IT news in your industry sector

Feds expand Facebook data sharing probe

The US federal probe into Facebook’s data sharing practices is expanding and MEPs are considering new measures as the firm reveals it granted extended access to 61 companies and admits to another data sharing software bug Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Government launches G-Cloud 10

The 10th iteration of G-Cloud is now live, with more than 3,500 suppliers awarded a place on the procurement framework Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Food Standards Agency pilots blockchain in slaughterhouse

Distributed ledger technology trialled in cattle slaughterhouse to improve transparency across the food supply chain Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UK financial services firms up tech investments to fuel new services

Driven by the need to offer new services, as well as meet industry regulations, UK financial services firms are increasing spending on IT Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Case study: Logistics firm GWC moves from paper to digital HR in three months

Qatar-based logistics firm Gulf Warehousing Company introduced smart appraisals for employees, cut the time it takes to recruit, and gave staff and managers access to accurate HR data by replacing paper systems with human resources software Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Security Think Tank: Put more layers around passwords to up security

In light of the fact that complex passwords are not as strong as most people think and most password strategies inevitably lead to people following them blindly, what actually makes a good password and when is a password alone not enough? Continue Reading

By

• Maxine Holt, Omdia

Linux targeted by illicit cryptocurrency miners

Cryptojacking is increasingly being used by cyber criminals to raise funds, Watchguard report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Huge potential for use of big data to improve ambulance services, report finds

King’s College London report says government should explore value of big data, and calls for London ambulance services to partner with TfL to navigate traffic ‘more intelligently’ Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Department for Work and Pensions uses artificial intelligence to crack down on benefits fraud

DWP has made several digital strides, including developing AI to track organised benefits fraud, moved more than 100 digital products to “new hosting arrangements” and made savings on technology contracts, according to its annual report Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Bolloré Group partners with Alibaba for cloud and co-development

French transportation conglomerate will use Alibaba cloud, and Alibaba will look at using Bolloré's battery technology in its datacentres Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Finland’s R&D spending is recovering after a lost decade

The Finnish tech sector could benefit form better access to funds as the government prepares to increase spending on research and development Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

HMRC deactivates record number of fake websites

HM Revenue & Customs has removed more than 20,000 malicious websites in the past year, but warns people to stay alert to the threat from online fraudsters Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Singapore’s Fullerton Health gears up for the cloud

Private healthcare service provider Fullerton Health is moving business applications to Microsoft’s cloud services before rolling out data analytics and artificial intelligence to enhance operations and patient care Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Australian government grappling with digital transformation woes

Digital transformation in Australia’s public sector has been beset by soaring rhetoric and vague aspirations by government, a new report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Beverley Head

UK government cyber security standard welcomed

The information security community has welcomed the publication of the government’s minimum cyber security standard, which could be used by any organisation to improve its cyber defences Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

GDPR exposes breach reporting flaws

In the month since the GDPR compliance deadline, it has become clear that many organisations are not well prepared for personal data breach notifications, says PwC’s data protection lead Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Home Office criticised over ESN review progress

In an appearance before the Public Accounts Committee, Home Office permanent secretary Philip Rutnam defended the progress of the ESN project review Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK police forces are not taking advantage of digital, says policing minister

Embracing technology remains one of the biggest challenges facing UK police forces, according to policing minister Nick Hurd Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Openreach starts full-fibre roll-out in Exeter

Network builder Openreach adds Exeter to its Fibre First FTTP broadband roll-out Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NHS Digital signs three-year cyber security partnership with IBM

Partnership with IBM aims to bolster cyber security responses and defences, including expanding NHS Digital’s Cyber Security and Operations Centre Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UK biometrics strategy criticised for lack of content

The long-awaited government biometrics strategy falls short of the mark, say critics, failing to provide a detailed and coherent strategy or governance framework Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

British Muslim considers appeal after court rules repeated terrorism stops are legal

Muzaffar Abdullah, a 37-year-old gas engineer who has been stopped and questioned by police at airports at least 10 times, is considering an appeal after being found guilty of wilful obstruction for refusing to answer questions under controversial terrorism legislation. He received a conditional discharge. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Manufacturers, technology and the fourth industrial revolution

A look at some of the innovations and technology investment focus areas for today’s manufacturing industry Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

TfL partners with Siemens to revamp traffic network for connected cars

A traffic control system being developed by Siemens and TfL will propel traffic management into the era of the internet of things Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

First Lorca cohort to focus on security orchestration

The first companies to benefit from the new London cyber innovation centre will focus on cyber security orchestration and automation Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Google courts Hollywood creative community with Los Angeles cloud datacentre region

