News

IT governance

• December 18, 2019 18 Dec'19

  Major US tech companies named in lawsuit over mining deaths of Congolese children

  Multinational technology companies have been accused of knowingly benefiting from human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo

• December 17, 2019 17 Dec'19

  Subpostmasters proved right on IT system failures as calls for full public inquiry mount

  Post Office has been “in denial” about the robustness of its core retail system, which a judge said was to blame for problems experienced by subpostmasters in a multimillion-pound group action

• December 13, 2019 13 Dec'19

  Alarm bells ring, the IoT is listening

  With Christmas bearing down on us, a series of vulnerability disclosures has drawn attention to the parlous state of IoT security, and serves as a timely warning to people planning to buy smart devices as gifts

• December 13, 2019 13 Dec'19

  New government faces calls to urgently deliver on pre-election pledge to review IR35 reforms

  Contracting groups and trade associations say prime minister Boris Johnson must deliver on his party’s pledge to review the IR35 reforms and allay fears that it was an empty promise made to secure votes

• December 13, 2019 13 Dec'19

  Subpostmasters got the best deal possible in legal battle with the Post Office, says lawyer

  Subpostmasters ended their legal battle with the Post Office at the optimal time, according to the lawyer that managed the High Court action

• December 11, 2019 11 Dec'19

  Lloyd's of London secures £300m for digital transformation

  Lloyd's of London has secured funding for a modernisation programme that will start next year

• December 11, 2019 11 Dec'19

  Post Office settles legal dispute with subpostmasters, ending 20-year battle for lead claimant

  The Post Office has settled its long-running legal dispute with subpostmasters, and will pay £57.75m in damages

• December 10, 2019 10 Dec'19

  Scottish Justice Committee wants extra powers for biometrics commissioner

  Members of Scottish Parliament in the Justice Committee have welcomed the creation of a biometrics commissioner for Scotland, but want ensure that they have the ‘necessary teeth’ for the job

• December 09, 2019 09 Dec'19

  US Department of Justice orders Ericsson to pay $1bn fine to settle bribery case

  Swedish comms tech giant admitted what US attorney described as “years-long campaign of corruption in five countries to solidify its grip on telecommunications business”

• December 06, 2019 06 Dec'19

  Dutch government must sort IT mess as priority

  Dutch government lacks the knowledge and skills for its own IT strategy, according to scathing report

• December 05, 2019 05 Dec'19

  Huawei mounts legal challenge to US subsidy programme ban

  Chinese tech giant fights back against FCC ban on carriers in the rural US from using the Universal Service Fund to buy its equipment and designation as threat to US national security

• December 03, 2019 03 Dec'19

  General Election 2019: Which manifesto is best for the UK’s tech sector?

  Computer Weekly breaks down each political party’s technology policies ahead of the upcoming General Election to see how they compare

• December 03, 2019 03 Dec'19

  Survey finds most firms don’t respond to GDPR requests in time

  Most organisations do not respond to requests for GDPR data in the one month allowed, while many return incorrect data. The education sector does best, but the public sector lags behind

• December 03, 2019 03 Dec'19

  Chinese web users take more risks than Brits or Americans

  A research paper published by the University of Birmingham seems to show that differences in cultural values have an impact both on risky behaviour online and legal regulation

• November 28, 2019 28 Nov'19

  TSB neglected to assess capabilities of main IT provider in its failed system migration

  TSB failed to properly assess and manage the internal service provider that lead its botched IT migration

• November 28, 2019 28 Nov'19

  Conservatives urged to join Labour, Lib Dems and SNP in committing to post-election IR35 review

  With several major political parties making pre-election pledges to conduct a review of the IR35 tax avoidance reforms, pressure is growing on the Tories to follow suit

• November 28, 2019 28 Nov'19

  General Election 2019: the Scottish National Party’s technology policies and digital plans

  With the UK gearing up for its third General Election in four years, Computer Weekly outlines the Scottish National Party’s main technology policies and digital plans, as laid out in its manifesto

• November 26, 2019 26 Nov'19

  Facebook undermined rivals in bid to dominate global messaging

  Facebook used buyouts and bullying tactics towards competitors to grow its business empire, documents leaked to Computer Weekly reveal

