News

IT strategy

• September 26, 2011 26 Sep'11

  Businesses must invest in ICT to boost economy, finds research

  The European economy could be boosted by billions of euros over the next decade if businesses increase investment in information and communication technology.

• September 26, 2011 26 Sep'11

  Council of Europe countries agree to protect internet freedom of expression

  By adopting recommendations for internet governance tabled at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, ministers of 47 countries clarified their responsibilities under existing law and took one step closer to cementing them in an internet treaty.

• September 26, 2011 26 Sep'11

  Boots launches mobile site to expand multichannel offering

  Retailer Boots has launched a mobile version of its website to expand its multichannel portfolio.

• September 26, 2011 26 Sep'11

  Whitehall gagging order on SME working group ‘flies in face of transparency agenda’

  The government has issued a gagging order preventing members of an SME working group from commenting on meeting discussions, despite its recent commitment to an "open government" transparency agenda.

• September 26, 2011 26 Sep'11

  EC investigates banking group after antitrust e-payments complaint

  The European Commission (EC) is investigating whether emerging banking standards for e-payments are anti-competitive.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Capita continues summer spending spree with acquisition of police software supplier Cedar

  Capita has acquired a software company that specialises in providing human resources software to UK police forces.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Top European banks might switch from the likes of IBM and Accenture to Indian IT

  A report from Deutsche Bank into the plans of CIOs at four major European banks has revealed that the major Western IT services companies face losing business to Indian suppliers because of their reluctance to truly harness the offshore capabilities...

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  RSA Europe 2011 to focus on APTs and share lessons learned from RSA’s data breach

  Advanced persistent threats (APTs) are to be a pervasive theme at the RSA Conference Europe 2011 in London next month, coming just six months after the data breach at EMC's security division.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Demand for SAP and Oracle skills doubles

  Demand for IT professionals with Oracle and SAP skills has doubled over the past three months as employers seek more high-end technical expertise, according to recruitment company Maximus.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  FBI arrests LulzSec hacker suspect Cody Kretsinger over massive Sony data breach

  The FBI has arrested a suspected member of LulzSec over the breach of computer systems at Sony Pictures. Cody Kretsinger, 23, was arrested in Arizona and charged with the unauthorised impairment of a protected computer in connection with a SQL ...

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Deutsche Bank transforms application support

  Deutsche Bank's investment arm has signed a five-year deal with an Indian service provider to transform the support of its core applications with a service that will meet ITIL and LEAN global standards.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  HP’s new CEO promises better execution, says IDC

  Hewlett-Packard's newly appointed chief executive and president Meg Whitman promises better execution than her predecessor, but the question is how much of his legacy she intends to dismantle, says research firm IDC.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  HP confirms former eBay chief Meg Whitman will replace Léo Apotheker as CEO

  HP has named Meg Whitman as its new chief executive officer, confirming speculation that the former eBay chief would replace Léo Apotheker

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Government G-Cloud roll-out gathers pace as Memset signs as first UK SME partner

  Cloud hosting SME Memset has signed up as one of ten companies to trial G-Cloud services.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Police IT not fit for purpose, police-led ICT company needs a lot of work, says Home Office report

  A Home Office report into policing has labelled police IT as not being fit for purpose and made recommendations to shake up a mess of different IT systems across 43 forces which is hindering police attempts to fight crime.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Anti-piracy group FAST applauds government business guide to navigating UK IP law

  The government has published a guide to UK intellectual property law for businesses, providing information on IP policies; procurement of goods and services; reporting IP crime; and auditing IP. The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) said it ...

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Two thirds of companies concerned about security implications of consumerisation

  Two thirds of companies are concerned about the security implications of the number of personal computing devices used by employees at work. More than half of those who voiced concerns said they lacked the tools needed to manage personal devices ...

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Burying the NHS National Programme for IT

  The government's decision to accelerate the dismantling of the NHS National Project for IT (NPfIT) came as little surprise to those who have followed the terminally ill project since 2002. But what is the prognosis for the NHS's badly needed ...

