News

IT legislation and regulation

• May 11, 2023 11 May'23

  AI outcry intensifies as EU readies regulation

  Policymakers are battling to keep pace with AI developments, while experts warn of societal impact

• May 10, 2023 10 May'23

  Black Basta ransomware attack to cost Capita over £15m

  Exceptional costs arising from the March 2023 Black Basta ransomware attack on the systems of outsourcer Capita will be somewhere between £15m and £20m, the organisation says

• May 03, 2023 03 May'23

  Government anti-fraud strategy targets the tech behind the scams

  The UK government’s anti-fraud strategy proposes to make it much harder for criminals to target their victims by cracking down on the exploitation of technology

• May 03, 2023 03 May'23

  Scottish residents and businesses in £75m 4G investment boost

  First UK government-funded phone mast upgrade activated in Scottish borders to give major 4G mobile coverage boost to community

• May 02, 2023 02 May'23

  Delays, downscaling of national fast broadband roll-out threaten BBC digitisation

  UK parliamentary committee warns uncertainty over funding and regulation around national fast broadband roll-out plans threaten public broadcaster’s digitisation plans

• May 02, 2023 02 May'23

  HMRC confirms potential April 2024 end date for double-taxation issue in IR35 compliance cases

  HM Revenue & Customs launches eight-week consultation on plans to roll out a legislative tweak that would put a stop to the government tax collection agency over-collecting tax in IR35 non-compliance cases

• April 27, 2023 27 Apr'23

  Microsoft fails to get CMA thumbs-up on Activision deal

  The UK Competition and Markets Authority has decided that Microsoft‘s proposed $68.7bn acquisition of Activision would damage the cloud gaming market

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  Police Scotland receive formal notice about cloud system

  Scotland’s biometrics watchdog has issued Police Scotland with an information notice over its deployment of a cloud-based digital evidence system, following disclosure of major data protection concerns by Computer Weekly

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  UK government introduces Digital Markets Bill to Parliament

  The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will seek to level the playing field in digital markets by empowering regulators with new tools and powers to directly enforce competition and consumer protection laws

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  UK taskforce set to drive generative AI safety and opportunities

  The government has committed £100m to helping the UK develop and build out generative artificial intelligence capabilities

• April 24, 2023 24 Apr'23

  Most IT staff uncomfortable deploying surveillance tech at work

  The IT teams responsible for deploying and running digital surveillance in workplaces say they are uncomfortable with “extremely common” practice of spying on colleagues, research finds

• April 24, 2023 24 Apr'23

  UK government urged to publish findings of umbrella company market consultation

  Contracting market industry stakeholders are questioning why it’s taking the UK government so long to publish the findings of its consultation about how the umbrella industry operates

• April 24, 2023 24 Apr'23

  Finland and Estonia deepen cross-border digital partnerships

  Finland and Estonia, two global tech pioneers, are increasingly sharing their expertise

• April 21, 2023 21 Apr'23

  UK biometrics watchdog questions police cloud deployments

  The UK biometrics commissioner has warned that policing and justice bodies must be able to demonstrate ‘immediately and unequivocally’ that their cloud deployments are lawful

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  Online Safety Bill could pose risk to encryption technology used by Ukraine

  CEO of encrypted messaging service Element says Online Safety Bill could pose a risk to the encrypted comms systems used by Ukraine

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  UK Emergency Alert Test sparks cyber fraud warning

  Fraudsters and scammers are likely to use the upcoming test of the UK's new mobile Emergency Alert system as bait in their attacks, while misinformation and conspiracy theories spread

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  New GovAssure cyber regime launches across UK government

  An enhanced cyber security regime is being put in place to better protect UK government IT systems from growing threats

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  UK SMEs are the most tech savvy in Europe

  UK SMEs have taken to contactless payments faster than their counterparts in continental Europe

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  TUC says government is failing to protect workers from AI harms

  TUC issues warning about artificial intelligence leading to more widespread workplace discrimination if the right checks are not put in place

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  UK plc sees fewer cyber breaches and attacks, but lacks resilience

  Latest government figures reveal UK businesses and charities reported lower volumes of cyber breaches and attacks over the past 12 months, but the statistics mask widespread underreporting and the true state of cyber readiness and resilience appears...

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  Surrey and Sussex police spared fines after recording 200,000 phone calls without people’s knowledge

  Police forces escape potential £1m fines following change of policy by ICO to protect the finances of public sector bodies

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  IT Priorities 2023: Budget optimism among EMEA IT leaders

  IT leaders across the EMEA region are optimistic that their budgets will increase over the coming year

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  CyberUK 23: NCSC launches Cyber Advisor service for SMEs

  The UK’s NCSC has launched an industry assurance scheme designed to address the needs of SMEs, and is calling for potential advisors to step up and help out

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  CyberUK 23: NCSC CEO calls for collaboration and warns against complacency

  NCSC boss Lindy Cameron kicked off the annual CyberUK conference in Belfast with a plea for collaboration and a warning against complacency

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  IR35 a ‘threat’ to UK’s bid to become science and tech superpower, contracting authority warns

  After the government set out plans to become a science and tech superpower, Qdos CEO warns its ambitions could come to nothing if fundamental flaws in IR35 remain unfixed

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  Global finance firms take part in NATO cyber attack simulation

  Global financial services organisations take part in NATO annual event which simulates cyber attacks on critical infrastructure

• April 18, 2023 18 Apr'23

  Fintechs get more certainty about open banking’s future direction

  Fintechs have welcomed the UK open banking regulators recommendations for the future of the sector

• April 18, 2023 18 Apr'23

  CyberUK 23: NCSC conference centres cyber collaboration

  The NCSC’s annual CyberUK conference gets underway in Belfast this week, with collaboration and cooperation high on the agenda

• April 18, 2023 18 Apr'23

  UK presses on with post-Brexit data protection reform

  The revised version of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill has had its second reading in Parliament as the government presses on with post-Brexit changes, but critics remain sceptical that the EU will be convinced to maintain the UK's ...

