News

IT legislation and regulation

• December 09, 2022 09 Dec'22

  Online Safety Bill returns to Parliament

  MPs and online safety experts have expressed concern about encryption-breaking measures contained in the Online Safety Bill as it returns to Parliament for the first time since its passage was paused in July

• December 08, 2022 08 Dec'22

  Consumers to get new protections against dodgy apps

  Government’s new code of practice will impose new privacy and security measures on app store operators and developers

• December 06, 2022 06 Dec'22

  Legacy IT magnifies cyber risk for Defra, says NAO

  Some 30% of Defra’s applications are currently unsupported, magnifying cyber risk as the government department struggles to make progress on a digital transformation programme

• December 06, 2022 06 Dec'22

  EU fails to protect human rights in surveillance tech transfers

  Transfers of surveillance technology from the European Union to African governments are carried out without due regard for the human rights impacts, the European Ombudsman has found after a year-long investigation into the European Commission’s ...

• December 05, 2022 05 Dec'22

  Fake investment ads persist on Meta’s social networks

  Online adverts for investment scams relating to property and crypto assets are still getting past measures designed to stop them

• December 02, 2022 02 Dec'22

  Post Office boosted its ‘coffers’ as Horizon system threw up unexplained shortfalls, inquiry told

  The Post Office was ‘keen’ to make subpostmasters cover unexplained accounting shortfall as its business struggled, public inquiry hears

• November 30, 2022 30 Nov'22

  Microsoft 365 banned in German schools over privacy concerns

  German schools cannot legally use Microsoft Office 365 over lack of clarity about how data is collected, shared and used, as well as the potential for unlawful transfer of European citizens’ personal data to the US

• November 30, 2022 30 Nov'22

  South Staffs Water customer data leaked after ransomware attack

  Personal data of water utility’s direct debit customers exposed on the dark web following a Clop ransomware attack

• November 30, 2022 30 Nov'22

  NIS regulations to be extended to cover MSPs

  The UK government is moving ahead with plans to update the Network and Information Systems regulations to bring outsourcers and MSPs into scope

• November 29, 2022 29 Nov'22

  ‘Legal but harmful’ clause dropped from Online Safety Bill

  Online Safety Bill’s ‘legal but harmful’ provision will be dropped by the UK government in favour of public risk assessments, tools to help users control the content they consume, and new criminal offences around self-harm

• November 29, 2022 29 Nov'22

  Government needs to do more for UK semiconductor industry, say MPs

  Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee report says the government is putting the UK chip industry at ‘significant risk’ by failing to support it sufficiently, and calls on Whitehall to publish its semiconductor strategy immediately

• November 24, 2022 24 Nov'22

  Meta faces UK lawsuit over surveillance business model

  The High Court case against Meta could set a precedent for millions of UK users to object to their personal data being collected and processed for advertising purposes

• November 23, 2022 23 Nov'22

  UK police arrest 120 in largest-ever cyber fraud crackdown

  The administrator and more than 100 users of the iSpoof.cc cyber fraud website have been arrested in a major counter-fraud operation led by the Metropolitan Police

• November 23, 2022 23 Nov'22

  South Korea data adequacy pact brings £15m Brexit bonus

  UK government finalises a data adequacy agreement with South Korea, saying it will unlock a post-Brexit business bonus of just under £15m

• November 23, 2022 23 Nov'22

  Red team tool developer slams ‘irresponsible’ disclosure

  UK security firm MDSec defends its Nighthawk command and control penetration testing framework after suggestions were made that it could be appropriated by threat actors

• November 23, 2022 23 Nov'22

  Netherlands wants watchdog to reduce bias in artificial intelligence

  Dutch government will take swift action to prevent citizens getting into trouble due to the misuse of algorithms

• November 23, 2022 23 Nov'22

  Hidden energy cost of on-premise data stores

  Data is said to be the new oil, but organisations may be storing far more than they need – and now there is an energy crisis

• November 21, 2022 21 Nov'22

  AI adopted without due consideration for workers, MPs told

  MPs have been warned that the rapid roll-out of artificial intelligence in workplaces has changed UK enterprises’ management practices so much that current employment law is no longer fit for purpose

• November 21, 2022 21 Nov'22

  NHS trust that deleted up to 90,000 emails cleared of deliberately concealing evidence

  A tribunal found in a high-profile case brought by whistleblower Chris Day that an NHS trust had not deliberately concealed evidence when a director deleted up to 90,000 emails before he was due to testify

• November 18, 2022 18 Nov'22

  Is Elon Musk’s Twitter safe, and should you stop using it?

  With a litany of security and compliance issues exposed and in many cases caused by Elon Musk’s takeover of social media platform Twitter, some may be asking if it’s still safe or appropriate to use

• November 18, 2022 18 Nov'22

  Post Office scandal inquiry’s expert IT witness ‘troubled’ by his findings

  Controversial Post Office Horizon system lacked the integrity required to trust accounting data and contained ‘joke’ coding akin to an ‘overly engineered mousetrap’, inquiry told

• November 18, 2022 18 Nov'22

  CyberPeace Institute helps NGOs improve their security resilience

  Adrien Ogée of the CyberPeace Institute talks about his work supporting NGOs and humanitarian organisations, and how the security community at large can help protect the world’s most vulnerable people

• November 17, 2022 17 Nov'22

  Brexit deregulation will make UK next Silicon Valley, vows Hunt

  Chancellor vows to revolutionise how the IT industry is regulated to spur competition, investment and innovation in a technological ‘Big Bang’

• November 17, 2022 17 Nov'22

  NHS Digital confirms final settlement of £3.95m with HMRC following conclusion of IR35 investigation

  The health service’s digital arm has paid HMRC £3.95m in unpaid tax to cover the cost of its IR35 compliance errors

• November 16, 2022 16 Nov'22

  Global network fragmentation a source of increasing risk

  Risk consultancy’s report says the weaponisation of cyber space and geopolitical clashes herald a breakdown of global networks into distinct regional or national architectures

• November 15, 2022 15 Nov'22

  APP fraud volumes expected to double by 2026, says report

  Losses to authorised push payment fraud in the UK are expected to climb to over $1.5bn in the next four years. Meanwhile, the NAO accuses the Home Office of lagging on progress to tackle the issue

• November 15, 2022 15 Nov'22

  Met Police removes nearly two-thirds of people from gangs matrix

  Legal action by human rights group Liberty forces Met Police to overhaul its gangs violence matrix database

• November 11, 2022 11 Nov'22

  Volume of self-reported breaches to ICO jumps 30%

  The number of self-reported breaches to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office soared by nearly 30% in the 12 months to 30 June 2022

• November 11, 2022 11 Nov'22

  Defra confirms final settlement of £86.5m with HMRC over ‘historic’ IR35 status assessment errors

  The conclusion of HMRC’s long-running enquiry into errors made by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when assessing the IR35 status of its contractors has seen it pay a final settlement of £86.5m to the tax collection agency

• November 10, 2022 10 Nov'22

  Scrutinising AI requires holistic, end-to-end system audits

  Understanding the full impacts of artificial intelligence requires organisations to conduct end-to-end social and technical audits of their systems, but the process comes with a number of challenges

• November 10, 2022 10 Nov'22

  Loan charge contractors hit with fresh loan repayment request from new firm

  IT contractors who participated in loan-based remuneration schemes and were previously pursued to repay loans issued to them by a company called Felicitas Solutions are now being chased for payment by a new entity

• November 09, 2022 09 Nov'22

  UK’s National Cyber Advisory Board convenes for first time

  Government convenes National Cyber Advisory Board to further its goals of making the UK one of the safest places to live and work online

• November 07, 2022 07 Nov'22

  Department for Education escapes £10m fine over data misuse

  Department entrusted data on 28 million children to a company called Trustopia, which turned out to be anything but trustworthy, but has escaped a £10m fine under new rules