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Verizon rejects London datacentre site due to Olympic Games power drain

  Concerns over power shortages led Verizon Business to dismiss London as the site for its flagship European datacentre. Verizon was worried about power because of the Olympic Games to be hosted in London and chose Amsterdam instead.

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  Government pulls plug on ailing £11bn NHS IT programme

  The troubled £11bn NHS National Programme for IT is to be axed, the government is expected to announce later today.

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  Léo Apotheker's future uncertain as HP board set to name Meg Whitman as CEO

  HP is expected to replace CEO Léo Apotheker with former eBay chief Meg Whitman, following a recent shake-up at the company when Apotheker announced HP was to sell its market-leading PC business.

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  Software testing should be in partnership with third parties

  Software testing is one of the most important tasks for 91% of IT departments and almost all believe it is crucial to outsource this activity, according to research.

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  Researchers claim to have broken SSL/TLS encryption

  Two security researchers claim to have found a way of breaking the SSL/TLS encryption that is widely used to guarantee the reliability and privacy of data exchanged between web browsers and servers.

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  BASF extends BT network contract

  Chemical group BASF has signed a €200m deal with BT for networking 900 BASF sites in more than 80 countries. The contract includes the provision of IP telephony and local network services (managed LAN services) at 300 sites in North and South ...

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  SQL injection attacks increasing in number, sophistication and potency, researchers find

  The prevalence and intensity of SQL injection attacks are increasing, according to Imperva.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  CIOs urged to simplify and standardise IT systems to allow for innovation

  Organisations have been urged to simplify and standardise their IT systems to free up time and resources for innovation.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Let employees use personal mobile devices to remain competitive, says Cisco CTO

  Businesses must adopt new mobile technologies or risk losing top talent to its rivals, according to Cisco's chief technology officer.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Hackers turn to online games to target victims

  Scammers and hackers are increasingly using online games to trick victims into installing malicious software onto computers, warns security firm BitDefender.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Gartner: Best defence against social media threats is monitoring and education

  Blocking social media in the enterprise encourages bad behaviour by employees but does not prevent access, warns Gartner.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Gartner: A strategic approach to IT security is essential

  Cyber threats will always get ahead of defences, which is why organisations need a strategic approach, says Gartner analyst Lawrence Orans.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Internal IT must focus on integrating external services

  The latest research from analyst firm K2 Advisory urges CIOs to assess how the internal IT department can become a service broker.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Social engineering attacks hit ill-prepared UK businesses, survey shows

  Less than a third of UK businesses provide regular training aimed at preventing social engineering attacks, despite 42% being hit by such attacks in the past two years at an average cost of £15,000 per incident, a survey has revealed.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Capgemini and EMC offer hosted storage service in first of cloud collaborations

  The storage-as-a-service will be the first of a number of services to be announced over 18 months, with messaging-as-a-service next.. EMC hopes Capgemini's global presence and close relationships with business will accelerate cloud take-up.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Law enforcement needs to get smart about collecting digital evidence, says forensic analyst

  The time has come to empower frontline law enforcement officers to make better decisions when seizing digital evidence, says forensic analyst Andrew Sheldon.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  RightMove renders property maps with Google

  RightMove is the UK's biggest user of Google Maps and one of the largest users of the mapping software in the world.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Global BPO sales to reach £60bn in 2015

  The world market for business process outsourcing (BPO) will be worth $93.4bn (£59.7bn) in 2015 compared with $72bn last year, according to Ovum.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Google+ social network now open to all

  Google has finished its trial of social network, Google+, opening up the platform to new members without an invitation.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  HP webOS lay-offs could affect European employees

  Hewlett-Packard could lay off European employees as part of the company's decision to discontinue its webOS hardware division, including the Touchpad tablet range.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Debenhams grows web and mobile sales by 70% year-on-year

  In its financial results for the 2010-2011 financial year, Debenham's multi-channel sales grew 71.9% over a 52-week period. Chief executive Michael Sharp said the company will continue to focus on its multi-channel strategy in the coming months.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Dell SecureWorks warns Gartner summit Trojans make businesses complacent

