IT for government and public sector

CIO interview: Charles Ewen, Met Office

The Met Office’s CIO is working on a new, digital approach, using supercomputers, establishing pioneering partnerships and creating change Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Emergency services organisations ranked slowest public sector cloud adopters in Eduserv poll

Latest research from EduServ and Socitm into public sector cloud adoption trends reveals slow response to cloud calls from the emergency services sector Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Facebook’s objections to court concerns over privacy more about ‘optics’ than facts

Facebook’s challenge to a High Court ruling that raises serious concerns about data transfers between Europe and the US is more about appearance than facts, lawyers for the Irish Data Protection Commission told Dublin's Supreme Court Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

MPs challenge Huawei over spying allegations

The chair of the cross-bench Science and Technology Committee has written to Huawei seeking answers over its activities in the UK Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NHS England launches public roll-out of NHS App

The all singing and dancing NHS App is now being rolled out publicly across England following a private beta phase with more than 3,000 patients Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

HMCTS suffers major IT issues

HM Courts and Tribunals Service has been experiencing problems with several of its IT systems over the past few days, including secure email and network issues Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

US issues emergency directive to halt DNS hijacking

US government agencies have been given 10 days to complete a four-step action plan to stop DNS hijacking attacks Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Young Dutch cyber criminals get re-education rather than jail time

Young hackers in the Netherlands are being rehabilitated through punishments that educate rather than incarcerate Continue Reading

By

• Tijs Hofmans

London cyber innovation centre expands global ties

London innovation centre Plexal has announced international partnerships aimed at boosting global cyber security cooperation Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Scottish Police Authority awards £21m mobile services deal to EE

EE will oversee a three-year deal to transform police mobile capabilities in Scotland, alongside Motorola Solutions, Samsung and BlackBerry Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Dowden announces five new successful GovTech Catalyst challenges

Five public sector projects will receive funding as part of the third round of the £20m GovTech Catalyst programme, says implementation minister Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Facebook: US government does not engage in mass and indiscriminate surveillance

Social media giant challenges a ruling by Dublin’s High Court over a judgment that it says made ‘extraordinary and incorrect’ findings about the US legal system Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Public procurement key to cyber security

Using public procurement as a means of boosting cyber security is the top recommendation for 2019, according to a report based on expert views Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

DCMS puts digital ID policy team on no-deal Brexit work

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s digital identity policy team shifts focus to prepare for the UK leaving the EU without a deal Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Home Office vetoes privacy campaigner from senior post in surveillance watchdog

The Home Office refuses academic and privacy campaigner, Eric King, security clearance for a senior role at the intelligence services watchdog, despite high-level backing from officials Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Prepare for no-deal Brexit, says ICO

The UK data protection authority is urging businesses to prepare for a no-deal Brexit to ensure there is no interruption in data flows from Europe Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Leading IT: Lessons from the front line

As a CIO, whatever challenges you face in terms of budget, mandates or timetable, you may already have the right people to carry out incredible IT feats. Here are four ways to lead your organisation to unprecedented success Continue Reading

By

• Terry Milholland, TVM Consulting, LLC

Vodafone and IBM prep user clouds for future network tech

Companies expand existing collaboration to enable enterprise customers to prepare for the impact of advanced networking technologies Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Swedish state and industry back autonomous vehicle testing facility

AstaZero facility will “road-test” next-generation 5G and digital innovations to support the development of self-driving cars and other vehicles Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

UK tech firms favour second referendum as next move in Brexit stalemate

UK tech firms want to remain as close to the EU as possible and believe a second referendum on membership of the trading bloc would be the best way out of the current political stalemate Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Facebook’s high-stakes privacy gamble goes to Dublin court

A high-wire gamble with billions in compensation at stake for European internet users – part of a complex case between Facebook and the Irish information commissioner – hides challenge to the unlawfulness of US state internet surveillance Continue Reading

By

• Kevin Cahill

The rise of DevSecOps

The increasing complexity of security threats facing enterprises is leading to DevSecOps approaches, which combine operations and development with security, so that all business units are involved in security operations Continue Reading

By

• Finbarr Toesland

Another one bites the dust: Bauer’s departure from NHS England highlights public sector-wide issue

NHS England’s chief digital officer (CDO) jumping ship to join the private sector is the latest example of one of the key issues facing digital and technology projects across the public sector, ... Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

NHS England chief digital officer Juliet Bauer leaves to work for a supplier

NHS England’s chief digital officer is jumping ship, just as the NHS begins implementing its long-term plan, to join Swedish GP video consultation provider Livi Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