Google is making a concerted effort to win over the media and entertainment industry with its cloud offerings by pairing the opening of a new datacentre region with services tailored towards Hollywood creatives Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Significant challenges remain with HMRC’s customs IT system, says NAO

HM Revenue and Customs has reduced “some risks” in its customs declaration service’s readiness for Brexit, but the tight timetable remains a “major challenge”, says National Audit Office Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Two further regions join care record exemplar programme

Yorkshire and Humber and Thames Valley have been chosen by NHS England to join the three other care record exemplars, each receiving up to £7.5m to speed up delivery of integrated health and care Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Ticketmaster warns of third-party data breach

Ticketmaster has warned of a potential data breach through malware found in a third-party customer support service, underlining the importance of supply chain security Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

PizzaExpress launches augmented reality football game

Italian restaurant chain PizzaExpress has launched an augmented reality football game for customers to play during meals Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Nationwide Building Society to fund tech startups to the tune of £50m

With an available fund of £50m, Nationwide Building Society is the latest traditional financial services provider to support tech startups Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lorca will help drive UK cyber exports, says ex-GCHQ boss

New London cyber security innovation centre will help to boost exports of UK cyber security expertise, says former GCHQ director Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

BBC launches online archive for 1980s Computer Literacy Project

Archive will enable people to read up on a 10-year project developed by the BBC in the 1980s Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Government must challenge popular smart city misconceptions

A report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smart Cities says many people feel alienated by the concept, and calls on the government to challenge some popular misconceptions Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cyber criminals 'infect and collect' in cryptojacking surge

Illicit cryptocurrency mining offers cyber criminals lower risk, higher efficacy and greater ease of making money, adding passive exploitation to ransomware extortion, data breach theft and fraud, a report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Brent Council tenants to receive full-fibre broadband service

Borough-wide FTTP broadband roll-out could address up to 100,000 homes and businesses in North London Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Technology key to keeping staff happy

Giving employees access to the latest technologies will improve their satisfaction and increase productivity, survey shows Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

AI and other tech key to post-Brexit success, says Matt Hancock

Digital secretary Matt Hancock highlights the importance of emerging technologies to the future of the UK at the opening of London’s cyber security innovation centre Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

GDS is trying to democratise digital, says Cunnington

GDS boss Kevin Cunnington offers departments help with Brexit and says GDS is working to solve the “hardest problems”, as well as mapping innovation across government Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

SSE Enterprise Telecoms bids to solve UK’s backhaul problem

By layering Infinera technology over its existing network, SSE Enterprise Telecoms plans to deliver what it refers to as a ‘dark fibre-like’ access product for communications services providers Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

British Muslim challenges use of intelligence databases for repeated police stops

Muzaffar Abdullah is challenging police use of intelligence databases to repeatedly stop and question Muslims, after being arrested for refusing to answer questions under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. His lawyers say he had been stopped at least 10 times before and the police should have known he had no connection to terrorism Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

High-Tech Bridge bets on machine learning capabilities

Machine learning has a great potential to drive the automation of some security tasks to free up information security professionals to do more strategic work, says High-Tech Bridge founder Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Hospitality industry under siege from botnets

The hospitality industry, including hotels, airlines and cruise lines, is the biggest target for cyber criminal botnet attacks that abuse credentials and overwhelm online systems, a report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

NHS collaborates with private health on sharing patient data

Work has begun on establishing a set of data standards to enable private healthcare patients’ data to be shared with the NHS Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Liberty Global picks Cisco to transform customer service ops

Virgin Media parent enlists Cisco in a bid to transform its customer service experience across Europe Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

London cyber innovation centre opens

The government-funded London cyber innovation centre is set to open today and welcome the first cyber security businesses as a study reveals that a quarter of UK firms lack the right security technology Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Projects receive funding to help digitise manufacturing

Following recommendations from the Industrial Digitisation review, the EPSRC is funding AI and process automation projects Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

VM-aware storage pioneer Tintri on verge of bankruptcy

Recent first-quarter results by the VM-aware storage pioneer throw light on a fragile financial situation that needs new funds or a buyer to avoid bankruptcy by the end of June Continue Reading

By

• Christophe Bardy

Nordic and Baltic states agree on joint approach to AI

The governments of the Nordic and Baltic region want to work closer together to further increase the status of artificial intelligence in business and society Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

UK privacy groups join call on EU to halt comms data collection

UK-based privacy groups have joined calls for a halt to the collection of communications data by European Union member states Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Openreach extends Gfast broadband roll-out

