IT management

API management: Assessing reliability and security

Once an API is published, its developer then has responsibility to ensure it is kept up to date and is secure Continue Reading

Malicious WhatsApp add-on highlights risks of third-party mods

Kaspersky researchers discovered a malicious version of a widely used WhatsApp messenger mod, highlighting the risks of using so-called mods Continue Reading

Annual costs of Hackney ransomware attack exceed £12m

Hackney Council reveals new insight into the ongoing cost of a ransomware attack that devastated its systems two years ago Continue Reading

Office 365 email encryption flaw could pose risk to user privacy

A vulnerability in Microsoft Office 365 Message Encryption could leave the contents of emails dangerously exposed, but with no fix coming it’s up to users to decide how at risk they are Continue Reading

Fujitsu to finally face blame for its part in Post Office Horizon scandal

Fujitsu’s part in causing the extreme suffering of subpostmasters will be made clear as the IT supplier begins giving evidence at a statutory inquiry Continue Reading

Advanced: Healthcare data was stolen in LockBit 3.0 attack

Advanced has revealed a total of 16 of its health and social care sector customers had their data exfiltrated in a recent ransomware attack Continue Reading

Protecting children by scanning encrypted messages is ‘magical thinking’, says Cambridge professor

Ross Anderson argues in a rebuttal to GCHQ experts that using artificial intelligence to scan encrypted messaging services is the wrong approach to protecting children and preventing terrorism Continue Reading

Alibaba Cloud readying dedicated cloud regions for private datacentres

The hybrid cloud offering will provide enterprises with a dedicated Alibaba Cloud region in their datacentres with multiple availability zones Continue Reading

Cyber training firm KnowBe4 bought by private equity firm

Acquisition of KnowBe4 supposedly reflects the success the company has seen since its spring 2021 IPO Continue Reading

Unsung Heroes Awards celebrate diversity in cyber community

The seventh annual Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards recognise those trying to improve diversity and mental health in cyber for the first time Continue Reading

Perpetrators of subpostmaster suffering in Horizon scandal must face public inquiry

Victims demand that the perpetrators of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal face the public inquiry Continue Reading

Is object storage good for databases?

We look at object storage vs block access SAN storage and ask if object storage can be used for database workloads, or is it just good for bulk storage of analytics datasets? Continue Reading

Oracle, fear and loathing

With Oracle CloudWorld in Las Vegas kicking off, the on-going battle with third party support provider Rimini Street is once again making the news. On October 10th Oracle said it had informed the ... Continue Reading

Gartner: Remote work, zero trust, cloud still driving cyber spend

Security leaders are eager to spend on categories including remote and hybrid cyber offerings, zero-trust network access, and cloud Continue Reading

Tech critical to the UK’s prosperity, says Jacob Rees-Mogg

Technology could provide the answer to the energy crisis, according to the secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, as he hails tech as a way to guarantee prosperity for the country Continue Reading

CW Middle East: Qatar strengthens cyber defences ahead of FIFA World Cup

Being the first Arab country to host the World Cup is pressure enough on Qatar, but there is also a massive cyber security challenge associated with any event of this magnitude. Read about its preparations. Also in this issue, find out about the unique challenges of hiring IT professionals in Saudi Arabia. Continue Reading

IT Sustainability Think Tank: How IT buyers can verify the green claims of their supply chain

How can IT leaders separate fact from fiction when weighing up a tech supplier’s sustainability claims? And, crucially, what are the dangers or risks enterprises face if they do not do their due diligence on the green claims of their providers? Continue Reading

Finance regulator cracks down on use of messaging apps

The Financial Conduct Authority is taking a closer look at how staff at banks are using WhatsApp in work Continue Reading

NCSC urges organisations to secure supply chains

NCSC’s latest guidance package centres supply chain security, helping medium to large organisations assess and mitigate cyber risks from suppliers Continue Reading

Santander and Google offer tech to help businesses smooth move to cloud

Dual Run service from Google will be built on top of Santander technology known as Gravity Continue Reading

