IT management

LockBit gang members arrested in Poland and Ukraine

The UK’s National Crime Agency and its global partners have shared more details on their audacious takedown of the LockBit ransomware operation, including news of two arrests Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Hybrid AI

I was recently talking to my old friend David Terrar who runs the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF). The topic was generative AI and cloud computing, and how the two relate.. When David brought this up, ... Continue Reading

By

• Dale Vile, Freeform Dynamics

CIO interview: Stuart Birrell, chief data and information officer, EasyJet

The short-haul airline fills an aircraft every 10 seconds through its e-commerce operation – all while transforming its booking systems and migrating its IT estate to the cloud Continue Reading

Rolls-Royce looks at viability of quantum computing in nuclear safety

The manufacturing firm is one of several participating in a Digital Catapult programme looking at industrial applications for quantum computing Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Government agrees law to protect confidential journalistic material from state hacking

The government will update Investigatory Powers Act to require secret intelligence agencies to seek independent approval before accessing confidential journalistic material obtained by bulk hacking, but journalists remain vulnerable to other bulk surveillance powers Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Flying into cloud – EasyJet’s journey out of the datacentre to AI

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how EasyJet fills an aircraft every 10 seconds while migrating to the cloud and introducing AI. There’s only 283 years to go until we have a diverse IT workforce – we find out why. And we examine how the UK anti-trust investigation into the cloud market could hit the big hyperscalers. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Alibaba Cloud debuts Model Studio

Alibaba Cloud’s Model Studio provides access to its Qwen family of foundation models and other third-party models and a suite of tools to speed up training and deployment of large language models Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Cops take down LockBit ransomware gang

The notorious LockBit ransomware crew has been disrupted in an international law enforcement sting led by the UK's National Crime Agency Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Music agency halves space and energy costs with switch to Pure

SUISA handles billions of royalty payments, but had capacity and storage admin nightmares with its EMC hardware. It cued up Pure Storage for simple admin, space and cost savings Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Cradlepoint embedded IoT connects AI-driven sustainable intelligent waste system

Collaboration shows how cellular-connected artificial intelligence can support environmental sustainability through secure, scalable IoT connectivity that merges cellular technology with AI for optimal waste diversion and profitability Continue Reading

By

• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly

Controversial Post Office Capture system was developed in-house

Second controversial Post Office system was the work of developers in its own IT operation Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Gartner: Three top trends in cyber security for 2024

IT security will be influenced by generative AI, identity and access management, and continuous threat exposure management Continue Reading

By

• Richard Addiscott, senior director analyst and Alex Michaels, senior principal analyst at Gartner

Singapore to invest S$1bn in AI over five years

The funding will go towards compute, talent, and industry development to support Singapore’s national AI strategy Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Poor data and IT hamper cross-government working, PAC report finds

Report cites inadequate data, poor IT systems and departmental silos as major barriers to cross-government working, and calls on government to do better Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Google claims AI advances with Gemini LLM

Code analysis, understanding large volumes of text and translating a language by learning from one read of a book are among the breakthroughs of Gemini 1.5 Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Post Office IT insider and the software decision that lit the Horizon scandal

As the Post Office replaces its controversial Horizon software, a former Post Office IT executive describes disastrous mistakes of the past Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Bouncing back from a cyber attack

Organisations need to move away from victim blaming when cyber attacks on OT systems occur and focus on fostering collaboration between teams to minimise downtime, among other efforts to bounce back and return to business Continue Reading

By

• Marty Rickard

Security-by-design push prompts new ISC2 accreditations

Security-by-design has become a hot-button regulatory issue. ISC2 has decided now is the time to upskill cyber pros around these vital software and hardware development principles Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

As India takes off to space, the stardust will fall on IT

India’s progress in space technology will yield benefits not only for its burgeoning space industry, but also advance internet of things and telephony applications, among others Continue Reading

CW APAC: February to April 2024 – Trend Watch: CIO trends

Organisations have plenty of technologies to keep track of when digitising their operations. In this handbook, focused on CIO trends in the Asia-Pacific region, Computer Weekly looks at IT predictions for 2024, how India’s space missions will propel tech and Australia’s advances in cyber security. Continue Reading

