News

IT strategy

August 10, 2011 10 Aug'11
Citigroup hit by second data breach in four months

Citigroup has confirmed that hackers have stolen and sold the personal information of more than 92,000 customers of Citi Cards Japan (CCJ) in the second breach within the group in the past four months.
August 10, 2011 10 Aug'11
Computacenter gags Bristol City Council over anti-open source 'bias'

Computacenter has prevented Bristol City Council from publishing details of a consulting project that has been overshadowed by allegations of anti-open source bias.
August 10, 2011 10 Aug'11
Indian IT services suppliers remain upbeat in face of mounting global economic concerns

Indian IT services industry body the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) is confident despite concerns of a double-dip recession following the downgrading of the US's credit rating.
August 10, 2011 10 Aug'11
China blames US for cyber attacks

China has blamed the US for 15% of foreign cyber attacks in 2010 followed by India, which it holds responsible for around 8% of foreign attacks.

August 10, 2011 10 Aug'11
Lush escapes ICO monetary penalty after thousands of customer details were exposed

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has decided not to punish cosmetics group Lush for a major hack of its online trading site from October 2010 to January 2011.
August 10, 2011 10 Aug'11
Apple and publishers named in Amazon e-book price-fixing lawsuit

Two US citizens have filed a lawsuit against Apple and several book publishers, accusing them of fixing the prices of e-books to boost profits and force Amazon to abandon its discount pricing.
August 10, 2011 10 Aug'11
Apple wins battle in patent infringement war with Samsung

Apple has won an important victory in its patent war against Samsung Electronics by obtaining a preliminary injunction barring the sale of Samsung's Galaxy tablet in nearly all European Union member states.
August 10, 2011 10 Aug'11
ICO failure to punish Lush for data breach 'sends wrong message'

The failure of the Information Commissioner's Office to impose a monetary penalty against cosmetics firm Lush - for failing to protect thousands of customer records from hackers - sends out all the wrong messages, according to authentication firm ...
August 10, 2011 10 Aug'11
Oracle uses Facebook and Twitter to recruit 1,700 employees in European expansion

Oracle has announced plans to use Facebook and Twitter to recruit 1,700 employees across Europe. Oracle said it wants to boost its workforce to meet demands for technologies such as cloud computing in Europe.
August 10, 2011 10 Aug'11
Libraries must share services and embrace digitisation to survive, says MLA report

Libraries need to move to a shared-services model and embrace digitisation if they are to survive cuts by local authorities, recommends a report.

August 09, 2011 09 Aug'11
Information security skills in high demand for 2011

Information security and business continuity skills will be in high demand for 2011, according to the latest Barclay Simpson's Interim Market Report
August 09, 2011 09 Aug'11
Twitter acquires social network site Bagcheck

Social network site Bagcheck has been bought by Twitter for an undisclosed sum.
August 09, 2011 09 Aug'11
Top tech firms hit by stock market sell-off

Despite most technology firms reporting strong second quarter financial results and in many cases revising upwards their financial outlooks for the full year, top tech firms are among those hit by a stock market sell-off.
August 09, 2011 09 Aug'11
Ten-year-old hacker exposes exploitable flaws in Apple and Android games

A 10-year-old Californian hacker has exposed a new type of security vulnerability in many mobile games at a hacker conference in Las Vegas.
August 09, 2011 09 Aug'11
Mahindra Satyam’s journey to recovery continues

Indian IT services provider Mahindra Satyam has returned to profit as it enters the next phase of its recovery following the near terminal decline that occurred following a $1bn internal fraud in 2009.
August 09, 2011 09 Aug'11
Majority of IT professionals want to upgrade skills to progress careers - but 41% want to leave IT

Nine out of 10 IT professionals believe upgrading skills and qualifications is important to progressing their careers - but nearly half of them hope to leave IT altogether.
August 09, 2011 09 Aug'11
Binley’s wins landmark ruling on database infringement

Healthcare information provider Binley's has won a landmark court decision against pharmaceutical mailing services and marketing business Precision Marketing Group for infringing its database rights.
August 09, 2011 09 Aug'11
Blackberry to co-operate with police after youths used BBM to organise riots

Research in Motion has said that it will co-operate with the police after it was revealed that London rioters used Blackberry Messenger rather than Twitter to organise looting sprees across the capital, with violence later spreading to Birmingham, ...
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Government denies claims former CIO John Suffolk will be hauled before MI6 for joining Chinese firm

The Cabinet Office has denied claims in the Daily Mail that former government CIO John Suffolk is to be grilled by MI5 and MI6 as a result of joining Huawei.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Anonymous hacker group publishes data stolen from US police departments

Hacktivist group Anonymous and its offshoot LulzSec have published information stolen from rural US police departments in revenge for recent law enforcement actions.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Amazon customers consider on-premise servers after cloud service outage

Amazon cloud customers are considering deploying their own servers after a second Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage brought their websites down.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Department for Work and Pensions staff begin industrial action

Workers at the DWP in Newcastle, Sheffield and Lytham will today begin industrial action in protest against HP's plans to offshore 200 DWP jobs to Bangalore in India.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Investment company IT spending to show regional shift in bank strategies

Investment banks are increasing their IT spending at a faster rate in Asia-Pacific as the region's economies grow in their importance on the global stage.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Lightning takes down Amazon and Microsoft cloud services

Amazon and Microsoft European cloud services were down at the weekend after a lightning strike caused power failures at their datacentres in Dublin.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Royal Pharmaceutical Society outsources to cope with restructure

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has outsourced the management of e-mail and storage to support a major restructure.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
IT contractors look to financial services as public sector jobs reduce

IT contractors are becoming increasingly confident about opportunities in the financial services sector as banks and insurance firms step up their IT spending.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Hampshire school data breach highlights need for multiple passwords

A data breach at Bay House School in Hampshire has highlighted the importance of not using the same password for different websites and applications, say experts.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
US standards body issues warning to energy suppliers over cyber attacks

A US energy industry standards body has warned suppliers to improve their defences against cyber attacks.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Toxic National Programme for IT contracts to be housed under one body

Billions of pounds of toxic IT contract exposures at the Department for Health could be housed under one central unit, according to reports.
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Microsoft’s August Patch Tuesday security update to tackle critical flaws in IE and Windows Server

Microsoft plans to release 13 bulletins in this month's Patch Tuesday security update on 9 August, according to the advance notification.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
LinkedIn second quarter financial results beat expectations

LinkedIn has reported second quarter revenue of $121m and profit of $4.5m, up 120% and 4% respectively on the same period a year ago, beating market expectations.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
Energy giant outsources smart meter services to Logica

Scottish and Southern Energy has outsourced some of its smart metering processes to Logica to help support the UK national roll-out.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
US names former Microsoft executive as new Federal CIO

The US has appointed former Microsoft executive Steven VanRoekel as its new government chief information officer.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
William Hill reports strong growth in online and mobile betting

Betting company William Hill reported strong growth in its online and mobile channels as the company announced in its interim results.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
Loss of 26,000 housing records highlights poor state of UK data protection

The loss of a memory stick containing the personal details of over 26,000 tenants of two London housing associations shows many UK organisations still have poor operating policies, say experts.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
E-petitions crashes on first day as 1,700 users try to access it every minute

The government's e-petition site crashed on its first day, having raised 2,400 petitions.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
Microsoft and Apple patent pact could drive Android prices up, warns Google

Google claims a pact between Microsoft and Apple to acquire patents threatens to increase the cost of Android devices.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
SAP success leads to job losses at Premier Foods

The UK's largest food producer Premier Foods said its SAP system will be a key part of a cost-saving programme which will include redundancies.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
Cabinet Office completes all its structural reform actions for July

The Cabinet Office completed all its July deadlines for the implementation of the department's structural reforms agenda.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
Logica profit slumps but sales increase

Service provider Logica has reported an 11% drop in profit for the first half of 2011 but increased sales by 15% in the same period.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
Buying from small businesses is crucial to government cost cutting, says Cabinet Office SME advisor

Mark Taylor, appointed by the Cabinet Office to lead its New Suppliers to Government working group, talks to Computer Weekly about the challenges of government procurement policy for SMEs.
August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11
Lloyds Bank cooling system failure to blame for trading downtime

Lloyds Banking Group's wholesale banking division suffered several hours of downtime in its trading system as a server cooling system failed and traders reverted to pen and paper.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
Google gears up to challenge Skype by going global with VoIP service

Google is expanding its Google Talk phone call service beyond the US to more than 150 locations around the world in 38 languages in an apparent bid to go head-to-head with Microsoft's Skype service.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
Government seeks public opinion on open data policy

The government has launched a public consultation on its open data policy.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
Amazon gives users control over geographic location of cloud services

Amazon has introduced the concept of regions to its cloud platform, allowing IT departments to restrict where on the Amazon infrastructure their applications run.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
The cost of cyber attacks is up 56%, study reveals

The average cost of cyber attacks is up 56% on last year's figures, according to the second annual Cost of Cyber Crime Study by the Ponemon Institutute.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
Utility firms step up outsourcing

Utility companies will increasingly outsource IT to cut costs, according to the latest research from Ovum.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
Cost of cyber crime study shows need for security planning, says ISACA

Global IT security association ISACA has welcomed the findings of the Ponemon Institute's latest Cost of Cybercrime report.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
JP Morgan deploys graphics processors to improve risk calculations

Investment bank JP Morgan is using Nvidia graphics processors to achieve a 40-fold increase in the performance of risk calculations.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
SAP to expand operations in China and India

SAP plans to increase its workforce in China and India to capitalise on fast-growing Asian markets.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
CIO interview: Peter Ransom, chief information officer, Oxfam

Oxfam works in 98 countries and as one of the world's leading development charities, demands for a better IT service are on the rise.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
MPs calls for a thorough testing of HMRC real-time information system

MPs have called for a thorough testing programme for the development of real-time information (RTI), a major update to HM Revenue & Customs' PAYE system.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
Microsoft puts up $250,000 reward for new security ideas

Microsoft is offering more than $250,000 in prizes for developing new computer protection technologies.
August 03, 2011 03 Aug'11
Government ditches plans to block filesharing sites following changes to copyright law

Controversial plans to block sites that host material infringing copyright law such as illegal filesharing sites have been ditched by the government. The plans were first put forward in the Digital Economy Act last year.
August 03, 2011 03 Aug'11
£4.3bn of NHS IT contracts reviewed as MPs accuse Department of Health of 'deliberate concealment'

The remaining £4.3bn earmarked to spend on the troubled NHS National Programme for IT contracts is to be reviewed by the Cabinet Office after a highly critical report by MPs..
August 03, 2011 03 Aug'11
UK companies must heed Sun hack warning, say security experts

Security experts say UK companies must heed The Sun newspaper's warning that thousands of readers who entered online competitions may have had their personal data compromised by hackers.
August 03, 2011 03 Aug'11
Most organisations failing on cloud security and other basic practices, study shows

Most organisations are failing to apply simple data protection standards and, in many cases, are unaware of what security practices are currently in place, a study has revealed.
August 03, 2011 03 Aug'11
Apple servers may be more vulnerable to attack than Windows servers, say experts

Businesses running Apple servers may be more vulnerable to some cyber attacks than those running Windows-based servers, according to researchers at consulting firm iSEC Partners.
August 03, 2011 03 Aug'11
Almost every organisation is being targeted by sophisticated malware attacks, McAfee study reveals

Almost every organisation is being targeted by sophisticated cyber attacks, a comprehensive study of a malware command and control centre has revealed.
August 03, 2011 03 Aug'11
Government set to move UK copyright law into digital age

The government is set to move UK copyright law into the digital age by accepting some of the recommendations of the Hargreaves Review of the current legislation.
August 03, 2011 03 Aug'11
European Commission could be investigating as many as nine anti-trust complaints against Google

Google faces a total of nine anti-trust complaints which EU regulators are now investigating, according to reports.
August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11
Malware volumes grow 60% in first half of 2011, says Sophos

Security firm Sophos has identified an average of 150,000 malware samples a day in the first half of the year, a 60% increase since 2010.
August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11
US security agencies to go hacker hunting at Defcon

US security agencies in search of cyber skills to help shore up cyber war defences will be looking out for top talent at this week's Defcon hacker convention in Las Vegas.
August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11
NHS trust forced to adopt National Programme patient records system or face £8.8m fine

An NHS trust was forced to buy care records software through the National Programme for IT or face the threat of an £8.8m fine - even though it had a longstanding supplier in place.
August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11
ONS could be forced to share UK census data after failing to seek legal advice

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) could be forced to disclose UK census information to police or intelligence services, because it has not taken legal advice about preventing data being disclosed to third parties.
August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11
Twitter moves towards IPO with another round of fundraising

Twitter has announced that it has received significant funding led by Russian venture capital firm Digital Sky Technologies.
August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11
Anonymous hacking group hits law enforcement agencies in ongoing AntiSec campaign

Hackers have stolen data from over 70 websites of various law enforcement agencies in the ongoing AntiSec campaign led by hacktivist group Anonymous.
August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11
Barclays invests in IT for fast-growing wealth management division

Barclays is building up the technology to support its fast-growing wealth management division.
August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11
Suspected teen LulzSec hacker released on bail

Eighteen-year-old hacker and suspected member of hacktivist group Lulz Security, Jake Davis, has been released on bail after appearing at City of Westminster Magistrate's Court.
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
Facebook to grow UK operation with new London office

Facebook is expanding its UK operations by moving into a larger office in London and recruiting new staff.
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
Former government CIO John Suffolk joins Huawei as head of cybersecurity

Former government CIO John Suffolk has joined China-based IT company Huawei as global head of cybersecurity.
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
Government saves £450m by rolling back IT projects

The government has saved £450m by rolling back IT projects and reducing departmental IT spend.
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
IT staff at HSBC to lose jobs as bank axes another 25,000 employees worldwide

IT staff at HSBC are to be made redundant as the bank plans to axe 25,000 of its global workforce by the end of 2013.
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
Suspected LulzSec hacker named and charged

UK police have named the teenager they arrested last week in connection with the LulzSec and Anonymous hacktivist groups.
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
CSC closes acquisition of iSoft ahead of NHS IT contract renegotiations

Outsourcing provider CSC has closed the acquisition of beleaguered healthcare application provider iSoft for $189m (£115m).
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
CIO interview: Michael Foster, European vice-president of IT, FedEx Express

What role should IT play in business? This is the question Michael Foster, vice-president of IT at Fedex Europe, tackles at the global courier. Cliff Saran reports.
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
IT Works: Career and skills development in IT

Recognising the need to nurture, develop and reskill individuals to support the digital economy, Computer Weekly is embarking on a programme of content called "IT Works" to provide a resource for anyone wishing to understand and build a career ...
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
ICO calls for prison sentences for use of stolen data

The UK should introduce prison sentences for using stolen personal data, says Information Commissioner Christopher Graham.
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
EU cybersecurity agency ENISA flags security fixes for new web standards

The EU's cybersecurity agency ENISA has proposed security improvements for 13 upcoming web standards to enhance browser security.
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
Probation staff spend majority of time on admin due to inadequate IT systems

The Probation Service has inadequate IT systems, which have contributed to staff spending three-quarters of their time on administrative tasks, says a report by MPs.
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
Zeus Trojan distribution campaign targets RSA SecurID customers

Security researchers are warning about a new e-mail-based malware distribution campaign targeting customers of RSA's SecurID tokens.
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
Why the High Court ruling in the Newzbin2 case is such a big deal

The creative industries have welcomed the UK High Court ruling that BT must block access to pirated content aggregator site Newzbin2, but why is the ruling seen as such a game changer?
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
Will MPs' accusations of 'rip-off IT' be enough to change government-supplier relationships?

The Public Administration Select Committee's "rip-off"-Britain report on IT produced a piece of theatre that will give the government's IT strategy a helpful shove.
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
Barclays online banking customers unable to log into accounts due to high traffic

Some Barclays customers have experienced slow response times and login problems, but the bank has promised a solution.
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
Government axes 376 more websites

The government has axed nearly half of its websites since June last year, following recommendations that all digital public services should be under one URL.
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
Cabinet Office calls for government departments to move to shared services model

The Cabinet Office has released guidelines on how central government departments could accelerate the move to shared services as a means of cost cutting.
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
US approves ISP data retention bill

The US House of Representatives has approved a new piece of legislation that will force internet service providers to save logs of all their customers' activities.
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
Sony cautious on Playstation hack costs, as profits tumble

Sony has declined to quantify the full financial impact of the cyber attacks on its Playstation Network, but has acknowledged that it will incur costs.
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
Pirate link aggregator Newzbin vows to retaliate against blocks

The resurrected Newzbin website that aggregates links to pirated films has threatened to break BT's internet filtering system if any attempts are made to block the site.
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
Rolls-Royce to continue technology investment

Aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce says it will continue to invest in technology and infrastructure as it reported positive results.
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
UK police nab another suspected LulzSec teen hacker

UK police have arrested a 19-year-old believed to be the spokesman for hacktivist groups Anonymous and its offshoot LulzSec.
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
BT reports 38% profit rise as broadband customer base grows

BT's pre-tax profit rose 38% from £375m to £517m in its fiscal first quarter as 251,000 new customers were introduced to its broadband network.
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
Government trials e-marketplace for offering more contracts to SMEs

The Cabinet Office has started a pilot of a new e-procurement system designed to make it easier for small businesses to win government contracts.
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
Hackers raid 35 million South Korean website accounts

Hackers have stolen personal data from 35 million accounts at a South Korean social networking site and a web services portal, in the latest of a series...
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
Highlights from 'A recipe for rip-offs' - the Select Committee report on government IT

The Public Administration Select Committee has published a scathingly critical report on government's use of IT. We've chosen a selection of the highlights from the report.
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
CIO interview: Billy Waters, IT manager, Yo! Sushi

Fast-food chain Yo! Sushi hopes "never have to buy a server again", according to its IT manager Billy Waters...
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
ElasticStack delivers cloud with SAN-resilient storage on commodity hardware

Cloud platform provider ElasticStack has refined its software to deliver a cloud platform with resilient storage using low-cost commodity hardware...
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
Government IT is 'appalling' and wastes 'an obscene amount of public money', say MPs

The UK government sometimes pays 10 times as much as the commercial rate for IT projects, is overly reliant on major suppliers, and urgently needs to rebuild in-house IT skills, says a scathing report.
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
KLM deploys RightNow natural language search for mobile website

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has rolled out software-as-a-service provider RightNow's CX Intent Guide on its mobile website.
July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11
Virgin Media sees small drop in business sales, and loses 18,000 broadband users

Cable telecoms supplier Virgin Media has reported a small drop in business revenue for its second quarter, while the firm also revealed it has lost 18,000 broadband users...