IT sustainability strategies: Why enterprises need to start with the datacentre when going green

Enterprises are under pressure to curb their carbon emissions and become more environmentally friendly entities on multiple fronts, including in the datacentre Continue Reading

Microsoft fixes lone zero-day on October Patch Tuesday

Microsoft patched a solitary zero-day vulnerability in its latest monthly drop, but fixes for two others disclosed in the past few weeks are nowhere to be seen Continue Reading

ICO selectively discloses reprimands for data protection breaches

Data protection experts question ICO’s selective approach to publishing formal reprimands for contravening the law, after FoI request reveals the Cabinet Office was among the organisations reprimanded Continue Reading

Meta presents vision for business metaverse

How can hybrid teams collaborate seamlessly? Meta believes virtual reality tied to business applications is the way forward Continue Reading

Reducing the cyber stack with API security

Budgets are tight, making it difficult to secure spend, but is there an argument for jettisoning fragmented approaches to securing APIs in favour of a dedicated end-to-end approach? Doubling down on API security could help businesses not just reduce risk, but also costs Continue Reading

Contractor left Toyota source code exposed for five years

Source code related to Toyota’s T-Connect service was left exposed on GitHub for over five years by a contractor Continue Reading

Post Office scandal inquiry restarts with call for a pause amid disclosure controversy

The statutory public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal has begun phase two with a request for an adjournment amid allegations that the Post Office is failing to meet its obligation to disclose all relevant documents Continue Reading

Public sector spend on IT climbed to £12.6bn in 2021

Public sector bodies IT spend went up 10% last year, but the majority of the money went to large IT suppliers with 89% of the total spend going to so-called ‘tech titans’, according to a report from Tussell Continue Reading

Government bins IR35 reforms – what you need to know

In this week’s Computer Weekly, after the government scrapped its IR35 reforms, we examine what IT contractors need to know. With hybrid working, employee experience is a priority – we look at how it meshes with customer experience initiatives. And we assess the options for unstructured data storage in the cloud and on-premise. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

With Java 19, Oracle boosts developer productivity with an eye on the future

Major features in Java 19 will make it easier for Java developers to build applications that interface with non-Java code, among other capabilities in the 10th edition of the platform’s six-month release cadence Continue Reading

Currency markets causing choppy waters for UK outsourcing

Anthony Drake, director at tech advisory ISG, explains how the UK government’s botched mini-Budget announcement raised the cost of IT outsourcing Continue Reading

Dutch infrastructure sector seeks closer collaboration with government

Although the Netherlands government is increasingly realising how vital the country’s digital infrastructure is, it lacks sufficient policy-making and vision, say industry associations Continue Reading

IT Sustainability Think Tank: What IT leaders need to know about greenwashing

How can IT leaders separate fact from fiction when weighing up a tech supplier’s sustainability claims? And, crucially, what are the dangers or risks that enterprises face if they do not do their due diligence on the green claims of their providers? Continue Reading

Ukraine and EU explore deeper cyber collaboration

A Ukrainian delegation has met with officials from the EU’s ENISA cyber agency to explore deeper cooperation on cyber security issues Continue Reading

Security Think Tank: Design security in to reap container benefits

Provided container security basics are built into your development and runtime environment from the start, containerised services and applications can provide rapid – and secure – achievement of business objectives Continue Reading

Forrester: How to expand your API strategy

Digital bonding is a mechanism for bridging enterprise boundaries by using application programming interfaces Continue Reading

Unstructured data storage: on-prem vs cloud vs hybrid

We look at storage for unstructured data on-premise, in the cloud and across multiple locations. There are advantages to a hybrid approach, but there can be hidden costs, too. Continue Reading

IR35 reforms to be scrapped: What IT contractors need to know

News of the government’s plans to scrap the IR35 reforms took the contracting world by surprise, but IT contractors are being warned against making hasty changes to the way they work just yet. Continue Reading

IT Sustainability Think Tank: Getting to grips with greenwashing

How can IT leaders separate fact from fiction when weighing up a tech supplier’s sustainability claims? And, crucially, what are the dangers or risks that enterprises face if they do not do their due diligence on the green claims of their providers? Continue Reading

Tech talent development rests on DEI, upskilling, teamwork

Liberty Mutual Insurance's next CIO, Monica Caldas, shares new ways of solving the IT talent problem and explains why soft skills are critical for today's IT teams. Continue Reading

EU rolling out measures for online safety and AI liability

The European Council has approved the passage of the Digital Services Act to protect people’s rights online, while the European Commission has announced proposals to help those negatively affected by artificial intelligence to claim compensation Continue Reading

SMEs in Europe ready to invest in real-time payment capabilities

Small and medium-sized enterprises are losing business because of the time it takes to receive payments, with many considering API-based services to address the problem Continue Reading

NHS looks to improve digital mental health support

NHS England plans for programme to use digital technologies and data to improve mental health treatment and help patients access services Continue Reading

Diminishing returns

Many moons ago, the tech sector would gel around a big product launch, like the next version of Windows. But in the era of over-the-air (OTA) continuous updates, especially on smartphones, there is ... Continue Reading

Why electric vehicles are the next big step for developers working in sustainability

In this guest post, Rollo Home, head of product at national mapping agency Ordnance Survey, sets out the opportunities for software developers to get more actively involved in sustainability ... Continue Reading

Tech Nation and PwC launch joint climate tech accelerator

The Net Zero X programme by Tech Nation and PwC will help climate tech companies to overcome common growth challenges and scale faster Continue Reading

JPMorgan’s UK digital bank app outage locks customers out

App-based Chase Bank suffered tech outage that left customers unable to access its services Continue Reading

India telcos chart revenue growth with cloud and OTT services

Telcos in India are eyeing new revenue streams from cloud and content services, but whether they can successfully monetise the offerings remains to be seen Continue Reading

Clickwork and labour exploitation in the digital economy

Often ignored or assumed to be work conducted by machines rather than people, Computer Weekly explores the hidden human impact of the ‘clickwork’ that underpins the global digital economy Continue Reading

Air gaps for backup and how they help against ransomware

The air gap is a basic of backups and storage. We look at what’s meant by an air gap, the rise of the logical air gap, and its place in the fight against ransomware Continue Reading

Hybrid working: Preventing damage to company culture

The hybrid working model is still a work in progress, and most employers are at an early stage in learning and finding their way towards achieving its benefits Continue Reading

Three ways that APIs can fail

It’s all very well having an API strategy, but software teams need to be ready for when things start going wrong Continue Reading

Italian Supreme Court calls for prosecutors to disclose information on Sky ECC hacking operation

Italy’s Supreme Court says Italian prosecutors and police should disclose information on how they obtained intercepted messages from the Sky ECC cryptophone network Continue Reading

Developer wellbeing: A Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

A Computer Weekly Downtime Upload special with Capital One bank’s CTO, Brad Miller Continue Reading

Forrester: US set to dominate AI enterprise software market

Artificial intelligence is the fastest growth area in software. This is driving adoption, which will make AI mainstream technology in business software Continue Reading

Use site reliability engineering to address cloud instability

How do you prepare for a worst-case scenario, when the public cloud hosting critical components of your IT infrastructure fails? Continue Reading

Everything you wanted to know about the metaverse

Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but the unique qualities of digital assets mean they do not easily fit into the age-old legal concept of ownership Continue Reading

IT and sustainability: The 21st century paradox?

This is a guest post by Han Chon, managing director for ASEAN at Nutanix There has been much discussion around how technology can be used to accelerate sustainability efforts, from green IT to ... Continue Reading

Public sector aims to close digital skills gap with private sector

Digital leaders from the public sector have stressed the need to build up the digital skills and capabilities of civil servants to successfully deliver the government’s digital transformation ambitions, but not at the expense of supplier ecosystems Continue Reading

IR35 reforms to be scrapped: What IT contractors need to know

News of the government’s plans to scrap the IR35 reforms took the contracting world by surprise, but IT contractors are being warned off making hasty changes to the way they work just yet Continue Reading

Tories to replace GDPR

IT industry reacts to the government’s plan to replace the pan-European data protection regulation Continue Reading

Next phase of open banking already gathering pace

Open banking has had a major impact on the banking industry as finance forms harness data to provide better services, but the next phase of open finance promises even more Continue Reading

HMCTS continues roll-out of Common Platform despite calls to halt deployment

Controversial roll-out of digital case management system continues amid planned strike action by Public and Commercial Services Union because of issues with the system Continue Reading

Vodafone confirms Three UK merger talks

UK’s mid-sized operators begin negotiations on consolidation to gain the scale to accelerate roll-out of 5G in the UK, expand broadband connectivity to rural communities and small businesses, and offer stronger competition Continue Reading

How tech is helping retailers reduce food waste

Retailers from supermarkets to coffee shops are connecting with mobile apps and tech firms to reduce food waste. Continue Reading

Putting APIs to work

In this week’s Computer Weekly, our latest buyer’s guide looks at application programming interfaces (APIs) and how they can connect internal and external business processes. We examine the challenges and opportunities of using AI in healthcare. And we find out how retailers are turning to specialist apps to reduce food waste. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Red Hat CEO on OpenShift roadmap, competitive play

Red Hat’s newly minted CEO Matt Hicks talks up OpenShift’s roadmap, the competition with VMware and opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region Continue Reading

Digital right to work checks officially go live

Under the new government guidance, employers can choose between 16 certified identity service providers to digitally check their employees legal right to work in the UK Continue Reading

IR35 reforms repeal: How it stands to benefit the tech sector’s SMEs and contractors

Government’s planned repeal of IR35 reforms could help alleviate a lot of the uncertainty and pressure on the tech sector’s SMEs Continue Reading

How to protect against SMS mobile security weakness

The simple messaging service provides two-factor authentication in banking and e-commerce, but what happens if your SIM card is stolen? Continue Reading

StorPool takes its software-defined storage to the AWS cloud

Software-defined storage and block access specialist to offer its product on high-performance AWS bare metal and memory-intensive compute, while claiming improved latency Continue Reading

Edge storage: What it is and the technologies it uses

Storage is moving from the datacentre to the edge. We define edge storage, look at the characteristics of edge computing that shape it and the technologies it requires Continue Reading

Digital transformation is brewing at Heineken

In a presentation at the Digital Transformation Week conference in Amsterdam, Heineken’s data management director revealed some of the ways the company is using information technology to transform Continue Reading

CIO interview: James Fleming, Francis Crick Institute

Francis Crick Institute CIO discusses how Europe’s largest biomedical research institute has co-developed a framework for data sharing Continue Reading

Key ingredients for a successful API recipe

We look at how application programming interfaces can provide connectivity to drive internal and external business processes Continue Reading

A new take on an old relationship: Nordic startups lure UK investors to their front doors

When startup worlds collide: investment and entrepreneurship partnerships form across the Nordics and UK Continue Reading

Surveillance tech firms complicit in MENA human rights abuses

Research finds companies are profiting from surveillance technologies that facilitate human rights abuses against migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the Middle East and North Africa, with little to no oversight Continue Reading

Dutch PhD project aims to automate discovery and deciphering of steganography

Meike Kombrink, a PhD student in the Netherlands, is focused on detecting hidden messages on the internet Continue Reading

How Endowus is leveraging Kafka and microservices

The Singapore-based financial technology company built a distributed microservices architecture to ensure its investment platform remains resilient at all times Continue Reading

CDO interview: Danny Gonzalez, chief digital and innovation officer, London North Eastern Railway

The rail franchise is driving a wide-ranging digital transformation, encompassing back-office improvements and enhancing passenger experience Continue Reading

ESG vs. CSR vs. sustainability: What's the difference?