Microsoft: Nation-state hackers are exploiting ChatGPT

Threat actors from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia have all been probing use cases for generative AI service ChatGPT, but have yet to use such tools in a full-blown cyber attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Dutch Supreme Court approves use of EncroChat evidence

Defence lawyers plan appeal to European Court of Human Rights after Supreme Court upholds a conviction based on intercepted messages from the EncroChat encrypted phone network Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Met Police to scrap and replace ‘racist’ Gangs Violence Matrix

A database used by the Metropolitan Police to identify and track people linked with gang violence is being decommissioned and replaced. The decision follows a long-running controversy over its discriminatory impacts on young black people, but campaigners warn that racial discrimination will persist with new tool Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Microsoft patches two zero-days for Valentine’s Day

Two security feature bypasses impacting Microsoft SmartScreen are on the February Patch Tuesday docket, among more than 70 issues Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Podcast: What is the impact of AI on storage and compliance?

Start now looking at artificial intelligence compliance. That’s the advice of Mathieu Gorge of Vigitrust, who says AI governance is still immature but firms should recognise the limits and still act Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Security experts: Investigatory powers plans will delay security updates

Cyber security experts warn that government proposals to amend the Investigatory Powers Act will limit tech companies’ ability to respond to security threats and could hamper the use of end-to-end encryption Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Post Office CEO refused to meet government minister without her lawyer after 2015 Horizon report

Post Office statements on the Horizon system, whether to journalists or the government, were routinely carefully crafted by lawyers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How DBS is industrialising AI across its business

Southeast Asia’s biggest lender is building a strong data foundation and upskilling employees on data and artificial intelligence to realise its vision of becoming an AI-fuelled bank Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Top 8 ERP implementation best practices

Deploying a new ERP system is a risky endeavor. Learn how to reduce the risk of failure and increase the odds for success with these eight tried-and-true best practices. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Kontzer

New variants of Qakbot malware under development

Despite its infrastructure having been taken down by the FBI last year, someone appears to be actively working on a new and improved version of the infamous Qakbot malware Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

RMM software (remote monitoring and management software)

RMM software (remote monitoring and management software) is a type of application that information technology (IT) service providers and departments use to maintain their clients' and business organizations' IT assets, infrastructure and systems. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan
• John Moore, Industry Editor
• Spencer Smith, Site Editor

Hunter-killer malware volumes seen surging

Latest Picus Security report on malware tactics, techniques and procedures reveals an increasing focus on disabling security defences Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Oracle cloud: Generating value with AI

Is Oracle’s Fusion GenAI leap a bandwagon move or will it add real power to boost customer happiness? Continue Reading

By

• Marc Ambasna-Jones

Podcast: What are snapshots? Can they replace backup?

We talk to Shawn Meyers, field CTO at Tintri, who defines snapshots, why they are no substitute for backups, and the effect on recovery of snapshot granularity Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

What will result from Cohesity’s Veritas acquisition?

The $7bn backup giant will leverage huge assets in enterprise customer base, compliance and governance intelligence, AI, R&D, and Kubernetes backup and storage Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Intelligent defence – the role of data in the military

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine the role of data in tying together military operations across ground, air, sea and cyber. Has SAP finally convinced customers to migrate to cloud ERP? We assess the trends. And we talk to the CIO helping to set up the UK’s fastest supercomputer. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Why AI will push enterprises to eliminate the silos that slow innovation

Generative AI offers a way to transform developer productivity, by expediting a cultural shift in the way enterprises organise themselves Continue Reading

By

• Chris Reddington

More than 1,000 subpostmasters could have used second faulty Post Office system

More than 1,000 subpostmasters could have used a previous faulty computer system in their branches as more people come forward with information following Post Office scandal TV drama Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Executives must face down state-sponsored hacking groups targeting firmware

State-backed groups have ratcheted up the pressure for cyber security professionals and executives. But that’s not an excuse to cede them the territory. Continue Reading

By

• Michael Marcotte

A decade after breaking HMRC’s Aspire deal, the Post Office scandal exposes glaring similarities

HM Revenue & Customs finally broke from its £800m a year Aspire contract in 2016 - and the reasons have parallels with the Post Office scandal. Will government ever learn? Continue Reading

By

• Louise McCarthy

The UK PSTI Act and its implications for the print market

The UK Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Act will come into effect on 29 April 2024. The product security aspect of this act stipulates a new regulatory scheme to make ... Continue Reading

By

• Louella Fernandes, Quocirca

Amazon defends facial-recognition tech sale to FBI despite moratorium

The FBI has confirmed it is using Amazon’s Rekognition image and video analysis software, but Amazon says it is ‘false’ to suggest this violates the company’s self-imposed moratorium on selling facial-recognition technology to US police Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

MoD ethical hacking programme expands after initial success

The Ministry of Defence has expanded the scope of its defensive security partnership with HackerOne Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

The rising prominence of hybrid cloud in the Nordics

Many Nordic organisations have opted for hybrid cloud environments, subscribing to the newest services without giving up what they already have. Best practices are beginning to emerge for managing the heterogenous environment Continue Reading

By

• Pat Brans, Pat Brans Associates/Grenoble Ecole de Management

Europe carves out niche in quantum computing

As the US, China and Europe accelerate investment in quantum computing, Europe is beginning to develop its own unique position in the fledgling global ecosystem Continue Reading

By

• Pat Brans, Pat Brans Associates/Grenoble Ecole de Management

Why open data is needed in the battle to address homelessness

Centrepoint needed to send FOIs to more than 300 local authorities in England to access required information Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

The Post Office Scandal: Drawing parallels between Horizon and the UK cloud market

With the ongoing fallout from the Post Office scandal, questions are being asked about whether the UK government looks set to repeat the mistakes of the past based on its reliance on the cloud technologies of several major US hyperscalers Continue Reading

By

• Nicky Stewart

CIO interview: Sandy Venugopal, SentinelOne

We speak to the former CIO of Uber and LinkedIn, current CIO of SentinelOne, about how artificial intelligence should be deployed in business Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Swedish CIO contributes best practices for ethical use of artificial intelligence

IT leaders are scrambling to keep up with AI technology, but many are losing sight of its ethical impact – and what CIOs need to do to ensure responsible use Continue Reading

By

• Pat Brans, Pat Brans Associates/Grenoble Ecole de Management

NCSC warns CNI operators over ‘living-off-the-land’ attacks

Malicious, state-backed actors may well be lurking in the UK’s most critical networks right now, and their operators may not even know until it is too late, warn the NCSC and its partners Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Dozens of surveillance companies are supplying spyware to governments, says Google

Google’s Threat Analysis Group has identified 40 companies involved in selling and supplying security exploits and spyware services to governments Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Security Think Tank: The phishing forecast for 2024

Egress' Jack Chapman and James Dyer explore how phishing attacks are set to grow in their scope and sophistication this year, with generative AI playing a big role Continue Reading

By

• Jack Chapman and James Dyer

The challenges of open source in government

Public sector bodies may find their policy decisions are stymied due to the inflexibility of the software they deploy. Is open source the answer? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Government reaffirms commitment to hold off on AI laws

The UK government reaffirming its commitment hold off on artificial intelligence legislation has been received positively by industry for balancing innovation and safety Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How Iranian cyber ops pivoted to target Israel after 7 October attacks

Microsoft has shared new intelligence on how Iranian government-aligned threat actors have turned their fire on Israel over the past four months Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

South Staffs Water faces group action over Clop ransomware attack

South Staffordshire Plc, the parent company of South Staffordshire and Cambridge Water, is facing legal action from customers whose data was compromised in a 2022 Clop ransomware attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

AI ID specialist Onfido in talks to be bought by Entrust

UK-based cyber unicorn Onfido agrees to enter talks to be acquired by Entrust Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government funds two semiconductor centres

So-called information knowledge centres in Bristol and Southampton are each receiving £11m Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

UK’s McPartland Cyber Review to probe trust in technology

The UK government has launched a cyber security review that will investigate how best to give businesses the confidence they need to use new technologies Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK government responds to AI whitepaper consultation

The UK government is considering introducing binding legal requirements for companies developing the most powerful AI systems, and has outlined a range of funding to realise the ambitions of its ‘pro-innovation’ framework for artificial intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Inquiry to explore cyber risk to Sunak-Starmer showdown

The UK’s Joint Committee on National Security Strategy is opening an inquiry into securing the democratic process ahead of the next general election Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Three predictions for responding to the cyber threat landscape in 2024

Nominet's Kim Wiles looks to the coming months and calls for cooperation and collaboration on tackling cyber security threats Continue Reading

By

• Kim Wiles

CIO interview: Stuart Birrell, chief data and information officer, EasyJet

The short-haul airline fills an aircraft every 10 seconds through its e-commerce operation – all while transforming its booking systems and migrating its IT estate to the cloud Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Resetting digital government

After years of trying to digitally transform the public sector, with varying degrees of success, could a change of government finally herald a new and better approach? Continue Reading

By

• Jerry Fishenden, Philip Sinclair, Paul Waller

The Post Office scandal shows how much AI can and must help humans

There has been much speculation about the potential for a future AI disaster after the role of IT in the Post Office scandal - but the way to avoid this is to make sure AI and humans work hand in hand Continue Reading

By

• Frederik Pedersen

Generative AI – an early adopter’s experience

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as IT leaders start to implement GenAI in their organisations, we look at the experiences of one early adopter. Our latest buyer’s guide examines the key security trends for 2024. And Microsoft’s head of identity talks about a future without passwords. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Blackbaud blasted for failing to prevent customer breaches

A supply chain attack at software supplier Blackbaud in 2020 saw data on multiple UK organisations compromised. The US authorities are now taking steps to ensure it can’t happen again Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

US sanctions Iranians behind CNI cyber attacks

US government issues new sanctions against six Iranians suspected of being behind a series of cyber attacks targeting critical national infrastructure, notably water supply systems Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK quantum initiatives get funding boost

Government funds new initiatives to drive quantum computing opportunities across the public sector Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Sea-Lion explained: Southeast Asia’s first large language model

The Sea-Lion large language model was built to cater to the language and cultural diversity of Southeast Asia, which is currently underserved by existing models that mostly originate from the West Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Is SAP on the rise?

This year represents a tipping point for SAP to convince cagey customers of the value of cloud enterprise resource planning Continue Reading

By

• Marc Ambasna-Jones

IT security strategy: Assessing the risks of generative AI

Most industry watchers see 2024 as the year when generative AI and large language models will begin moving into enterprise IT Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor
• Adrian Bridgwater

embodied carbon

Embodied carbon is the measurable greenhouse gas emissions of an infrastructure's entire construction, maintenance and demolition processes. Continue Reading

By

• Venus Kohli

It’s Time to Raise the Bar on Observability

Observability has come a long way in the last 30 years – from early service monitoring tools to today’s advanced platforms like Splunk, DataDog, Dynatrace, New Relic and others that ingest massive ... Continue Reading

By

• Tony Lock, Freeform Dynamics

‘People are now listening,' Post Office inquiry told as latest phase ends

The latest phase of the public inquiry into the widest miscarriage of justice in modern UK history – the Post Office Horizon IT scandal – closes with a bang Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK police facial recognition explained: What you need to know

In this essential guide, Computer Weekly looks at the use of facial recognition technology by UK police forces, including the points of contention around its deployment so far and where it’s heading next Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Meta ramps up GPUs to get ready for general intelligence

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg anticipates that training and running AI systems requires 10x computer capacity each year Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Why government IT needs a better approach to budgeting

Defra minister, Mark Spencer was recently asked to give an update to how the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is coping with its plans to renew ageing IT systems. The ... Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

AI: House of Lords focuses on copyright and transparency

Large language models promise to boost UK productivity, but the tech needs greater scrutiny and questions remain over intellectual property Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Welsh workers’ AI experiences shaped by uneven power dynamics

