News

Information technology (IT) in the Middle East

• February 28, 2022 28 Feb'22

  EU big tech laws put in context by Russian invasion of Ukraine

  Pressure is mounting on EU institutions to cut back regulations they are preparing to impose on US big tech firms while forming laws to create a single digital market

• February 28, 2022 28 Feb'22

  Ukraine cyber attacks seen spiking, but no destructive cyber war yet

  While cyber attacks linked to Russia’s war on Ukraine are taking place, they are having little impact beyond the region

• February 11, 2022 11 Feb'22

  Why security professionals should pay attention to what Russia is doing

  Even though the average organisation is an unlikely target for a Russian state cyber attack, here's why security teams still need to watch what Russian threat groups are up to

• February 03, 2022 03 Feb'22

  UAE chooses Accenture to develop national payments platform

  Consortium led by Accenture to build new payments infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates

• February 02, 2022 02 Feb'22

  Saudi Arabia to invest billions of dollars in technology and startups

  Saudi Arabia announces $6.4bn investment in its tech sector as part of plans to diversify its economy

• February 01, 2022 01 Feb'22

  Dubai’s fledgling drone programme gets another nudge

  Through a series of initiatives, Dubai is positioning itself to reap the benefits of a promising global market for drone technology

• January 27, 2022 27 Jan'22

  CISOs must get out in front of Ukraine cyber crisis, says NCSC

  The National Cyber Security Centre is urging UK organisations to take steps to bolster their cyber security resilience in response to the ongoing Ukraine crisis

• January 27, 2022 27 Jan'22

  Imperial College London embarks on cloud security research push with Abu Dhabi tech hub

  Imperial College London is embarking on a three-year project with an Abu Dhabi-based group of researchers to find ways for datacentre operators and cloud providers to secure their infrastructure

• January 26, 2022 26 Jan'22

  More intel emerges on WhisperGate malware that hit Ukraine

  Security experts have been poring over the WhisperGate malware with which alleged Russia-backed entities targeted Ukrainian government websites

• January 25, 2022 25 Jan'22

  Prepare, but don’t panic, over supposed Russian cyber threat

  A fresh alert from the US Department of Homeland Security may have IT security teams jumpy over the possibility that their organisations could be targeted by Russian state actors

• January 12, 2022 12 Jan'22

  Outsourced IT and business services hit record levels in 2021

  Spending on IT and business process outsourcing services in Europe hits highest ever level in 2021, with cloud service spending continuing to grow rapidly

• January 06, 2022 06 Jan'22

  How far has Saudi Arabia come with open data?

  While clearly on the right path, Saudi Arabia still has a lot to do before it reaps the full benefits of open data

• December 23, 2021 23 Dec'21

  Top 10 Middle East IT stories of 2021

  The Middle East is about more than oil these days, with advanced technology industries developing across the region. Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Middle East IT stories of 2021

• December 10, 2021 10 Dec'21

  UAE joins the race to produce a usable quantum computer

  As part of its ongoing effort to keep up with the latest technology, the United Arab Emirates has begun work on the region’s first quantum computer

• December 07, 2021 07 Dec'21

  AI assistant Bürokratt to reduce bureaucracy in Estonian government

  Estonia to launch a Siri-like digital assistant that will automate the completion of government service requests

• December 06, 2021 06 Dec'21

  European finance firms increase open banking spend

  Financial services firms are increasing investment in open banking capabilities, with improvements to payment initiation and onboarding capabilities expected

• December 01, 2021 01 Dec'21

  Unesco member states adopt AI ethics recommendation

  The non-binding recommendation seeks to define a common set of values and principles to guide the development of ethical AI globally

• November 16, 2021 16 Nov'21

  Can UAE become a world leader in AI?

  The UAE has launched multiple programmes as it bids to be a world-leading location for artificial intelligence innovation

• November 09, 2021 09 Nov'21

  Vienna’s tech startup ecosystem gathers momentum

  After a sustained period of inactivity, Vienna’s startup environment is finally on the rise again

• November 01, 2021 01 Nov'21

  Payments through open banking could end card dominance

  Payments made through open banking will eat into those made using cards as the next five years sees an acceleration in adoption

• October 21, 2021 21 Oct'21

  Gitex 2021: Batelco brings collaboration to Bahrain operations

  Aiming to deliver evolved teamwork capabilities to its customers to accelerate Bahrain’s transition to the digital workplace, digital communications solutions provider adopts new collaboration technology

• October 20, 2021 20 Oct'21

  What does Saudi Arabia’s autonomous vehicle agenda mean to the rest of the world?

  If all goes according to plan, within a few years, one million people will live in Saudi Arabia’s ‘city of the future’ – and every one of them will depend on a fleet of self-driving cars

• October 18, 2021 18 Oct'21

  Gitex 2021: Avaya builds up AI experience to boost collaboration

  New communications and collaboration ecosystem launched to enable customers to achieve better business outcomes in the experience economy and the new hybrid working mode

• September 30, 2021 30 Sep'21

  Digital bank fined by regulator due to weak anti-money laundering controls

  German digital bank is fined by financial services regulator for failing in relation to its anti-money laundering practices

• September 27, 2021 27 Sep'21

  Dubai International Finance Centre’s data protection law to be boosted by new federal regulation

  New UAE data protection regulation on the horizon a year after a Dubai-specific law came into force

• September 22, 2021 22 Sep'21

  Foreign professionals and upskilled locals in demand as UAE sets ambitious coding targets

  The United Arab Emirates is on a mission to grow its tech sector as part of its economic diversification plans, but it needs more talent from inside and outside the country

• September 06, 2021 06 Sep'21

  Saudi tourism development fund goes cloud-first with Oracle

  $4bn fund will be used to invest in developing Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry as the country reduces its economic reliance on oil and gas

• September 02, 2021 02 Sep'21

  The Gulf is counting on its smart cities for a sustainable and profitable future

  The countries in the Gulf region are leading the way in the development of smart cities as part of their economic diversification

• August 13, 2021 13 Aug'21

  GoStudent: Europe’s newest edtech unicorn

  Europe’s biggest ed-tech unicorn reaches unicorn status and tests sector traditions

• August 11, 2021 11 Aug'21

  Global fintech investments reach new heights

  The global financial technology industry is emerging from the pandemic-triggered slowdown with record levels of investment to fuel further growth

• August 10, 2021 10 Aug'21

  Dutch lead the way in protecting themselves against internet risks

  Dutch citizens come top in a study on awareness of internet risks in Europe, which showed major differences across the continent

• 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

  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 06, 2021 06 Jul'21

  Gulf hospitals flock to digital health to manage lifestyle diseases

  The Middle East is accelerating its take-up of digital healthcare technologies following lessons learned in the Covid-19 pandemic

• June 23, 2021 23 Jun'21

  Bahrain university uses Alexa on campus

  University in Bahrain is using Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant to support users of its campus

• June 15, 2021 15 Jun'21

  Nokia and Ooredoo initiate 4G and 5G fixed wireless access deployment across Oman

  Leading comms tech provider and local Oman operator begin 4G and 5G fixed wireless access deployment for services covering homes and businesses throughout the country

• May 27, 2021 27 May'21

  How the pandemic accelerated the Gulf’s edtech revolution

  The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital learning technologies in the Gulf region’s education sector

• April 09, 2021 09 Apr'21

  Global demand for IT and business services highest ever for first quarter

  Global demand for IT and business services began the year strongly, with a record first quarter

• March 29, 2021 29 Mar'21

  How Gulf SMEs are building digital resilience amid the pandemic

  SMEs in the Gulf region have accelerated their digital transformations during the Covid-19 pandemic

• March 29, 2021 29 Mar'21

  How far has open banking come in Europe?

  Open banking is a relatively new concept, having come into effect in Europe only in the last couple of years. So what is the state of play?

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  Fingerprints will help payment cards retain relevance

  Biometric payment cards using fingerprint technology could add billions to global banking revenues, says UBS

• February 16, 2021 16 Feb'21

  TransferGo to harness Google-inspired tech capability

  Payments fintech TransferGo chooses cloud-native core banking platform to build a digital wallet and expand its services

• February 16, 2021 16 Feb'21

  Qatar regulator launches platform to monitor human understanding of financial crime

  Qatari financial services regulator works with global body to provide digital platform to assess whether financial services workers understand how to prevent financial crime

• February 02, 2021 02 Feb'21

  Nordic countries dominate European online banking take-up

  Nordics dominate online banking take-up in Europe, but the UK is not far behind

• January 26, 2021 26 Jan'21

  Saudi IT spending to hit $11bn in 2021

  Saudi Arabian organisations will spend about $11bn on IT this year, with emerging technologies high on shopping lists

• January 12, 2021 12 Jan'21

  Bahrain hopes 5G roll-out will attract more tech firms to its shores

  Bahrain has completed its 5G roll-out, which will support its IT infrastructure in creating the right environment for technology firms

• January 11, 2021 11 Jan'21

  Jobs in fintech bounce back after brief lockdown lull

  Fintechs and payments companies need to make staff recruitment a priority as talent pool shrinks

• December 24, 2020 24 Dec'20

  Top 10 Middle East stories of 2020

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Middle East stories of 2020

• December 15, 2020 15 Dec'20

  Covid-19 sparks boom in Middle East digital payments sector

  Stubborn cash use could fall in the Middle East after an acceleration in the take-up of digital payments amid the coronavirus pandemic

• November 30, 2020 30 Nov'20

  $60m Middle East tech fund targets 120 startups

  Venture capital fund expects rapid regional technology growth in the post-Covid-19 world