News

IT legislation and regulation

• December 13, 2024 13 Dec'24

  Computer Misuse Act reform gains traction in Parliament

  An amendment to the proposed Data (Access and Use) Bill that will right a 35-year-old wrong and protect security professionals from criminalisation is to be debated at Westminster

• December 09, 2024 09 Dec'24

  Post Office senior leadership warned of IT project data safeguarding risk

  Post Office board members and senior executives have been made aware of the risk to data related to its ill-fated Horizon system replacement project

• December 06, 2024 06 Dec'24

  US TikTok ban imminent after appeal fails

  TikTok’s appeal against a US government ban has failed, with a judge dismissing its arguments that its First Amendment free speech rights are being restricted

• December 06, 2024 06 Dec'24

  TfL cyber attack cost over £30m to date

  TfL provides more detail on the financial impact of the September 2024 cyber attack that crippled several of its online systems

• December 04, 2024 04 Dec'24

  NCA takes out network that laundered ransomware payments

  NCA-led Operation Destabilise disrupts Russian crime networks that funded the drugs and firearms trade in the UK, helped Russian oligarchs duck sanctions, and laundered money stolen from the NHS and others by ransomware gangs

• December 03, 2024 03 Dec'24

  VMware ‘shock’ spawned lock-in rebellion, says NetApp

  NetApp makes predictions for 2025 that include lower tolerance for lock-in due to VMware changes, a shift to DRaaS, AI disillusionment and big spending on energy infrastructure

• December 02, 2024 02 Dec'24

  NCSC boss calls for ‘sustained vigilance’ in an aggressive world

  NCSC CEO Richard Horne is to echo wider warnings about the growing number and severity of cyber threats facing the UK as he launches the security body’s eighth annual report

• December 02, 2024 02 Dec'24

  Dutch chip strategy balances talent and infrastructure in €2.5bn investment

  Project Beethoven aims to create complete semiconductor ecosystem through coordinated education and infrastructure investment

• December 02, 2024 02 Dec'24

  UK economy could see £600m boost through digital IDs for businesses

  Government-backed organisation kicks off initiative to widen use of digital identities, in an effort to streamline financial services and cut hundreds of millions of pounds of economic crime

• November 29, 2024 29 Nov'24

  Swedish authorities urged to discontinue AI welfare system

  Amnesty International is calling on Sweden’s social insurance agency to immediately discontinue its machine learning-based welfare system, following an investigation by Lighthouse Reports and Svenska Dagbladet that found it to be discriminatory

• November 28, 2024 28 Nov'24

  Energy sector’s digital shift opens door to cyber threats

  The transition to renewable energy and the increasing integration of IT and OT systems in the energy sector are creating new cyber security challenges

• November 27, 2024 27 Nov'24

  Stage is set for legal battles over Big Tech dominance

  Having lost its case to drop a £7bn collective claim, Google is facing increased legal scrutiny on a number of fronts over its business practices

• November 27, 2024 27 Nov'24

  Barings Law plans to sue Microsoft and Google over AI training data

  Microsoft and Google are using people’s personal data without proper consent to train artificial intelligence models, alleges Barings Law, as it prepares to launch a legal challenge against the tech giants

• November 27, 2024 27 Nov'24

  Dutch politicians raise concerns over Big Tech reliance

  Dutch political parties have warned about the Netherlands’ growing reliance on US tech giants

• November 26, 2024 26 Nov'24

  Conservative peer urges government not to limit open source AI

  The chair of the Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee calls for greater support for SMEs, competition and economic dynamism as artificial intelligence policies are developed

• November 26, 2024 26 Nov'24

  Sellafield operator opens dedicated cyber centre

  The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has opened a cyber security centre spanning its activities across the nuclear sector

• November 26, 2024 26 Nov'24

  Russian threat actors poised to cripple power grid, UK warns

  UK government escalates cyber rhetoric in a speech at a Nato event, saying Russian advanced persistent threats stand ready to conduct cyber attacks that could ‘turn off the lights for millions’

• November 25, 2024 25 Nov'24

  More Google search woes

  Summary judgment clears path for UK campaigner to pursue collective action against Google over search engine practices

• November 25, 2024 25 Nov'24

  Metropolitan Police officer dismissed for unlawfully accessing Sarah Everard files

  Over 100 Met Police officers and staff have been investigated for accessing sensitive data related to the Sarah Everard case, leading to the dismissal of a Roads and Transport officer who accessed the information while off-duty

• November 25, 2024 25 Nov'24

  Microsoft calls on Trump to ‘push harder’ on cyber threats

  Microsoft’s Brad Smith urges president-elect Donald Trump to keep the faith when it comes to fighting back against hostile cyber actors from China, Iran and Russia

• November 22, 2024 22 Nov'24

  EU promotes plan to usurp US Big Tech with digital market

  European Union is at an important point in its plan to build a single market and strengthen its cloud computing sector

• November 21, 2024 21 Nov'24

  Brit charged in US over Scattered Spider cyber attacks

  A UK national named as Tyler Robert Buchanan has been charged in the US over his alleged involvement in cyber attacks perpetrated by the Scattered Spider gang

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  ORG urges ICO to revise public sector enforcement approach

  The Open Rights Group is urging the Information Commissioner’s Office to revise its light touch approach to public sector data protection issues, arguing that its experimental policy of limiting its enforcement actions to reprimands and notices, ...

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  Government issues strategic priorities for online safety regulator Ofcom

  Technology secretary Peter Kyle sets out the government’s strategic priorities for how Ofcom should approach regulating online safety, including embedding safety by design and supporting innovation in technologies to help protect people online

• November 19, 2024 19 Nov'24

  CMA clears Google over Anthropic partnership

  The UK competition watchdog has finished its initial investigation into Google’s partnership with Anthropic, with no follow-up on the cards

• 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 ...