News

Managing IT and business issues

• July 29, 2021 29 Jul'21

  Technical hiccups force Babuk ransomware gang to change tactics

  The Babuk ransomware operation backed away from encrypting its victims’ files, and technical difficulties may be to blame, reports McAfee

• July 28, 2021 28 Jul'21

  Almost half unaware of GP data-sharing plans

  Around half of adults in England – approximately 20 million people – remain unaware of the scope of the NHS GPDPR programme, prompting calls for a public education campaign

• July 28, 2021 28 Jul'21

  Top vulnerabilities target perimeter devices

  The most frequently exploited CVEs of the year so far are to be found in perimeter and network access devices, according to a joint advisory from the NCSC and partners

• July 28, 2021 28 Jul'21

  Thousands wrongly given criminal convictions after computer error

  HM Courts and Tribunals Service report reveals that computer error wrongly assigned guilty pleas to more than 5,000 defendants

• July 27, 2021 27 Jul'21

  US lawmakers call for probe into ‘arrogant’ spyware firm

  US members of Congress have called for an investigation into NSO Group, the spyware supplier at the centre of a massive surveillance scandal

• July 27, 2021 27 Jul'21

  TikTok sets up cyber security hub in Dublin

  Dublin-based cyber centre will oversee the security of TikTok’s users across Europe

• July 26, 2021 26 Jul'21

  Malicious actors turn to obscure programming languages

  Using new, lesser-known or otherwise uncommon programming languages to code new malwares can help skirt cyber defences

• July 26, 2021 26 Jul'21

  No More Ransom initiative saves £850m over five years

  Initiative’s free ransomware decryption tools have been used by more than six million people since 2016

• July 26, 2021 26 Jul'21

  Legacy IT issues impacted government decision-making during Covid-19, says PAC

  The government’s ability to make well-informed decisions during the pandemic has been ‘hampered’ by data and legacy IT issues, Public Accounts Committee report finds

• July 23, 2021 23 Jul'21

  Kaseya obtains universal ransomware decryptor

  Kaseya says it obtained a ransomware decryptor key from a trusted third party, but there is no word on whether a ransom was paid

• July 23, 2021 23 Jul'21

  Can India become a global manufacturing hub?

  India can be a major player in the global manufacturing supply chain by shoring up IP protection and tapping opportunities in contract manufacturing and firmware design

• July 22, 2021 22 Jul'21

  Government to fund interim compensation of up to £100,000 for each wrongly convicted subpostmaster

  The government will pay interim compensation within weeks to subpostmasters who were wrongly convicted of crimes due to computer errors

• July 22, 2021 22 Jul'21

  Interview: Sarah Wilkinson, former CEO, NHS Digital

  In her exit interview with Computer Weekly, NHS Digital’s former CEO Sarah Wilkinson talks about the organisation’s transformation over the past few years, the Covid-19 pandemic, bureaucracy challenges and big wins

• July 22, 2021 22 Jul'21

  Lords Covid-19 Committee disappointed in government engagement

  Committee is so disappointed in the government’s lack of engagement with its inquiry into the digital impact of the pandemic that it has published a separate report criticising it

• July 22, 2021 22 Jul'21

  Respect in Security challenges abuse and harassment in cyber

  With around a third of cyber pros saying they have personally experienced harassment at work or online, a new initiative is urging organisations to pledge their support to help free the community from the scourge of abuse. We met its founders

• July 21, 2021 21 Jul'21

  Infosys to open German operation focused on automotive sector

  Infosys is establishing a centre in Germany that will focus on supporting customers in the German automotive sector

• July 21, 2021 21 Jul'21

  Government officials lack experience to lead digital transformation, says NAO

  The government needs to reskill senior decision makers and give tech leaders more influence if digital business change projects are to succeed

• July 21, 2021 21 Jul'21

  France’s Macron among alleged Pegasus targets

  Data relating to devices used by French president Emmanuel Macron and the head of the World Health Organization, among others, has been uncovered in a dataset linked to government use of spyware

• July 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  Research and development investment programme launches in UK

  A government-backed investment programme designed to direct more capital towards research and development-intensive technology firms has opened for applications

• July 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  NCSC’s Cameron urges deeper cyber alliance-building

  Speaking to an event in Israel, NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron has praised joint UK-Israeli efforts on security collaboration

• July 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  Nordic banks join forces to compete with fintechs

  Collaboration will be key for traditional Nordic banks to retain business amid intense competition from tech companies

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  A dozen more subpostmaster prosecutions quashed in Horizon scandal

  Twelve more former subpostmasters have had wrongful convictions for financial crimes overturned in the Court of Appeal

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  UK, US confirm Chinese state backed MS Exchange Server attacks

  UK and US governments, alongside the EU and Nato, have formally attributed the March 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server attacks to Chinese state-backed actors

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  Pegasus mobile RAT abused to monitor journalists and activists

  Israel-based surveillance specialist NSO Group is facing renewed pressure after it emerged its Pegasus mobile surveillance tool may be being widely abused by repressive regimes

• July 16, 2021 16 Jul'21

  Legacy SonicWall kit exploited in ransom campaign

  Users of older versions of SonicWall Secure Mobile Access 100 and Secure Remote Access products are at risk from a new ransomware campaign