Corporate sustainability is gaining increased attention due to a growing focus on climate change and new regulation proposals. Continue Reading

Cost-of-living crisis could spur fintech adoption

The cost-of-living crisis could have a similar impact on fintech and digital banking as the Covid-19 pandemic did, inducing further innovation in the fintech sector Continue Reading

Five startups to join NCSC for Startups initiative

The NCSC has invited five startups to join its NCSC for Startups programme to help the government with pressing cyber challenges facing the UK Continue Reading

Carbon copies: How to stop data retention from killing the planet

Our society has a serious digital hoarding problem, which is coming at a cost to the environment. But what can be done to address it? Continue Reading

KPMG: IT chiefs vote for innovation, but are they forgetting tech debt?

New study from KPMG shows businesses are keen to adopt new technologies to drive improvements to customer experience Continue Reading

AIOps for storage: Potential huge benefits, but lots of lock-in

Applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to storage can help to predict bottlenecks, diagnose I/O issues and recommend upgrades, but suppliers’ products are largely limited to their own hardware Continue Reading

Koch’s networking: Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

Matt Hoag, CTO of Koch Business Solutions, discusses networking as a service Continue Reading

How to make the right business case for a tech spend

CIOs should help evaluate management goals to support long-term strategy. Learn how IT can assist business objectives and justify tech spending with a business case. Continue Reading

UK suffers third highest number of ransomware attacks globally

Based on an analysis of around 5,000 ransomware incidents, NordLocker has found that UK businesses, and small businesses in particular, are a priority target for ransomware gangs Continue Reading

Whistleblower Peter Duffy calls for oversight of NHS records to prevent evidence tampering

A whistleblower has called for greater oversight in the handling of ‘safety-critical digital information’ across the NHS, in light of a number of cases that raise questions about data governance and record-keeping within the health service Continue Reading

Russia ready for complete switch to domestic IT infrastructure

In a bid to counter sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government is implementing a policy of import substitution in the country’s domestic IT sector Continue Reading

Security Think Tank: Three steps to a solid DevSecOps strategy

Read about how buyers can manage third-party risk when procuring applications, how to secure the software development process, and even how to affect cultural change among developers not used to thinking cyber first Continue Reading

Online Safety Bill needs complete overhaul, say rights groups

Civil society groups write to new digital minister to challenge various aspects of the upcoming Online Safety Bill, which they say threatens rights to privacy and freedom of expression Continue Reading

Most hackers exfiltrate data within five hours of gaining access

Insights from more than 300 sanctioned adversaries, otherwise known as ‘ethical’ hackers, reveal that around two-thirds are able to collect and exfiltrate data within just five hours of gaining access Continue Reading

Fraudsters adapt phishing scams to exploit cost-of-living crisis

Around 80,000 Brits a month are falling victim to phishing attacks as fraudsters switch up tactics to take advantage of cost-of-living crisis and behavioural changes prompted by pandemic Continue Reading

Guy’s Cancer collaborates with healthtech provider to digitise patient care

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has begun working with digital healthcare platform provider Carology to build capacity, drive efficiencies and improve patient experience Continue Reading

SAP maintenance fee increase: What you need to know

We weigh up the options for SAP customers after supplier announces a rise in annual maintenance fees. Continue Reading

How Mondelez is driving change with tech

From empowering citizen developers to deploying drones to monitor the health of cocoa trees, the owner of Cadbury, Oreo and Toblerone is firing on all cylinders to disrupt the old ways of doing things. Continue Reading

Making digital a key ingredient at Mondelez

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to snack giant Mondelez, the owner of Cadbury, about how AI and data are transforming its business. SAP is increasing support costs for the first time in years – we assess the impact on customers. And a Ukrainian tech CEO tells us how his company kept going despite the Russian invasion. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

How Russian intelligence hacked the encrypted emails of former MI6 boss Richard Dearlove

Hack by Russian-linked ColdRiver group exposed former MI6 chief Richard Dearlove’s contacts and email communications with government, military, intelligence and political officials Continue Reading