporting

  In the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill introduced in the King's Speech, the UK's new government pledges to give regulators more teeth to ensure compliance with security best practice and to mandate incident reporting

• July 11, 2024 11 Jul'24

  ITER workshop highlights the role of computing technology in nuclear fusion

  One of the themes from the private sector workshop run in France this May is that information technology remains a key enabler for nuclear fusion

• July 11, 2024 11 Jul'24

  Dutch research firm TNO pictures the SOC of the future

  In only a few years, security operations centres will have a different design and layout, and far fewer will remain

• July 09, 2024 09 Jul'24

  Hyper-V zero-day stands out on a busy Patch Tuesday

  Microsoft has fixed almost 140 vulnerabilities in its latest monthly update, with a Hyper-V zero-day singled out for urgent attention

• July 09, 2024 09 Jul'24

  Chinese spies target vulnerable home office kit to run cyber attacks

  China’s APT40 is ramping up targeting of victims using vulnerable small and home office networking kit as command and control infrastructure, according to an international alert

• July 09, 2024 09 Jul'24

  Room to grow in UK for Tata Consultancy Services after half a century

  Indian-headquartered IT giant has built a large UK footprint as part of its global network, a commitment which is helping it increase its business in the UK’s public sector

• July 03, 2024 03 Jul'24

  NCA’s Operation Morpheus targets illicit Cobalt Strike use

  International law enforcement operation targets cyber criminals using the Cobalt Strike penetration testing framework for dodgy purposes

• June 27, 2024 27 Jun'24

  UKtech50 2024: The most influential people in UK technology

  Computer Weekly has announced the 14th annual UKtech50 – our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK tech sector

• June 24, 2024 24 Jun'24

  Sellafield pleads guilty to criminal charges over cyber security

  Nuclear Decommissioning Authority-backed organisation Sellafield Ltd pleads guilty to criminal charges brought over significant cyber security failings that could have compromised sensitive nuclear information

• June 21, 2024 21 Jun'24

  Sellafield whistleblower ordered to pay costs after email tampering claims

  A former consultant at Sellafield has been ordered to pay costs for having ‘acted unreasonably’ in claiming the nuclear facility tampered with metadata in letters used against her in court

• June 13, 2024 13 Jun'24

  Black Basta ransomware crew may be exploiting Microsoft zero-day

  A Microsoft vulnerability that was addressed without fanfare in March may in fact have been exploited as a zero-day by the notorious Black Basta ransomware gang, threat hunters warn

• June 13, 2024 13 Jun'24

  Q&A: Adalbjorn Thorolfsson on IT project management in Iceland

  With a small, but very sophisticated population, Iceland has unique ways of keeping up with the rest of the world in the IT sector. Adalbjorn Thorolfsson, president of the Icelandic Project Management Association, describes some lessons for the rest...

• June 11, 2024 11 Jun'24

  Pure Storage hit by Snowflake credential hackers

  Pure Storage emerges as the latest victim of a fast-spreading breach of Snowflake customers targeting users with lax credential security measures in place

• June 11, 2024 11 Jun'24

  More than 160 Snowflake customers hit in targeted data theft spree

  Mandiant reports that more than 160 Snowflake customers have been hit in a broad data theft and extortion campaign targeting organisations that have failed to pay proper attention to securing valuable credentials

• June 11, 2024 11 Jun'24

  Nuclear waste body cuts energy use by 20% as Pure replaces HPE

  French nuclear waste agency Andra has cut storage energy use by 20% and strengthened its disaster recovery capabilities by deploying Pure Storage and 10-year controller upgrades

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  97 FTSE 100 firms exposed to supply chain breaches

  Between March 2023 and March 2024, 97 out of 100 companies on the UK’s FTSE 100 list were put at risk of compromise following supply chain breaches at third-party suppliers

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  Uktech50 2024: The longlist of the UK’s influential tech leaders

  UKtech50 received a record-breaking 434 nominations for the 2024 list. Unfortunately, there wasn’t space for everyone in the top 50, and as you can see for yourself in this year’s longlist, it was a difficult decision for the judges

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Organisations value digital trust, but aren’t working at it

  Three quarters of organisations believe digital trust is relevant to their businesses, yet clear gaps in strategies still seem to persist

• May 28, 2024 28 May'24

  Executive Interview: Why Dell wants to be your one-stop AI shop

  At Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, artificial intelligence was the talk of the town as Dell staked out an all-encompassing strategy ahead of an anticipated goldrush. Dell’s Nick Brackney explains why the tech giant believes it's onto a winner

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  UKtech50 2024: Vote for the most influential person in UK IT

  Our judges have selected the top 50 leaders from a shortlist of more than 400 people – now it’s your chance to tell us who you think is the most influential person in UK technology

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  Rockwell urges users to disconnect ICS equipment

  ICS systems maker Rockwell Automation calls on users to take steps to secure their equipment, and reminds them there is no reason to ever have its hardware connected to the public internet, as it tracks an increase in global threat activity

• May 21, 2024 21 May'24

  CIO interview: Nic Granger, director of corporate and CFO, North Sea Transition Authority

  Spending time with penguins in the Falkland Islands may not seem an obvious background for an IT leader, but it's worked for Nic Granger as she sets out to overhaul the way data is used in the oil and gas sector

• May 15, 2024 15 May'24

  Critical SharePoint, Qakbot-linked flaws focus of May Patch Tuesday

  A critical SharePoint vulnerability warrants attention this month, but it is another flaw that seems to be linked to the infamous Qakbot malware that is drawing attention

• May 14, 2024 14 May'24

  CyberUK 24: UK insurance industry gets tough on ransomware

  Three of the UK’s largest insurance associations have signed on to a new initiative spearheaded by the NCSC to try to bring down the number of ransomware payments being made

