News

IT strategy

• 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...

• July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11

  Broadband ads still misleading on speed, says Ofcom

  Broadband advertising is still misleading on the actual speeds being delivered by ISPs, according to telecoms regulator Ofcom...

• July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11

  UK second on SpyEye banking Trojan hit list, study shows

  The UK is second only to the US on the hit list of cyber criminals targeting financial institutions with the personal and banking information-stealing Trojan

• July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11

  Head of US cyber security team quits after series of attacks on government agencies

  US cyber security chief Randy Vickers has resigned after a string of cyber attacks on the websites of various US government agencies...

• July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11

  IT contractor vacancies rise 18% in retail sector

  IT contractor vacancies have risen 18% in the retail sector over the past month, according to research.

• July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11

  CIO interview: Ailsa Beaton, director of information at the Metropolitan Police Service

  Between security preparations for the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee next year, and leading technology counter-terrorism operations, Ailsa Beaton found time to talk to Computer Weekly about her IT challenges...

• July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11

  UK business failing to address risk of insider threats, survey shows

  Many UK businesses are ignorant of the level of access their IT staff have to systems that may contain highly sensitive data, a survey shows ...

• July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11

  MPs to publish 'rip-off' report into government IT

  MPs will tomorrow release their findings from an investigation into the government's IT strategy and its relationship with IT suppliers...

• July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11

  Ofcom urged to widen 4G mobile coverage in next year's spectrum auction

  Ofcom has been urged to increase 4G mobile coverage in next year's radio spectrum auction. Industry watchdog the Communications Consumer Panel...

• July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11

  Computer glitch halts Post Office card transactions

  Customers have been unable to complete card transactions at the Post Office after a computer glitch across all branches...

• July 26, 2011 26 Jul'11

  PayPal joins efforts to block funds to pirate websites

  PayPal has joined Visa and Mastercard in blocking payments to websites offering downloads of pirated music...

• July 26, 2011 26 Jul'11

  UK police forces form high-tech regional surveillance units

  UK police forces are teaming up to form high-tech regional surveillance units to carry out covert and intrusive investigations...

• July 26, 2011 26 Jul'11

  Halfords grows web sales as in-store struggles

  Car accessories and leisure goods retailer Halfords Group reported an increase in web sales despite tough in-store trading conditions...

• July 26, 2011 26 Jul'11

  UK online sales grow 50%, reaching 10% of all retail revenue

  Purchases made over the web represented 9.9% of all UK retail sales in June, up from 6.8% a year earlier, according to the ONS...

• July 26, 2011 26 Jul'11

  Tate museum group chooses Drupal and cloud hosting for new website

  The Tate museum group is scrapping the use of HTML code in favour of open source content management platform Drupal...

• July 26, 2011 26 Jul'11

  US calls for international collaboration on cybercrime and other transnational crime

  The US has unveiled plans to tackle various forms of transnational organised crime, including cybercrime and the theft of intellectual property.

• July 26, 2011 26 Jul'11

  Norway's armed forces sign £42m SAP contract with Accenture

  The Norwegian armed forces have signed a $70m (£42m) contract with Accenture to implement an SAP logistics solution over three-and-a-half years.

• July 26, 2011 26 Jul'11

  Mozilla plans mobile operating system for phones and tablets

  Mozilla plans to create a new mobile operating system, aiming to use web technologies to deliver all applications and functions on phones and tablets...

• July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  SecurEnvoy tackles trojan-based cookie hack

  SecurEnvoy has developed a security technique to protect a secure web session that it claims solves the problem of hacking session cookies.

• July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  Blackberry-maker RIM axes 2,000 jobs to cut costs

  Research in Motion (RIM) has announced plans to reduce its global workforce by 2,000 people as part of a cost-cutting exercise - putting over 10% of its staff at risk...

• July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  Businesses should prepare for Web 3.0, says Booz&Co

  The next generation of web technology will transform the way businesses work within five to ten years, research by management consulting firm Booz&Co predicts.

• July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  Anonymous and Lulzsec hackers hit Italian cyber crime unit

  Hacker group Anonymous and offshoot Lulzsec have started releasing secret information they claim to have stolen from servers of the Italian cyber crime unit...

• July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  Automated web application attacks are the top security threat, study reveals

  Websites are attacked about 27 times an hour or once every two minutes on average, peaking at 25,000 attacks a minute or seven a second, according to research...

• July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  BAA appoints Simon Fell as CTO

  Airport operator BAA has appointed Simon Fell as its new chief technology officer...

• July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  IT industry salaries rise 7.5% in 2011

  Salaries for IT professionals have risen by 7.5% to reach an average wage of over £46,000 in 2011...

• 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

  Marks & Spencer signs six-year deal with Logicalis to manage network

  UK retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S) has signed a new six-year deal with supplier Logicalis to manage its network infrastructure and provide strategic advice.

• July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  US House of Representatives committee approves cybersecurity standards bill

  The US House of Representatives has passed a bill designed to increase education, research and development to counteract cyberthreats.

