News

IT strategy

July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11
UK confirms international cyber rules conference

UK foreign secretary William Hague has confirmed that the government is to host an international conference on cyberspace in London on 1 and 2 November 2011.
July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11
US court gives Oracle another chance to put its patent case against Google

A US judge has rejected Oracle's claim for $2.6bn in damages from Google for infringing Java patents, but has given Oracle the chance to come up with a more reasonable claim...
July 22, 2011 22 Jul'11
DWP asks system integrators to list SME contractors to open up public sector deals

The Department for Work and Pensions is asking its systems integrators to list the number of SMEs in their supply chains, in a move designed to open up more public sector contracts to small businesses.
July 22, 2011 22 Jul'11
British Computer Society – the case for change

A year on from the BCS extraordinary general meeting (EGM), Amit Bhagwat looks at how BCS has evolved, why the EGM came about and gave the results that it did, what has followed since and, how BCS might consider its future from here.

July 21, 2011 21 Jul'11
Trend Micro aims to secure consumer mobile devices for enterprises

Security firm Trend Micro has announced an enterprise mobile management product to help organisations integrate consumer devices into an enterprise environment in a secure way.
July 21, 2011 21 Jul'11
Hacking group Anonymous claims to have hacked into NATO servers and stolen data

Hacking group Anonymous has claimed to have hacked into NATO servers, according to the Blottr.com news service.
July 20, 2011 20 Jul'11
(ISC)² publishes official guide to CSSLP

Information security body (ISC)² has published the only official guide to the Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) certification.
July 20, 2011 20 Jul'11
Data breach at York University highlights urgency of security checks, says ICO

The University of York's accidental breach of thousands of students' personal data points to a need for improved security checks, according to the Information Commissioner's Office.
July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11
Carphone Warehouse uses business process management to increase customer satisfaction

Retailer Carphone Warehouse is claiming a 25% jump in its customer satisfaction ratings after investing in BPM software to help staff deal with sales, queries and complaints.
July 18, 2011 18 Jul'11
Sainsbury’s debuts mobile shopping site

Retailer Sainsbury's has launched a mobile version of its website to extend its commerce platform to additional channels. The optimised mobile site is built using a mobile platform provided by Usablenet. The platform provides access to over 15,000 ...

July 18, 2011 18 Jul'11
Public-funded bodies must open data, transparency chief tells Demos

All bodies in receipt of public sector funding should be made to open up their data, said Tim Kelsey, the government's adviser on transparency and open data.
July 14, 2011 14 Jul'11
CIO interview: Phil Pavitt, HM Revenue & Customs

HM Revenue & Customs CIO Phil Pavitt talks to Computer Weekly about the biggest and most challenging tasks in public sector IT. Pavitt discusses his overhaul of the department's IT; tackling spending cuts; public sector IT strategy and the role of ...
July 13, 2011 13 Jul'11
Central government staff lack skills in IT

A significant proportion of civil servants lack skills in areas such as IT, a National Audit Office report has found.
July 13, 2011 13 Jul'11
HMRC saves £21m with first centralised government procurement contract

The government has awarded its first centrally managed contract for print services at HMRC with outsourcing company Williams Lea. The deal is expected to save £21m, replacing 140 contracts with one.
July 12, 2011 12 Jul'11
Cisco to axe 10,000 jobs

Cisco Systems may cut as many as 10,000 jobs, roughly 14% of its workforce, to combat weak profit growth, according to Bloomberg.
July 12, 2011 12 Jul'11
Cyber terrorism set to increase after al-Qaeda calls for more cyber attacks, says government

Cyber terrorism will become an increasing problem as the tools and techniques needed for cyber attacks become more widely available, according to a report on the government's new counter-terrorism strategy.
July 12, 2011 12 Jul'11
Infosys changes name and splits into four vertical sector divisions

Infosys has split itself vertically to enable it to do more work in specific business sectors, while a change of name reflects its broader remit.
July 11, 2011 11 Jul'11
IT professionals get multiple job offers and double-digit pay increases as demand surges

Demand for IT skills has increased as businesses begin to re-invest in IT and professionals with particular IT skills are receiving multiple job offers and double-digit pay increases if they switch employers.
July 11, 2011 11 Jul'11
Microsoft packs a lot into July’s four Patch Tuesday security updates

Microsoft is to release only four security updates in this month's Patch Tuesday security update, but these will cover 22 vulnerabilities in Windows and Office.
July 08, 2011 08 Jul'11
Communications minister Ed Vaizey says US ISP piracy deal could pave way for UK

The top five US internet service providers (ISPs) have agreed with film and music producers to issue warnings to customers suspected of online piracy and to take action against repeat offenders.
July 08, 2011 08 Jul'11
Businesses understand social media risks but fail to take precautions, says survey

Businesses are using social media without taking adequate measures to monitor staff activity, which could open them up to security attacks and create compliance risks.
July 07, 2011 07 Jul'11
Business analyst skills shortage continues as IT job market grows

Business analysts are the IT staff most in demand for permanent and contract roles, according to KPMG.
July 07, 2011 07 Jul'11
FireControl project failed because of inadequate EADS contract, MPs told

The failure of the canned £469m FireControl project was due to an inadequate IT contract, MPs were told at a Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
July 07, 2011 07 Jul'11
ICO calls on UK businesses to open their doors to audits and reduce data breaches

Private enterprises make up a third of data security breach claims, but despite this, many continue to resist the offer of an audit by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), according to the privacy watchdog's latest annual report.
July 04, 2011 04 Jul'11
Hulu withdraws Facebook Connect feature after software glitch leaked users' data

US online video service Hulu has withdrawn its Facebook Connect integration because of security problems discovered soon after launch.
July 04, 2011 04 Jul'11
Microsoft shares location data source code for review of Wi-Fi information harvesting

