News

IT governance

• December 16, 2024 16 Dec'24

  Post Office ‘weaponised’ IT system in most ‘extensive and prolonged’ miscarriage

  In closing, public inquiry counsel made clear that it’s not a computer system being investigated, but rather human beings

• December 16, 2024 16 Dec'24

  The Security Interviews: Stephen McDermid, Okta

  Okta regional chief security officer for EMEA sits down with Dan Raywood to talk about how Okta is pivoting to a secure-by-design champion

• December 13, 2024 13 Dec'24

  Computer Misuse Act reform gains traction in Parliament

  An amendment to the proposed Data (Access and Use) Bill that will right a 35-year-old wrong and protect security professionals from criminalisation is to be debated at Westminster

• December 12, 2024 12 Dec'24

  Emerging Ymir ransomware heralds more coordinated threats in 2025

  A newly observed ransomware strain has the community talking about more collaboration, and blurred lines, between threat groups next year, according to NCC’s monthly cyber barometer

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  Dangerous CLFS and LDAP flaws stand out on Patch Tuesday

  Microsoft has fixed over 70 CVEs in its final Patch Tuesday update of the year, and defenders should prioritise a zero-day in the Common Log File System Driver, and another impactful flaw in the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  iOS vuln leaves user data dangerously exposed

  Jamf threat researchers detail an exploit chain for a recently patched iOS vulnerability that enables a threat actor to steal sensitive data, warning that many organisations are still neglecting mobile updates

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  UK police continue to hold millions of custody images unlawfully

  Annual report from the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner of England and Wales highlights the ongoing and unlawful retention millions of custody images of innocent people never charged with a crime by police

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  DWP ‘fairness analysis’ reveals bias in AI fraud detection system

  Information about people’s age, disability, marital status and nationality influences decisions to investigate benefit claims for fraud, but the Department for Work and Pensions says there are ‘no immediate concerns of unfair treatment’

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  Nvidia investigation signals widening of US and China chip war

  The Biden administration has expanded sanctions to prevent China extending its AI capabilities – now, China is going after Nvidia

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  Controversial Horizon system to remain in Post Office branches as part of tech ‘fusion’, says source

  A source says the Post Office is set to buy the Horizon system from Fujitsu and combine it with both in-house developed and commercially available software

• December 09, 2024 09 Dec'24

  Inside Prudential’s AI strategy

  Prudential is leveraging AI across its operations, from enhancing customer interactions and streamlining internal processes to empowering its workforce through upskilling initiatives

• December 06, 2024 06 Dec'24

  US TikTok ban imminent after appeal fails

  TikTok’s appeal against a US government ban has failed, with a judge dismissing its arguments that its First Amendment free speech rights are being restricted

• December 06, 2024 06 Dec'24

  TfL cyber attack cost over £30m to date

  TfL provides more detail on the financial impact of the September 2024 cyber attack that crippled several of its online systems

• December 05, 2024 05 Dec'24

  Met Police challenged on claim LFR supported by ‘majority of Lewisham residents’

  A community impact assessment for the Met Police’s deployment of live facial-recognition tech in Lewisham brings into question the force’s previous claims to Computer Weekly that its use of the technology is supported by ‘the majority of residents’

• December 04, 2024 04 Dec'24

  Shared digital gateway was source of three NHS ransomware attacks

  Alder Hey children’s hospital confirms ransomware operators accessed its systems through a shared digital gateway, but is standing firm in the face of the gang’s demands

• December 03, 2024 03 Dec'24

  US updates telco security guidance after mass Chinese hack

  Following the widespread Salt Typhoon hacks of US telecoms operators including AT&T and Verizon, CISA and partner agencies have launched refreshed security guidance for network engineers and defenders alike

• December 03, 2024 03 Dec'24

  F1 heightens fan experiences with the power of Salesforce

  Learn how the technical teams behind Formula One are using Salesforce’s tools to enhance fan activation and engagement at 24 races across the world, and how they are bringing AI into play with Agentforce capabilities

• December 03, 2024 03 Dec'24

  VMware ‘shock’ spawned lock-in rebellion, says NetApp

  NetApp makes predictions for 2025 that include lower tolerance for lock-in due to VMware changes, a shift to DRaaS, AI disillusionment and big spending on energy infrastructure

• December 02, 2024 02 Dec'24

  NCSC boss calls for ‘sustained vigilance’ in an aggressive world

  NCSC CEO Richard Horne is to echo wider warnings about the growing number and severity of cyber threats facing the UK as he launches the security body’s eighth annual report

• November 29, 2024 29 Nov'24

  Swedish authorities urged to discontinue AI welfare system

  Amnesty International is calling on Sweden’s social insurance agency to immediately discontinue its machine learning-based welfare system, following an investigation by Lighthouse Reports and Svenska Dagbladet that found it to be discriminatory

• November 28, 2024 28 Nov'24

  Chulalongkorn University debuts GenAI platform

  Thai university teams up with Google Cloud to empower its community with responsible and customisable AI tools for research, learning and administration

• November 27, 2024 27 Nov'24

  Further disruption expected after latest NHS cyber attack

  IT and security teams at Wirral University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust continue to work around the clock following a major cyber incident, with services disrupted and no timeline for resolution

• November 27, 2024 27 Nov'24

  Barings Law plans to sue Microsoft and Google over AI training data

  Microsoft and Google are using people’s personal data without proper consent to train artificial intelligence models, alleges Barings Law, as it prepares to launch a legal challenge against the tech giants

• November 26, 2024 26 Nov'24

  Sellafield operator opens dedicated cyber centre

  The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has opened a cyber security centre spanning its activities across the nuclear sector

• November 26, 2024 26 Nov'24

  Blue Yonder ransomware attack breaks systems at UK retailers

  UK supermarkets continue to deal with the impact of a ransomware attack on the systems of supply chain software supplier Blue Yonder, which is disrupting multiple aspects of their businesses including deliveries and staff management

• November 26, 2024 26 Nov'24

  Russian threat actors poised to cripple power grid, UK warns

  UK government escalates cyber rhetoric in a speech at a Nato event, saying Russian advanced persistent threats stand ready to conduct cyber attacks that could ‘turn off the lights for millions’

• November 25, 2024 25 Nov'24

  Metropolitan Police officer dismissed for unlawfully accessing Sarah Everard files

  Over 100 Met Police officers and staff have been investigated for accessing sensitive data related to the Sarah Everard case, leading to the dismissal of a Roads and Transport officer who accessed the information while off-duty

• November 25, 2024 25 Nov'24

  Microsoft calls on Trump to ‘push harder’ on cyber threats

  Microsoft’s Brad Smith urges president-elect Donald Trump to keep the faith when it comes to fighting back against hostile cyber actors from China, Iran and Russia

• November 25, 2024 25 Nov'24

  Geopolitical strife drives increased ransomware activity

  The lines between financially motivated cyber criminals and nation state APTs are rapidly blurring, as geopolitical influences weigh heavily on the threat landscape, according to data from NCC

• November 22, 2024 22 Nov'24

  Convictions of Post Office Capture system users to be reviewed by statutory body

  Statutory body to look at the convictions of subpostmasters who used a pre-Horizon branch accounting system

• November 21, 2024 21 Nov'24

  BianLian cyber gang drops encryption-based ransomware

  The Australian and American cyber authorities have published updated intelligence on the BianLian ransomware gang, which has undergone a rapid evolution in tactics

• November 21, 2024 21 Nov'24

  Microsoft slaps down Egyptian-run rent-a-phish operation

  Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit has conducted a successful takedown of almost 250 malicious websites used in the cyber criminal ONNX phishing-as-a-service operation

• November 21, 2024 21 Nov'24

  Brit charged in US over Scattered Spider cyber attacks

  A UK national named as Tyler Robert Buchanan has been charged in the US over his alleged involvement in cyber attacks perpetrated by the Scattered Spider gang

• November 21, 2024 21 Nov'24

  US Department of Justice wants Alphabet to sell Chrome browser

  The regulator is looking to put a stop to what it sees as the search engine giant’s anti-competitive practices

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  ORG urges ICO to revise public sector enforcement approach

  The Open Rights Group is urging the Information Commissioner’s Office to revise its light touch approach to public sector data protection issues, arguing that its experimental policy of limiting its enforcement actions to reprimands and notices, ...