  Trojan attacks have lulled organisations into a false sense of security, Don Smith, vice-president technology and engineering at Dell SecureWorks, told the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit 2011 in London.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Thomas Cook creates single European IT structure with Accenture

  Travel operator Thomas Cook is moving several separate IT operations across Europe into one organisation that will harness public and private cloud technologies.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Rackspace launches hosted platform for virtual desktops in Europe

  Using NetApp storage, Rackspace said its Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) platform allows customers to run virtual desktops via the public cloud or private cloud infrastructure across PCs, smartphones and tablet devices.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  European Antitrust Commission clears IBM of emulator market abuse complaints

  The European Antitrust Commission has cleared IBM of allegations of anti-competitive practices stemming from complaints that the company had abused a dominant position in its mainframe business.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Gartner: Keep encryption simple and standardised to cut cost and complexity

  Businesses should consider self-encrypting drives (SEDs) for new installations that hold significant volumes of sensitive data, says Gartner.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  BP recruits IT professionals to train on Future Leaders Programme

  The oil company's Future Leaders Programme aims to find up to 40 candidates for its information technology & services (IT&S) and other departments.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Layered security is best, but don’t overlook the obvious, says M86 Security

  E-mail and end users are overlooked too often in security strategies, with IT professionals tending to take their eye off the ball in these two areas, warns M86 Security.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Bring your own devices to work is the future of desktop computing

  A global study of 700 CIOs, commissioned by Citrix, has revealed that 94% of organisations are planning to allow staff to bring their own devices to work by 2013.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Canned FireControl project labelled ‘worst government IT failure’ by MPs

  The scrapped £469m FireControl project has been singled out by MPs as the worst government IT failure in many years.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Fewer than half of businesses know how much energy their IT uses, says Fujitsu

  A report from IT service provider Fujitsu revealed a lack of visibility of energy consumption as the main reason businesses are failing to become more energy-efficient.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Visa Europe opens its doors to IT trainees on Higher Apprenticeship programme

  Visa Europe has recruited 14 IT apprentices through its Higher Apprenticeship programme, launched in April 2011. Most will study for a foundation degree and "level 4" diploma while working in the company's technology division.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Deutsche Bank contracts Tata Consultancy to outsource ITIL service model alignment

  Deutsche Bank has contracted Indian IT services giant Tata Consultancy services to transform IT support at its investment banking arm across seven countries.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Gartner: CISOs must use risk to show the value of security to business goals

  Risk is key to enabling IT information security professionals to engage with the business and demonstrate business value to the board, according to Gartner.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Google CFO Patrick Pichette: Growth planning, capital structure and leadership

  When it comes to playing the classic role of the no-nonsense chief financial officer, Patrick Pichette has his own personal interpretation. Google's CFO may oversee $36 billion in cash reserves at one of the world's most recognized companies, but he...

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Severn Trent uses Macro 4 to migrate archived mainframe data

  Severn Trent Water is using software and services company Macro 4 to help decommission a legacy billing system, while retaining access to 10 years' worth of customer data.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Capita acquires more UK BPO resources

  Capita has acquired the UK private sector operation of customer management specialist Vertex for £40m.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  New Look increases sales by 45% after mobile site launch

  Fashion retailer New Look has increased sales by 45% three months after the launch of its mobile commerce site.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Warwickshire County Council signs Google to pilot G-Cloud e-mail service

  Warwickshire County Council is piloting a G-Cloud e-mail service with Google, in a scheme expected to save £250,000.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  IDF: Intel and McAfee announce DeepSafe hardware-based security

  Intel-owned McAfee has unveiled a new hardware-based security technology called DeepSafe at the 2011 Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  Unions give go-ahead to one strike against Fujitsu, and call off another

  Unite members working for Fujitsu in Crewe and Manchester are to strike, while members of the Public and Commercial Services union called off strike action against the Japanese outsourcing giant.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  Government sends GCSE IT back to school

  The GCSE IT curriculum is to be given a dramatic overhaul to make the subject more focused on the needs of business, science minister David Willets has announced.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  Kaspersky Lab vows to remain independent

  Kaspersky Lab said it will remain independent in the face of continued acquisitions by IT services companies and other consolidation within the security industry.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  £12m Royal Courts eWorking system has ‘virtually collapsed’

  Only 11 documents were electronically submitted to the Royal Courts of Justice eWorking system in the second quarter of 2011 - fewer than 0.5% of all files entered on the system.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  Insiders increasingly linked to data breaches in the financial sector

  Employees are increasingly responsible for data breaches at financial institutions, according to the US Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT).

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  EBay’s PayPal gives retailers preview of virtual wallet and barcode payment options

  EBay's PayPal service has given retailers a preview of several new features about how they sell goods and accept payments including mobile payments, barcode scanning using handheld devices, store inventory lookup, virtual wallet and location-based ...

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Cyber attacks are becoming lethal, warns US cyber commander

  Cyber attacks are escalating from large-scale theft and disruption of computer operations to more lethal attacks that destroy systems and physical equipment, according to the head of the US Cyber Command.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  US companies hire more UK IT consultants

  US firms are hiring UK IT consultants in the digital sector with online business marketplace PeoplePerHour.com reporting a 275% increase in the number of US firms hiring UK IT consultants over the last year.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  European Commission buys Microsoft for 20 years without competition

  The European Commission has been buying Microsoft software since 1993 without an open and public competition to assess alternative products, Computer Weekly has learned.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Groupon to float as Facebook puts off IPO until late 2012

  Online discount site Groupon is reported to be planning a flotation, while Facebook is rumoured to be delaying its IPO until the end of 2012.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  UK business and government dangerously out of tune with cyber threats, says Chatham House

  Business and public sector organisations lack understanding of the nature and gravity of cyber threats and the UK government lacks vision and leadership in dealing with cyber attacks, according to a report by Chatham House.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Soca's online child protection centre beefs up data encryption following ICO investigation

  The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre of the Serious Organised Crime Agency has improved security around data sent from its website after the Information Commissioner's Office received a tip-off that data submitted using an online form...

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Report reveals concerns over consumerisation of IT

  A lack of mobile device management among SMEs is holding back the introduction of schemes where employees can use their own devices to replace company supplied computers.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Comet web operations hit by restructuring

  The owner of electrical goods retailer Comet said sales at the chain's internet arm were hit because of a decision to fully align web and store prices.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Rogue trader who cost UBS £1.3bn points to failure to monitor unauthorised dealing

  Another case of the unauthorised activity of a trader at an investment bank has highlighted the need for real-time monitoring and control in the investment banking sector.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Mid-size company resource Knowledge Peers uses Mvine for resilience and security

  Chris Dines founded a company, Knowledge Peers, to develop a forum where executives would feel comfortable sharing ideas with their peers.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Cashless future: VocaLink demos mobile payment gateway

  Payment processing company Vocalink will be showing the future of cash next week at the Sibos financial conference in Toronto.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  IT spend continues to fall in UK as companies prepare for possibility of double-dip recession

  IT spend in UK private and public sector organisations has fallen since last year, with average expenditure dropping 0.6% per user to £3,275, 2.48% of total spend, research has shown.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  IT development underpinning Universal Credits comes under fire from MPs and experts

  The delivery of Universal Credits is coming under fire as observers are casting an increasingly critical eye on the IT systems underpinning the politically sensitive project.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  PricewaterhouseCoopers takes 40 graduate IT interns on security and testing teams

  Consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers has selected 40 graduate interns for its IT department. The trainees will work with PwC's information security and testing teams.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  HP gets serious about IT security, but is it too little too late?

  Hewlett-Packard has announced several new and improved security products and the establishment of an enterprise security products business unit that unifies a string of security-related acquisitions in the past two years, but is the move too little ...

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  Firms need to collaborate for mobile wallets to become the norm

  Consumers, retailers, advertisers and banks must work more closely together if mobile phones are to replace wallets in an era of mobile commerce.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  Internet giants must be more conscious of datacentre greenhouse gas, says report

  A major benchmarking report into the carbon reduction and energy strategies of internet and social networking giants has revealed a major lack of transparency which will have to be addressed as carbon reporting becomes mandatory.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  Business leaders must prepare for digital industrial revolution

  Business leaders have been urged to prepare for a digital industrial revolution as new technologies overturn traditional business models and markets.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  Security update: Light Microsoft Patch Tuesday with low application impact plus critical Adobe fixes

  Microsoft's September Patch Tuesday security update is relatively light with only five security updates.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  Mobile security demands comprehensive approach, IDC conference told

  Securing mobile devices is one of the biggest challenges facing IT security professionals as cyber criminals turn their attention to this platform, according to James Lyne, director of technology strategy at security firm Sophos.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  Banks' IT leaders await details of reform but change is certain

  Financial services IT departments are on high alert after the Independent Banking Commission recommended that banks separate their retail and investment operations.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  IT security should be about good management, not tech performance, says IDC

  IT security in an increasingly complex threat environment needs to be more about management than technology performance, according to Eric Domage, program manager for IDC in Europe.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  Identity assurance - how it will affect public services and your personal data

  Computer Weekly examines some of the key issues around the government's identity assurance project for accessing public sector services.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  IT Works: Interview with founder of web design start-up, Blosh

  Cliff Saran speaks to Josh Antwi, a 31-year-old IT entrepreneur who was given support and mentoring by The Prince's Trust.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  UK public trusts financial services sector to keep personal data safe, survey reveals

  The UK financial services sector is the most trusted, ahead of the public sector and online retailers, according to Symantec’s inaugural UK Trust Index.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  Privacy report urges government prevent data breaches in move to transparency

  The government must improve its understanding of technology to prevent the identity and personal information of individuals being revealed in datasets, a privacy expert has warned.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  Retailer Aurora gives iPads to shopfloor sales staff to check stock and shorten queue times

  Fashion retailer Aurora is providing iPads to sales staff at London branches of Coast, Oasis, Warehouse and Karen Millen.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  FBI probes hack into NBC News Twitter account after Ground Zero attack hoax

  The FBI is probing a hacking into the NBC News Twitter account after hackers calling themselves "The Script Kiddies" posted bogus Tweets about a hijacked civilian airliner crashing into Ground Zero in New York.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  Sabre develops apps marketplace for travel industry

  Sabre, the global distribution system for reserving hotels, airlines, cruise ships, rail tickets and car hire, has taken the concept of the app store and applied in to its own travel market.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  SpyEye Trojan variant attacking Google Android smartphones

  SpyEye Trojan variant SpitMo is attacking mobile devices running the Google Android operating system, warns security firm Trusteer.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  Jeremy Hunt calls on Google to downgrade piracy website search return listings

  Jeremy Hunt will call on online companies to take reasonable steps against websites that openly infringe copyright in a speech to the Royal Television Society's Cambridge Convention.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  'Creative destruction' should drive your 2012 IT budget, says Gartner

  With the planning season for many companies' 2012 budgets under way, Gartner's Dave Aron urges CIOs to tear up the rule book, or risk being sidelined.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  GlobalSign web certificate authority back online after breach by hacker

  Belgian web certificate authority (CA) GlobalSign is back online after investigating claims by the hacker who breached the Dutch DigiNotar CA that its systems had also been breached.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  IT Works: Interview with Fiona Timothy, chair of the Prince's Trust Technology Leadership Group

  Fiona Timothy, chair of The Prince's Trust Technology Leadership Group and chief executive of Calyx Group Companies, speaks to Cliff Saran about why IT offers a great opportunity.

• September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11

  EU cybersecurity agency Enisa publishes report on app store security

  European Union cybersecurity agency Enisa has published a report on app store security that advocates a baseline set of five lines of defence against malware.

• September 12, 2011 12 Sep'11

  AOL CEO Tim Armstrong dusts off plans for Yahoo merger after board sacks Bartz

  Yahoo and AOL are discussing a merger following the sacking of Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz. AOL chief executive officer Tim Armstrong is returning to proposals for a merger rebuffed by Bartz last year.