News

Managing IT and business issues

• March 31, 2020 31 Mar'20

  Insurance company uses artificial intelligence to assess car damage when claims are made

  In the latest insurtech development, the UK arm of insurance company Ageas is using artificial intelligence to assess vehicle damage in accidents

• March 27, 2020 27 Mar'20

  IR35 reforms: Chancellor slammed for dig at self-employed tax habits during coronavirus briefing

  Rishi Sunak under fire for making a veiled reference to self-employed people needing to pay their “fair share of tax” during the government’s daily coronavirus update

• March 27, 2020 27 Mar'20

  Insurance firm Chubb may be latest Maze ransomware victim

  Maze ransomware group claims to have stolen personal data from the systems of cyber security insurance firm Chubb

• March 27, 2020 27 Mar'20

  Coronavirus: Zoom accelerates away as office workers make video calls

  The Covid-19 pandemic has required people to change their working habits, and many are routinely using conferencing tools

• March 27, 2020 27 Mar'20

  Lorca calls on security scaleups to tackle coronavirus challenge

  Lorca innovation programme has launched an open call for its next cohort of cyber security scaleups, with a timely focus on coronavirus challenges

• March 27, 2020 27 Mar'20

  Coronavirus: IT contractors ‘left stranded’ by exclusion from support for self-employed

  IT contractors who provide services through their own limited companies will not be able to access government scheme to support self-employed through coronavirus outbreak

• March 26, 2020 26 Mar'20

  Coronavirus: What are the latest free cyber security offers?

  We round up the latest free offers on cyber security products and services being made available during the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis

• March 26, 2020 26 Mar'20

  Tupperware fixes hacked site, but questions remain over response

  Kitchenware brand removes active digital credit card skimmer from its website and insists it takes security seriously despite ignoring repeated attempts to contact it

• March 25, 2020 25 Mar'20

  Almost half of UK businesses suffered a cyber attack in past year

  Latest government statistics reveal the scale of the cyber security challenge facing UK plc, but reveals some cause for optimism

• March 25, 2020 25 Mar'20

  Coronavirus: Amazon and eBay failing to stop profiteers, says Which?

  Despite promises by both Amazon Marketplace and eBay to crack down on coronavirus-profiteering, a Which? investigation has found plenty of sellers charging inflated prices for goods such as hand sanitiser

• March 25, 2020 25 Mar'20

  Coronavirus takes toll on IT spending in Asia

  The economic fallout from the Covid-19 outbreak is expected to slash the growth rate of the region’s IT industry to just 1.2% this year

• March 24, 2020 24 Mar'20

  IR35 private sector reforms: Coronavirus prompts calls for fairer deal for self-employed IT workers

  ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin says the deferral of the IR35 reforms should be upgraded to a cancellation, as the response of employers to coronavirus highlights glaring inequalities between treatment of inside IR35 contractors and employees

• March 24, 2020 24 Mar'20

  Workplace misconduct platform reports rise in coronavirus-related racial discrimination

  More people are experiencing racial discrimination at work since the spread of Covid-19

• March 24, 2020 24 Mar'20

  Legacy AV defenceless against onslaught of evasive malware

  More than two-thirds of malware detected by WatchGuard in the last three months of 2019 was able to evade signature-based antivirus products, rendering them effectively useless in most instances

• March 23, 2020 23 Mar'20

  Coronavirus: Kaspersky, Bitdefender make products free to NHS

  Kaspersky and Bitdefender have both made various products and services available free to healthcare customers as the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic intensifies

• March 23, 2020 23 Mar'20

  Coronavirus: Spain to use artificial intelligence to automate testing

  Authorities in Spain have invested in robots to automate the testing of citizens for the Covid-19 coronavirus

• March 23, 2020 23 Mar'20

  Coronavirus: CCRC uses Microsoft Teams to consider subpostmaster appeals

  Criminal Cases Review Commission to use Microsoft Teams to ensure review of subpostmaster prosecutions is held on time

• March 23, 2020 23 Mar'20

  Interview: Jamil Farshchi, CISO, Equifax

  Equifax CISO Jamil Farshchi discusses public cloud and why it’s not something IT security professionals should be afraid of

• March 22, 2020 22 Mar'20

  Cyber gangsters hit UK medical firm poised for work on coronavirus with Maze ransomware attack

  The Maze ransomware group has published personal and medical details of thousands of former patients of a London-based medical research company after a failed attempt to disable the firm's computer systems