Workers in Wales are being negatively affected by the unregulated introduction of artificial intelligence into workplaces due to asymmetric power dynamics Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

UK ranks third in OECD Digital Government Index

The UK has dropped from overall second to third place in the international digital government survey, but fails to feature in the top 10 countries when it comes to having a data-driven public sector Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Defra legacy IT: 180 applications refreshed, over 1,500 remain

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has a 10-year plan to update technology. So far, 180 have been replaced or updated Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Crew Clothing head of IT: ‘The projects don’t stop’

Crew Clothing parted ways with its senior leadership team in 2023, but there is a clear roadmap in place for technology transformation – and it doesn’t involve an ERP system Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

UK government signs AI, science and innovation deals with Canada

The agreements will see the two countries collaborate on AI compute – a development component of artificial intelligence – and work together on technology innovations such as quantum and semiconductors Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Government ‘dragging it out’ by refusing to share knowledge of Post Office trial ‘delaying tactic’

Subpostmasters will have to wait to find out if the government knew of the Post Office’s plan to derail group litigation order, by trying to push managing judge out Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Aviva signs 15-year contract with Indian IT giant

Tata Consultancy Services continues to make large gains in the UK life insurance and pensions sector Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

AI everywhere all at once

Artificial intelligence became mainstream in 2023. Advances in technology and accessibility led to increased awareness and use of AI Continue Reading

By

• Resham Kotecha

Forrester: Curb your AI enthusiasm

Ongoing supply issues with semiconductors mean IT departments may have to wait up to a year for the latest hardware Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Microsoft results show benefits of AI on Azure

The company’s cloud business posted revenue of $33bn, with new AI inferencing workloads driving up demand Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Seagate uses HAMR to hit 30TB in Exos hard drives

HDD giant Seagate unveils 30TB Exos drives with higher areal density, aimed at hyperscaler customers, with products at 50TB promised for 2028 in its roadmap Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

User groups give SAP’s 50% Rise incentive the thumbs up

SAP has changed tack, after the furore over its intention to make certain features available only to Rise customers on SAP Cloud Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Cloud-native strategies pushing purchase decisions beyond IT

Buyer personas now include line-of-business groups, but senior IT management still owns most decisions, and cross-departmental collaboration, while improving, needs a lot of work. Continue Reading

By

• David Essex, Industry Editor

Quantum computing in 2024: What are the challenges?

Research shows that while there has been a big reduction in quantum computing investment, governments have been ploughing in funding Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

We need backup! Pennsylvania police data loss shows why

Police evidence systems data was lost during ‘routine maintenance’, with human error blamed – the case clearly illustrates why data protection can’t be left to chance Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

The shifting winds of SAP's cloud strategy

In 2023, SAP's strategic pivot towards cloud-centric innovation produced a wave of discontent among its vast on-premises customer base Continue Reading

By

• Jon Gill

Inside India’s supercomputing journey

India is looking to shore up its supercomputing capabilities, but more needs to be done to realise its ambition of becoming a world leader in the field Continue Reading

By

• Pratima Harigunani

Pre-Horizon users contacting lawyers as more Post Office IT horror stories emerge

Lawyer says there is no reason to believe the Post Office treated unexplained shortfalls on systems prior to Horizon any differently to the way it dealt with unexplained Horizon shortfalls Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

The promise of quantum computing

Sergio Gago, managing director for AI, machine learning and quantum at Moody’s, explains why now is a good time to invest in quantum computing. Continue Reading

Tech companies warn EU over encryption plans

In this week’s Computer Weekly, tech companies are calling on the European Commission to rethink plans to weaken internet encryption – we explore the issues. We talk to credit rating agency Moody’s about why it thinks now is the time to start investing in quantum computing. And we examine how a different approach to recruitment could ease the datacentre sector skills gap. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Russian IT sector still under serious pressure

Russian IT sector faces challenges on multiple fronts as Western sanctions widen Continue Reading

By

• Computer Weekly correspondent