News

IT legislation and regulation

• December 04, 2023 04 Dec'23

  Rhysida ransomware gang hits hospital holding royal family’s data

  Ransomware gang boasts of having stolen data on the royal family in an attack on a private London hospital

• December 01, 2023 01 Dec'23

  Human augmentation tech requires dual use oversight

  Researchers investigating human augmentation technologies must acknowledge the potential military applications of their work, and military bodies cannot be allowed to dismiss ethical concerns in their pursuit of national security interests, says NGO...

• December 01, 2023 01 Dec'23

  Lords committee urges caution on UK use of autonomous weapons

  UK government must ensure proper democratic oversight of its development and use of AI-powered weapon systems, says Lords committee

• November 30, 2023 30 Nov'23

  Government’s Online Fraud Charter welcomed

  The government has corralled 11 of the largest tech platforms in the world to commit to its Online Fraud Charter, designed to tackle online scams, fake adverts, and more

• November 29, 2023 29 Nov'23

  Law enforcement dismembers major ransomware operation in Ukraine

  A joint law enforcement operation between the Ukrainian authorities, Europol and Eurojust has seem five ransomware operators taken into custody

• November 27, 2023 27 Nov'23

  Lack of government incentives stifling UK business broadband expansion

  Research from UK connectivity provider reveals that while 42% of UK businesses plan vital connectivity upgrades as part of growth strategy, one in every five are receiving insufficient internet speeds

• November 24, 2023 24 Nov'23

  UK police plan national roll-out of facial-recognition phone app

  UK police chiefs plan to expand use of facial-recognition technology through a nationwide roll-out of mobile-based tools and increases in retrospective facial-recognition, but oversight problems persist

• November 23, 2023 23 Nov'23

  DWP to surveil bank accounts of benefit claimants for fraud

  The UK government has outlined how it plans to tackle benefit fraud by giving the Department for Work and Pensions new powers compelling banks to collect and share data on claimants’ bank accounts

• November 22, 2023 22 Nov'23

  Improved rural connectivity set to unlock £8.8bn for British manufacturers

  Economic modelling from Virgin Medio O2 reveals great rural revival with improved rural connectivity having the potential to unlock huge gains for British manufacturers

• November 22, 2023 22 Nov'23

  Executive interview: TechUK CEO Julian David on 10 years of change in UK IT

  It’s 10 years since the UK technology trade association relaunched as TechUK – its chief executive looks back on a dramatic decade, and discusses what’s next for the UK tech sector

• November 17, 2023 17 Nov'23

  Microsoft and Meta quizzed on AI copyright

  Large language models are trained using vast amounts of public data – but do the hyperscalers comply with copyright laws?

• November 16, 2023 16 Nov'23

  Outgoing police tech watchdog warns of declining oversight

  The outgoing biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner for England and Wales discusses police deployment of powerful new surveillance technologies, and the declining state of oversight in this area

• November 16, 2023 16 Nov'23

  Ransomware gang grasses up uncooperative victim to US regulator

  The ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware gang has added a new tactic to its playbook, going to ever more extreme lengths in search of a pay-off

• November 13, 2023 13 Nov'23

  Rogue state-aligned actors are most critical cyber threat to UK

  The prospect of rogue nation-state-aligned attackers bringing down the UK’s critical infrastructure is keeping the NCSC up at night

• November 13, 2023 13 Nov'23

  Lloyds Bank warns over rising threat of crypto scams

  Report by Lloyds Banking Group finds there has been a 23% increase in cryptocurrency scams in 2023 compared with last year, targeting mostly younger investors

• November 13, 2023 13 Nov'23

  Victims’ legal action over 2015 Carphone Warehouse breach moves forward

  A class action against Currys Retail over the 2015 data breach of Carphone Warehouse customers has been granted permission to move forward in the courts

• November 10, 2023 10 Nov'23

  UN disarmament body calls for global action on autonomous weapons

  UN draft resolution highlighting the dangers of autonomous weapons passes with overwhelming majority