DfT launches online Blue Badge service

In its efforts to digitise services, the Department for Transport has launched an online application system for Blue Badges, aiming to speed up the process Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

A big dose of digital for the NHS

There’s been a lot of excitement over the new NHS Long Term Plan. The plan sets out how the NHS will spend the extra £20.5bn a year, gifted to the health service by prime minister Theresa May as a ... Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Microsoft takes community approach to artificial intelligence in Sweden

Microsoft is making increasing use of artificial intelligence in Sweden as it shares experiences with the development community Continue Reading

By

• Jane Hamrin

Right to be forgotten is not global, says EU court adviser

The right to be forgotten should apply only in the European Union, according to the chief adviser to the European Court of Justice Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Enterprises are increasing the human workforce while deploying AI

Artificial intelligence is creating more jobs than it replaces, according to a study of businesses using the technology Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CW Middle East: Bahrain aims to be fintech hub

Bahrain’s government wants to make the country the go-to place in the Middle East for financial technology companies. It hopes to capitalise on its banking know-how to establish an ambitious fintech “ecosystem”. Also read about Dubai’s plans for the Smart Data platform and the UAE Pass, a digital ID and signature, and how Shell is using AI to amplify the human impact of its workforce. Continue Reading

Fife Council upgrades WAN to offer ultrafast broadband services

Public sector sites across Fife in Scotland are to receive a transformational upgrade to their broadband speeds Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Germany races to boost cyber defences after breach

Germany is scrambling to improve its cyber defences before the European parliamentary elections after a student leaked politicians’ personal data Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

BT faces tussle to keep EU contracts after Brexit

The European Union will likely re-evaluate its telecoms contracts with BT following Brexit, and cancelling them altogether is a real risk in a no-deal scenario, according to leaked documents Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government SME spend going down, MPs told

Government spending with SMEs has reduced rather than increased, some government procurement markets are dominated by oligopolies and the research community needs to be brought into the mix, according to evidence given to the Science and Technology Committee Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

AWS ‘does not dominate’ cloud market, claims Amazon’s UK public policy chief

Amazon’s UK director of public policy, Lesley Smith, has told the House of Lords Communications Committee that Amazon is a “prevalent”, rather than “dominant” force in the cloud market Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

NHS Digital chief information security officer resigns

Robert Coles, who joined NHS Digital as its chief information and security officer in October 2018, is stepping down from the role for personal reasons Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Second Lorca cohort to focus on supply chain security

The second cohort of companies to benefit from the new London cyber innovation centre will focus on user-centric security and securing supply chains Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

A very digital plan for the NHS

The NHS Long Term Plan aims to empower people through the use of technology and create a digital-first NHS, offering virtual outpatient appointments, digital GP consultations and improved cyber security. But how and when will the government achieve this? Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

AWS secures cloud hosting role in UK government Crown Marketplace programme

Amazon Web Services’ cloud platform to play key role in how public sector organisations procure common goods and services Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

NHS Long-Term Plan to bring health service into the digital age

The long-term plan to transform the NHS by using Theresa May’s £20.5bn-a-year birthday present promises use of artificial intelligence, genomic testing and digital GP appointments for all Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

German politicians’ data leak shows need for global action

Hacked data includes contacts’ email addresses, private chats, mobile numbers, photographs and credit card details, which were published on Twitter Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

IT regulators and practitioners need common language

There needs to be greater understanding between lawmakers and technologists to ensure regulations do not have unintended consequences, says a US computer security researcher and bug bounty pioneer Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Fortinet to lead cyber security discussion at WEF annual summit

The head of cyber security firm Fortinet has been named as a discussion leader at the upcoming World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Hancock promises GP IT overhaul

New £450m framework will “shake up” primary care IT by getting rid of old systems, using new standards and exploring moving patient data to the cloud, says health secretary Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Brighton and Hove gets ready for Orbis migration

Brighton and Hove City Council has already moved its co-location servers onto Nutanix nodes. It is now looking at moving its primary Hove datacentre Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Nordic digital transformation driven by traditional businesses

More traditional Nordic businesses are fuelling the region's digital transformation, finds report Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

SMEs urged to get on board with Network Services 2 framework

Suppliers have until the end of January 2019 to sign up to the new government network services purchasing framework Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Subpostmasters suing Post Office over IT failures stunned by CEO’s honour

Subpostmasters’ campaign group attacks Post Office CEO Paula Vennells’ New Year honour amid ongoing court case Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

New Year’s Honours 2019 lauds women in IT and data specialists

The New Year’s Honours list 2019 features accolades for leading women in IT and data, as well as other specialists in data Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Can we live without passwords?

Can you imagine a future in which we can be secure online without having to remember an unwieldly list of passwords? Solutions are emerging that could make passwords redundant, but there will be other security problems to resolve Continue Reading

By

• Bruno Halopeau & Adrien Ogee

Top 10 stories on national security in 2018

From Russian disinformation, state surveillance, and police stop and seizure powers, to Facebook and WikiLeaks Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Top 10 HR technology stories of 2018

Companies are turning to artificial intelligence, robotic automation and chatbots to take the drudgery out of human resource management Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Top 10 CIO interviews of 2018

IT leaders from across the UK and Europe shared their plans, strategies and best practice advice with Computer Weekly in 2018 Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Top 10 Middle East stories of 2018

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Middle East enterprise IT stories of 2018 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Top 10 public sector IT stories of 2018

In the year the UK government couldn’t decide if Brexit really meant Brexit, departments continued to struggle with the workload of EU exit technology projects, the chancellor’s budget promised lots of money for tech, and ministers played musical chairs Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Top 10 cyber crime stories of 2018

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 cyber crime stories of 2018 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Top 10 NHS IT stories of 2018

In 2018, the NHS celebrated its 70th birthday, NHS Digital began a huge restructure, Matt Hancock swooped in as new health secretary and the health service launched its all-singing, all-dancing app Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Lauri Love battles police for return of computers as NCA confirms live investigation

The National Crime Agency (NCA) confirms there is a live investigation into Lauri Love in the UK, as Love brings legal action against UK police for the return of seized computer equipment Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin & Julia Gregory

Top 10 broadband stories of 2018

The networking industry swung firmly behind full-fibre broadband in 2018, with encouraging signs that the gold-standard of broadband service delivery technology is at long last taking off in the UK Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Defra unveils green government tech vision

Printing reams of paper and travelling to meetings are among the areas targeted in the new, green ICT makeover Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

NICE debuts standards to help ease NHS adoption of new technology

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is calling on the tech community to provide feedback on its plans to help NHS commissioners make better-informed technology adoption decisions Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Iranian cyber espionage highlights human element

State-backed hackers in Iran have reportedly upped efforts to compromise US officials’ email accounts using phishing scams Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Australia passes controversial encryption law

Arguments continue over law that requires companies to work with government agencies to ensure that encrypted communications can be read if a crime is suspected Continue Reading

By

• Beverley Head

CIO interview: Mayank Prakash, CDIO, DWP

Outgoing DWP chief digital and information officer Mayank Prakash looks at challenges and accomplishments during his time at the department, and talks about finishing the roll out of Universal Credit Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

ICO and government help UK businesses prepare for no-deal Brexit

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the government are providing guidance for UK businesses, particularly SMEs, on how to prepare for a possible no-deal Brexit Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Social engineering at the heart of critical infrastructure attack

Social engineering is the core technique used in a series of cyber attacks targeting government, defence, nuclear, energy and financial organisations around the world, which means people are key to defence Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Government urged to create one million high tech jobs by 2030

The Trade Union Congress has called on the government to create a million new high tech and manufacturing jobs over the next 12 years Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

DWP completes Universal Credit roll-out

The Department for Work and Pensions concludes the deployment of Universal Credit across the UK, meaning the full digital service is now available nationwide Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UKtech50 2018 – the most influential people in UK IT

Computer Weekly has announced the ninth annual UKtech50 – our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK IT sector Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UKtech50 2018: Women are making their mark

Women are making strong progress in the UK technology industry, with seven of the top 10 on Computer Weekly’s UKtech50 list being female Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UKtech50 interview: Jacky Wright, CDIO, HMRC

The UKtech50’s most influential person in UK IT 2018, HM Revenue and Customs’ chief digital and information officer, Jacky Wright, on balancing priorities, leveraging new technologies and the changing role of the CIO Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Criminals act like nation-state attackers in Russian campaign

Security researchers have uncovered evidence of a sustained effort targeting Russian state-owned critical infrastructure companies by financially motivated non-state actors Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Manchester’s evolution from rag trade to digital hub

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we visit Manchester to examine the city’s expanding digital and e-commerce industry and find out the key to tech sector growth in the former home of the UK rag trade. We look at the challenges of IT security in the quantum computing age. And we talk to Bloomberg’s CTO about tech innovation, machine learning and blockchain. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Airwave goodbye, hello ESN

The government recently announced plans that – despite facing delays and setbacks – a new Emergency Services Network (ESN) will be phased in from the beginning of 2019. It will replace the legacy ... Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Councils awarded funding for digital innovation projects

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government digital innovation fund awarded to a range of projects, including chatbots, artificial intelligence and town planning transformation Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UK businesses feel let down by government on cyber security