• March 18, 2020 18 Mar'20

  Ocado pulls website amid coronavirus shopping frenzy

  Ocado has closed its website and will not take any new orders for several days thanks to sheer volume of traffic

• March 18, 2020 18 Mar'20

  Post Office executives used ‘grotesque predatory capitalism’ throughout Horizon IT scandal

  Labour MP Karl Turner tells Computer Weekly that the Post Office Horizon scandal is the most grotesque version of predatory capitalism he has ever seen

• March 18, 2020 18 Mar'20

  Coronavirus now possibly largest-ever cyber security threat

  The cumulative volume of coronavirus-related email lures and other threats is the largest collection of attack types exploiting a single theme for years, possibly ever

• March 18, 2020 18 Mar'20

  Push for digitisation in Malaysia amid coronavirus crisis

  Event cancellations and travel bans are spurring more companies to embrace digital tools to support remote and flexible working arrangements

• March 17, 2020 17 Mar'20

  Covid-19: NCSC issues secure remote working guidance

  With hundreds of thousands likely to be working remotely for some time, the UK’s NCSC has issued best practice guidance to enable security teams to support them

• March 17, 2020 17 Mar'20

  Travelex under threat as insolvency risk, hacking costs and coronavirus take their toll

  Foreign exchange group’s future remains uncertain as its parent company, Finablr, prepares for potential insolvency

• March 17, 2020 17 Mar'20

  Courts make use of tech to hold remote hearings due to Covid-19

  The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary will increase the use of technology in court proceedings as emergency legislation is being drafted to expand powers to allow criminal courts to hold remote hearings during the Covid-19 pandemic

• March 17, 2020 17 Mar'20

  Covid-19: Three technology areas that CIOs must address

  CIOs will need to consider the IT measures that will be needed to support their organisations as the government ramps up its response to the coronavirus

• March 16, 2020 16 Mar'20

  Secret Post Office deals cause fury among Horizon IT scandal campaigners

  The Post Office has sparked anger with secret settlements with subpostmasters outside the recent legal action against it

• March 16, 2020 16 Mar'20

  NCSC issues coronavirus cyber security alert

  The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has issued a public alert and fresh guidance as more cyber criminals get wise to the lucrative potential of Covid-19

• March 16, 2020 16 Mar'20

  Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board to focus on philanthropic efforts

  The co-founder of Microsoft has decided to step down from Microsoft's board to spend his time ‘focusing on how to solve some of the world's biggest problems’

• March 13, 2020 13 Mar'20

  Coronavirus-linked hacks likely as Czech hospital comes under attack

  The world of cyber security is on high alert to heightened vulnerabilities as the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus changes daily life across Europe

• March 13, 2020 13 Mar'20

  US Department of Defense requests time to re-evaluate section of AWS and Microsoft JEDI bids

  The Department of Defense is to request a resubmission of information from Microsoft and Amazon Web Services about their JEDI bids, as the long-running US cloud procurement saga drags on

• March 13, 2020 13 Mar'20

  UK’s security sector failing on most diversity measures

  A DCMS report on the state of the UK’s cyber security workforce highlights a huge lack of diversity and a substantial skills gap

• March 12, 2020 12 Mar'20

  CIO interview: Miguel Rio Tinto, Emirates NBD

  The Dubai-based banking group’s CIO, Miguel Rio Tinto, talks about its ambitious digital transformation plans

• March 12, 2020 12 Mar'20

  Turla’s use of Iranian infrastructure probably opportunistic

  Turla, the Kremlin-linked APT group that last year hijacked an Iranian group’s infrastructure, was likely to have been operating opportunistically, according to researchers

• March 12, 2020 12 Mar'20

  Security pros just want to be loved, report finds

  Being valued by the business for their role in keeping the organisation safe and upholding ethical standards is a primary motivator for CISOs and other security professionals

• March 12, 2020 12 Mar'20

  IT Priorities 2020: Nearly two-thirds of Nordic IT leaders expect a budget increase this year

  Nordic IT leaders are expecting budgets to rise as they move to more advanced stages of their digital transformations

• March 12, 2020 12 Mar'20

  IT Priorities 2020: Benelux organisations and budgets focused on digital transformation

  IT leaders in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg expect bigger budgets this year, with spending on digital transformation projects and related technologies being prioritised