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  Fintech sector continues to attract investment as Revolut hits $33bn valuation

  Revolut has become the most valuable financial technology firm in the UK after its latest round of investment, with plans for a ‘superapp’

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  UAE offers ‘golden visas’ to coders as part of national IT skills programme

  The United Arab Emirates is offering visas to coders across the world as it attempts to attract talent to support its economic diversification

• July 14, 2021 14 Jul'21

  REvil ransomware crew drops offline, reasons murky

  The REvil ransomware operation appears to have gone dark, but claims about its demise are almost certainly exaggerated

• July 14, 2021 14 Jul'21

  More than half of European IT outsourcing spending will soon be on cloud services

  Cloud services will soon be the largest part of the IT services market in Europe, as enterprises invest in them as part of their Covid-19 recovery strategies

• July 14, 2021 14 Jul'21

  Multiple Microsoft bugs being actively exploited

  Microsoft’s July Patch Tuesday update fixes 117 vulnerabilities, 13 rated as critical and four already being actively exploited

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Modipwn vulnerability puts millions of building systems at risk

  Authentication bypass vulnerability in a Schneider Electric product could lead to device takeover

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Secureworks sets up in EU datacentre for XDR services

  New datacentre location helps Secureworks’ customers meet EU data residency requirements

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  UK Cyber Security Council calls for new push on training

  Too many companies have cut back on security training and development during the pandemic, says UK Cyber Security Council

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  IR35: Contractors demand tax and employment law alignment to protect ‘zero-rights’ workers

  Government is again facing calls to ensure contractors that pay the same amount of tax as permanent employees also receive the same workplace benefits

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Met Police seize £180m worth of Bitcoin

  The largest ever seizure of cryptocurrency in the UK comes just weeks after a previous multi-million pound confiscation, as law enforcement clamps down on money laundering

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Automation is key to digital transformation

  Automation will enable IT teams to focus on driving transformative projects instead of supporting tasks that can be automated, says UiPath CEO Daniel Dines

• July 12, 2021 12 Jul'21

  Kaseya VSA services coming online after week-long outage

  Kaseya has successfully deployed a patch to its ransomware-hit VSA product as per a revised schedule, and customers are beginning to come back online

• July 12, 2021 12 Jul'21

  Taxpayers will have to pay at least £300m to bail out Post Office after scandal

  The cost of a scheme set up to compensate subpostmasters who were victims of the Horizon IT scandal will exceed £300m even before damages are paid to all those who suffered

• July 09, 2021 09 Jul'21

  Ransomware gangs seek people skills for negotiations

  The process of negotiating a ransomware payment is delicate, hence cyber criminal organisations are prepared to offer good terms to those with the right skillsets

• July 09, 2021 09 Jul'21

  Met Police should release information on British WikiLeaks journalists passed to US, tribunal told

  The Metropolitan Police should release correspondence with the US Department of Justice about three UK based WikiLeaks journalists, despite national security claims, a tribunal heard

• July 08, 2021 08 Jul'21

  PrintNightmare haunts Microsoft as patch may miss mark

  Microsoft dropped an out-of-band patch to fix PrintNightmare, but there are concerns it may not be totally effective. This does not mean it shouldn’t be applied

• July 08, 2021 08 Jul'21

  IT and business services spending bounces to new heights

  Second-quarter results reveal IT and business services spending at a new high, in stark contrast to the Covid-19-hit quarter a year ago

• July 07, 2021 07 Jul'21

  Former Bank of England CIO joins Co-op Group as CTO

  Rob Elsey joins the Co-op Group at a time when the organisation is undergoing major digital transformation

• July 07, 2021 07 Jul'21

  How the UK Cyber Security Council plans to professionalise security

  As chair of the new UK Cyber Security Council, Claudia Natanson is in a superb position to develop professional standards in IT security and she intends to fundamentally reimagine what a security job actually is

• July 07, 2021 07 Jul'21

  US Department of Defense cancels controversial $10bn JEDI contract

  The US Department of Defense has cancelled the controversial JEDI cloud project awarded to Microsoft and will replace it with multi-supplier contracts.

• July 07, 2021 07 Jul'21

  Opportunists seen targeting Kaseya REvil victims

  Malwarebytes researchers highlight new spam campaign targeting businesses impacted by the ongoing Kaseya REvil ransomware incident

• July 06, 2021 06 Jul'21

  About 60 Kaseya customers hit by REvil

  Kaseya has revised upward the number of managed service providers compromised by the REvil ransomware gang in a supply chain attack at the weekend

• July 06, 2021 06 Jul'21

  Bank of England searches for new CIO amid once-in-a-generation project

  The Bank of England is recruiting a head of IT during a period of major change in its core IT system

• July 06, 2021 06 Jul'21

  Klarna under investigation by Swedish finance watchdog

  Swedish fintech is being investigated by financial services regulator after customer information was visible to others

• July 06, 2021 06 Jul'21

  Cyber insurance costs up by a third

  The frequency and severity of ransomware attacks is a leading factor behind a substantial increase in the cost of obtaining cyber security insurance