Government needs to provide more support around cyber security issues in 2019, according to the majority of UK IT leaders polled Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Finnish government announces research and development ecosystem

Finland has launched an innovation ecosystem that will support IoT and AI developers amongst others Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Court orders Post Office to explain inability to access encrypted file

Post Office unable to open encrypted recording of an interview that forms part of its evidence in High Court case Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Complex Post Office Horizon case set to continue into 2020

Court case where subpostmasters are suing the Post Office set to span at least four trials and extend into 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Douglas Engelbart, the forgotten hero of modern computing

Half a century ago, Douglas Engelbart demonstrated an experimental computer that laid the foundations for modern computing. His vision to use computing power to solve complex problems in all areas of human activity has become reality, but not in the way that he imagined Continue Reading

By

• Jake Charles Rees

UK genome sequencing project reaches 100,000 genomes goal

Health secretary hails scheme’s progress as “a major milestone in the route to the healthcare of the future” Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Software failure paralyses O2’s 4G network

O2 is racing to fix a major outage on its 4G network that has left millions of mobile subscribers without access to data services Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Drawing the line for cyber warfare

With alleged Russian meddling in elections and the state-backed attack on Iran’s nuclear programme, it is becoming difficult to define the boundaries of cyber warfare Continue Reading

By

• Phil Wilcox

Brexit implications for data protection

Leaving the European Union will have serious implications for data protection in the UK unless adequate steps are taken, so businesses are advised to have contingency plans in place Continue Reading

By

• Peter Ray Allison

BT moves to strip Huawei kit from EE’s network

Telco will remove Huawei’s networking equipment from the core of EE’s 4G mobile network Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Symantec unveils AI-based protection for critical infrastructure

Cyber security firm has unveiled what it claims to be the industry’s first neural network to protect critical infrastructure from USB-borne malware attacks Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Australia races towards commercial quantum computing

Universities make headway in the challenge of commercialising quantum computing Continue Reading

By

• Beverley Head

Nominet brings security expertise and tech to market

The .uk domain registry is to bring its DNS expertise and technology developed for the NCSC to market to address cyber security ‘blindspot’ Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Phishing at centre of cyber attack on Ukraine infrastructure

Phishing is one of the key tools used by cyber attackers against critical national infrastructure (CNI), as highlighted by attacks on telecommunications in Ukraine Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

‘Open-minded’ DVSA cuts cost of MOT testing

Government agency harnesses customised open source platform to ensure data security while cutting costs and plans to extend its MOT testing capability to do the same for drivers’ theory tests Continue Reading

By

• Christian Annesley

NHS email outage caused by ‘internal software issues’

NHSmail system shutdown, which saw staff locked out of their accounts, blamed on “software issues” in supplier Accenture’s internal infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

GovTech Catalyst Fund awards contracts to five SMEs to tackle rural isolation and loneliness

Five small tech companies have been awarded contracts through the GovTech Catalyst Fund to come up with innovative solutions to rural isolation and loneliness Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Why is hiring a government chief security officer such a tricky business?

Security bosses and CIOs weigh in on why they think the government is struggling to recruit a chief security officer. Continue Reading

Digital identity market welcomes plan to hand Gov.uk Verify to private sector

Players in the UK digital identity community welcome the clarity over the future of Verify, but question marks remain over prospects for government ID system Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

UK government commits to opening up data in bid to push adoption of AI

Opening up data is vital to government plans to push adoption of artificial intelligence across all sectors of the UK economy Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Police investigations into cyber crime up 14% in a year

Officers forced to follow up over 2,500 complaints of Instagram, Facebook, email and website hacking, and Bitcoin ransom, despite a rise in violent crime, report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Brexit and digital identity – avoiding future restrictions on digital trade

The UK has been a major contributor to European efforts to establish cross-border digital identities. Governments need to ensure that Brexit does not introduce unwanted restrictions that harm digital trade Continue Reading

By

• Gillan Ward, ID Crowd

Government mobilises to persuade tech sector to endorse May-EU deal

Jeremy Wright, the secretary of state at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, says the prime minister’s deal with the European Union will be good for UK tech, ensuring free flow of data Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

CCRC may hold off subpostmaster decision until after Post Office Horizon trial

The Criminal Courts Review Commission is deciding whether to delay its decision on subpostmasters’ claims of wrongful prosecution until after a related court case Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

WannaCry borderline national cyber emergency

The May 2017 WannaCry attack, which disrupted services at one-third of NHS trusts and more than 600 primary care organisations is the closest the UK has come to a national cyber emergency, says the NCSC Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst