IT news in your industry sector

How StanChart balances AI-powered innovation with security

Alvaro Garrido, Standard Chartered’s technology and security chief, explains how multi-layered defences and its approach to data protection allows the bank to embrace artificial intelligence without compromising on security Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Digitising fan experience

In this issue, discover the latest twist regarding a secret Home Office order requiring Apple to give UK law enforcement access to users’ encrypted data stored on the Apple iCloud. Also discover how the Premier League is using digital means to reach fans, and learn about identity security in SaaS deployments. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Black Hat USA: Halcyon and Sophos tag-team ransomware fightback

Ransomware experts Halcyon and Sophos are to pool their expertise in ransomware, working together to enhance data- and intelligence-sharing and bringing more comprehensive protection to customers Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Proliferation of on-premise GenAI platforms is widening security risks

Research finds increased adoption of unsanctioned generative artificial intelligence platforms is magnifying risk and causing a headache for security teams Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

How the UK's cloud strategy was hijacked by a hyperscaler duopoly

The UK competition regulator says the cloud market is not working - it's time to take radical steps to reduce the dominance of the two US cloud giants Continue Reading

By

• Bill McCluggage

Integrated platforms offer lifeline to Singapore’s F&B sector

A partnership between payments firm Adyen and restaurant operating system provider Atlas is helping merchants to streamline operations, slashing errors by up to 80% and boosting sales as the sector faces record closures Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Met Police to double facial recognition use amid budget cuts

The UK’s largest police force is massively expanding its use of live facial recognition technology as it prepares to lose 1,700 officers and staff Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Ministry of Justice unveils strategy for safe, secure AI

A new chief AI officer, together with a framework co-developed with the Alan Turing Institute, form part of a three-year AI action plan at the MoJ Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

I lost my sister to online harms, the OSA is failing vulnerable people

Adele is a member of Families and Survivors to Prevent Online Suicide Harms campaign, a network that brings together survivors and families bereaved by online harm-related suicides. They are calling for changes to the enforcement of the Online Safety Act Continue Reading

By

• Adele Zeynep Walton

UK flights suspended after air traffic control outage

Flights arriving and departing from the UK were disrupted by an outage affecting technical systems at air traffic control body NATS’ Swanwick facility Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Scattered Spider tactics continue to evolve, warn cyber cops

CISA, the FBI, NCSC and others have clubbed together to update previous guidance on Scattered Spider's playbook, warning of new social engineering tactics and exploitation of legitimate tools, among other things Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

MS Authenticator users face passkey crunch time

The deadline for moving to passkeys in Microsoft Authenticator is rapidly approaching, and users are advised to take action now Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

AI-enabled security pushes down breach costs for UK organisations

Organisations that are incorporating AI and automation into their cyber security practice are seeing improved outcomes when incidents occur, according to an IBM study Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Austrian government faces likely legal challenge over state spyware

Civil society groups are talking to opposition MPs about bringing a legal challenge to the Austrian constitutional court over ‘state trojan’ law Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

European Commission ignores calls to reassess Israel data adequacy

The European Commission is ignoring calls to reassess Israel’s data adequacy status in spite of concerns raised about its data protection framework and use of personal data in ‘repressive practices’ Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Global cyber spend will top $200bn this year, says Gartner

Worldwide spending on cyber security will hit another record high in 2025, and will go higher still next year Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Building digital resilience in retail

Retail is suffering economically and from hacking attacks. What steps can retailers can take to prevent cyber attacks, supply chain disruptions and migration downtime? Continue Reading

By

• Madeline Bennett, Mowser Media

Kioxia launches 245TB LC9, the biggest flash drive on the market

Japanese drive maker piles one card on top of another to produce 245.76TB E3.L drive, with lower capacity variants in 2.5in and E3.S formats, and claimed low energy use benefits Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Tesco IT problems lead to undelivered groceries and angry customers

Tesco customers have been left without groceries after IT problems disrupted deliveries from stores and fulfilment centres Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

European digital market figurehead pleads to Westminster

Big EU industry joins with Europhile MP to persuade obstinate government officials to join the dataspaces intended to become the bedrock of Europe’s digital single market Continue Reading

Microsoft opens first Southeast Asia research lab

Microsoft Research Asia’s Singapore facility will pursue breakthroughs in domain-specific foundation models and agentic AI for sectors like healthcare and finance, aligning with the country’s AI strategy Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

The UK’s ransomware payment ban is a strategic win

The UK's proposed public sector ransomware payment ban could be a bold step, but it can't operate in isolation. Continue Reading

By

• Rob Dartnall, SecAlliance

Post Office will not compensate subpostmasters for IT outage

Subpostmasters were unable to trade for nearly two hours last week when a problem at a Fujitsu datacentre put the Horizon system offline, but they will receive no payment for lost business Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Data, digital receipts and demanding customers

More UK retailers are switching from paper to digital receipts, but what are the benefits and challenges, and what are the tech implications? Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

Fujitsu to cut at least 100 more UK staff

Some Fujitsu employees feel they are suffering for the actions of the company’s management in the Post Office scandal Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

US seeks ‘unquestioned’ AI dominance

US AI action plan sets out aims to expand American dominance in the world of artificial intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

SharePoint users hit by Warlock ransomware, says Microsoft

Microsoft’s security analysts confirm a number of cyber attacks on on-premise SharePoint Server users involve ransomware Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Scattered Spider victim Clorox sues helpdesk provider

Cleaning products manufacturer Clorox fell victim to a Scattered Spider social engineering attack two years ago – it blames its IT helpdesk provider, Cognizant Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

IBM chief confident AI isn’t eroding other parts of the business

Chairman, president and CEO Arvind Krishna talks of growth and margin expansion as Big Blue expects artificial intelligence to deliver internal savings of $4.5bn this year Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

UK loses second spot in global fintech to UAE

The UK has been pushed into third spot on global fintech market size data for the first half of this year Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Dutch researchers use heartbeat detection to unmask deepfakes

Dutch method to counter deepfakes analyses blood flow patterns in faces that current deepfake generation tools cannot yet replicate Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

The rise (or not) of AI ethics officers

Job titles vary, but the principles shouldn’t – put AI ethics in the org chart, fund it and give it authority, so that good intentions turn into trust, accountability and good business Continue Reading

By

• Mary Branscombe, Computer Weekly

Monzo’s £21m fine highlights banks’ cyber security failures

Monzo’s recent fine over failings in its customer verification processes highlights wider security and privacy shortcomings in the personal finance world Continue Reading

By

• Nicholas Fearn

WhatsApp is refused right to intervene in Apple legal action on encryption ‘backdoors’

Investigatory Powers Tribunal to hear arguments in public over lawfulness of secret UK order requiring Apple to give UK law enforcement access to users’ encrypted data stored on the Apple iCloud Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Disaster recovery: As-a-service vs on-premise?

It’s easy to backup to the cloud, and we run lots of applications there now, too. So, running DR as-a-service in the cloud makes perfect sense for many. We look at the pros and cons Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Predictive analytics in policing: Weighing up the pros and cons

While extensive powers of crime prediction are still some time away, policing is already making use of predictive analytics – but what are its benefits and risks? Continue Reading

By

• Fleur Doidge

AI legislation in the UK - has anybody seen any?

The government has promised a consultation and legislation to govern the use of AI - but with nothing planned in the short term, is it leaving this essential consideration too late? Continue Reading

By

• Lord Chris Holmes, House of Lords

Judge questions HP’s ‘exaggerated’ Autonomy loss claim

Did HP pay 10% more than it needed to for Mike Lynch’s company? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Subpostmasters shoulder costs of Fujitsu’s Post Office IT outage

Fujitsu datacentre outage hit subpostmaster sales for two hours, leaving subpostmasters to seek compensation Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Microsoft confirms China link to SharePoint hacks

Microsoft confirms two known China-nexus threat actors, and one other suspected state-backed hacking group, are exploiting vulnerabilities in SharePoint Server Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Overconfidence in cyber security: a silent catalyst for CNI breaches

Many CNI organisations are perilously overconfident in their ability to manage and combat cyber risks, according to Bridewell research. This is leaving vital systems exposed. Continue Reading

By

• Anthony Young

Chinese cyber spies among those linked to SharePoint attacks

Exploitation of the ToolShell RCE zero-day in Microsoft SharePoint continues to gather pace, with evidence emerging of exploitation by nation state-backed threat actors Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK government to bring in ransomware payment ban

Critical infrastructure operators, hospitals, local councils and schools will be among those banned from giving in to cyber criminal demands as the UK moves forward with proposals to address the scourge of ransomware Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK government signs partnership with OpenAI

Deal sees firm behind ChatGPT collaborate with government on AI security research to explore investment opportunities Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

AWS adds vector functionality to S3 object storage

S3 Vectors allows customers to store AI vector data in S3 object storage, a move that potentially allows for much cheaper storage of vectorised data usually held in vector databases Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

The Bank of England’s quiet ‘Big Bang’

The Bank of England has completed its generational project to replace part of the UK’s critical infrastructure, which went unnoticed beyond the sector it underpins Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Hitachi Vantara claims Hitachi iQ the most complete AI stack

Hitachi Vantara says its approach to storage and AI offers the most comprehensive solutions, based on its industrial heritage and RAG-like functionality it claims others don’t have Continue Reading

By

• Stéphane Larcher, LeMagIT
• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

Fresh allegations of ‘sustained’ police and MI5 surveillance against BBC reporters

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal is investigating claims that police spied on the phone of investigative journalist Chris Moore amid further claims of a sustained monitoring operation against BBC reporters in Northern Ireland between 2006 and 2022 Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

UK may be seeking to pull back from Apple encryption row with US

UK government officials say that attempts by the Home Office to require Apple to introduce ‘backdoors’ to its secure encrypted storage service will cross US red lines Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Patch ToolShell SharePoint zero-day immediately, says Microsoft

The active exploitation of a dangerous zero-day vulnerability chain in Microsoft SharePoint – which was disclosed over the weekend – is underway. Immediate action is advised Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

The Security Interviews: Jason Nurse, University of Kent

Jason Nurse, reader in cyber security at the University of Kent, discusses the psychological side of cyber and online safety, why placing blame on users as ‘the weakest link’ is wrong – and why security pros should think about user needs more Continue Reading

By

• Danny Palmer

Meet the deepfake fraudster who applied to work at a deepfake specialist

A recruiter at voice fraud specialist Pindrop had a shock when they came face-to-face with the same deepfake job candidate not once, but twice. Hear their story and learn how to start to protect your hiring process Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government consults public on self-driving vehicles

The consultation will inform the creation of laws and regulations for autonomous vehicles as the government aims to begin piloting self-driving taxis in spring 2026 Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Interview: Alexandra Willis, director of digital media and audience development, The Premier League

Digital media is core to engaging nearly two billion fans of Premier League football around the world, with data analytics and AI playing an ever-more important role Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

NCSC exposes Fancy Bear's Authentic Antics malware attacks

Amid a new round of UK government sanctions targeting Moscow's intelligence apparatus, the NCSC has formally attributed attacks orchestrated with a cleverly-designed malware to the GRU's Fancy Bear cyber unit Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

DWP accused of shielding AI deployments from public scrutiny

Amnesty International and Big Brother Watch say Department for Work and Pensions’ ‘unchecked’ and opaque use of AI in the UK benefits system treats claimants as suspicious and is shielded from public scrutiny Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Is history repeating itself with the government’s push to open public sector cloud deals to SMEs?