• November 09, 2023 09 Nov'23

  Ex-Coca-Cola VPs debut ChatGPT-like AI tool to help enterprises solve their sustainability woes

  The Ubuntoo AI tool is already in use within several Fortune 500 companies to help these firms hone their sustainability strategies

• November 09, 2023 09 Nov'23

  UK government does not see need for specific AI legislation

  The UK government does not currently see the need for new artificial intelligence legislation, as many regulators are already dealing effectively with AI-related harms

• November 08, 2023 08 Nov'23

  Data-sharing management gap highlights cyber risk, says report

  Organisations are struggling to secure their use of communications tools to share data with third-party partners and suppliers, and in the process are exposing themselves to heightened levels of risk, according to a report

• November 08, 2023 08 Nov'23

  AI Summit not the place for human rights, says French finance minister

  Despite commitments at the UK’s AI Safety Summit to respect and protect human rights, the French finance minister said it was not the right forum to discuss signatories' human rights records

• November 08, 2023 08 Nov'23

  King’s Speech misses the mark on cyber law reform, says campaign

  A group of activists who want to reform the UK’s computer misuse laws to protect bona fide cyber pros from prosecution have been left disappointed by a lack of legislative progress

• November 08, 2023 08 Nov'23

  The Security Interviews: ISC2’s Clar Rosso on cyber diversity and policy

  Computer Weekly catches up with ISC2 CEO Clar Rosso to talk about diversifying the cyber workforce and supporting cyber pros as they keep up with growing compliance and security policy demands

• November 07, 2023 07 Nov'23

  Post Office disclosure failures delay Horizon scandal inquiry again

  Many of the 300,000 emails unearthed could be relevant to evidence from future and past witnesses in the Post Office scandal inquiry

• November 07, 2023 07 Nov'23

  Unesco unveils seven-point anti-disinformation plan

  United Nations body outlines seven proposals for civil society, governments, regulators and tech platforms to adopt to combat the source of disinformation

• November 07, 2023 07 Nov'23

  AI Safety Summit review

  Computer Weekly takes stock of the UK government’s AI Safety Summit and the differing perspectives around its success

• November 02, 2023 02 Nov'23

  Pension changes set to boost UK tech

  UK technology and science startups could benefit from changes to UK pension funds

• November 02, 2023 02 Nov'23

  EU digital ID reforms should be ‘actively resisted’, say experts

  Over 300 cyber security experts have called for the EU to rethink its proposals for eIDAS digital identity reforms, saying some of the provisions risk damaging user privacy and security

• November 01, 2023 01 Nov'23

  AI Summit: 28 governments and EU agree to safe AI development

  In a joint communique at the UK government’s AI Safety Summit, all participating governments agreed to deepen their cooperation around the risks associated with artificial intelligence

• November 01, 2023 01 Nov'23

  Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson on her AI Safety Summit goals

  As the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park takes place, Computer Weekly caught up with Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson to find out what one of the UK’s most prominent AI advocates wants from proceedings

• October 31, 2023 31 Oct'23

  SEC sues SolarWinds, alleging serious security failures

  SolarWinds and its CISO have been charged with fraud and internal control failures by the US authorities amid allegations of a series of cyber security failings leading up to the 2020 Sunburst attacks

• October 31, 2023 31 Oct'23

  Over a quarter of UK adults use buy now, pay later fintechs

  Latest research from UK financial services regulator shows BNPL more likely to be used by people experiencing financial difficulty

• October 30, 2023 30 Oct'23

  UK government AI Summit already branded ‘missed opportunity’

  The dominance of big tech firms, a focus on speculative risks over real-world harms, and the exclusion of affected workers, mean the AI Safety Summit is a wasted opportunity, say civil society groups

• October 27, 2023 27 Oct'23

  Tech firms cite risk to end-to-end encryption as Online Safety Bill gets royal assent

  Tech firms continue to be concerned that the Online Safety Bill could undermine end-to-end encryption despite government reassurances

