News

IT legislation and regulation

• October 03, 2023 03 Oct'23

  Cyber experts urge EU to rethink vulnerability disclosure plans

  The European Union’s proposed cyber security vulnerability disclosure measures are well-intentioned but ultimately counterproductive, as making unmitigated vulnerabilities public knowledge increases the risk of their exploitation by various actors, ...

• October 03, 2023 03 Oct'23

  Public sector needs systemic reform of capacity to innovate

  Improving the public sector’s capacity to innovate requires a culture of innovation underpinned by people, skills and new ways of working with the private sector

• October 03, 2023 03 Oct'23

  Top science journal faced secret attacks from Covid conspiracy theory group

  A conspiratorial group of extreme Brexit lobbyists mounted an extraordinary campaign against one of the world’s most prestigious science journals – part of a series of joint investigations between Byline Times and Computer Weekly

• September 29, 2023 29 Sep'23

  UK tech sector ‘let down’ and ‘betrayed’ over Rishi Sunak’s net-zero policy tweaks

  Now the dust has settled on the news Rishi Sunak is tweaking several of the policies underpinning the government’s net-zero goal, the UK tech industry has hit back at the news

• September 29, 2023 29 Sep'23

  Scottish watchdog urges wider biometric oversight

  Scotland’s biometrics watchdog urges Scottish Parliament to extend oversight of biometric information to include the entire criminal justice system, not just police

• September 28, 2023 28 Sep'23

  Strasbourg court condemns Turkey for jailing teacher for using ByLock encrypted messaging app

  The case is expected to have implications for the use of digital evidence in prosecutions against users of other encrypted phone apps

• September 26, 2023 26 Sep'23

  UK government quietly disbands data ethics advisory board

  The government has disbanded its Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation’s advisory board in favour of pulling the relevant artificial intelligence (AI) and data knowledge from a pool of external experts

• September 26, 2023 26 Sep'23

  IT contractors ‘forced against their will’ to work for umbrella companies, survey finds

  Research conducted by contracting authority ContractorCalculator paints a bleak picture of the plight of IT contractors ‘forced’ to provide their services through umbrella firms

• September 26, 2023 26 Sep'23

  Cover-ups still the norm in the wake of a cyber incident

  Almost half of organisations that have experienced a cyber incident did not report it to the appropriate authorities, according to a report

• September 26, 2023 26 Sep'23

  HMRC names and shames non-compliant umbrella firms for running tax avoidance schemes

  The government tax collection agency is stepping up its efforts to prevent contractors falling victim to non-compliant umbrella firms with three new names added to its list of known tax avoidance schemes

• September 25, 2023 25 Sep'23

  Apple fixes three vulnerabilities found by spyware researchers

  Apple has patched three more vulnerabilities uncovered by spyware and surveillance researchers at The Citizen Lab

• September 22, 2023 22 Sep'23

  CMA unblocks Microsoft/Activision deal without cloud gaming

  Microsoft’s Activision buy looks set to get the thumbs-up after a deal that stops the two companies from distributing cloud gaming to UK consumers

• September 22, 2023 22 Sep'23

  UK-US data bridge to open to traffic on 12 October

  Government forges ahead with the implementation of the UK-US data bridge, which will come into effect for real just under three weeks from now

• September 22, 2023 22 Sep'23

  Cyber experts set out plan to secure future US elections

  A group of experts are setting out to enhance election cyber security in the United States, and restore public faith in a process tainted by interference and misinformation in the past

• September 20, 2023 20 Sep'23

  Organisations failing to proactively address insider cyber risk

  Organisations are spending less than 10% of their annual security budgets on trying to solve one of the costliest problems in cyber: insider risk

• September 20, 2023 20 Sep'23

  Multi-agency pilot aims to help innovators navigate regulatory landscape

  Regulators join forces in pilot scheme to help businesses deploy new technologies in a way that complies with cross-industry regulations

• September 19, 2023 19 Sep'23

  Braverman puts pressure on Meta to pause end-to-end encryption plans

  The home secretary is calling on Meta to halt its plans to introduce encrypted messaging services on Facebook and Instagram until the company puts measures in place to detect abuse

• September 18, 2023 18 Sep'23

  Unregulated DeFi services abused in latest pig butchering twist

  Pig butchering scammers are taking advantage of the unregulated nature of DeFi crypto trading apps to siphon off even more money from their victims, according to the latest findings of an ongoing investigation

• September 18, 2023 18 Sep'23

  Government seeks industry views on cyber threat to UK CNI

  The Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee is seeking evidence from the cyber sector as it launches an inquiry into the resilience of the UK's critical national infrastructure

• September 15, 2023 15 Sep'23

  TikTok fined €345m under GDPR for failing to protect children’s privacy

  Data protection regulators warn social media companies to take all necessary measures to protect children’s privacy

• September 15, 2023 15 Sep'23

  Manchester police data breach a classic supply chain incident

  The developing data breach at Greater Manchester Police follows a cyber attack on the systems of a key supplier of ID services to the force

• September 14, 2023 14 Sep'23

  Google, Microsoft and Mozilla push browser updates to foil zero-day

  A zero-day in Google’s Chrome browser was first reported by surveillance researchers at The Citizen Lab and Apple, but also affects other browsers

• September 14, 2023 14 Sep'23

  As vehicle safety regulations loom, carmakers fret over cyber risks

  Global, UN-backed car safety and security regulations come into force next year, and automotive bosses say they are not only unprepared, but “swamped” by a tide of compliance and security risks

• September 13, 2023 13 Sep'23

  GCHQ breached privacy rights of IT professional and security researcher, human rights court rules

  The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg finds UK intelligence services breached the privacy rights of two overseas nationals – an IT professional and a security researcher

• September 13, 2023 13 Sep'23

  Altnet trade body slams regulator for spiking UK broadband prices

  Association of UK independent broadband providers criticises national comms regulator’s “failure” to recognise cost to consumers of lack of market competition and contribution of altnets in market

• September 13, 2023 13 Sep'23

  NCSC and ICO sign MoU to forge deeper collaborative links

  The scope of the MoU signed by the NCSC and the ICO includes collaboration on new cyber regulations and guidance, and how to support cyber attack victims appropriately and minimise regulatory penalties

• September 12, 2023 12 Sep'23

  European fintech investment plummets, but more sustainable future lies ahead

  Investment in European fintechs has seen a dramatic drop, but a more sustainable sector will result from investment discipline

• September 11, 2023 11 Sep'23

  Brits happy to break cyber law if the price is right

  A study conducted ahead of an upcoming security trade fair reveals a slim majority of Brits would come out in favour of offensive government security ops and even engage in cyber criminality themselves in the right circumstances

• September 08, 2023 08 Sep'23

  Virgin Media O2 to begin switching off 3G network in 2025

  As its network evolves and looking to enhance customer experience and improve services, VMO2 announces plans to pull plug on legacy mobile network to focus on upgrading faster, more reliable and energy-efficient infrastructure

• September 08, 2023 08 Sep'23

  Sensitive NatWest customer files set to be returned after High Court agreement

  Sensitive NatWest customer files set to be secured by bank after years in the home of a data breach whistleblower

• September 07, 2023 07 Sep'23

  UK minister fails to reassure tech companies over encryption risk

  Technology companies say reassurances by government ministers that they have no intention of weakening end-to-end encrypted communication services do not go far enough

• September 07, 2023 07 Sep'23

  Government AI taskforce appoints new advisory board members

  An initial progress report published by the Taskforce provides detail on new appointments to its external advisory board as well as rebrand to focus on “frontier” artificial intelligence

• September 05, 2023 05 Sep'23

  Law firm Fieldfisher launches data breach management tool

  UK and European data breach law specialist Fieldfisher has enlisted legal tech specialist Lawcadia to supply a 24-hour data breach notification assessment platform