The UK government wants to help public sector IT buyers do away with legacy tech and migrate to the cloud, with the help of a soon-to-be-launched procurement marketplace. But haven’t we heard all this before? Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Post Office Horizon scandal explained: Everything you need to know

Computer Weekly has investigated the Post Office Horizon scandal since 2008 and is, in fact, part of the story. This guide contains essential information about the scandal Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Peer warns IT suppliers against partnering with Fujitsu in government contracts

According to publicly available figures, Fujitsu has won over half a billion pounds in government business as prime contractor since January 2024, but there is more than what has been reported Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Charities struggle to find the skills to adopt AI

Charities are building pace with digital adoption, but in many cases a lack of skills stands in the way of properly utilising tech Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

First Post Office Capture conviction referred to Court of Appeal

A former Capture software user’s 1998 theft conviction is the first to be referred to the Court of Appeal Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Estimated 96% of EMEA financial services sector not ready for DORA

Research from data backup provider Veeam indicates that vast majority of European financial services firms do not feel ready to meet the resiliency requirements of the EU’s DORA act Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

UK government plans to ramp up sovereign computer capacity

Isambard-AI and Dawn are two of the supercomputers that mark the beginning of the UK’s goal to deliver 420 Exaflops of computer by 2030 Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Norway’s autonomous bus moves into the fast lane

In a small but ambitious project in the city of Stavanger in Norway, autonomous buses are proving they might one day solve a critical problem: the chronic shortage of bus drivers Continue Reading

Fujitsu outage crashes Post Office Horizon system

Japanese IT giant’s time serving the Post Office is due to end next year, but problems persist Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Travelex replacing its software spine as part of cloud migration

The foreign currency supplier is replacing its legacy supply chain backbone to enable its migration to the cloud Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Terrorist potential of generative AI ‘purely theoretical’

UK terror legislation advisor takes stock of the potential for generative artificial intelligence systems to be adopted by terrorists, particularly for propaganda and attack planning purposes, but acknowledges the impact may be limited Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Podcast: How (agentic) AI can help with unstructured data

In this podcast, MongoDB CTO Boris Bialek discusses how artificial intelligence can bring together multiple levels of corporate data to better automate processes and how agentic AI can be a key part of that Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

What is the internet of medical things (IoMT)?

The internet of medical things (IoMT) is the collection of medical devices and applications that connect to healthcare IT systems through online computer networks. Continue Reading

By

• Alexander S. Gillis, Technical Writer and Editor
• Ben Lutkevich, Site Editor
• Alex DelVecchio, Content Development Strategist

Co-op chief ‘incredibly sorry’ for theft of 6.5m members’ data

Co-op chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq has revealed that all the personal data of all 6.5 million of its members was compromised in the April 2025 cyber attack on its systems Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Scattered Spider playbook evolving fast, says Microsoft

Microsoft warns users over notable evolutions in Scattered Spider’s attack playbook, and beefs up some of the defensive capabilities it offers to customers in response Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK government to invest £1m in building out regional tech clusters

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is leading a push to make the UK tech sector less London-centric Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

BBC plans to outsource and offshore thousands of tech roles

The BBC is drawing up plans to outsource roles in its digital product group and finance, which could include some being carried out overseas Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Pure Storage profits from all-flash, as-a-service and cloud focus

Storage profile: Pure Storage evolves its all-flash offer across multiple workloads while embracing cloud models in data management, as-a-service and containerisation Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

UKtech50 2025 winner: Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO, DeepMind

From chess prodigy to AI visionary, this year’s most influential person in UK technology is far from ordinary. From using AI to win video games to discovering the structure of proteins, Demis Hassabis is a force to be reckoned with Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UKtech50 2025: The most influential people in UK technology

Computer Weekly has announced the 15th annual UKtech50 – our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK tech sector Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Current approaches to patching unsustainable, report says

Organisations are struggling to prioritise vulnerability patching appropriately, leading to situations where everything is a crisis, which helps nobody, according to a report Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

MoD cyber breach put thousands of Afghan lives at risk

More than 18,000 Afghan citizens eligible to relocate to the UK under a government programme to protect them from the Taliban were put at risk in a heretofore unreportable data breach Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Ada Lovelace: using market forces to professionalise AI assurance