• March 12, 2020 12 Mar'20

  Cookie-stealing trojans found lurking on Android phones

  Kaspersky discovers two new Android malware modifications that could give hackers control of their victims’ social media accounts

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Budget 2020: Omission of IR35 from chancellor's speech sparks fury from contracting groups

  Despite repeated warnings of the damage the incoming IR35 reforms stand to do to the UK economy, contracting groups hit out at the government's decision to press ahead with the changes

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Unplanned work leads to stressed IT workers

  Study reports that unplanned IT work leads to staff anxiety, disrupts innovation and affects work-life balance, with a discrepancy between what companies and employees think is acceptable

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Security pros test positive for Covid-19 after RSA Conference

  Two employees of security firm Exabeam have been diagnosed with the Covid-19 coronavirus after attending RSA Conference 2020

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Microsoft locks down new vulnerability with EternalBlue echoes

  Microsoft has moved to get ahead of a serious remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Server Message Block 3.1.1, which was accidentally disclosed then missed in its March Patch Tuesday update

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Microsoft fixes 26 critical vulnerabilities in another heavy Patch Tuesday

  March’s Patch Tuesday is another big one for Microsoft, addressing 115 vulnerabilities, 26 of them critical

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  ANZ firms ill-prepared to deal with tech issues

  More than two in five businesses in Australia and New Zealand are hearing from customers about major technology issues, affecting productivity and staff morale, new study finds

• March 10, 2020 10 Mar'20

  MPs told to hold to account those responsible for Post Office Horizon IT scandal

  Subpostmasters who had their lives destroyed by a faulty IT system and mistreatment by the Post Office have asked MPs to hold to account the people responsible for the injustices

• March 10, 2020 10 Mar'20

  VAT software supplier exposed data of millions

  Eight million sales records belonging to UK and EU consumers left exposed due to misconfigured server

• March 10, 2020 10 Mar'20

  Lloyds Banking Group signs five-year Google Cloud deal

  The retail bank has a multi-cloud strategy as part of its multi-billion digital transformation initiative

• March 10, 2020 10 Mar'20

  IT Priorities 2020: IP network investments top priority for Middle East IT leaders

  IT leaders in the Middle East expect to see increased spending on IP networks as digital transformation continues across the region

• March 06, 2020 06 Mar'20

  MI5 slammed by watchdog for failing to delete intercepted phone and internet data

  The Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPCO) has criticised MI5 for failing to report serious errors in the way it handles intercepted phone and internet data

• March 05, 2020 05 Mar'20

  IR35 private sector reforms: Firms risk legal action by pushing employers’ NI onto contractors

  Largest-ever study into the impact the IR35 private sector reforms are having on contractors suggests firms are leaving themselves open to litigation by misinterpreting the new rules

• March 03, 2020 03 Mar'20

  Industry group launched to develop standards for fibre deployment in sewer network

  Water utilities companies are working with SSE Enterprise Telecoms to deploy fibre in the sewers, as well as transform the sewage system into a “smart wastewater network”

• March 02, 2020 02 Mar'20

  HMRC CEO denies it is ‘deliberately misleading’ public over loan scheme promoter arrests

  HMRC CEO Jim Harra has “strongly rejected” claims made on social media by the Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group of cross-party MPs that it is “deliberately misleading” the public about its recent loan scheme-related enforcement activities

• March 02, 2020 02 Mar'20

  Nordic lessons on digital transformation

  Swedish financial services firm reports a successful IT outsourcing project with India-based IT services company

• March 02, 2020 02 Mar'20

  The Security Interviews: Inside the world of bug bounties

  You may not make a million as a bug bounty hunter, but you might help remove some of the stigma that persists around cyber security, says HackerOne’s Shlomie Liberow

• March 02, 2020 02 Mar'20

  Boris Johnson’s commitment to inquiry into Post Office scandal in doubt

  Boris Johnson’s apparent commitment to a public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal is not so certain

• February 28, 2020 28 Feb'20

  NCSC makes ransomware attack guidance more accessible

  Following a swathe of high-profile ransomware attacks, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has made changes to its guidance, emphasising the importance of offline backups

• February 28, 2020 28 Feb'20

  Government claims it was misled by Post Office over IT scandal

  Minister says Post Office IT experts misled the government when it asked questions about subpostmasters’ concerns over Horizon IT system

• February 28, 2020 28 Feb'20

  Coronavirus: Microsoft exits developer event and revises outlook

  Microsoft has decided to run a digital-only event after announcing it would not be at the Games Developer Conference in San Francisco