• July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  CA Technologies offers professional services training for IT graduates

  CA Technologies has unveiled a training scheme for new computer science graduates aimed at broadening their knowledge in professional services...

• 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 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  Cybercrime automation demands new response and new skills

  Security researchers have revealed that websites are attacked once every two minutes on average, which shows that cyber criminals are increasingly using automated attacks.

• July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11

  Domino's Pizza delivers 51% increase in online sales

  Domino's Pizza has reported a a 51% increase in online sales in the first six months of its 2011 financial year...

• July 22, 2011 22 Jul'11

  CBI demands government strengthen business transformation case for IT

  The government must strengthen its case for business transformation when deploying IT projects, according to the Confederation of British Industry's System Reset report.

• 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

  Demise of IT supplier highlights challenges facing government plan to support SMEs

  A small IT supplier that became a figurehead for a parliamentary campaign to curtail the power large companies wield over public sector IT has collapsed amid a dispute over an unpaid bill with a large customer.

• July 22, 2011 22 Jul'11

  EC launches consultation on data breach legislation covering telecoms and ISPs

  The European Commission has launched a public consultation on whether additional rules are needed to ensure telecoms operators and internet service providers (ISPs) report personal data breaches in a consistent way across the EU.

• July 22, 2011 22 Jul'11

  Investment in malware defence essential, says QinetiQ

  Malicious code affects every aspect of our society, from government to business through to everyday consumers, says UK defence technology firm QinetiQ.

• 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 22, 2011 22 Jul'11

  UK Cyber Security Challenge gears up for second year of competitions

  Hundreds of aspirant cybersecurity professionals are to compete to prove their credentials in coming days as the new programme of Cyber Security Challenge competitions kicks off.

• July 21, 2011 21 Jul'11

  Private sector overtakes public as largest UK outsourcing contractor, says TPI survey

  Outsourcing in the public sector dropped significantly in the first half of this year, with the private sector taking the larger UK market share, according to research from global sourcing firm TPI.

• 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 21, 2011 21 Jul'11

  India blocks file storage websites to combat online piracy after US cyber security deal

  India's telecoms authorities are blocking widely used file storage websites such as Megaupload, Rapidshare, Mediafire and Putlocker, according to reports on several user forums.

• July 21, 2011 21 Jul'11

  Growing worker demand for cloud services frustrated by firms' connectivity concerns

  Six in 10 workers are demanding access to cloud services, but only one in 10 companies are deploying cloud technology, a survey has revealed.

• July 21, 2011 21 Jul'11

  PayPal drives Ebay Q2 sales up 25%

  Ebay has reported second quarter sales of $2.8bn, an increase of sales by 25% compared to the year before.

• July 21, 2011 21 Jul'11

  Mass UK mobile payment adoption remains four years in future, says Gartner

  UK mass market adoption of mobile payment technology, such as near-field communication (NFC), is still four years away, according to analyst Gartner.

• 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

  Capita first half profits grow 7%

  Profits at outsourcing company Capita grew 7% to £174m in the first six months of 2011, compared to the same period in 2010. During the first half of the year the company's turnover grew by just 3% to £1.36bn.

• July 21, 2011 21 Jul'11

  Commons committee calls for submissions on malware and government role in tackling it

  The House of Commons science and technology committee is calling for submissions on the impact of malware and the role of government in fighting malware.

• July 20, 2011 20 Jul'11

  Google warns search users misdirected by fake antivirus to pay-per-click websites

  Google has discovered malware misdirecting users of its internet search service. Google has now taken steps to warn users their computers are infected with the malware.

• 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

  US and India sign cybersecurity agreement

  The US and India have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on cybersecurity.

• July 20, 2011 20 Jul'11

  Specialisterne Scotland contract provides software testing jobs for people with autism

  Specialisterne Scotland, an IT firm which was set up to help people suffering from Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), has won its first contract.

• July 20, 2011 20 Jul'11

  DWP loses £800m in overpayments due to faulty IT systems

  Faulty IT systems at the Department for Work and Pensions have led to £800m in overpayments in 2010-11, a National Audit Office (NAO) report has found.

• July 20, 2011 20 Jul'11

  HMRC slashes IT running costs by £235m

  HMRC will slash running costs in IT by £235m over the next four years, according to a National Audit Office report.

• July 20, 2011 20 Jul'11

  Oracle should take a closer look at security and severity scoring, says Imperva

  Oracle should review the severity scoring of its security updates, as the current system is misleading, according to security firm Imperva.

• July 20, 2011 20 Jul'11

  Police arrest Anonymous suspects in UK, US and Netherlands over PayPal cyber attack

  Police in the UK, US and the Netherlands have arrested more than 20 people as part of an investigation into major cyber attacks.

• 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 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  Cisco cuts 6,500 jobs, 9% of workforce

  Cisco Systems will axe 6,500 jobs worldwide, cutting 9% of its workforce, as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

• July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  Backlash leads Birmingham City Council to reconsider Capita plan to offshore IT jobs

  Birmingham City Council's joint venture with Capita is re-evaluating its plan to offshore IT jobs after a public backlash to news of the plan.

• July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  Apple releases out-of-cycle patch for iOS 4.3.3 flaw in iPhone, iPad and iPod

  Apple has released an out-of-cycle patch for vulnerabilities in its iOS mobile operating system being exploited for the latest software to jailbreak iPhones and iPads.

• July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  IBM reports strong second quarter and raises full-year earnings forecast

  IBM has reported second quarter net income of $3.7bn, up 8% on the same quarter last year, and revenue of $26.7bn, which was $1.35bn more than had been expected by analysts and 12% up on the previous year.

• July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  IT budgets stall until UK jobs market picks up

  IT budgets are unlikely to increase until the industry-wide UK job market improves, according to research. Research shows a strong correlation between IT spending and organisations' head count over the past 15 years.

• July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  CIO interview: David Jones steers the Crown Prosecution Service into the digital age

  For many, the image of the Crown Prosecution Service is that of a body unchanged for centuries, with reams of lever arch files piled along winding, Kafkaesque corridors. But with the drive for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to use electronic ...

• July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  Northern Ireland police extends Fujitsu managed service and cuts costs 15%

  The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has extended a managed IT services contract which it hopes will yield a 15% cost saving.

• July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  LulzSec returns to target Murdoch

  Hacktivist group Lulz Security appears to have returned, claiming responsibility for tampering with the website of News International's Sun newspaper as the phone hacking scandal deepens.

• July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  NPIA rolls out mobile fingerprint technology to the police service

  The soon-to-be-axed National Police Improvement Agency has rolled out mobile fingerprinting devices enabling police officers to check an individual's identity on the beat.

• July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  Microsoft offers $250k reward for information on cyber criminals behind the Rustock botnet

  Microsoft is offering a $250,000 reward for new information resulting in the identification, arrest and criminal conviction of those behind the notorious Rustock botnet.

• July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11

  Everything Everywhere boss Tom Alexander steps down for 'personal reasons'

  Tom Alexander will step down as CEO at joint Orange and T-Mobile firm Everything Everywhere at the end of August 2011 for personal reasons.

• July 18, 2011 18 Jul'11

  Security Think Tank: What are the major security issues surrounding virtualisation?

  Virtualisation and security: In what ways is virtualisation helping and hindering enterprise security? What are the security opportunities of virtualisation that should not be missed and what are the security pitfalls that are best avoided?

• 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 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

  SANS Institute praises Pentagon's cyber defence strategy

  Information security and education organisation, the SANS Institute has praised the Pentagon's newly-unveiled US cyber security strategy for its focus on innovative training and active defence.

• July 18, 2011 18 Jul'11

  ITC awards Apple preliminary patent ruling against HTC over copyright infringements

  Apple has won a preliminary ruling from the International Trade Commission in a copyright infringement case against smartphone maker HTC.

• July 18, 2011 18 Jul'11

  England’s top councils fail to comply with WAN code and cannot respond to data breaches

  Three of the five largest councils in England are unable to identify potential security breaches to IT systems in real time, freedom of information (FOI) requests have revealed.

• July 18, 2011 18 Jul'11

  Intellect calls for reform in collecting bank data to avoid future financial crisis

  Bank regulators need better quality data, rather than ring-fencing, to analyse risk and protect the UK from a future financial crisis, according to industry body Intellect.

• July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11

  Pentagon admits data breach as it rolls out new cyber strategy

  The Pentagon has unveiled a new US cyber security strategy four months after one of its biggest losses of sensitive data in an attack on a defence industry...

• July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11

  Sales grow again at online retailer Asos

  Online fashion retailer Asos has posted a 69% sales increase to £107.3m in the last quarter to June 30, an increase of £65.8m on the same period a year earlier....

• July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11

  Blacks prospers online as high street struggles continue

  Troubled retailer Blacks has reported an increase in sales through its website, despite posting a generally gloomy set of results...

• July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11

  Cabinet Office collars Liberata as NPIA police data deal crosses open source policy

  The Cabinet Office has pulled in a system integrator, Liberata, for questioning over its acquisition of a police data hub that may give it an influential position over IT projects supporting Big Society initiatives.

• July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11

  'My friend's been hacked!' – Microsoft beefs up Hotmail security to stop account hijacking

  Microsoft is to beef up security around its Hotmail service by introducing two features aimed at tackling account hijacking.

• July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11

  Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust improves performance with Zeus Technology

  Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has signed a £10,000 three-year contract with Zeus Technology to manage its virtualised medical applications...

• July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11

  Security groups team up to provide IT risk and information assurance assessments

  Key international information assurance organisations plan to create a global repository of assessments for the assurance of the IT supply chain, including cloud services.

• July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11

  Local authorities wanted for agile development pilot programme

  Public sector user group Socitm is launching a programme to test agile methodologies in IT projects for local government...

• July 14, 2011 14 Jul'11

  Government offshoring advice signals shift to more public sector work going overseas

  The Cabinet Office has published guidance on how government departments can save money by offshoring, as public sector organisations feel the squeeze of continued spending cuts.