News

IT legislation and regulation

• February 04, 2021 04 Feb'21

  Fraud and cyber crime still vastly under-reported

  The scale of digitally enabled crime in the UK is dramatically under-reported, new statistics indicate

• February 03, 2021 03 Feb'21

  Has Covid-19 made bank branch closures easier to sell?

  Big banks continue to close branches and invest more in technology as the Covid-19 pandemic makes a case for digital banking

• February 02, 2021 02 Feb'21

  Nordic region provides autonomous vehicle test bed

  Nordic region has the suppliers, environment and appetite for pioneering the development of autonomous vehicles

• February 01, 2021 01 Feb'21

  UKRI suspends services after ransomware attack

  UK Research and Innovation was hit by an undisclosed strain of ransomware at the end of January

• February 01, 2021 01 Feb'21

  IR35 private sector reforms: Zurich Insurance under fire over contractor blanket ban

  Zurich Insurance is the latest high-profile financial services company to declare contractors can only continue to engage with it via umbrella setups from April 2021, ahead of the IR35 rules coming into force

• January 29, 2021 29 Jan'21

  Hunting and anti-hunting groups locked in tit-for-tat row over data gathering

  The leaking of internal documents has prompted a row between pro- and anti-hunting groups about the legality of the other’s data collection practices

• January 29, 2021 29 Jan'21

  Biometrics ethics group addresses public-private use of facial recognition

  Home Office’s Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group releases briefing note on the use of live facial recognition in public–private collaborations following a year-long investigation

• January 28, 2021 28 Jan'21

  Contactless payment limit could rise to £100 as FCA seeks industry views

  UK financial services regulator is considering raising the contactless card payment limit to £100

• January 28, 2021 28 Jan'21

  UK government reviews law on access to land for digital infrastructure

  Reacting to reports that agreements have been slow to conclude, holding up the roll-out of better mobile and broadband connectivity, UK government consults on changes to the legal framework for agreements on access to land for digital infrastructure

• January 27, 2021 27 Jan'21

  Pandemic response has improved privacy posture, says Cisco

  Data privacy seems to be ‘coming of age’ to some extent and organisational responses to Covid-19 may be partly responsible, according to a report

• January 27, 2021 27 Jan'21

  Emotet botnet goes offline as cops seize servers

  The Emotet botnet has been disrupted and knocked offline after a major international effort by law enforcement

• January 27, 2021 27 Jan'21

  Grindr complaint results in €9.6m GDPR fine

  Norway’s data protection authority plans to apply a fine totalling 10% of LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr’s revenues over its data sharing practices

• January 26, 2021 26 Jan'21

  Conservatives broke data law to racially profile millions

  The Conservative Party acted illegally in collecting data that inferred voters’ ethnicity and religious background, a Select Committee has heard

• January 26, 2021 26 Jan'21

  ICO extends commissioner Denham’s term of office

  Extension of Elizabeth Denham’s tenure as information commissioner will give the government more time to appoint her successor

• January 26, 2021 26 Jan'21

  Cyber fraud a national security issue, says Rusi report

  A report from the Rusi think tank calls for fresh approaches to how we think about fighting fraud

• January 25, 2021 25 Jan'21

  Are banks overburdened with responsibility for money lost to online scams?

  Bank boss calls for cross-industry cooperation to reduce scams that trick people into making instant payments online

• January 25, 2021 25 Jan'21

  HMRC criticised over continued ‘shortcomings’ in loan charge policy response

  House of Lords committee tells HMRC it still has work to do to improve its response to past criticisms of its handling of the government’s controversial loan charge policy

• January 22, 2021 22 Jan'21

  ICO resumes adtech investigation

  The UK Information Commissioner’s Office was criticised for ending its investigation into alleged malpractice in advertising technology, but has now resumed its probe

• January 22, 2021 22 Jan'21

  Sepa data leaks as agency resists ransom demands

  The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is resisting extortion demands from a ransomware gang, but has suffered a data leak in retaliation

• January 22, 2021 22 Jan'21

  Google threatens to cut off Australia

  Google’s threat to end its Australian Search operation comes in the face of new legislation that would force it to pay media publishers for news content

• January 21, 2021 21 Jan'21

  Immigration exemption in data protection law faces further legal challenge

  Human rights groups set to take legal challenge against immigration exemption to Court of Appeal on the basis that everyone, regardless of their nationality or residence, should have their fundamental rights and freedoms protected as stated in the ...

• January 21, 2021 21 Jan'21

  Interview: Tony Porter, chief privacy officer, Corsight AI

  Tony Porter speaks to Computer Weekly about the changes in facial-recognition during his time as surveillance camera commissioner, the ethics of using the technology, and his new role as chief privacy officer at Corsight AI

• January 21, 2021 21 Jan'21

  IR35 private sector reforms: IT contractors warned to be wary of non-compliant umbrella companies

  The proliferation of websites offering comparison site-like services for umbrella companies has prompted tax experts to warn IT contractors of the financial risk posed by firms offering ‘too good to be true’ take-home pay rates

• January 19, 2021 19 Jan'21

  Value of GDPR fines shows dramatic increase in 2020

  European regulators imposed almost €160m worth of fines during the past 12 months, a substantial rise

• January 19, 2021 19 Jan'21

  Click fraud levels reach new heights in pandemic

  Small companies risk losing £10,000 a year, and enterprises as much as £520,000, to cyber criminals as click fraud volumes spike

• January 15, 2021 15 Jan'21

  150,000 records accidentally wiped from police systems

  Home Office claims data wiped from national police systems only relates to people who have never been convicted of a crime or had further police action taken against them following an arrest

• January 15, 2021 15 Jan'21

  US cyber security agencies get $9bn in Biden plan

  New funding proposals come as US government reels from the impact of the December 2020 SolarWinds attack

• January 15, 2021 15 Jan'21

  Coalition proposes secure standard model for Covid-19 passports

  Vaccination Credential Initiative is working to ensure that people vaccinated against Covid-19 can access their records in a secure, verifiable and privacy-preserving way

• January 14, 2021 14 Jan'21

  All EU states can take data protection cases against Facebook, says EU court

  An opinion from the European Court of Justice has the potential to lead to a flood of privacy complaints against Facebook if upheld

• January 14, 2021 14 Jan'21

  Numbers stack up for UK open banking three years on

  Three years have passed since open banking regulations came into force and momentum is gathering

• January 14, 2021 14 Jan'21

  Old, on-premise systems targeted in Hackney ransomware attack

  Council reveals some more insight into how the Pysa ransomware gang infiltrated its systems by exploiting legacy technology

• January 14, 2021 14 Jan'21

  Unforeseen consequences of new technologies put UK at risk

  Lords committee told that the risks associated with various emerging digital technologies must be assessed together, with input from UK citizens, if the government is to avoid ‘siloisation’ of fundamentally interconnected problems

• January 13, 2021 13 Jan'21

  Court to rule on Facebook data sharing after Schrems drops legal challenge against Irish regulator

  Irish High Court says it will issue a judgment as soon as possible over a draft decision by Ireland’s data protection commissioner to order Facebook to stop the transfer of data about EU citizens to datacentres in the US

• January 13, 2021 13 Jan'21

  Three-quarters of finance firms report more potentially criminal activity in their networks

  Fears of failing to comply with strict regulations grow as financial services firms identify more suspicious financial activity on their networks

• January 13, 2021 13 Jan'21

  World’s largest dark web market disrupted in major police operation

  Coordinated international operation including Europol and the UK’s National Crime Agency has successfully taken DarkMarket offline

• January 13, 2021 13 Jan'21

  Stolen Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine data leaked

  Data dump understood to include screenshots of emails, peer review information, PDFs and PowerPoint presentations

• January 12, 2021 12 Jan'21

  IR35 private sector reforms: Research highlights lack of preparedness ahead of April 2021 start date

  As the private sector start date for the IR35 reforms looms large, research suggests some companies are still dragging their feet with their preparations

• January 12, 2021 12 Jan'21

  Former ministers speak out on Mike Lynch extradition

  As Mike Lynch, founder and former CEO of Autonomy, awaits his US extradition hearing, several former Tory MPs have expressed their concerns

• January 08, 2021 08 Jan'21

  Tech sector reacts to Trump social media bans

  Facebook, Instagram and others moved to limit US president’s social media access after the violence in Washington DC, but experts have condemned them for acting too slowly, while disinformation about the riots persists

• January 08, 2021 08 Jan'21

  BT offers unlimited data for remote learning

  UK incumbent telco joins campaign to make sure disadvantaged children can get connected as Covid-19 lockdown closes schools and other educational establishments

• January 08, 2021 08 Jan'21

  ‘Litany’ of UK government failures in gigabit broadband roll-out

  Second UK MPs’ report in matter of weeks slams government for dismal failure and lack of sufficient progress in meeting already scaled-back benchmark for gigabit-capable connectivity by 2025

• January 08, 2021 08 Jan'21

  Brexit deal grants UK temporary data adequacy

  The EU-UK Brexit deal has granted the UK temporary data adequacy to allow for the continued flow of data across borders, but the agreement has divided data protection experts

• January 07, 2021 07 Jan'21

  Biden picks cyber veteran to reinvigorate security response

  Appointment of career intelligence operative Anne Neuberger signals refreshed security approach for the US government under Joe Biden's administration

• January 07, 2021 07 Jan'21

  Trump bans Chinese payment apps

  US president signs executive order banning the use of Chinese payments app, citing national security risks

• January 07, 2021 07 Jan'21

  Hackney Council data leaked by Pysa ransomware gang

  Council data stolen in October is leaked online in a double extortion attack

• January 07, 2021 07 Jan'21

  Robust member administration system indispensable for Dutch Coeliac Society

  Organisation had to find a dedicated member administration system to support existing members, new members and countless volunteers

• January 06, 2021 06 Jan'21

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to remain in prison despite winning extradition battle

  Judge cites Assange’s support of NSA whistleblower as one of the reasons for him being at high risk of absconding. He will remain in Belmarsh prison until the US government completes its appeal

• January 06, 2021 06 Jan'21

  SolarWinds attack almost certainly work of Russian spooks

  Investigations into the far-reaching SolarWinds Solorigate attack did not let up during the holidays

• January 05, 2021 05 Jan'21

  Banking trade body calls for increased contactless payment limit

  UK Finance proposes an increase in the limit on spending using contactless cards

• January 04, 2021 04 Jan'21

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be extradited to face charges in US, court rules

  Court rules it would be oppressive to send Julian Assange to the US to face trial after finding he is at high risk of suicide. US government says it will appeal