The Ada Lovelace Institute examines how ‘market forces’ can be used to drive the professionalisation of artificial intelligence assurance in the context of a wider political shift towards deregulation Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Data (Use and Access) Act: Reflections on an eight-month statute

It took a long time, but the government's new data legislation finally made it into the statute book - it holds a lot of promise, but also leaves a lot of unanswered questions Continue Reading

By

• Lord Chris Holmes, House of Lords

Brits clinging to Windows 10 face heightened risk, says NCSC

Businesses and consumers alike may not feel the need to upgrade to Windows 11 as its predecessor approaches end-of-life, but they are putting their own security at risk, says the NCSC Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Luxury retailer LVMH says UK customer data was stolen in cyber attack

French luxury goods retailer LVMH has disclosed multiple cyber attacks in 2025 so far, and their impact is now spreading to the UK as a new incident affecting Louis Vuitton comes to light Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Home Office dumps Fujitsu from IT services contract

Home Office to take IT service desk contract in-house, with staff set to transfer from Fujitsu Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Technology fuels successful FCA fight against unauthorised financial services

The UK finance regulator is using data and technology to identify websites and apps that could cause financial harm Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

MoD supply chain cyber scheme gets up and running

The Ministry of Defence and IASME have launched a certification scheme for organisations working in the UK defence supply chain, with construction firm Morgan Sindall the first business to achieve compliance Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Meta and Alan Turing Institute back open source AI fellowship

Labour’s AI fellowship will see experts use open source AI tools in a bid deliver better public services at lower cost Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Former Post Office staff in Horizon replacement bid team

Escher, which supplied middleware in the Post Office Horizon system, is eyeing up the contract to replace the controversial software Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK to create ‘governance framework’ for police facial recognition

Home secretary Yvette Cooper has confirmed UK will regulate police facial recognition, citing police reticence to deploy systems without proper governance, but declined to say if any new framework will be statutory Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

UK online safety regime ineffective on misinformation, MPs say

A report from the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee outlines how the Online Safety Act fails to deal with the algorithmic amplification of ‘legal but harmful’ misinformation Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

European Commission accused of rigging data watchdog appointment

The European Commission has been accused of rigging the selection process for the next European Data Protection supervisor Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor
• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Government funding to help SMEs protect their IP

Scheme will see SMEs and innovative startups working in sensitive sectors receive advice on enhancing cyber and physical security measures to protect their valuable intellectual property Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK and France forge closer cyber, tech research ties

The navigation and timing systems used by power suppliers and emergency services to run their operations will fall in scope of an Anglo-French research pact that will also foster development in AI and supercomputing Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Irish bank rolls out AI tools to 10,000 staff

Following exploration of artificial intelligence’s potential in conjunction with staff, AIB is rolling the tools out across the company Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Four arrested in M&S cyber attack investigation

Police have made four arrests in connection with a trio of cyber attacks on UK retailers Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Harrods Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Podcast: HDDs performance metrics and the workloads they excel at

We talk to Toshiba’s Rainer Kaese about spinning disk performance, why HDDs are good at what they do and how hard disk drives still come out top in workloads that suit them Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Mini gets into gear with Transatel to drive connected car services

NTT subsidiary teams up with BMW Group division to enable connected car services for vehicles across 27 countries in Europe and deliver a more connected automotive ecosystem Continue Reading

By

• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly

NAO says government should employ data analytics to tackle fraud

The National Audit Office recommends public bodies share and manage data in a way that prevents fraud and saves taxpayers’ money Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Accounting watchdog ‘disclaims’ College of Policing financial accounts after serious IT failures

The professional body for policing in England and Wales failed to properly manage its transition to new accounting and payroll systems Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Podcast: Container storage challenges and how to overcome them

We talk to Pure Storage about the challenges of increased complexity, ‘technical debt’, skills needs of container deployments and why strategic thinking trumps tactical solutions Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

July Patch Tuesday brings over 130 new flaws to address

Microsoft patched well over 100 new common vulnerabilities and exposures on the second Tuesday of the month, but its latest update is mercifully light on zero-days Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor