News

Internet infrastructure

• June 24, 2021 24 Jun'21

  Google hands third-party cookies a stay of execution

  Google’s proposed Privacy Sandbox initiative – which will see third-party cookies phased out in the Chrome web browser – has been pushed back to 2023

• June 24, 2021 24 Jun'21

  Online Safety Bill unfit for purpose, says new campaign group

  Campaign group set up to oppose Online Safety Bill says the duty of care is too simplistic, cedes too much power to US corporations and will, in practice, privilege the speech of journalists or politicians

• June 24, 2021 24 Jun'21

  Lloyds Bank to close 44 more branches

  Banking group has announced the closure of a further 44 branches as customers increasingly use other channels for banking

• June 14, 2021 14 Jun'21

  G7 commits to action on ransomware, digital privacy

  The G7 urges Russia to do more to hold criminal ransomware gangs operating from within its borders to account as it commits to more action on the issue

• June 14, 2021 14 Jun'21

  Vodafone announces key partners for Europe’s first commercial Open RAN network

  Operator selects Dell Technologies, NEC, Samsung, Wind River, Capgemini Engineering and Keysight Technologies to build what it says will be one of the largest Open RAN networks in the world

• June 11, 2021 11 Jun'21

  FBI planned a sting against An0m cryptophone users over drinks with Australian investigators

  Australian Federal Police and the FBI came up with the idea over drinks: build a cryptophone network with a built-in backdoor and sell it to crime gangs around the world

• June 11, 2021 11 Jun'21

  CMA secures commitments from Google on future of cookies

  The Competition and Markets Authority is opening a consultation on commitments offered to it by Google to ensure its Privacy Sandbox proposals do not harm digital advertising markets

• June 09, 2021 09 Jun'21

  BBVA to cut 3,000 jobs in Spain as digital technology transforms industry

  Spanish bank is the latest to announce swingeing branch and job cuts amid increased digital competition

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  Police raids around world after investigators crack An0m cryptophone app in major hacking operation

  Police in 16 countries carried out raids on after Australian Police and the FBI cracked an encrypted An0M communications network used by crime groups

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  EU privacy chief investigates use of US cloud services

  Use of Amazon and Microsoft’s cloud services by public sector bodies in the European Union is being scrutinised by the bloc’s privacy watchdog

• June 01, 2021 01 Jun'21

  European-led consortium investigates quantum cryptography

  The arms race to a quantum internet is under way – the European Commission is looking at secure critical national infrastructure and member state comms

• May 25, 2021 25 May'21

  GCHQ bulk interception programme breached privacy rights, Strasbourg court rules

  European Court of Human Rights finds that the UK’s bulk surveillance programme breached citizens’ privacy rights

• May 25, 2021 25 May'21

  Stockholm’s startup scene seeks more diversity

  Swedish capital has created a world-leading tech startup environment, but it still lacks the diversity of people needed to move it to the next level

• May 18, 2021 18 May'21

  Microsoft EU Data Boundary dubbed ‘smoke and mirrors’

  Data protection experts claim Microsoft’s decision to create an EU Data Boundary is a tacit admission that it routinely transfers and processes the personal data of European citizens outside the bloc

• May 18, 2021 18 May'21

  Irish High Court dismisses legal bid by Facebook over EU-US data transfers

  Latest twist in long-running legal battle sees Facebook lose legal bid to prevent the Irish Data Protection Commissioner suspending its transfer of data about European citizens to the US

• May 13, 2021 13 May'21

  Fibre roll-outs gather pace in Europe

  Number of homes and businesses reached by fibre grows rapidly in 39 leading European territories, with FTTH/B coverage in Europe surpassing more than half the total number of homes

• May 12, 2021 12 May'21

  UK government publishes Online Safety Bill draft

  Bill builds on previous commitments by the government, which has added new measures to uphold democracy and freedom of speech while making tech giants more accountable

• May 12, 2021 12 May'21

  The Security Interviews: Why helpful bots could hurt vaccine roll-outs

  Earlier this year, spikes in traffic to websites containing information about Covid-19 vaccines were attributed by Imperva to automated bots scraping data. Why is that a problem?

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  Swedish court finds ambiguities in hacked EncroChat cryptophone evidence

  Defence lawyer claims evidence obtained by hacking the EncroChat encrypted phone network has ‘no legal’ value following Swedish appeal court ruling

• April 22, 2021 22 Apr'21

  GCHQ: Cyber investment a guarantor of UK’s global status

  GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming sets out a vision for the UK’s cyber security future

• April 07, 2021 07 Apr'21

  Digital Markets Unit starts work on codes of conduct for tech giants

  Digital markets regulator officially launched to ensure tech giants such as Facebook and Google cannot exploit their market dominance to crowd out competition and stifle innovation online

• March 29, 2021 29 Mar'21

  Big Tech eclipses telecoms and arms giants as biggest lobbying spenders

  Facebook and Amazon are spending more on lobbying and campaign contributions than any other companies in the US, including those in the arms and telecommunications sectors that have traditionally been the highest political spenders

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  Web founder calls for ubiquitous, safe internet access for young people

  Internet access has a direct correlation to GDP. On the 32nd birthday of the world wide web, its founder calls for improvements to safe access

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  UK digital regulators set out plans to strengthen cooperation

  Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum outlines plans for the coming year, marking a shift towards a more collaborative regulatory approach

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  CityFibre extends full-fibre network to Peterborough

  Former leading altnet to put a further £1.5m into its high-speed broadband connectivity project

• March 09, 2021 09 Mar'21

  UK's Starling Bank reaches unicorn status

  UK app-based bank Starling reaches unicorn status following its latest round of funding

• March 05, 2021 05 Mar'21

  Nottinghamshire schools suspend online learning following cyber attack

  Cyber attack on central trust that manages secondary schools in Nottinghamshire leaves them unable to access IT systems and deliver remote lessons

• March 04, 2021 04 Mar'21

  Bank of Ireland to reduce branch network by almost half

  Bank of Ireland is latest bank to pin its future on digital channels as customers change their banking habits

• March 03, 2021 03 Mar'21

  Virgin Media trial demos multi-gigabit upgradeable bandwidth

  Virgin Media trials optical networking technology that could pave way to faster internet connectivity that is easier to upgrade

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  HSBC offers to help customers transitioning to digital banking as branch closures continue

  HSBC is offering its customers training in how to bank digitally in a safe and effective way as it, like many banks, moves customers out of branches and towards using online services

• March 01, 2021 01 Mar'21

  Covid accelerates Bradford University remote working project

  Pandemic injected fuel into university’s existing project to introduce remote working

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  Nordic startups strive to fuel international e-commerce transformation

  Nordic startups are developing technology for retailers that want to improve the customer experience when buying online

• February 25, 2021 25 Feb'21

  MHRA and other agencies to offer new resources for scam victims

  New landing page resources will replace .uk domains suspended for criminal activity to help members of the public access appropriate guidance

• February 24, 2021 24 Feb'21

  Internet companies should provide real-time data on disinformation, Lords told

  Fact-checking experts tell House of Lords inquiry that upcoming Online Safety Bill should force internet companies to provide real-time information on suspected disinformation, and warn against over-reliance on AI-powered algorithms to moderate ...

• February 22, 2021 22 Feb'21

  UK government set to offer fintech visa

  The importance of immigrant workers to the UK's fintech sector highlighted by government planned fintech visa

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  Swedish police fined for unlawful use of facial-recognition app

  Sweden’s data watchdog has found that Swedish police failed to conduct the data protection checks required by law before using controversial facial-recognition tool

• February 17, 2021 17 Feb'21

  Swedish central bank extends digital currency project

  Sweden's central bank has extended its pilot of a digital currency for at least another year

• February 15, 2021 15 Feb'21

  Digital investments will add £232bn to UK economy by 2040

  The UK economy could grow by £232bn over the next two decades if investments in digital technologies continue

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  Google Chrome update to patch serious zero-day

  A serious heap buffer overflow vulnerability means Google Chrome users should patch their browsers as soon as possible

• February 04, 2021 04 Feb'21

  Revolut rewrites policy to include permanent remote working

  Challenger finance firm Revolut is redesigning its office spaces and introducing permanent remote working policies

• January 29, 2021 29 Jan'21

  Revealed: Brits who fuelled ‘vicious’ conspiracy theory by Trump supporters

  Trump supporters have apologised and paid millions in damages to the family of murdered Democratic Party staffer Seth Rich for promoting false allegations that Rich – not Russian agents – stole emails from the Democratic National Committee

• January 29, 2021 29 Jan'21

  Commerzbank announces big job cuts and branch closures

  German bank is closing hundreds of branches and cutting thousands of jobs as it reshapes for the digital age

• January 22, 2021 22 Jan'21

  ICO resumes adtech investigation

  The UK Information Commissioner’s Office was criticised for ending its investigation into alleged malpractice in advertising technology, but has now resumed its probe

• January 22, 2021 22 Jan'21

  Google threatens to cut off Australia

  Google’s threat to end its Australian Search operation comes in the face of new legislation that would force it to pay media publishers for news content

• January 20, 2021 20 Jan'21

  Should I be worried about MFA-bypassing pass-the-cookie attacks?

  Malicious actors bypassed multi-factor authentication using so-called pass-the-cookie attacks, but how worrying is this and what is the risk to organisations?

• January 20, 2021 20 Jan'21

  HSBC closing more branches as customers turn to digital channel

  Bank announces branch closures as it reshapes its network for the digital age

• January 08, 2021 08 Jan'21

  Government use of 'general warrants' to authorise computer and phone hacking is unlawful

  A court has ruled that the security and intelligence services can no longer rely on ‘general warrants’ to authorise the hacking of large numbers of computers and phones belonging to UK citizens

• January 06, 2021 06 Jan'21

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to remain in prison despite winning extradition battle

  Judge cites Assange’s support of NSA whistleblower as one of the reasons for him being at high risk of absconding. He will remain in Belmarsh prison until the US government completes its appeal

• January 04, 2021 04 Jan'21

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be extradited to face charges in US, court rules

  Court rules it would be oppressive to send Julian Assange to the US to face trial after finding he is at high risk of suicide. US government says it will appeal

• December 31, 2020 31 Dec'20

  Top 10 investigations and national security stories of 2020

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 investigations and national security stories of 2020