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  Apple addresses two iPhone, Mac zero-days

  Two zero-day vulnerabilities uncovered in Apple’s operating systems could have allowed for arbitrary code execution and cross-site scripting attacks

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  Government issues strategic priorities for online safety regulator Ofcom

  Technology secretary Peter Kyle sets out the government’s strategic priorities for how Ofcom should approach regulating online safety, including embedding safety by design and supporting innovation in technologies to help protect people online

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  Post Office project taking control of Horizon data from Fujitsu as part of messy split

  The Post Office will no longer rely on Fujitsu for Horizon data past and present once cloud migration project is complete, in a major uncoupling of the 30-year relationship

• November 19, 2024 19 Nov'24

  Subpostmasters hit by Post Office scandal plan to meet over 'nuclear option'

  Members of campaign group Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance will discuss taking legal action in their pursuit of full, fair and final financial redress

• November 18, 2024 18 Nov'24

  How banks are navigating the AI landscape

  Industry experts discuss the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in banking, while addressing the challenges and governance implications of integrating AI into financial services

• November 18, 2024 18 Nov'24

  AWS widening scope of MFA programme after early success

  AWS reports strong take-up of multi-factor authentication among customers since making it compulsory for root users earlier this year, and plans to expand the scope of its IAM programme in spring 2025

• November 18, 2024 18 Nov'24

  Denmark’s AI-powered welfare system fuels mass surveillance

  Research reveals the automated tools used to flag individuals for benefit fraud violate individuals’ privacy and risk discriminating against marginalised groups

• November 18, 2024 18 Nov'24

  Post Office IT boss calls for subpostmasters to judge him on his actions

  Recently installed Post Office chief transformation officer tasked with replacing controversial IT system tells Computer Weekly the organisation’s leadership understands the challenges ahead

• November 15, 2024 15 Nov'24

  CBRE: Spare datacentre capacity levels to hit all-time low across Europe by end of 2024

  Real estate consultancy CBRE has lifted the lid on how growing demand for datacentre capacity, coupled with shortages of land and power in Europe, are having a downbeat impact on vacancy rates

• November 14, 2024 14 Nov'24

  HMRC puts Loan Charge settlements ‘on pause by request’ until independent review concludes

  After campaigners called for HMRC to pause all of its Loan Charge enforcement activity until the government’s independent review of the policy is complete, Computer Weekly has learned that the agency is accepting requests to pause settlements

• November 14, 2024 14 Nov'24

  MPs hold first ever debate on live facial recognition

  MPs have held an open debate on police use of live facial recognition technology for the first time since it was initially deployed by the Met Police in August 2016

• November 13, 2024 13 Nov'24

  China’s Volt Typhoon rebuilds botnet in wake of takedown

  Nine months after its malicious botnet comprising legacy routers was disrupted by the Americans, Chinese APT Volt Typhoon is rebuilding and presents as persistent a threat as ever

• November 12, 2024 12 Nov'24

  Microsoft fixes 89 CVEs on penultimate Patch Tuesday of 2024

  High-profile vulns in NTLM, Windows Task Scheduler, Active Directory Certificate Services and Microsoft Exchange Server should be prioritised from November’s Patch Tuesday update

• November 12, 2024 12 Nov'24

  Zero-day exploits increasingly sought out by attackers

  Threat actors increasingly favour zero-day exploits to attack their victims before patches become available, according to the NCSC and CISA, which have just published a list of the most widely used vulnerabilities of 2023

• November 12, 2024 12 Nov'24

  More data stolen in 2023 MOVEit attacks comes to light

  Over a year since the infamous MOVEit Transfer cyber attacks affected thousands of organisations, more new victims have come to light after an anonymous threat actor leaked their data on the dark web