• September 01, 2023 01 Sep'23

  Police Scotland five-year digital strategy approved

  Police Scotland’s new strategy outlines how the force will approach and invest in its digital transformation over the next five years, but notes its ability to achieve its ambitions is subject to the availability of funding

• August 30, 2023 30 Aug'23

  Cyber world hails downfall of Qakbot trojan

  A multinational law enforcement hacking operation disrupted the botnet infrastructure used to distribute the Qakbot trojan at the weekend, in a major setback for the cyber criminal underworld

• August 30, 2023 30 Aug'23

  Met police data platform deployed with data protection issues

  Met Police deploys integrated record management system despite data protection ‘compliance issues' that would inhibit its ability to retrieve data, meet its statutory logging requirements, and respond to subject access requests

• August 28, 2023 28 Aug'23

  India gets ready for new data protection regime

  The Digital Personal Data Protection Act will shape the way businesses collect, secure and use personal data as India looks to protect data privacy while driving innovation and economic growth

• August 24, 2023 24 Aug'23

  Teenage Lapsus$ ringleader was responsible for crime spree, UK court rules

  A court has ruled that Arion Kurtaj, allegedly a key player in the Lapsus$ cyber extortion syndicate, was responsible for the group’s year-long campaign of cyber attacks

• August 18, 2023 18 Aug'23

  NatWest customer calls bank’s handling of breach of his data ‘disgusting’

  A second NatWest customer has contacted Computer Weekly after finding out from a whistleblower that his sensitive personal data has been in her home for 14 years

• August 15, 2023 15 Aug'23

  Biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner resigns

  Dual biometrics and surveillance camera watchdog will step down at the end of October 2023, noting that while he agreed to stay on until the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill received royal assent, continuing delays to its passage means ...

• August 14, 2023 14 Aug'23

  NatWest offers compensation to customer affected by data breach exposed by whistleblower

  NatWest bank has offered compensation to a former customer affected by a data breach alongside around 1,600 other former and current customers

• August 14, 2023 14 Aug'23

  US Cyber Board to probe cloud security after latest Exchange hack

  CSRB review of cloud security comes in the wake of a major Chinese cyber attack on US government bodies orchestrated through Microsoft’s cloud services

• August 10, 2023 10 Aug'23

  PSNI investigating second breach after laptop stolen

  Just hours after accidentally disclosing the personal details of 10,000 personnel, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has notified a second data breach after a police issue laptop and documents were stolen from a parked car

• August 09, 2023 09 Aug'23

  Northern Irish police expose staff data in botched FoI response

  Human error is being blamed for the leak of personally identifiable information on all serving officers and civilian staff at the Police Service of Northern Ireland

• August 08, 2023 08 Aug'23

  UK voter data hacked in cyber attack on election watchdog

  An unknown threat actor who attacked the UK’s Electoral Commission had access to data on millions of UK voters for over a year, the watchdog has revealed

• August 08, 2023 08 Aug'23

  Workplace monitoring needs worker consent, says select committee

  Employers looking to monitor their employees through connected devices should only to so with the consent of those affected due to negative impacts such surveillance can have on work intensification and mental health

• August 07, 2023 07 Aug'23

  NHS trust suspends two governors as whistleblower email dispute continues

  Governors at an NHS trust have been suspended after asking questions about emails used to bring a General Medical Council investigation against a whistleblower

• August 07, 2023 07 Aug'23

  Rise in fraudsters spoofing the websites of leading UK banks

  Despite safeguards to protect customers from scams, UK retail banks are still seeing high volumes of fake phishing websites exploiting their brands, and the problem seems to be increasing in scope and scale

• August 04, 2023 04 Aug'23

  Biden’s SBOM mandate a ‘shot heard around the world’, report says

  Two years and three months after Joe Biden mandated new standards in supply chain security, over 40% of UK respondents to a survey say they have implemented new SBOM policies in direct response

• August 03, 2023 03 Aug'23

  Scottish NHS trust ducks fine after staff shared patient data via WhatsApp

  NHS Lanarkshire has been issued a formal reprimand by the ICO after staff members used WhatsApp to share patients’ personal data with one another