News

IT legislation and regulation

• November 19, 2024 19 Nov'24

  Subpostmasters hit by Post Office scandal plan to meet over 'nuclear option'

  Members of campaign group Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance will discuss taking legal action in their pursuit of full, fair and final financial redress

• November 18, 2024 18 Nov'24

  Denmark’s AI-powered welfare system fuels mass surveillance

  Research reveals the automated tools used to flag individuals for benefit fraud violate individuals’ privacy and risk discriminating against marginalised groups

• November 18, 2024 18 Nov'24

  UK consumers losing more than ever to holiday scams

  Last Christmas, UK consumers lost over £11m to cyber criminals. This year, to save them from tears, the NCSC and Action Fraud are teaming up to launch an anti-fraud campaign

• November 18, 2024 18 Nov'24

  Post Office IT boss calls for subpostmasters to judge him on his actions

  Recently installed Post Office chief transformation officer tasked with replacing controversial IT system tells Computer Weekly the organisation’s leadership understands the challenges ahead

• November 15, 2024 15 Nov'24

  Schwarz Group partners with Google on EU sovereign cloud

  Partnership with Europe’s biggest retailer will offer client-side encryption and ensure data doesn’t leave Germany

• November 14, 2024 14 Nov'24

  HMRC puts Loan Charge settlements ‘on pause by request’ until independent review concludes

  After campaigners called for HMRC to pause all of its Loan Charge enforcement activity until the government’s independent review of the policy is complete, Computer Weekly has learned that the agency is accepting requests to pause settlements

• November 14, 2024 14 Nov'24

  MPs hold first ever debate on live facial recognition

  MPs have held an open debate on police use of live facial recognition technology for the first time since it was initially deployed by the Met Police in August 2016

• November 14, 2024 14 Nov'24

  Virtual wards to digital feedback: the Nordic approach to post-pandemic healthcare

  Post-pandemic healthcare is benefitting from Nordic tech foresight, with the country bringing digital change to the world’s health sector to allow for more remote care

• November 14, 2024 14 Nov'24

  Apple hit by Which? with £3bn legal claim that iCloud service charges are ‘anti-competitive’

  UK consumer rights advocate Which? has appointed legal representation, as it sets about challenging Apple on anti-competitive grounds over its treatment of UK iCloud users

• November 13, 2024 13 Nov'24

  Ex-boxer fights US government over legality of Sky ECC cryptophone intercepts

  Lawyers for former heavyweight boxer Goran Gogic argue that US prosecutors’ reliance on messages obtained by a European police hacking operation into the SKY ECC encrypted phone network breaches the US constitution

• November 12, 2024 12 Nov'24

  Police cloud project raises data protection concerns despite legal reforms

  Ongoing data protection issues with the use of hyperscale public cloud infrastructure by UK police could complicate the ambitions of nine forces to move their common records management system into the cloud

• November 08, 2024 08 Nov'24

  Loan charge under review: Second inquiry into controversial contractor tax policy announced

  Nearly five years have passed since the results of the government’s first independent review into the controversial loan charge policy surfaced, and now another one has been ordered. But will it change anything?

• November 07, 2024 07 Nov'24

  Interview: Petra Molnar, author of ‘The walls have eyes’

  Refugee lawyer and author Petra Molnar speaks to Computer Weekly about the extreme violence people on the move face at borders across the world, and how increasingly hostile anti-immigrant politics is being enabled and reinforced by a ‘lucrative ...

• November 06, 2024 06 Nov'24

  Lords shoplifting inquiry calls for facial recognition laws

  A Lords committee has expressed concern about the use of facial recognition technology by retailers to combat shoplifting, and is calling on the government to introduce new laws to ensure there are minimum standards for their deployments

• November 06, 2024 06 Nov'24

  Starmer announces tech-enabled crackdown on people smuggling

  The UK government has announced a further £75m of funding for its Border Security Command, meaning it will now have £150m over two years to spend on new technologies and staff

