News

IT legislation and regulation

October 22, 2020 22 Oct'20
US Justice Department files antitrust lawsuit against Google

Lawsuit alleges Google used anticompetitive tactics to maintain and extend its monopolies in a number of interconnected digital markets, violating US federal antitrust law
October 22, 2020 22 Oct'20
IR35: Former Treasury secretary Mel Stride calls for ‘dreaded’ off-payroll rules to be ‘abolished’

While chairing a Treasury Committee session on how the UK tax landscape must change to cover the costs of the coronavirus pandemic, ex-Treasury secretary Mel Stride backed calls for the IR35 rules to be abolished
October 21, 2020 21 Oct'20
Charities warned over ‘Robin Hood’ cyber criminals

Accepting donations from cyber criminal groups could be deemed as profiting from crime, money laundering or handling stolen goods – so don’t do it
October 20, 2020 20 Oct'20
Police given access to self-isolation data

NHS Test and Trace self-isolation data will be made available to police after new guidance changes data-sharing rules

October 20, 2020 20 Oct'20
Six Russians charged over NotPetya and other attacks

Six members of the APT group known as Sandworm have been charged in the US over a series of attacks including the destructive NotPetya incident
October 20, 2020 20 Oct'20
IR35 reforms: Contractors weigh up post-April 2021 employment options

IR35 compliance firm Qdos polls contractors to find out what they think the future holds for their job prospects once the reworked off-payroll rules come into force in the private sector from April 2021
October 19, 2020 19 Oct'20
Estonian rude awakening spurs tech startup activity

Money laundering scandal in Estonia has sparked tech startup activity in the Baltic country as banks look for answers
October 19, 2020 19 Oct'20
IR35 reforms: HMRC urged to correct clause in off-payroll rules that could ‘kill off’ umbrella firms

An ‘errant clause’ within the forthcoming off-payroll legislation could cause serious disruption to the IT contractor community if left unchanged, experts have warned
October 16, 2020 16 Oct'20
BA argues ICO data breach fine down to £20m

Information Commissioner’s Office levies fine of £20m on British Airways for failing to protect the personal data of hundreds of thousands of passengers – a vast reduction on the initial £183m penalty
October 16, 2020 16 Oct'20
Spanish court to question witnesses over ‘illegal surveillance’ of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

The Spanish National Court in Madrid is to hear evidence from information security expert Andy Müller-Maguhn and two lawyers who were subject to ‘illegal surveillance’ of their meetings with Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London

October 15, 2020 15 Oct'20
Cloud data protection keeps the Crick’s medical research Covid-secure

Cloud data management services from Rubrik gave the Francis Crick Institute a data protection edge and have helped keep its vital work going through the pandemic
October 15, 2020 15 Oct'20
Arrests and indictments made in cyber money laundering ring

The NCA has revealed six men were arrested in the UK as part of an international investigation into a money laundering network which handled transactions for some of the world’s most prolific cyber criminal groups
October 15, 2020 15 Oct'20
UK regulators lack the skills and expertise to cope with increasing use of algorithms

MPs told that multiple regulators will be needed to govern the ever-growing use of algorithmic systems in all areas of the economy and public sector
October 14, 2020 14 Oct'20
Public sector security failings leave UK at risk, says think tank

Reform report urges adoption of new policies in the next version of the UK’s National Cyber Security Strategy
October 14, 2020 14 Oct'20
US Elections: Malicious internet domains spike as campaigns heat up

Internet domains related to the US presidential election are 56% more likely to be malicious than regular ones
October 14, 2020 14 Oct'20
Public data should not be held by US tech giants

One-off evidence sessions to follow up on the recommendations of the House of Lords AI Committee revisit the data and ethics debate
October 14, 2020 14 Oct'20
Fintech ‘unicorn’ Klarna probed over data misuse

Online bank blames misuse of user data on human error as Information Commissioner’s Office weighs in
October 12, 2020 12 Oct'20
Challenger bank accessing latest anti-money laundering technology through fintech

Challenger banks works with fintech to support its anti-money laundering efforts
October 12, 2020 12 Oct'20
Trickbot forced offline in major cyber security victory

Coalition led by Microsoft obtained a court order enabling them to take down the infamous Trickbot botnet’s back-end server infrastructure
October 12, 2020 12 Oct'20
Five Eyes spy group again demands access to private messages

Spooks are once again calling for the tech industry to break end-to-end encryption in messaging platforms
October 09, 2020 09 Oct'20
CMA asks for right to probe O2/Virgin merger

Competition and Markets Authority requests right to probe potentially game-changing joint venture that could transform UK’s wired and wireless communications provision
October 08, 2020 08 Oct'20
Coronavirus face mask spammer fined by ICO

The director of software company Studios MG spammed members of the public at the height of the pandemic as one of its directors tried to shift a job lot of face masks
October 08, 2020 08 Oct'20
Crown Prosecution Service suffers 1,600 data breaches in 12 months

CPS sees a spike in data security incidents, many of them serious enough to be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office
October 08, 2020 08 Oct'20
Threat of GDPR fines increasingly driving security buying decisions

Scaring the people who hold the purse strings may be the best option for CISOs who need a little extra budget
October 07, 2020 07 Oct'20
US lawmakers release big tech antitrust report

House Democrats have published a report on the monopoly power wielded by big tech companies and how to restore competition in digital markets
October 07, 2020 07 Oct'20
Department for Education failed to protect data on millions of children, says ICO

The Department for Education’s National Pupil Database, which contains millions of items of data on the UK’s schoolchildren, was found to be non-compliant with data protection regulations across the board
October 07, 2020 07 Oct'20
ICO wraps up Cambridge Analytica investigation

Information Commissioner’s Office concludes its investigation into Cambridge Analytica, saying no additional evidence has come to light that would change its previous assessments
October 06, 2020 06 Oct'20
EU’s top court questions legality of UK phone and internet data surveillance

European Court of Justice rules that the UK and EU member states must comply with EU privacy laws when harvesting people’s sensitive communications data from telecoms and internet companies
October 06, 2020 06 Oct'20
John McAfee arrested over cryptocurrency fraud

Erratic tech baron allegedly promoted initial coin offerings without disclosing he was being paid to do so
October 05, 2020 05 Oct'20
Business leaders call on G20 to drive affordable and responsible tech

A new report from the Business Twenty has urged G20 members to use digitisation to support economic recovery
October 05, 2020 05 Oct'20
FBI seized ‘legally privileged’ material from Ecuador Embassy, claims Julian Assange’s lawyer

The US struck a secret deal with Ecuador to seize WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s property from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London days before his arrest. The haul included legally privileged documents, says his solicitor
October 02, 2020 02 Oct'20
Future UK-EU data sharing put at risk by Brexit legislation

When the Brexit transition period ends, UK ministers will have the power to forge new data-sharing arrangements that risk undermining the viability of future data transfers with the European Union
October 02, 2020 02 Oct'20
Security pros face sanctions if they help ransomware victims pay

New advisory from the US government warns cyber insurance and incident response specialists that they could be skating on thin ice if they help ransomware victims pay their attackers off
September 30, 2020 30 Sep'20
‘American friends’ spied on Julian Assange in Ecuadorian Embassy, court hears

Two former employees of UC Global, which provides security services to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, claim the company shared surveillance footage with the US of the WikiLeaks founder meeting with lawyers and other visitors
September 29, 2020 29 Sep'20
NatWest offers online banking customers free security services

Bank responds to a surge in cyber crime targeting users of online banking services
September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20
Government updates data ethics framework

The new data ethics framework was created to better reflect how projects are run in practice after finding there was “little awareness” of the previous framework across the public sector
September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20
TikTok ban stayed after last-minute court case

TikTok’s lawyers have staved off an imminent ban for the time being, after successfully arguing that it infringed rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States
September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20
Police Scotland to set up new cyber crime centre

National Centre of Excellence will employ specially trained officers to tackle a vertiginous rise in cyber crime
September 25, 2020 25 Sep'20
Forensic expert questions US claims that Julian Assange conspired to crack military password

Forensic computer expert Patrick Eller told the Old Bailey that US allegations that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange attempted to decrypt a password to help former soldier Chelsea Manning leak sensitive government documents anonymously do not fit ...
September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
‘Not unjust’ to extradite WilkiLeaks founder Julian Assange, court hears

Nigel Blackwood, NHS consultant psychiatrist, told the Old Bailey court that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had ‘moderate depression’ and autistic traits, but said they did not prevent his extradition
September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
NHS whistleblower privacy concerns passed on to regulator, but campaigners not holding their breath

NHS Improvement chair Dido Harding acknowledges receiving concerns raised about the anonymity of whistleblowers, but campaigners have little faith that anything will be done
September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
Can banks solve money laundering puzzle through technology?

Banks face a huge challenge in identifying and stopping money laundering without interfering with police investigations
September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
Government blasted over ‘reckless’ contact-tracing security

The Open Rights Group and Big Brother Watch accuse the government of endangering public health with a reckless attitude to contact-tracing data security
September 23, 2020 23 Sep'20
Over half of firms intend to continue US data transfers despite Schrems II

Survey shows many organisations do not intend to significantly change their data-sharing practices, at least until there is more guidance from regulators or governments
September 23, 2020 23 Sep'20
Major tech firms urged to end targeted ads to under-18s

An open letter to Google, Facebook and others is calling on the tech firms to take responsibility for protecting users of their services by ending behavioural advertising to children
September 23, 2020 23 Sep'20
US agencies warn of election disinformation and cyber attacks

Federal agencies are warning of heightened disinformation as the crucial 2020 presidential election nears
September 22, 2020 22 Sep'20
GDS reviewing Cloud First policy post-Schrems II

Review seeks to determine the future of government engagement with cloud hosting services as they relate to cross-border data flows
September 22, 2020 22 Sep'20
WikiLeaks published unredacted cables after password was disclosed in book

WikiLeaks published a cache of unredacted government cables after the publication of a book containing the password led to their publication on other parts of the internet, court told
September 21, 2020 21 Sep'20
Big questions to be answered over TikTok and WeChat reprieve

TikTok and WeChat seem to have received a stay of execution, but big questions and contradictions remain
September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20
Outgoing NCSC CEO: Ransomware threat kept us up at night

Former NCSC CEO Ciaran Martin sheds some light on some of the biggest cyber threats currently facing the UK
September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20
Congressman offered Julian Assange a ‘win-win’ deal that would help President Trump

Details have emerged of US congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s offer of a pardon to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a ‘win-win deal that would benefit US President Donald Trump
September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20
US government deplatforms TikTok and WeChat

The Commerce Department of the US government has banned new downloads of TikTok and WeChat in the US, and announced new prohibitions on doing business with them
September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20
WikiLeaks partners developed software to redact 400,000 Iraq War Logs

Psychologist and co-founder of NGO the Iraq Body Count told a court that Julian Assange insisted on stringent redaction of hundreds of thousands of documents which revealed civilian deaths in the Iraq war
September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20
Loan charge under review: Government’s tax policy set to be challenged under EU law

A fresh attempt to judicially review the government’s controversial disguised remuneration policy is being launched, and its backers have already secured 85% of the £180,000 needed to test whether the loan charge breaches EU law
September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20
Brits more fazed by human augmentation

Italians are the most open to human augmentation, but one-third of people in the UK believe it is unacceptable
September 16, 2020 16 Sep'20
Julian Assange held back 15,000 documents to prevent harm to US government

Investigative journalist John Goetz said today that WikiLeaks held back publication of thousands of documents that could harm individuals
September 15, 2020 15 Sep'20
Data of every Welsh Covid-19 patient leaked online

Data on all 18,105 people in Wales who have received positive tests for the coronavirus was uploaded to a public-facing web server in error
September 15, 2020 15 Sep'20
MEPs denied access as observers to Julian Assange extradition hearing

MEPs and NGOs say they have been denied access to observe extradition proceedings against WikiLeaks founder in Central Criminal Court
September 11, 2020 11 Sep'20
Facebook takes legal action against Irish privacy watchdog

Facebook’s legal action against the Data Protection Commission will attempt to preserve the company’s ability to transfer European citizens’ data to the US despite its lower privacy protections
September 11, 2020 11 Sep'20
Government 'making progress' on Smart Freight System prep ahead of Brexit transition deadline

The government appears to be heeding warnings about the readiness of the Smart Freight border IT system, as the January 2021 Brexit transition deadline looms large
September 10, 2020 10 Sep'20
Irish privacy watchdog orders Facebook to stop sending user data to the US

Irish privacy watchdog orders Facebook to suspend transfers of European citizens’ data to the US after Schrems II ruling that Europeans have no effective way to challenge American government surveillance
September 09, 2020 09 Sep'20
US conspiracy charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange ‘politically motivated’

US journalism historian and investigative journalist Mark Feldstein tells a UK court that use of the Espionage Act against Assange will have wide implications for the press
September 08, 2020 08 Sep'20
Julian Assange warned against interrupting witnesses in extradition hearing

On the second day of his extradition hearing at the Old Bailey, judge informs the WikiLeaks founder he could be removed and potentially banned from court for interrupting witnesses
September 08, 2020 08 Sep'20
Scottish health bodies accelerate mobile Covid-19 detection technology

Scottish regional and national government take the high and fast road to developing contact-tracing technology to assist in preventing further spread of Covid-19
September 07, 2020 07 Sep'20
Government DPOs challenged by volume of GDPR work

Data protection officers working across the UK government are finding it tough to keep up with the increased workload generated by GDPR, according to a report
September 07, 2020 07 Sep'20
AI Summit 2020: Regulating AI for the common good

Speakers and panellists at the virtual AI Summit 2020 spoke about the tensions between cooperation and competition in the development of artificial intelligence
September 03, 2020 03 Sep'20
Phishing scam targets Lloyds Bank customers

Bank customers warned of emails and SMS messages that direct them to a fraudulent site and then request account log-in details
September 02, 2020 02 Sep'20
Ethical and professional data science needed to avoid further algorithm controversies

BCS is calling for higher ethical and professional standards in algorithmic development to ensure public trust in future government information systems
August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20
University of Staffordshire recruits robots to get more out of its people

University staff were bogged down with administrative work, but will now have time to be creative
August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20
Benefit fraud: Underground trade in stolen identities revealed

A roaring underground trade in stolen identities is undermining the Universal Credit system and could potentially defraud it out of millions of pounds
August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20
NHS whistleblowers’ anonymity at mercy of inadequate trust IT policies and processes

They were clapped in the streets for their bravery at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but some NHS staff who raise workplace concerns are suffering abuse as a result
August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20
Financial services business leaders and CIOs disagree on IT infrastructure

IT leaders and senior business executives need to align their technology infrastructure priorities as businesses attempt to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis
August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20
TikTok CEO clocks off

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has resigned from the firm after just three months
August 26, 2020 26 Aug'20
Ministers urge local councils to lead on broadband and mobile

Digital minister Matt Warman and local government minister Simon Clarke want local councils to do their bit to help ensure better access to connectivity during the Covid-19 recovery
August 26, 2020 26 Aug'20
Unwired Planet wins patent licensing case against Huawei

Landmark ruling goes in favour of Unwired Planet and Conversant Wireless and may define the future of telecoms patent licensing
August 25, 2020 25 Aug'20
TikTok takes Trump to court

Under-fire video app TikTok files a formal complaint in the federal courts challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to ban it in the US
August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20
Loan charge: Tax compliance charity demands criminal fraud investigation into scheme promoters

Tax compliance think tank TaxWatch is calling for a criminal fraud investigation to be launched into the promoters of disguised remuneration schemes to curb the continued proliferation of new tax avoidance arrangements
August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20
TikTok’s GDPR compliance probed amid accusations of data misuse

Dutch privacy organisation SOMI claims TikTok falls short in protecting young users, and that it is likely violating GDPR
August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20
MPs accuse ICO of failing to do its job on contact-tracing data

Cross-party group of MPs say the ICO has failed to enforce data protection standards or hold the government to account over the unlawful Test and Trace programme
August 20, 2020 20 Aug'20
UKAS rejects ISO certification concerns

UK’s certification body says refreshed guidance is in place to cover the possibility of lapsed ISO certifications
August 20, 2020 20 Aug'20
Social media data leak highlights murky world of data scraping

A data brokerage left its database of 235 million Instagram, TikTok and YouTube profiles exposed to anybody who cared to access it
August 19, 2020 19 Aug'20
Coronavirus: Thousands of ISO certifications set to lapse

Delays and postponements in the auditing process are putting hard-earned security and data protection certifications at risk of lapsing
August 19, 2020 19 Aug'20
Loan charge MPs urge chancellor to get HMRC to soften contractor settlements

Co-chairs of Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group write to Rishi Sunak to seek a fairer deal for contractors caught by HMRC’s disguised remuneration policy
August 18, 2020 18 Aug'20
UK government needs a joined-up internet policy

Global internet firms want government to ensure its new digital strategy has coherent policy and regulatory goals
August 17, 2020 17 Aug'20
The Security Interviews: How Crest is remaking the future of consultancy

Crest president Ian Glover taught himself cyber security while working on government computing systems in the 1970s and 1980s. Now he is on a decade-spanning mission to change security consultancy models
August 14, 2020 14 Aug'20
ICO acknowledges GDPR concerns over A-level results scandal

Information Commissioner’s Office says it has engaged with exams regulator Ofqual after its use of an algorithm to calculate A-level grades backfired
August 14, 2020 14 Aug'20
US decision to file new charges against Julian Assange ‘astonishing and potentially abusive’

Lawyer for WikiLeaks founder slams US decision to serve a second indictment at the 11th hour alleging that Assange conspired with hackers, as a potential abuse of process
August 14, 2020 14 Aug'20
Oracle and Salesforce sued over online ad tracking

Class action lawsuits filed in Amsterdam and London will accuse Oracle and Salesforce of breaching GDPR in their processing and sharing of personal data to sell online advertising
August 13, 2020 13 Aug'20
Loan charge: HMRC tells contractors not to ‘hold out hope’ of revised down settlements emerging

With the 30 September 2020 loan charge policy settlement date fast approaching, HM Revenue & Customs tells those in its scope to abandon hope of revised down settlements being offered at this stage
August 12, 2020 12 Aug'20
EU and US start discussions on ‘enhanced’ Privacy Shield data-sharing agreement

Talks begin on a successor to the Privacy Shield EU-US data-sharing agreement declared unlawful in July 2020 – a decision by the European Court of Justice that left thousands of businesses facing legal uncertainty
August 12, 2020 12 Aug'20
Police use of facial recognition found ‘unlawful’ in court

In a landmark decision, the Court of Appeal has ruled that South Wales Police’s facial recognition deployments breached human rights and data protection laws
August 11, 2020 11 Aug'20
French data protection authorities to probe TikTok as suitors circle

France’s CNIL has confirmed a new investigation into TikTok’s data protection practices
August 11, 2020 11 Aug'20
Hospitality sector is failing on contact-tracing obligations

Cyber security experts urge the government to do more to help small hospitality businesses improve their contact-tracing data-handling practices
August 07, 2020 07 Aug'20
Isle of Wight trial shows positive effect of contact-tracing app, but data privacy body slams UK

Rare piece of good news for long-awaited but much-criticised mobile app as technical conference highlights the positive outcomes for first large public test of coronavirus contact-tracing service
August 07, 2020 07 Aug'20
Data Standards Authority publishes guidance on government data sharing

The Data Standards Authority (DSA) wants government departments to use new open data standards when sharing data, with the aim of improving public services
August 07, 2020 07 Aug'20
TikTok to be banned in US in 45 days

Trump says his Executive Orders against Chinese mobile apps are in the interests of dealing with a national emergency
August 07, 2020 07 Aug'20
India’s software industry calls for cuts to red tape

Software industry lobby group iSpirt has called on the Indian government to ease the administrative burden of complying with rules related to taxes and trade
August 06, 2020 06 Aug'20
If you hire foreign IT staff, ‘you’re fired’, Trump tells bosses in government-owned entities

Donald Trump has fired a pre-election warning to government organisations that give IT jobs to workers from overseas
August 06, 2020 06 Aug'20
Canon said to be latest Maze ransomware victim

Canon may have had up to 10TB of its data exfiltrated by the Maze ransomware gang
August 06, 2020 06 Aug'20
Coronavirus: IT contractors cite lack of government support during Covid-19 as source of stress

ContractorCalculator research highlights the mental health toll the pandemic is taking on IT contractors