• February 27, 2020 27 Feb'20

  Clearview hack fuels debate over facial recognition

  Customers of Clearview AI, a controversial startup that scrapes and sells billions of photos of people from social media to police forces, have found themselves at the centre of a major data breach

• February 27, 2020 27 Feb'20

  Redcar & Cleveland Council confirms ransomware attack

  Local authority’s systems are still offline nearly three weeks after being attacked

• February 27, 2020 27 Feb'20

  Kr00k vulnerability compromises billions of Wi-Fi devices

  Billions of Wi-Fi chips used in IoT devices, laptops, smartphones and tablets are vulnerable to a serious vulnerability

• February 26, 2020 26 Feb'20

  Fake CDNs obscuring credit card fraudsters

  Fake content delivery networks and ngrok servers are being pressed into service to obscure credit card skimming activities

• February 26, 2020 26 Feb'20

  Cloud Snooper firewall bypass may be work of nation state

  Cloud Snooper deploys a combination of specialised techniques to sneak past enterprise firewalls, warns Sophos

• February 26, 2020 26 Feb'20

  FCA data breach could happen to anybody, but easy to avoid

  Minor data breach at the Financial Conduct Authority was the result of simple human error, and highlights the need for organisations to consider a wide range of potential threats

• February 25, 2020 25 Feb'20

  Julian Assange phoned White House to warn of risk to lives

  Julian Assange phoned the White House to warn officials that unredacted cables published on the web posed a risk to lives, a court heard yesterday

• February 25, 2020 25 Feb'20

  Sports retailer Decathlon left employee data exposed

  More than 123 million records were accidentally exposed on an unsecured ElasticSearch server

• February 25, 2020 25 Feb'20

  Government admits it was too passive managing Post Office as parliamentary pressure builds

  The UK government faces accusations of neglecting its duties handling the Post Office as pressure mounts in Parliament for justice for the subpostmasters who suffered due to faults in the Horizon IT system

• February 25, 2020 25 Feb'20

  Cloud data leaks compounded by lack of automation tools

  Data leaks caused by misconfigured clouds are being compounded because security teams lack appropriate automation and integration tools, according to a report

• February 25, 2020 25 Feb'20

  Cyber criminals targeting UK motorists, warns DVLA

  Cyber criminals are offering various services and tax refunds that purport to be from the DVLA

• February 24, 2020 24 Feb'20

  McAfee buys Light Point to enhance web browser protection

  Acquisition of Light Point Security will extend the capabilities of multiple McAfee products

• February 24, 2020 24 Feb'20

  Open security group unveils common OpenDXL language

  Open Cybersecurity Alliance announces the availability of OpenDXL Ontology, the first open source language for connecting disparate security tools through a common messaging framework

• February 24, 2020 24 Feb'20

  Estonia to give citizens Alexa-like access to public services

  The Estonian government is working on a project that will ultimately allow citizens to ask Siri, Alexa or almost any other virtual digital assistant to interact with government departments on their behalf

• February 24, 2020 24 Feb'20

  Cisco goes all-in on security integration with SecureX platform

  CISOs are struggling to stitch together disparate cyber security products and services – Cisco believes its cloud-native SecureX platform will change their working lives for the better

• February 21, 2020 21 Feb'20

  Malicious apps still getting past Google controls

  Check Point researchers have found multiple malware-infected apps in the Google Play store, including a clicker called Haken, which has been downloaded more than 50,000 times

• February 20, 2020 20 Feb'20

  UK and US accuse Russian spooks of Georgia cyber attacks

  Foreign secretary describes 2019 campaign of cyber attacks as reckless, brazen and unacceptable

• February 20, 2020 20 Feb'20

  Google plans to send Brits’ data to US after Brexit

  Move puts British user data beyond the reach of the EU’s GDPR, makes it more accessible to UK and US law enforcement agencies, and has prompted anger

• February 20, 2020 20 Feb'20

  Facilities firm ISS World crippled by ransomware attack

  An apparent ransomware attack has compromised some IT and email systems at Danish facilities firm ISS World

• February 19, 2020 19 Feb'20

  Cost of cloud misconfigurations set at $5tn

  Cloud security outfit DivvyCloud says more than 33 billion records have been exposed in cloud misconfiguration incidents in the past 24 months

• February 19, 2020 19 Feb'20

  Swedish consumer-protection legislation will hit fintechs

  New financial regulation to protect consumers from agreeing to unnecessary credit will force financial technology companies to make changes to their products

• February 19, 2020 19 Feb'20

  Air transport industry examines blockchain that could boost revenue by $40bn

  Businesses supplying aircraft parts and maintenance services are collaborating to investigate the potential of blockchain technology to improve logistics

• February 19, 2020 19 Feb'20

  Dutch tech firm transforms real-life football through video game concept

  Tech company that helped the Belgian football team in the last World Cup is changing the way footballers are scouted and teams are trained

• February 19, 2020 19 Feb'20

  Blasé directors put business data at risk

  The higher up within a business you go, the more likely you are to find people intentionally leaking confidential data, says Egress

• February 18, 2020 18 Feb'20

  Untrusted security teams being left out of business decisions

  Only a third of organisations are involving their cyber security function at the planning stage of business initiatives

• February 18, 2020 18 Feb'20

  Most CISOs ready to move jobs if something better comes along

  The shortage of skilled security pros is creating an active recruitment market, with over 80% of CISOs saying they would consider a new role if approached

• February 18, 2020 18 Feb'20

  Swedish council tests virtual reality in care for vulnerable people

  Local authority is testing virtual reality technology to provide care services to vulnerable groups such elderly and disabled citizens

• February 18, 2020 18 Feb'20

  China’s tech sector to shrink by 10% in Q1 amid virus outbreak

  Hardware makers will be hit more badly than software houses, but the decline in China’s ICT market will be limited to the first quarter

• February 17, 2020 17 Feb'20

  Concerns raised over former Post Office CEO’s appointment at NHS trust under review

  Care Quality Commission to review concerns over Paula Vennells’ appointment after they were raised by a former NHS consultant psychiatrist

• February 17, 2020 17 Feb'20

  Mastercard opens European security resilience unit

  Mastercard’s European Cyber Resilience Centre will bring together its partners and other industry bodies to support enterprise resilience

• February 17, 2020 17 Feb'20

  Ex-soldiers to become ethical hackers

  A new programme will give armed forces veterans in Scotland a grounding in cyber security skills, including penetration testing and ethical hacking

• February 14, 2020 14 Feb'20

  Smart use of data takes Dutch railways further

  De Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways), ensures, among other things, that 1.2 million train passengers arrive at their destination every day. Through a subsidiary, it’s using data to improve both the customer experience and internal processes

• February 14, 2020 14 Feb'20

  CIO Interview: Siim Sikkut, Estonian government CIO

  Siim Sikkut is one of a generation of tech native Estonians, who is turning his knowledge and experience to transforming government services

• February 14, 2020 14 Feb'20

  Calls for inquiry into Post Office IT scandal increase in Parliament, with cross-party support

  Many MPs might not yet fully understand the suffering subpostmasters have endured because of the Post Office’s faulty IT system and its oppressive behaviour, but they will soon

• February 13, 2020 13 Feb'20

  Cyber criminals spread coronavirus conspiracy theories

  The latest email campaigns identified by Proofpoint are spreading conspiracy theories about the coronavirus outbreak

• February 13, 2020 13 Feb'20

  Weather Source uses Snowflake to keep ahead of extreme weather

  The impact of Storm Ciara shows the importance of accurate weather data. We look at the tech behind Weather Source’s service

• February 12, 2020 12 Feb'20

  Emotet evolving to exploit coronavirus fear

  With coronavirus cases now reported across the world, Emotet campaigns are exploiting legitimate fears to compromise their targets

• February 12, 2020 12 Feb'20

  Accenture’s tech vision draws inspiration from Black Mirror

  Last year’s “Bandersnatch” Black Mirror episode on Netflix highlights a new opportunity for business, according to Accenture

• February 12, 2020 12 Feb'20

  Internet Explorer zero day among 99 Patch Tuesday problems

  After an eventful January Patch Tuesday that marked the end of support for Windows 7, the February 2020 update is another whopper, fixing close to 100 vulnerabilities

• February 12, 2020 12 Feb'20

  Pressure for public inquiry into Post Office IT system scandal begins with mountain to climb

  Members of Parliament seeking a public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal face huge challenges, but pressure and time could force justice

• February 11, 2020 11 Feb'20

  MI5 failed to disclose failings in handling intercepted data, court hears

  MI5 failed to disclose serious failures in the way it handled intelligence data to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the surveillance regulator and ministers.