Microsoft is sharing source code used for location-based services to allow its collection of Wi-Fi access point data to be reviewed.
July 04, 2011 04 Jul'11
Hacker group Anonymous steals user names and passwords in cyber attack on Apple

Hacker group Anonymous claims to have stolen 25 internal user names and passwords from Apple in the latest of a series of attacks on government and corporate websites around the world.
July 04, 2011 04 Jul'11
IT services supplier Capita buys contact centre business Ventura for £65m

Capita has bought contact centre business Ventura for £65m in a further sign of IT and BPO consolidation.
July 01, 2011 01 Jul'11
DWP adds agile development into IT contracts for £2bn Universal Credit system

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has modified contracts governing the supply of its £2bn Universal Credit system by adding clauses encouraging agile development.
July 01, 2011 01 Jul'11
Cyber criminals deploy TDL-4 virus to create indestructible botnet of 4.5m computers

Over 4.5 million computers around the world have been infected by the TDL-4 virus, creating an indestructible botnet.
July 01, 2011 01 Jul'11
Betfair sees 120% increase in mobile customers

The online gambling firm increased sales via mobile applications by 88% as customer mobile use grows.
July 01, 2011 01 Jul'11
Case study: Behind the scenes of the IT powering Wimbledon's tennis tournament

As the IT partner at Wimbledon for the last 21 years, IBM has experienced more flying rackets, rain and strawberries than Roger Federer has had grand slams. Computer Weekly took a look behind the scenes at the technology powering Britain's biggest ...
June 30, 2011 30 Jun'11
Japan earthquake and tsunami provides first real test of high-tech disaster recovery, says Microsoft

Japan's earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 15,000 people and left 11,000 missing in March 2011 was the first real test of disaster recovery and business continuity plans on a large scale in a high-tech country, according to Microsoft.
June 29, 2011 29 Jun'11
Update software to reduce risk of cyber attack, top suppliers tell business

Businesses are unnecessarily exposing themselves to cyber attack simply by failing to update to the latest versions of the software they are running, according to Microsoft and Adobe.
June 28, 2011 28 Jun'11
Tory technology advisor Liam Maxwell appointed to government IT advisory post

Top technology advisor to the Conservative Party, Liam Maxwell, has been appointed to a key IT advisory role in the Cabinet Office.
June 27, 2011 27 Jun'11
Lulz Security announces it is to disband following 50-day hacking spree 'cruise'

Lulz Security – a group of hackers claiming responsibility for hacking Sony and Nintendo and taking down the websites of the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the US Senate – has announced it is to disband.
June 27, 2011 27 Jun'11
Unite members at Fujitsu’s Crewe site to strike

Members of the Unite union at Fujitsu's site in Crewe have voted to take strike action over the alleged unfair treatment of a trade union activist.
June 24, 2011 24 Jun'11
Government cancels SME contracts and hands IT services deals to Capita

Government departments have been cancelling freelance IT contractors supplied through SMEs and giving their interim staff business to Capita under orders from the Cabinet Office's Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), in apparent contradiction of ...
June 23, 2011 23 Jun'11
Tesco Bank customers remain locked out of accounts following migration glitch

Tesco Bank customers are still unable to log into accounts following a migration glitch.
June 22, 2011 22 Jun'11
European Commission gives green light to CSC acquisition of beleaguered iSoft

The European Commission (EC) has approved CSC's acquisition of healthcare software maker iSoft.
June 22, 2011 22 Jun'11
Mozilla releases final version of Firefox 5 for download

Mozilla has released a fifth version of its web browser, Firefox, available to download for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android.
June 21, 2011 21 Jun'11
Westminster City Council CIO David Wilde leaves for Essex County Council

Westminster City Council chief information officer David Wilde is leaving at the end of this week to take up the equivalent role at Essex County Council.
June 17, 2011 17 Jun'11
Chinese software flaw makes infrastructure vulnerable, warns report

China's public infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber attack because of vulnerabilities in software used to run weapons systems, utilities and chemical plants, according to Reuters.
June 17, 2011 17 Jun'11
Most enterprises plan cloud move but data location concerns the bottleneck, says Dell

Most large enterprises are still only considering the cloud and less than a third are currently using cloud services, according to Dell.
June 16, 2011 16 Jun'11
Case study: New Look builds social media platform to extend e-commerce site

New Look has launched a social media platform to extend its e-commerce website and multi-channel offering. New Look Daily is a cloud-based customer hub that aggregates social media feeds from Twitter and Facebook and allows customers to upload photo...
June 16, 2011 16 Jun'11
NHS pays £200m advance to CSC as contract renegotiation nears conclusion

The NHS has paid £200m to troubled supplier CSC as an advance while awaiting the conclusion of discussions on amendments to the controversial deal.
June 15, 2011 15 Jun'11
E-Skills National Skills Academy for IT launches training subscription service for SMEs

E-Skills UK's National Skills Academy for IT has set up a training subscription service aimed at small businesses and self-employed IT professionals.
June 15, 2011 15 Jun'11
Government to create market for personal identity data

The government is preparing to create a marketplace for citizens' personal data to be used for accessing online public services, according to documents that were issued to industry in preparation for the coalition's next-generation identity scheme.
June 14, 2011 14 Jun'11
IBM celebrates 100th birthday as workers send video calling for improved conditions

International Business Machines (IBM) is celebrating its 100th birthday, founded as the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation through a merger of four companies in 1911.
June 14, 2011 14 Jun'11
Facebook IPO rumoured to value company at $100bn

Facebook is rumoured to be gearing up for an IPO in the first quarter of 2012, which could see the social networking site reach a valuation of $100bn (£60bn).