• November 04, 2022 04 Nov'22

  UK government approach to space industry lacks coherence and investment

  As satellite broadband industry rockets, report from Commons Science and Technology Committee criticises government’s failures in key technical areas and continues to question value to taxpayer of OneWeb joint venture

• November 03, 2022 03 Nov'22

  Global coalition reaffirms commitment to fight ransomware

  Representatives of 36 countries, as well as the EU, attended the second International Counter Ransomware Initiative Summit in Washington DC

• November 02, 2022 02 Nov'22

  Shadow digital secretary outlines Labour’s tech priorities

  Labour’s digital and technology plans focus on reining in the power of the tech giants, boosting connectivity across the UK, and improving online safety

• November 01, 2022 01 Nov'22

  Report reveals ‘clear gaps’ in UK’s broadband safety net

  Latest update on progress of broadband roll-out guarantees from April to September 2022 shows worrying signs that as the cost-of-living crisis rolls on, swathes of the UK population could be priced out of gaining acceptable broadband

• November 01, 2022 01 Nov'22

  NCSC looks back on year of ‘profound change’ for cyber

  The NCSC ramped up its support for UK plc in the past 12 months, but it was events beyond the UK’s borders that proved the most impactful

• October 27, 2022 27 Oct'22

  NHS to get new national CISO

  The Department for Health and Social Care is seeking a new national CISO, who will be tasked with providing strategic cyber leadership, direction and expertise across DHSC and the wider NHS

• October 27, 2022 27 Oct'22

  Santander calls for cooperation to tackle APP fraud

  New report puts forward key recommendations that the banking sector, government and other industries could take to tackle authorised push payment fraud

• October 26, 2022 26 Oct'22

  ICO warns against using biometrics for ‘emotional analysis’

  ICO warning highlights risk of ‘systemic bias’ and discrimination associated with organisations using biometric data and technologies for emotion analysis

• October 26, 2022 26 Oct'22

  Reported Horizon errors should have been ‘show-stopper’, public inquiry told

  Subpostmasters should have been given the benefit of the doubt over unexplained losses, but were hounded to pay money back, with lives ruined and innocent people prosecuted

• October 26, 2022 26 Oct'22

  Australia budget closes in on digital divide, cyber resilience

  Australia’s latest budget is geared towards providing better broadband connectivity in regional and rural areas, shoring up the cyber security posture of its businesses and plugging tech talent shortages, among other areas

• October 25, 2022 25 Oct'22

  One in five tech workers subject to workplace surveillance

  Digital surveillance is now a common feature of the UK’s post-pandemic economy, says Prospect Union, adding to growing calls for workers to be given a greater say over how technologies are deployed in the workplace

• October 25, 2022 25 Oct'22

  US authorities charge two Chinese spies over telco security probe

  Two Chinese nationals have been charged with attempting to obstruct the criminal prosecution of a prominent Chinese telecoms firm

• October 25, 2022 25 Oct'22

  UK finance regulator investigates big tech finance threats and benefits

  The UK financial services regulator is gathering information about the benefits and targets of big tech firms offering financial services

• October 25, 2022 25 Oct'22

  Germany: European Court of Justice asked to rule on legality of hacked EncroChat phone evidence

  Berlin’s Regional Court has asked the European Court of Justice to answer questions about whether the use of hacked EncroChat phone evidence complies with European law

• October 25, 2022 25 Oct'22

  Digital-first businesses more willing to accept some fraud

  Companies founded in the past 20 years appear more willing to accept higher levels of fraudulent activity during the customer onboarding process, according to a report

• October 24, 2022 24 Oct'22

  Complacency biggest cyber risk to UK plc, says ICO

  Information commissioner John Edwards warns against complacency as his office issues a multimillion-pound fine to a building company that failed to prevent a ransomware attack

• October 20, 2022 20 Oct'22

  Broadband majors, altnets respond to cost-of-living crisis

  With latest UK inflation figures set to see comms contracts rise, industry reacts to mitigate against worst effects of price rises for customers and staff