News

IT legislation and regulation

• May 30, 2024 30 May'24

  Europol sting operation smokes multiple botnets

  Malware droppers including Bumblebee and Smokeloader were among those targeted in one of the largest ever joint operations against cyber criminal botnets

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Next UK government must be prepared to legislate on AI, say MPs

  The House Science, Innovation and Technology Committee says the next government should be ready to legislate on artificial intelligence to plug any regulatory gaps

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Interview: EU data chief Ulrich Ahle on obstacles to Europe’s digital single market

  EU data scheme Gaia-X is trying to plug the UK into Europe’s planned digital single market as opposition mounts to efforts to extend the reach of Europe’s vast and controversial data laws over global supply chains

• 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 28, 2024 28 May'24

  Post Office scandal: Met Police investigation set to go national

  The police investigation into Post Office and Fujitsu executives is about to gain the status of a major national investigation – but it could be years before any individuals are charged with crimes or face trial

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  Over 700 wrongful subpostmaster convictions overturned by new legislation

  Parliament has approved a law that will see hundreds of subpostmasters with wrongful convictions exonerated as one of the government’s final acts before the general election

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  Paula Vennells boasted about removing Horizon risk reference in Royal Mail flotation prospectus

  A reference to Horizon was removed from Royal Mail prospectus by Paula Vennells in the eleventh hour

• May 23, 2024 23 May'24

  Northern Ireland police face £750,000 fine after data protection blunder put lives at risks

  Information commissioner John Edwards uses discretion to reduce proposed fine from £5.6m to £750,000

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  Dutch employers should discuss using algorithms in managing staff

  Dutch organisations must engage in open discussions with employees about the use of algorithms and data in managing staff

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  AI Seoul Summit: 27 nations and EU to set red lines on AI risk

  The countries will now work together to identify thresholds at which the risks presented by an AI model or system would be unacceptable without safeguards in place, as well as develop interoperable safety testing regimes for the technology

• May 21, 2024 21 May'24

  The Security Interviews: What is the real cyber threat from China?

  Former NCSC boss Ciaran Martin talks about nation-state attacks, why the UK has become so exercised about cyber espionage, and how our leaders are in danger of misunderstanding their adversaries

• May 20, 2024 20 May'24

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange granted appeal

  Two high court judges granted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leave to appeal against extradition to the US after defence lawyers argued that the US had failed to give adequate assurances

• May 17, 2024 17 May'24

  Why the UK needs to fix its broken IT security market

  Ollie Whitehouse, CTO of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, says the market for secure software is broken. Are new laws required to make software companies liable for poor security?

• May 16, 2024 16 May'24

  Post Office IT boss failed to raise concern over false Horizon statements

  Former Post Office CIO Lesley Sewell failed to raise concern over Post Office’s false stance on Horizon integrity

• May 16, 2024 16 May'24

  Sunak warned against changing foreign student visa rules

  Business leaders have called on prime minister Rishi Sunak not to be pressured into altering the graduate visa route

• May 15, 2024 15 May'24

  US authorities crack BreachForums for a second time

  The BreachForums data leak website has been seized by the FBI and international partners again

• May 15, 2024 15 May'24

  WikiLeaks founder’s extradition case labelled ‘institutional corruption’

  Call for Julian Assange to be prosecuted in the US has been condemned as ‘institutional corruption on a judicial level’ with the WikiLeaks founder a ‘political prisoner’

• 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 14, 2024 14 May'24

  NHS trust dismisses governors who questioned allegations of email tampering

  Two NHS trust governors who raised questions in a dispute over allegations of email tampering concerning whistleblower Peter Duffy have been dismissed after an investigation that followed their suspension

• May 13, 2024 13 May'24

  Norway bolsters digital transformation drive

  Norway’s government backs digital transformation with major capital investment this year

• May 10, 2024 10 May'24

  MHRA launches AI regulatory sandbox

  The Medicines Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) hopes the AI Airlock sandbox will help in improving safe development and use of medical devices

• May 10, 2024 10 May'24

  Over 5.3 billion data records exposed in April 2024

  The number of data records breached in April 2024 hit over five billion, a staggering year-on-year increase

• May 09, 2024 09 May'24

  Ofcom publishes draft online child safety rules for tech firms

  In the draft codes, Ofcom calls on technology firms to use ‘robust’ age-checking and content moderation systems to keep harmful material away from children online

• May 07, 2024 07 May'24

  Chinese APT suspected of Ministry of Defence hack

  A cyber attack on the Ministry of Defence is suspected to be the work of threat actors working on behalf of Chinese intelligence

• May 07, 2024 07 May'24

  NCA unmasks LockBitSupp cyber gangster who toyed with pursuers

  The NCA and its partners have named the administrator of the LockBit ransomware gang, LockBitSupp, as Dmitry Khoroshev, who now faces sanctions and criminal charges

• May 03, 2024 03 May'24

  EU calls out Fancy Bear over attacks on Czech, German governments

  The European Union, alongside member states Czechia and Germany, have accused Russian government APT Fancy Bear of being behind a series of attacks on political parties and government bodies

• May 03, 2024 03 May'24

  Lords say government must ‘go beyond’ current approach to LLMs

  Chair of the Lords Communications and Digital Committee has written to the UK’s digital secretary about the government’s approach to generative AI, lamenting a lack of support for copyright holders and measures to ensure competition in AI markets

• May 03, 2024 03 May'24

  Post Office legal boss withheld details from statutory body reviewing miscarriages of justice

  The Post Office’s top lawyer held back vital information when requested by the criminal cases review commission, preventing wrongful convictions from being reviewed

• May 02, 2024 02 May'24

  Ukrainian national sentenced over REvil ransomware spree

  A 24-year-old Ukrainian man has been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison after being convicted of his role in the REvil ransomware attacks

• May 02, 2024 02 May'24

  Post Office investigators saw subpostmasters as ‘enemies’ – and that’s what they became

  Post Office investigators were only focused on getting money from subpostmasters blamed for accounting shortfalls, according to a 2013 report commissioned by organisation’s legal boss

• May 01, 2024 01 May'24

  Autonomous weapons reduce moral agency and devalue human life

  Military technology experts gathered in Vienna have warned about the detrimental psychological effects of AI-powered weapons, arguing that implementing systems of algorithmic-enabled killing dehumanises both the user and the target

• April 30, 2024 30 Apr'24

  Persistent data breaches deny people with HIV dignity and privacy

  The ICO has urged charities and healthcare organisations that work with people living with HIV to do better when it comes to protecting their personal data, after the HIV status of more than 100 people was accidentally disclosed by London’s Central ...

• April 30, 2024 30 Apr'24

  Global majority united on multilateral regulation of AI weapons

  Foreign ministers and civil society representatives say that multilateralism is key to controlling the proliferation and use of AI-powered autonomous weapons, but that a small number of powerful countries are holding back progress

• April 29, 2024 29 Apr'24

  UK economy loses £17.6bn due to fixed connectivity outages

  London fibre-based business network provider lobbies UK comms regulator to introduce automatic compensation for business networks drive competition on quality and reliability in the business connectivity market

• April 26, 2024 26 Apr'24

  European Parliament approves platform worker directive

  The approval of the platform worker directive gives member states two years to incorporate its measures into their national legislation, which includes provisions on how to classify the employment of gig workers and deploy algorithmic ...

• April 24, 2024 24 Apr'24

  Education will be key to good AI regulation: A view from the USA

  Computer Weekly sat down with Salesforce’s vice-president of federal government affairs, Hugh Gamble, to find out how the US is forging a path towards AI regulation, and how things look from Capitol Hill

• April 24, 2024 24 Apr'24

  Lords debate amendment to law on use of computer evidence in light of Post Office scandal

  Peers to debate amending the law on the use of computer evidence in court, which is partly to blame for the wrongful prosecutions of hundreds of former subpostmasters

• April 23, 2024 23 Apr'24

  Lords split over UK government approach to autonomous weapons

  During a debate on autonomous weapons systems, Lords expressed mixed opinions towards the UK government’s current position, including its reluctance to adopt a working definition and commit to international legal instruments controlling their use

• April 22, 2024 22 Apr'24

  Government provides funding to help innovators navigate regs

  AI and Digital Hub, backed by almost £2m in funding, will coordinate regulatory advice across CMA, FCA, ICO and Ofcom

• April 19, 2024 19 Apr'24

  Decade-long IR35 dispute between IT contractor and HMRC prompts calls for off-payroll revamp

  An IT contractor’s business is on the brink of insolvency after a decade-long IR35 dispute with HMRC

• April 19, 2024 19 Apr'24

  CEST: Putting HMRC’s IR35 status checker under the microscope

  Since its launch in March 2017, HMRC's online IR35 status checker tool has come under fierce criticism and scrutiny, only exacerbated in recent weeks by the disclosure it has not been updated in five years

• April 18, 2024 18 Apr'24

  TUC publishes legislative proposal to protect workers from AI

  Proposed bill for regulating artificial intelligence in the UK seeks to translate well-meaning principles and values into concrete rights and obligations that protect workers from systems that make ‘high-risk’ decisions about them

• 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

  US provides assurances over extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

  Extradition of the WikiLeaks founder moves a step closer after the US government gives diplomatic assurances over his treatment in the US. Assange supporters accuse the US of ‘weasel words’

• April 15, 2024 15 Apr'24

  EU’s AI Act fails to protect the rule of law and civic space

  Analysis reveals that the AI Act is ‘riddled with far-reaching exceptions’ and its measures to protect fundamental rights are insufficient

• April 12, 2024 12 Apr'24

  Apple iPhone security alert renews spyware concerns

  An Apple security alert received by users in 92 countries raises fresh fears over ongoing campaigns by users of mercenary spyware products

• April 12, 2024 12 Apr'24

  UK in critical need of regulation to fight misinformation online

  Misinformation, where it is generated by AI, poses a serious threat due to the ease with which plausible false content can be created and spread

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  Facial recognition to play key role in UK shoplifting crackdown

  UK government will fund roll-out of police facial recognition across the country as part of its crackdown on shoplifting and violence against retail staff, but civil society groups say the government is attempting to police its way out of the ...

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  AI skills gap blocking public sector take-up

  A Salesforce report claims that a lack of skills in artificial intelligence is preventing effective take-up of generative AI to enhance frontline citizen services across the public sector

• April 11, 2024 11 Apr'24

  IR35: HMRC restores Github access to deleted CEST source code, but confirms update data lost

  After the source code for its much-maligned online IR35 status checker tool was deleted in error from Github, HMRC confirms it has now been re-uploaded, but any data about past updates to the tool have been lost