• November 04, 2024 04 Nov'24

  Financiers isolate Middle East over sanctions-evading paytech

  Cross-border payment system loses support of association of global central banks

• November 01, 2024 01 Nov'24

  CISA looks to global collaboration as fraught US election begins

  The US' CISA cyber agency has unveiled a two-year International Strategic Plan to advance collaboration and improve resilience against shared risks and threats

• November 01, 2024 01 Nov'24

  Outside IR35: What the Autumn Budget’s Employers’ NI changes mean for IT contractors

  The UK government used the Autumn Budget to announce an increase to the amount of Employers’ National Insurance Contributions companies will have to pay, which could have big implications for IT contractors

• November 01, 2024 01 Nov'24

  Bank of England warns against AI ‘complacency’

  UK financial services regulator wants to increase understanding of AI’s benefits and how firms are managing the risks it poses, as take-up grows and use cases increase

• October 30, 2024 30 Oct'24

  Autumn Budget 2024: Chancellor emphasises importance of tech for UK growth

  In her first budget, Rachel Reeves reiterated the vital role of technology in delivering economic growth and improving productivity and efficiency in public services

• October 30, 2024 30 Oct'24

  RedLine, Meta malwares meet their demise at hands of Dutch cops

  A multinational action led by authorities in the Netherlands has resulted in the takedown of the notorious RedLine and Meta infostealer malwares

• October 30, 2024 30 Oct'24

  No simple replacement for digital evidence rules, says Post Office Horizon trial judge

  Judge in Post Office Horizon trial says a more flexible approach to how digital evidence is used in court cases may be required as IT complexity increases

• October 29, 2024 29 Oct'24

  EMEA businesses siphoning budgets to hit NIS2 goals

  With NIS2 now in effect, European business leaders are having to divert budget from elsewhere to achieve compliance

• October 28, 2024 28 Oct'24

  UK launches cyber guidance package for tech startups

  The NCSC and NPSA, alongside agencies from the Five Eyes alliance, have issued guidance for startups on how to secure themselves against common cyber threats and targeted industrial espionage

• October 25, 2024 25 Oct'24

  Lords committee warns about risks of the UK losing its EU data adequacy

  The UK government must work with the European Commission (EC) to secure a renewal of UK’s two data adequacy statuses, says cross-party Lords committee, in stark warning about impacts of losing the ability to seamlessly exchange citizens’ personal ...

• October 25, 2024 25 Oct'24

  Dutch critical infrastructure at risk despite high leadership confidence

  Stark paradox in Dutch cyber security landscape has business leaders expressing high confidence in their IT infrastructure as cyber attacks rise

• October 24, 2024 24 Oct'24

  Data bill will boost NHS and police access to data, says government

  The Data Use and Access Bill will pave the way for sharing medical records across the NHS and give police the ability to access databases without having to manually log the reasons for their use

• October 17, 2024 17 Oct'24

  EU cyber security bill NIS2 hits compliance deadline

  The EU’s NIS2 bill will harmonise how companies and member states approach cyber security, but its success will depend on how well it is implemented and enforced

• October 16, 2024 16 Oct'24

  Digitisation forum launched ahead of Norway’s digital strategy

  Norway's government is preparing itself for the future by establishing an advisory hub to support its digital strategies

• October 15, 2024 15 Oct'24

  Tech and digital skills key to improving police productivity

  The Policing Productivity Review sees data and technology as a way of improving productivity and outcomes, as well as a potential means of restoring diminishing legitimacy, but warns there needs to be a revamp in digital skills, investment and ...

• October 15, 2024 15 Oct'24

  UK government unveils AI safety research funding details

  Through its AI Safety Institute, the UK government has committed an initial pot of £4m to fund research into various risks associated with AI technologies, which will increase to £8.5m as the scheme progresses

• October 10, 2024 10 Oct'24

  Government launches cyber standard for local authorities

  Local government bodies are being invited to take advantage of a new NCSC-derived Cyber Assessment Framework to help enhance their resilience and ward off cyber attacks

• October 10, 2024 10 Oct'24

  UK and US pledge closer working on children’s online safety

  In their first agreement on the subject of children’s online safety, the UK and US governments have said they will create a new working group to boost cooperation

• October 10, 2024 10 Oct'24

  Australia bolsters cyber defences with security bill

  Legislation tackles IoT security and establishes a Cyber Incident Review Board to bolster Australia’s cyber resilience

• October 09, 2024 09 Oct'24

  MoneyGram customer data breached in attack

  MoneyGram confirms that customer data has been stolen in an incident that appears to have started with a social engineering attack on its IT helpdesk staff

• October 08, 2024 08 Oct'24

  UK’s cyber incident reporting law to move forward in 2025

  The UK government says that enforced cyber incident and ransomware reporting for critical sectors of the economy will help to build a better picture of the threat landscape and enable more proactive and preventative responses

• October 08, 2024 08 Oct'24

  Government accepts most quantum regulation recommendations

  Three of the 14 recommendations on quantum regulations put forward by the Regulatory Horizon Council have been accepted in principle

• October 04, 2024 04 Oct'24

  NCSC celebrates eight years as Horne blows in

  Outgoing NCSC interim leader Felicity Oswald shares her thoughts on the body’s work over the past eight years as she hands over the reins to incoming CEO Richard Horne

• October 04, 2024 04 Oct'24

  Data and technology key to the future of the subsurface, report says

  The report highlights the important role of the subsurface, but lack of accessible data and the likely need for new policy and regulation on the use of new technologies are barriers to future sustainable and efficient use

• October 03, 2024 03 Oct'24

  Microsoft files lawsuit to seize domains used by Russian spooks

  Microsoft has been given permission to seize multiple domains used by the Russian state threat actor Star Blizzard as part of a coordinated disruption effort undertaken ahead of the US elections

• October 03, 2024 03 Oct'24

  Local councils need ‘better support’ to buy AI responsibly

  The Ada Lovelace Institute says there is lack of adequate support on how councils can safely and responsibly procure artificial intelligence systems in the public interest

• October 02, 2024 02 Oct'24

  UK and Singapore to collaborate on supporting ransomware victims

  At the fourth Counter Ransomware Initiative Summit in the US, both the UK and Singapore have committed to working on new guidance designed to better support victims and undermine cyber criminal business models

• October 01, 2024 01 Oct'24

  Unmasked: The Evil Corp cyber gangster who worked for LockBit

  The NCA has named and shamed a prominent member of the Evil Corp cyber crime collective who also worked as an affiliate of the LockBit ransomware gang as the UK unveils new sanctions against 16 Russian cyber criminals

• September 27, 2024 27 Sep'24

  UK on high alert over Iranian spear phishing attacks, says NCSC

  The NCSC and counterpart agencies in the US have issued a warning over enhanced Iranian spear phishing activity targeting politicians, journalists, activists and others with an interest in Middle Eastern affairs

• September 26, 2024 26 Sep'24

  Racist Network Rail Wi-Fi hack was work of malicious insider

  Police have revealed that this week’s racist cyber attack on public Wi-Fi networks at stations across the UK appears to have been the work of a malicious insider, after arresting an employee of one of the service providers

• September 25, 2024 25 Sep'24

  CrowdStrike apologises to US government for global mega-outage

  CrowdStrike executive Adam Meyers appears before a US government committee to explain the series of errors that led directly to one of the biggest IT outages in history

• September 20, 2024 20 Sep'24

  UN body urges ‘globally inclusive and distributed’ AI governance

  A United Nations body set up to investigate the international governance of AI says the nature of how the technology currently operates requires a global approach to regulation that prioritises equity and inclusion

• September 19, 2024 19 Sep'24

  HSBC tests post-quantum VPN tunnel for digital ledgers

  Encryption required for post-quantum cryptography will have a material impact on the performance of distributed ledgers

• September 19, 2024 19 Sep'24

  Post Office scandal victim becomes first to receive £600,000 under new redress scheme

  The compensation payment raises hopes that other wrongly convicted subpostmasters will receive payments far more quickly under new scheme

• September 16, 2024 16 Sep'24

  HMRC’s list of known tax avoidance schemes and non-compliant umbrellas nears 100 names

  The number of non-compliant umbrella companies and tax avoidance schemes on HMRC’s name and shame list has doubled in the past 12 months