• November 25, 2019 25 Nov'19

  General Election 2019: The Lib Dems’ technology policies and digital plans

  With the UK gearing up for its third General Election in four years, Computer Weekly outlines the Liberal Democrat Party’s main technology policies and digital plans, as laid out in its manifesto

• November 22, 2019 22 Nov'19

  Mystery surrounds leak of four billion user records

  Threat researchers uncover four billion user records on a wide-open Elasticsearch server but who left them there is a mystery

• November 22, 2019 22 Nov'19

  Court of Appeal dismisses Post Office application to appeal damning judgment

  The Court of Appeal has rejected a Post Office application to appeal judgments made in the first trial of its multimillion-pound battle with subpostmasters over IT system failures.

• November 22, 2019 22 Nov'19

  IT chiefs recognise the risks of artificial intelligence bias

  Artificial intelligence promises to change the way businesses operate. IT leaders are now taking bias in AI algorithms seriously

• November 22, 2019 22 Nov'19

  TSB tech woes continue with overnight systems failure

  TSB customers have experienced problems receiving money into their accounts due to an IT error, just days after the bank was slammed in a report on its IT problems last year

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  Massive increase in fraud attacks on TSB customers during IT meltdown

  There was a massive spike in attempts by fraudsters to steal from TSB customers when the bank’s IT systems failed in 2018

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  Conservatives slammed over social media trickery

  The Conservative Party has been caught spreading online disinformation during the General Election campaign for a second time

• November 19, 2019 19 Nov'19

  Public sector risks downplayed by senior IT leaders

  Sophos reveals a significant cyber security perception gap between senior IT and security leaders in the public sector and their front-line teams

• November 19, 2019 19 Nov'19

  Trade associations dial down anger on Labour’s broadband plans

  Anger at the Labour Party’s proposals on full-fibre broadband have persisted, but more nuanced views have emerged from fibre associations

• November 18, 2019 18 Nov'19

  Microsoft increases data protection for enterprises following Dutch MoJ audit

  Last year’s audit by the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security got the attention of the European Data Protection Supervisor. Now Microsoft has reacted

• November 12, 2019 12 Nov'19

  PCI DSS payment security compliance drops again

  Worldwide, barely one-third of companies are maintaining full compliance with the PCI DSS security standard – and the numbers are falling

• November 12, 2019 12 Nov'19

  Shared responsibility model key to solving 5G security problem

  Both buyers and sellers need to cooperate to solve the thorny issues around 5G security

• November 11, 2019 11 Nov'19

  Major report on TSB IT disaster expected soon

  A damning report into the 2018 IT disaster at TSB is expected to heavily criticise executives when it is published in November

• November 08, 2019 08 Nov'19

  Morrisons in new appeal over data breach fine

  The Supreme Court has heard an appeal from retailer Morrisons as it attempts to overturn prior judgments holding it liable for a 2014 leak of employee data

• November 06, 2019 06 Nov'19

  Trend Micro insider breach exposes need for data-centric protection

  Simple measures could have saved consumer security product supplier from insider breach

• November 06, 2019 06 Nov'19

  Lawmakers study leaked Facebook documents made public today

  Computer Weekly publishes cache of leaked documents disclosed to Congress

• November 05, 2019 05 Nov'19

  ICO launches data security campaign for UK General Election

  Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham launches campaign to remind the public of their rights when personal data is used for political purposes

• November 04, 2019 04 Nov'19

  NHS Digital hit with £4.3m IR35-related tax bill after using HMRC CEST tool to assess contractors

  The digital arm of the NHS used HMRC's much-maligned online tool to assess contractors, only for the tax agency to call into question its IR35 determinations and hit it with a tax bill totalling £4.3m

• October 30, 2019 30 Oct'19

  What will succeed the National Cyber Security Strategy?

  As the National Cyber Security Strategy nears the end of its working life, the government is considering what comes next, and is asking probing questions of its successes and failures

• October 29, 2019 29 Oct'19

  NordVPN enlists ethical hackers, launches bug bounty programme

  Breached consumer VPN supplier details steps it is taking to shore up its cyber security posture after an unknown actor gained access to one of its servers

• October 23, 2019 23 Oct'19

  Take responsibility for cyber security basics, urges NCSC CEO

  At the launch of its third annual review, NCSC head Ciaran Martin appealed for individuals and businesses to address the fundamentals of cyber security hygiene to help lighten the load

• October 22, 2019 22 Oct'19

  Brexit: Withdrawal agreement lists EU IT data link beyond transition

  Document lists system-to-system IT and network connectivity that will be required after the UK leaves the European Union

• October 22, 2019 22 Oct'19

  Over-30s tend to do better at cyber security than younger colleagues

  Attitudes to workplace cyber security differ by age group, but not in the way one might imagine, according to a new study by NTT Security

• October 18, 2019 18 Oct'19

  Due diligence requires a flexible, standardised approach

  A study has found that procurement professionals are not confident of the process for vetting new suppliers – but a one-size assessment approach does not fit all

• October 15, 2019 15 Oct'19

  UK government aims to measure success of digital initiatives

  Responding to a critical parliamentary report on digital progress, the government has laid out plans to develop better metrics and to overhaul legacy IT

• October 15, 2019 15 Oct'19

  Attackers hunt iPhone jailbreakers in click fraud campaign

  Research by Cisco’s Talos threat intel unit has identified a new click fraud campaign targeting people looking to jailbreak their iPhone devices

• October 14, 2019 14 Oct'19

  Private equity swoops on Sophos

  British cyber security star picked up by technology sector investors for $3.9bn

• October 08, 2019 08 Oct'19

  Dutch AI Coalition wants to put the Netherlands on artificial intelligence map

  To ensure the Netherlands keeps pace in the artificial intelligence race, an AI coalition has been formed to help organisations in the sector to collaborate

• October 04, 2019 04 Oct'19

  UK and US call on Facebook to walk back encryption plans

  The US, Australian and UK governments have asked Facebook to ditch plans to deploy end-to-end encryption across Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp

• October 03, 2019 03 Oct'19

  Why data-driven applications need a governance framework

  Data is the new oil – but without tight control, how can business determine that the data is valid? Data catalogues are back in vogue

• October 03, 2019 03 Oct'19

  Cyber war as big a threat as nuclear war, says ex-RSA head Coviello

  Former RSA chairman Art Coviello has been speaking about the devastating potential of cyber weapons, and warned that humanity must learn from history in order to control them

• October 01, 2019 01 Oct'19

  A security breach is inevitable, IT leaders warned

  No matter how much IT security tech and training is in place, sophisticated, targeted attacks are going to breach company defences, Carbon Black warns

• October 01, 2019 01 Oct'19

  Singapore outlines initiatives to tackle OT and IoT security

  The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore has developed a blueprint to secure operational technology systems in critical sectors, among other measures to secure cyber-physical systems and the internet of things

• September 27, 2019 27 Sep'19

  GDPR compliance: Whose job is it and is it really possible?

  Nobody seems to have a good handle on business GDPR compliance, how many businesses are compliant, or indeed what compliance really is, but according to security experts, it very much depends on who you talk to

• September 26, 2019 26 Sep'19

  Instagram and WhatsApp – the new tools of social media propaganda

  Facebook and Twitter have been cast as the villains of the piece, but social media disinformation and propaganda are evolving in new and alarming directions, say Oxford University researchers

• September 19, 2019 19 Sep'19

  CTO interview: Paul Clark, Tandem Bank

  Tandem Bank’s chief technology officer had a close encounter with legacy banking when he left his previous job to pursue a career in fintech

• September 18, 2019 18 Sep'19

  Facebook automatically generates pages for Islamic State and Al-Qaeda

  Facebook algorithms have auto-generated hundreds of Facebook pages for the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia, according to a whistleblower

• September 18, 2019 18 Sep'19

  Universities tempting targets for cyber criminals, warns NCSC

  As hundreds of thousands of students prepare for the new academic year, universities have been warned that they are at high risk of cyber attack

• September 18, 2019 18 Sep'19

  IT departments spend millions tackling performance issues in complex IT

  A study has found that CIOs are concerned that a modern software-driven, hybrid, multi-cloud architecture will be costly and difficult to manage

• September 17, 2019 17 Sep'19

  Ecuador citizens’ data breach holds lessons for enterprises

  What caused the mass breach of Ecuadorian citizens’ data, and what can businesses learn from it?

• September 13, 2019 13 Sep'19

  Industry opposition to no-deal Brexit hardens, says TechUK

  A survey of TechUK members has found that 71% believe a no-deal Brexit at the end of October will negatively affect them in spite of their preparations

• September 12, 2019 12 Sep'19

  ICO to probe government over Gov.uk data collection plan

  The ICO is to look into the government’s leaked data collection plans over fears they may breach the law

• September 12, 2019 12 Sep'19

  UN agency Unicef praised for response to accidental data leak

  The UN’s children’s agency has disclosed an inadvertent leak of personal data belonging to users of its online learning platform Agora

• September 12, 2019 12 Sep'19

  IBM introduces z15 mainframe with security data passport

  In the new z15 enterprise server, IBM has focused on making data secure and auditable wherever it resides.

• September 11, 2019 11 Sep'19

  Nordic countries deepen collaboration with Estonia-based cyber security operation

  Nordic countries are now working closer with Nato’s Estonia-based centre of excellence in cyber security

• September 11, 2019 11 Sep'19

  GDPR non-compliance worse than feared

  Over half of UK businesses do not yet appear to be fully GDPR-compliant, and many have de-prioritised their compliance efforts

• September 10, 2019 10 Sep'19

  UK calls for cyber capacity-building at UN security group

  The UK’s representative to a United Nations cyber security working group has called for increased investment in capacity around cyber security

• September 03, 2019 03 Sep'19

  Post Office changes IT leadership reshuffle decision

  The Post Office has changed its IT leadership reshuffle weeks after announcing its original plan

• September 03, 2019 03 Sep'19

  Aberdeen Standard Investment deploys Igel for VDI

  The investment management group is rolling out virtual desktop infrastructure globally and will use the secure Linux platform Igel to manage the VDI environment

• August 28, 2019 28 Aug'19

  HMRC under fire over 'scaremongering' IR35 clampdown letters targeting GSK IT contractors

  GSK contractors that have received “scaremongering” letters from HMRC, urging them to review their engagements with the company from an IR35 perspective, are being urged not to panic, as the missives have no legal basis, claim experts

• August 23, 2019 23 Aug'19

  IR35 reforms: HMRC defends off-payroll rules guidance against "woeful" IPSE jibes

  HMRC promises there are more preparatory materials in the pipeline to help the private sector prepare for the April 2020 IR35 rules, after IPSE brands its current guidance "woeful"

• August 21, 2019 21 Aug'19

  Box aims to shield businesses from data loss threat

  Box has introduced an add-in to its cloud-based collaboration platform to lock down and monitor access to files and folders

• August 16, 2019 16 Aug'19

  Google finds that web users log in with compromised credentials

  People continue to use passwords that have been breached. Google has proposed a protocol, which could warn them if their credentials have been stolen

• August 14, 2019 14 Aug'19

  UK finance regulator gives extra time for companies to meet payment security rules

  Financial Conduct Authority gives companies under its watch an extra 18 months to meet an EU payments security standard

• 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

  Can you trust pen-testers?

  Pen-testers have knowingly posted security workarounds on the public internet that are now commonly used by hackers

• 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 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

  London Stock Exchange agrees to acquire Refinitiv for £22bn

  The London Stock Exchange has agreed to a multi-billion pound takeover of data giant Refinitiv

• 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 30, 2019 30 Jul'19

  Six Nordic banks form alliance to offer KYC as a service

  Nordic Know Your Customer joint venture will create a common Nordic platform based on advanced data management technologies

• July 30, 2019 30 Jul'19

  London Stock Exchange eyes £22bn acquisition of Refinitiv to expand data capabilities

  The London Stock Exchange is looking at a huge tech acquisition to provide customers access to a wealth of data services built using the latest technologies

• July 30, 2019 30 Jul'19

  Huawei ‘galvanised’ by Trump ban

  Huawei has found itself caught in the crossfire of the US president’s trade war with China, but chairman Liang Hua says the firm is rising to the challenge