• April 17, 2023 17 Apr'23

  HMRC defends removing names of known tax avoidance schemes from public list

  HMRC under fire over 'ridiculous' legislation that means it has to remove names of known tax avoidance scheme operators 12 months after publication

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  UK joins key allies to launch secure-by-design guidelines

  The UK has joined international partners in sharing new advice to help technology companies embed security into the product design and development process

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  Italy to lift ChatGPT ban subject to new data protection controls

  Italian regulator will lift its ban on OpenAI’s ChatGPT subject to a strict new data protection regime

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  ICO responds to UK government AI regulation plans

  The ICO has officially responded to the government’s plans for regulating artificial intelligence as outlined in its recent whitepaper, but called for clarity on certain aspects before the proposals are taken further

• April 12, 2023 12 Apr'23

  UK police double down on ‘improved’ facial recognition

  The Met and South Wales Police have doubled down on their use of facial recognition technology after research found improved accuracy in their algorithms when using certain settings, but civil society groups maintain that the tech will still be used...

• April 12, 2023 12 Apr'23

  Bank of England starts recruiting Britcoin team

  The Bank of England is recruiting people to join its team focused on the development of a digital pound

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  Anne Keast-Butler named as new director of GCHQ

  The government has appointed current MI5 deputy director general Anne Keast-Butler to head signals and cyber agency GCHQ

• April 06, 2023 06 Apr'23

  IBM's Nataraj Nagaratnam on the cyber challenges facing cloud services

  Governments are introducing increasingly prescriptive data protection policies, but with organisations becoming ever more reliant on multiple cloud service platforms for essential business needs, how can they ensure they meet regulatory requirements?

• April 06, 2023 06 Apr'23

  UK emergency services overcharged by £200m a year for comms network

  Tech provider to appeal withering criticism by UK competition watchdog of vast overcharging in emergency services communications network

• April 05, 2023 05 Apr'23

  Ofcom's interim UK cloud market report flags competition concerns about AWS and Microsoft

  Ofcom has flagged concerns about anti-competitive behaviour from AWS and Microsoft in its interim report into the inner workings of the UK cloud infrastructure market

• April 05, 2023 05 Apr'23

  Cops bust Genesis cyber crime marketplace

  Multinational Operation Cookie Monster takes down Genesis Market, a crucial source of compromised data used by criminals for fraud and other cyber attacks

• April 05, 2023 05 Apr'23

  Italy’s ChatGPT ban: Sober precaution or chilling overreaction?

  Italy’s data protection authority issued a temporary ban on ChatGPT citing data protection concerns and alleged breaches of the GDPR. Is this a reasonable precaution, or a chilling restriction on personal freedoms?

• April 05, 2023 05 Apr'23

  Scottish police tech piloted despite major data protection issues

  Scottish policing bodies are pressing ahead with a data sharing pilot despite data protection issues around the use of US cloud providers, placing sensitive personal data of tens of thousands of people at risk

• April 04, 2023 04 Apr'23

  TikTok fined in UK over unlawful use of children’s data

  The ICO has fined TikTok £12.7m for breaches of data protection law, including unlawfully collecting data on children under 13

• March 31, 2023 31 Mar'23

  Ukrainians bust cyber criminals who stole over £3m across Europe

  Ukrainian police have arrested members of a cyber crime gang who stole and embezzled millions of pounds from victims across Europe

• March 30, 2023 30 Mar'23

  UK government study reveals 50,000 people employed in AI sector

  Government publishes baseline analysis of UK artificial intelligence sector as it pins hopes on future growth

• March 29, 2023 29 Mar'23

  UK government publishes AI whitepaper

  Artificial intelligence whitepaper outlines UK government’s proposals to regulate the technology, which are based around creating an agile, “pro-innovation” framework

• March 29, 2023 29 Mar'23

  Generative AI presents opportunities and challenges to UK schools

  Generative AI and LLMs hold great potential for use in the classroom, but the privacy and security implications of its use must be carefully considered, says the Department for Education

• March 28, 2023 28 Mar'23

  Alan Turing Institute unveils strategy to support UK AI

  The strategy is built around helping the UK government realise its artificial intelligence ambitions, and focuses on areas where the UK can play a transformative role in shaping AI development

• March 28, 2023 28 Mar'23

  Ethical hackers urged to respond to Computer Misuse Act reform proposals

  The deadline for submissions to the government’s consultation on reform of the Computer Misuse Act is fast approaching, and ethical hackers and security experts need to make their voices heard, says Bugcrowd

• March 28, 2023 28 Mar'23

  Barclays makes further cut to branch network

  Barclays cuts another 14 branches from its network as it continues to see a migration to digital banking channels