News

IT governance

• August 03, 2023 03 Aug'23

  Microsoft attacked over ‘grossly irresponsible’ security practice

  The CEO of Tenable has launched a scathing attack on Microsoft, asserting that the organisation is deliberately keeping its Azure cloud customers in the dark about dangerous vulnerabilities and accusing it of a culture of ‘toxic obfuscation’

• August 02, 2023 02 Aug'23

  Ivanti MDM users told to patch against two dangerous flaws

  Users of Ivanti’s mobile device management platform have been warned to act now to patch two vulnerabilities that were chained by a threat actor in a series of cyber attacks on the Norwegian government

• August 02, 2023 02 Aug'23

  Improved rural connectivity could add £65bn to UK economy

  Study from leading operator and economic consultancy points to potential massive economic boost to UK rural communities through increased digital connectivity and if long-standing obstacles are removed

• July 28, 2023 28 Jul'23

  Risks of opening up AI

  Meta has annouced that its Llama 2 large language model will be freely available under a community licence with certain restrictions

• July 28, 2023 28 Jul'23

  Scottish university hit by Rhysida ransomware gang

  Data allegedly stolen from the University of Western Scotland has been put up for sale on the dark web by a ransomware gang going by the name Rhysida

• July 27, 2023 27 Jul'23

  European Commission starts investigation into Microsoft Teams bundling

  The commission will investigate if the bundling of Microsoft’s collaboration software with its office productivity suite breaks competition rules

• July 27, 2023 27 Jul'23

  Cyber criminals pivot away from ransomware encryption

  Cyber breaches that saw data theft and extortion without an encryption or ransomware component account for more and more incidents, in a possible indication that ransomware gangs are changing up their business models

• July 27, 2023 27 Jul'23

  US cyber breach reporting rules to have global impact

  Organisations that operate as Foreign Private Issuers in the US will have to get to grips with strict new cyber breach reporting regulations handed down by the SEC in Washington

• July 27, 2023 27 Jul'23

  Meta results show impact of data fines and datacentre upgrade strategy

  The owner of Facebook is battling with regulators over transferring EU data to the US. It is also seeing less improvements on CPUs

• July 25, 2023 25 Jul'23

  Cisco, BT and others launch network security coalition

  Network Resilience Coalition focuses on bringing together global expertise to improve data and network security

• July 25, 2023 25 Jul'23

  Tetra radio users’ comms may have been exposed for years

  A number of flaws in the encryption algorithms used in the secure Tetra radio communications standard have potentially left users exposed to snooping

• July 24, 2023 24 Jul'23

  Citrix NetScaler users told to patch new zero-day urgently

  A vulnerability disclosed and patched last week by Citrix appears to be being exploited by China-backed threat actors as a zero-day, prompting warnings from government cyber bodies

• July 24, 2023 24 Jul'23

  Tribunal investigates complaint that journalists’ phones were unlawfully monitored

  The Investigatory Powers Tribunal has agreed to investigate complaints by Northern Ireland investigative journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey that they were unlawfully placed under surveillance

• July 24, 2023 24 Jul'23

  Bank of England’s project to replace ‘beating heart’ is foundation for continuous development

  The Bank of England has reached a major milestone in its core system replacement programme, with next landmark in sight

• July 24, 2023 24 Jul'23

  Security AI and automation may reduce cost of data breaches

  Organisations that go all in on security AI and automation tend to incur lower financial costs when they experience a data breach incident, according to an IBM report

• July 20, 2023 20 Jul'23

  Online Safety Bill screening measures amount to ‘prior restraint’

  The Open Rights Group is calling on Parliament to reform the Online Safety Bill, on the basis that its content-screening measures would amount to “prior restraint” on freedom of expression

• July 20, 2023 20 Jul'23

  How the DSMA balances security and privacy with press freedom

  In a world of information sharing and 24-hour news cycles, the Defence and Security Media Advisory committee have to balance national security and data privacy with freedom of the press

• July 19, 2023 19 Jul'23

  BlackCat and Clop gangs both claim cyber attack on Estée Lauder

  Cosmetics conglomerate Estée Lauder is experiencing operational disruption in the wake of a cyber attack that seems to involve two different cyber crime gangs

• July 19, 2023 19 Jul'23

  ‘Significant gaps’ in UK AI regulation, says Ada Lovelace Institute

  UK government’s plans to diffuse regulatory responsibility for AI among existing regulators will mean the tech is “only partially regulated”, while its data reforms will undercut already-limited existing protections, says Ada Lovelace Institute

• July 19, 2023 19 Jul'23

  Cyber criminal AI tool WormGPT produces ‘unsettling’ results

  A newly discovered generative AI tool dubbed WormGPT is being sold to the cyber criminal underground via the dark web, and poses a significant danger, researchers warn

• July 17, 2023 17 Jul'23

  Police Scotland use cloud for biometric data despite clear risks

  Police Scotland confirms it has stored significant volumes of biometric data on a cloud-based digital evidence sharing system despite major ongoing data protection concerns, bringing into question the effectiveness of the current regulatory approach...

• July 17, 2023 17 Jul'23

  Shift towards ‘smarter’ digital life as broadband security, sustainability become key needs

  Cisco survey finds consumer expectations will reshape the needs and economics of the internet

• July 13, 2023 13 Jul'23

  Civil society groups call on EU to put human rights at centre of AI Act

  Dozens of civil society groups are calling on EU institutions to prioritise people and human rights in AI legislation as secretive negotiations begin

• July 13, 2023 13 Jul'23

  Microsoft issues new warning over Chinese cyber espionage

  A newly uncovered Chinese espionage campaign exploited forged authentication tokens to access its victims’ email accounts, says Microsoft

• July 13, 2023 13 Jul'23

  One month after MOVEit: New vulnerabilities found as more victims are named

  Five weeks after the mass MOVEit breach, new vulnerabilities in the file transfer tool are coming to light as the Clop cyber crime group continues to terrorise victims. But has the gang bitten off more than it can chew?

• July 12, 2023 12 Jul'23

  Digital public services ‘riddled’ with problems, says TUC

  The UK’s increasingly digitised public services are plagued by design, governance and workplace issues that are undermining the government’s stated goal of improving efficiency, but can be alleviated by giving public sector workers a greater say in ...

• July 12, 2023 12 Jul'23

  Ofcom’s online safety preparedness efforts hobbled by government

  Despite Ofcom’s progress so far, UK government changes to the scope and timetable of the Online Safety Bill are hobbling the ability of the regulator to successfully prepare for the new regime

• July 12, 2023 12 Jul'23

  Microsoft users on high alert over dangerous RCE zero-day

  A serious RCE vulnerability in Microsoft Office and Windows is among several zero-days disclosed in Redmond’s July Patch Tuesday update, but this one does not have a patch yet

• July 11, 2023 11 Jul'23

  EU formally grants data adequacy to US

  The European Commission has formally granted the US data adequacy, allowing companies and organisations to freely transfer personal data across the Atlantic via the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. But privacy activist Max Schrems has already committed...

• July 11, 2023 11 Jul'23

  Malicious URL volumes soar as cyber criminals pull on Threads

  Malicious actors have been quick to exploit the buzz around Meta’s newly launched Threads platform, with thousands of new suspicious domains registered exploiting its branding

• July 07, 2023 07 Jul'23

  House of Lords launches an investigation into generative AI

  The government wants the UK to lead AI regulation, but technology is developing at a breakneck pace

• July 06, 2023 06 Jul'23

  VMware ramps up on sovereign cloud in APAC

  VMware is working with local partners to deliver sovereign cloud services in the region, amid growing sovereignty interests among governments and the need maintain business continuity

• July 06, 2023 06 Jul'23

  Biometrics watchdog calls for public space surveillance review

  The biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner is calling for a review of public space surveillance to gain a clearer picture about the proliferation of Chinese surveillance technology across the public sector, but warns against applying double...

• July 06, 2023 06 Jul'23

  Privacy campaigners call for UK data adequacy to be revoked

  The European Commission should revoke the UK’s data adequacy if its Data Protection and Digital Information Bill passes, which campaigners argue ‘flies in the face’ of the decision

• July 06, 2023 06 Jul'23

  Former Fujitsu IT chief evidence postponed after late Post Office disclosure

  Post Office has disrupted Horizon inquiry schedule through late disclosure of ‘significant’ evidence as key IT witness evidence is postponed

• July 06, 2023 06 Jul'23

  Meta’s Threads hits app stores, but no EU launch in sight

  Meta’s Twitter competitor makes its debut and signs up millions of users in just 12 hours, but concerns over compliance with the EU’s Digital Markets Act have sunk a pan-European launch for now

• July 04, 2023 04 Jul'23

  EU judgment sinks Meta’s argument for targeted ads

  The EU Court of Justice has issued a significant judgment against Meta, ruling that national anti-trust bodies can investigate GDPR breaches, disrupting the platform’s entire basis for carrying out targeted advertising

• July 03, 2023 03 Jul'23

  BlackCat gang claims cyber attack on Barts NHS Trust

  Investigations continue into a claim by the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware gang that it has stolen 7TB of data from Barts NHS Trust in London

• June 30, 2023 30 Jun'23

  AI can never be given control over combat decisions, Lords told

  Artificial intelligence is technically incapable of distinguishing between the complex contextual factors of combat situations, and will likely never be able to, according to legal and software experts

• June 30, 2023 30 Jun'23

  NHS data stolen in Manchester Uni ransomware attack

  The ransomware gang behind the cyber attack on the University of Manchester appears to have got its hands on an NHS dataset being used by the university for research purposes

• June 29, 2023 29 Jun'23

  ‘Shadow’ AI use becoming a driver of insider cyber risk

  Off-the-books use of generative AI tools will inevitably lead to a costly, high-profile data breach for someone, but a little attention paid to appropriate data management policy can help mitigate the risk

• June 28, 2023 28 Jun'23

  Scottish government tech accelerator opens latest funding round

  The Scottish government’s CivTech accelerator is seeking technology businesses to help develop new tools to improve public services, as well as to address pressing social and environmental issues

• June 27, 2023 27 Jun'23

  UK AI plans offer ‘inadequate’ human rights protection, says EHRC

  The UK’s equality watchdog says the government must properly consider human rights when implementing rules to regulate artificial intelligence, as current plan offers little protection

• June 27, 2023 27 Jun'23

  WithSecure forges ahead with green coding initiative

  WithSecure’s W/Sustainability programme kickstarts a number of initiatives, including a commitment to green coding the security supplier hopes will set an example for others to follow

• June 27, 2023 27 Jun'23

  3,600 potential cyber security experts apply to government scheme

  The UK government’s Upskill in Cyber programme is reporting great success just a month after launch, with almost half of applicants women

• June 23, 2023 23 Jun'23

  ICO under fire for taking limited action over serious data breaches

  The ICO has come under fire from lawyers and data protection specialists for just issuing written warnings to two public bodies over serious data breaches that placed people’s lives at risk

• June 22, 2023 22 Jun'23

  Health and care staff have three months to move to latest NHS patient record service

  NHS England has told health and care workers they have until the end of September to switch to the latest patient record system

• June 22, 2023 22 Jun'23

  Lancaster University launches trailblazing cyber MBA

  MBA programme at Lancaster University designed to deliver security leadership education to business leaders has received NCSC backing

• June 22, 2023 22 Jun'23

  Manchester University students threatened by ransomware gang

  Students and staff members at the University of Manchester are being pressurised by an unnamed ransomware gang

• June 21, 2023 21 Jun'23

  Nearly quarter of a million malicious websites reported and removed through NCSC service

  A suspicious email and text message reporting service in the UK has directly led to a quarter of a million malicious websites being removed