• July 25, 2019 25 Jul'19

  Ofcom must do more to help operators invest in 5G

  Telefónica UK boss Mark Evans warns that Ofcom is prioritising action on behalf of consumers to the exclusion of enabling the telecoms and mobile industry to grow

• July 24, 2019 24 Jul'19

  US Department of Justice launches antitrust probe into dominance of online platform providers

  The US Department of Justice has called for an antitrust investigation into how “market-leading” online platform operators in the search, social media and retail space operate

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  Government delays final decision on Huawei

  Culture secretary says he cannot yet make specific decisions about Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s telecoms and mobile networks due to a lack of clarity from the US, effectively green-lighting its use

• July 22, 2019 22 Jul'19

  US fines Equifax $700m over 2017 breach

  Global settlement with US authorities follows systems breach that saw more than 140 million customer records stolen

• July 16, 2019 16 Jul'19

  UN resolution ignores special rapporteur’s call for halt to spyware sales

  UN’s Human Rights Council adopts resolution to explore the impact of new and emerging digital technologies on human rights, but the text ignores a damning report by the council’s own expert on freedom of expression

• July 15, 2019 15 Jul'19

  UK launches 5G security inquiry

  The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy is to probe the UK government’s approach to telecoms technology as a national security issue

• July 15, 2019 15 Jul'19

  US judge dismisses challenge over Department of Defense mega-cloud contract

  The US Department of Defense looks set to award a $10bn cloud contract after a legal challenge to the procurement process failed

• July 15, 2019 15 Jul'19

  No technical grounds to ban Huawei, DCMS told

  Science and Technology Committee tells Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport that there are no technical grounds for it to exclude Huawei

• July 15, 2019 15 Jul'19

  Organisations turn to AI in race against cyber attackers

  Businesses are racing to automate their defences as hackers and nation states launch increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks

• July 11, 2019 11 Jul'19

  Draft finance bill dims hopes of private sector reprieve on April 2020 roll-out of IR35 reforms

  Publication of the draft IR35 private sector reform legislation dims hopes the government might announce a delay to rolling out the changes in April 2020

• July 08, 2019 08 Jul'19

  Eventful second Post Office Horizon trial ends

  The latest High Court trial in the long-running dispute between the Post Office and subpostmasters has concluded, with part three set for March 2020

• July 03, 2019 03 Jul'19

  BT and Openreach told to be more transparent over split

  Ofcom’s latest monitoring report on the changing relationship between BT and Openreach finds room for improvement, but is mostly positive

• July 02, 2019 02 Jul'19

  CPS faces legal ruling over refusal to disclose emails with US on WikiLeaks and Assange extradition

  A court will decide whether the Crown Prosecution Service can refuse to neither confirm nor deny the existence of correspondence with US on investigations into Julian Assange and WikiLeaks

• July 02, 2019 02 Jul'19

  Post Office back-office error leaves subpostmaster with thousands of pounds extra

  The Post Office has admitted that some subpostmasters are at risk of accounts not balancing due to an error it does not understand

• June 28, 2019 28 Jun'19

  Interview: How Defra is getting its IT systems ready for Brexit

  The director in charge of building and implementing the core systems supporting the department most affected by Brexit talks exclusively to Computer Weekly about the present and future of a new function of hundreds of staff

• June 28, 2019 28 Jun'19

  Interview: John Seglias, chief digital information officer, Defra

  The tech leader at the government department most affected by Brexit talks about digital transformation and carrying out one of the most complex projects in the public sector

• June 26, 2019 26 Jun'19

  Confusing cocktail of document licensing in SAP’s Hana strategy

  SAP wants its customers to migrate from ECC to Hana and its cloud offering and is also putting forward a new, “ambiguous” document licensing scheme

• June 19, 2019 19 Jun'19

  Lloyds Bank uses community effort to push out DevOps

  The developers and IT operations teams were once separate. Now they are one. The challenge is getting this to scale across the business

• June 19, 2019 19 Jun'19

  UK government pushes data-driven agenda

  A smart data report has been published with consultations under way, while an open call for evidence has been launched to help shape the national data plan