• October 27, 2023 27 Oct'23

  Domestic abuse charities surface fresh worries over NHS data sharing

  With new NHS data access options coming into effect at the end of October, a group of campaigners including womens' charities and the BMA have warned that the revived GP-patient data sharing scheme risks putting vulnerable people at risk

• October 27, 2023 27 Oct'23

  ‘Egregious’ to link passport data with facial recognition systems

  The Scottish biometrics watchdog has spoken out against the UK policing minister’s plans to integrate passport data with police facial recognition systems

• October 27, 2023 27 Oct'23

  Germany: European Court opinion kicks questions over EncroChat back to national courts

  Germany lawfully obtained data on German EncroChat users from France, but whether the evidence is legally admissible is a matter for national courts

• October 26, 2023 26 Oct'23

  ChatGPT, Bard, lack effective defences against fraudsters, Which? warns

  Consumer advocacy Which? warns that popular generative AI tools are vulnerable to loopholes that render existing protections against malicious usage easily bypassed

• October 26, 2023 26 Oct'23

  Sunak sets scene for upcoming AI Safety Summit

  Prime minister Rishi Sunak has outlined how the UK will approach making AI safe, but experts say there is still too big a focus on catastrophic but speculative risks over real harms the technology is already causing

• October 26, 2023 26 Oct'23

  Boardrooms losing control in generative AI takeover, says Kaspersky

  C-suite executives are increasingly fretful about what they perceive as a ‘silent infiltration’ of generative AI tools across their organisations

• October 25, 2023 25 Oct'23

  UK Finance paints mixed picture of fraud as losses top £500m

  UK losses to fraud in the first six months of the year topped £500m, but a slight decline in overall crime rates was observed, according to UK Finance’s latest data

• October 24, 2023 24 Oct'23

  Kaspersky opens up over spyware campaign targeting its staffers

  Kaspersky has shared more details of the TriangleDB spyware that was used against its own workforce by an unknown APT group

• October 19, 2023 19 Oct'23

  Nuclear regulator raps EDF over cyber compliance

  The Office for Nuclear Regulation says EDF has come up short on needed measures to improve cyber security standards at several critical UK nuclear facilities

• October 19, 2023 19 Oct'23

  Need for ‘significant’ public and private investment in UK infrastructure

  Second long-term review sets out role of digital infrastructure in supporting economic growth in UK, but stresses importance of government continuing to support network competition and market deployment

• October 19, 2023 19 Oct'23

  Sellafield local authority unsure if data was stolen six years on from North Korea ransomware attack

  Senior managers at an ‘Achilles heel’ local authority for Europe’s biggest nuclear site ‘still don’t know what was lost’ in a 2017 cyber attack, according to a council source

• October 12, 2023 12 Oct'23

  Scottish biometrics watchdog outlines police cloud concerns

  Police Scotland’s response to the biometrics commissioner’s formal information notice ‘did not ameliorate’ his concerns about the sovereignty and security of the sensitive biometric information being uploaded to cloud infrastructure that is subject ...

• October 05, 2023 05 Oct'23

  Policing minister wants to use UK passport data in facial recognition

  The policing minister’s plans to integrate the UK’s passport database with police facial-recognition systems have been met with criticism from campaigners, academics, and the biometrics commissioner for England and Wales

• October 04, 2023 04 Oct'23

  IR35: HMRC completes first phase of CEST upgrades with Ocelot platform migration

  HMRC has confirmed that its online IR35 status checker tool has completed its migration to a new platform, as the government tax collection agency’s revamp of the service continues apace

• October 04, 2023 04 Oct'23

  UK emphasises EU split by kicking digital trade scheme into long grass

  Former Gaia-X CEO talks exclusively to Computer Weekly about UK inertia on cross-border data tech

• October 04, 2023 04 Oct'23

  ICO issues guidance on workplace surveillance

  Guidance on employee monitoring covers how employers can conduct their digital surveillance lawfully, transparently and fairly, and warns against businesses intruding on their workers’ private lives