• May 09, 2024 09 May'24

  Cyber attack victims need to speak up, says ICO

  The Information Commissioner’s Office is urging organisations to be transparent and learn from each other’s mistakes as it reveals most of the cyber attacks it responds to stem from the same core errors

• May 02, 2024 02 May'24

  NCSC updates warning over hacktivist threat to CNI

  The NCSC and CISA have warned about the evolving threat from Russia-backed hacktivist threat actors targeting critical national infrastructure, after a number of American utilities were attacked

• May 01, 2024 01 May'24

  EMEA CISOs must address human factors behind cyber incidents

  The 17th annual Verizon report on data breaches makes for sobering reading for security pros, urging them to do more to address the human factors involved in cyber incidents, and highlighting ongoing issues with zero-day patching

• April 22, 2024 22 Apr'24

  IT leaders hiring CISOs aplenty, but don’t fully understand the role

  Most businesses now have a CISO, but perceptions of what CISOs are supposed to do, and confusion over the value they offer, may be holding back harmonious relations, according to a report

• April 17, 2024 17 Apr'24

  Mandiant formally pins Sandworm cyber attacks on APT44 group

  Mandiant has formally attributed a long-running campaign of cyber attacks by a Russian state actor known as Sandworm to a newly designated advanced persistent threat group to be called APT44

• April 16, 2024 16 Apr'24

  CISOs not yet convinced to invest in AI

  CISOs say their eyes are fixed firmly on threats like ransomware and supply chain attacks, and while AI is becoming a threat that needs to be dealt with, it’s not yet an immediate spending priority

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  UK plc failing on multiple cyber measures

  Government report shows 50% of businesses and 32% of charities reported a cyber attack or breach in the past 12 months and organisations across the UK are failing on multiple cyber measures

• April 09, 2024 09 Apr'24

  Is a cyber arms control treaty out of reach?

  The world needs cyber arms control more than ever, but the challenges facing a multilateral agreement will be hard to surmount, according to researchers at Germany’s Digital Society Institute

• April 03, 2024 03 Apr'24

  RDP abused in over 90% of cyber attacks, Sophos finds

  Threat actors continue to see great success using simple, tried and tested methods, and many defenders are failing to do the basics

• March 29, 2024 29 Mar'24

  Organisations getting better at spotting identity fraud

  As the barriers to committing identity fraud continue to drop, organisations should consider more sophisticated technical measures to successfully up their game, according to a report

• March 28, 2024 28 Mar'24

  Sellafield to be prosecuted over alleged cyber compliance failure

  Sellafield Ltd, the organisation responsible for cleaning up and decommissioning the UK's largest nuclear waste site, is to be prosecuted over alleged cyber security failings dating back to 2019

• March 27, 2024 27 Mar'24

  Cyber spies, not cyber criminals, behind most zero-day exploitation

  Analysis from Google has found that zero-day vulnerabilities are much more heavily exploited for espionage purposes than for financially motivated cyber crime

• March 27, 2024 27 Mar'24

  Ofgem begins consultation on dynamic price caps

  Smart meters make it possible to manage the electricity grid in a more flexible way, but millions are facing connectivity issues

• March 26, 2024 26 Mar'24

  Shareholders win when businesses do better at cyber

  The more advanced a company’s cyber security performance, and the more engaged its board is with security issues, the greater the return for shareholders, a report has found

• March 22, 2024 22 Mar'24

  Open Data Institute launches digital policy manifesto

  The Open Data Institute has launched a policy manifesto ahead of the UK general election that outlines policies and issues it believes must be part of the political discussion around digital and data

• March 21, 2024 21 Mar'24

  NCSC guidance to help CEOs work through cyber incidents

  The NCSC has published in-depth guidance on how business leaders should respond to a cyber attack or data breach. Learn about some of the key steps you will need to follow

• March 20, 2024 20 Mar'24

  UK’s cyber resilience stagnates as more fall victim to attacks

  The government is calling on businesses to ramp up their cyber protections as study shows improvements to resilience are stagnating amid an ever-growing volume of attacks

• March 20, 2024 20 Mar'24

  SAP S/4HANA data migration beset by poor and fragmented strategy

  Survey finds customers transitioning to S/4HANA lack strategic thinking and skills, can’t access data, face challenges in data duplication, can’t use AI, and worry about compliance

• March 18, 2024 18 Mar'24

  The Security Interviews: Alex Yampolskiy, SecurityScorecard

  Alex Yampolskiy conceived the idea for risk management specialist SecurityScorecard after getting stung by a SaaS supplier that was being cavalier with its customer data. He tells his story to Computer Weekly

• March 17, 2024 17 Mar'24

  UK’s AI ambitions pointless while cyber security is still neglected

  The UK’s AI ambitions may be at considerable risk without stronger cyber defences across the private and public sectors

• March 15, 2024 15 Mar'24

  UK government calls on comms firms to limit installation of telegraph poles

  After public demonstrations, minister urges communications industry to ‘do whatever it takes’ to share existing infrastructure to avoid ‘inappropriately or unnecessarily throwing up’ new telegraph poles

• March 13, 2024 13 Mar'24

  Microsoft AI-powered cyber service to go live in April

  After a year being previewed by beta customers, Microsoft’s much vaunted Copilot for Security service is about to go on general release, promising time savings and improved accuracy for hard-pressed security pros

• March 12, 2024 12 Mar'24

  March Patch Tuesday throws up two critical Hyper-V flaws

  Two critical vulnerabilities in Windows Hyper-V stand out on an otherwise unremarkable Patch Tuesday

• March 11, 2024 11 Mar'24

  Government not facing up to CNI cyber risks, committee warns

  The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy has accused the government of burying its head in the sand over the cyber threat to UK critical infrastructure