Openreach commits to rolling out Gfast broadband services to 59 new locations in the next phase of its ultrafast deployment plan Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Most infosec pros would trust hacker-tested products

Information security professionals are more likely to trust a product or company tested by hackers and most would respond to security reports from this community, a survey has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

CCS cancels Crown Marketplace tender, but says programme continues

The Crown Commercial Service has cancelled a tender for an element of the Crown Marketplace, but insists the programme continues as the organisation has made “important decisions” to clarify scope and focus Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Mobile spectrum sharing is vital for UK 5G roll-out, says report

A report commissioned by independent network builders’ body Inca has warned that current approaches to how spectrum is apportioned are leaving vast amounts unused, and this needs to change Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK Space Agency offers £4m fund for using space tech in the NHS

The UK Space Agency is giving £4m to innovators working to adapt space technology to improve medical treatment and care in the NHS Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Assessing the hyperscale squeeze on G-Cloud's SMEs

The latest government spend data suggests public sector IT buyers are increasingly using G-Cloud to procure services from the hyperscale cloud community, prompting concerns about the impact this might have on the SME-friendly framework Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

BEIS and DfE not addressing Brexit impact on Stem skills, says PAC

A Public Accounts Committee report has raised concerns that government departments are not doing enough, quickly enough, to understand how Brexit will affect the supply of science, technology, engineering and maths skills in the UK Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK cyber skills in demand, says Dorset firm C3IA Solutions

UK cyber security skills are in demand and there is a bright future in exporting them, according to Dorset-based firm C3IA Solutions Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Brexit-induced immigration law shake-up ‘could spur tech startup growth’

By rebuilding immigration laws after it leaves the EU, the UK could make it easier for foreign workers to get visas and join startups, House of Lords committee hears Continue Reading

By

• Zach Emmanuel, Computer Weekly

IBM early findings on disastrous TSB core banking system migration released

Report released by Treasury Committee criticises lack of rigour in preparation for core banking system migration, but TSB says report’s content is out of date Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

SME provider takes on Cambridgeshire public sector network contract

Managed network services provider MLL Telecom has been awarded the EastNet contract to run WAN services across Cambridgeshire, replacing a legacy Virgin Media Network Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

How do e-commerce returns affect reverse logistics management?

Customers expect to return purchases, which means you need to be proactive in your approach to reverse logistics. Here are some things to think about. Continue Reading

By

• Scott Koegler

A dozen councils get tech innovation funding

The councils will use the funding, awarded by NHS Digital and the Local Government Association, to pilot how technology can improve social care services Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Infosec pros expect increase in nation state cyber attacks

Most information security professionals expect a rise in nation state cyber attacks, with more than two-thirds preparing to defend against them Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

L is for the way you look at renewable heating technology

A civil servant has swapped her job at the Department for Education for a stint on ITV’s hit reality show Love Island. Zara McDermott, who had previously been developing government policy on ... Continue Reading

By

• Ryan Priest

CDO interview: Andrei Belevtsev, Gazprom Neft

Russian oil giant will harness the latest technologies right across its business, says chief digital officer Continue Reading

By

• Vladimir Kozlov

Nokia outsources IT infrastructure and application services to HCL

Five-year deal will bring together the services delivered by four different IT companies. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government sponsors diversity cyber academy

The UK government has awarded a grant for the establishment of a cyber academy to promote neurodiversity in the industry Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Lloyds Bank cuts 450 jobs to make way for digitisation roles

Lloyds Banking Group has axed 450 jobs to create 255 digital-focused roles as it adapts to changes in customer banking habits Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HR projects are leading company moves to digital tech, say business leaders

Business leaders say their human resource IT programmes are leading the way to the wider deployment of digital and cloud technology across their organisations Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

How NHS visa cap exemption could help boost tech sector

The government has announced that NHS doctors and nurses will no longer be subject to Tier 2 visa caps, but what does this mean for the technology industry? Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Need for speed: designing a modern campus LAN

Just like datacentres before them, campus LANs are increasingly being defined by virtualisation and software-based controls. Next to this shift, the hardware also continues to improve as network owners look to keep pace with user demand Continue Reading

By

• Christian Annesley

Vodafone to start 5G trials this autumn

MNO announces 5G trials in seven UK cities, with new mobile network infrastructure to be rolled out from October Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Mobile operators appeal for dark fibre access to back 5G

O2, Three and Vodafone unite in calling for more to be done to open up dark fibre networks to supply desperately needed capacity for their future 5G networks Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CIO interview: Mike Young, Centrica

We speak to the CIO whose CEO recently met with the head of Microsoft to talk about strategy Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

San Francisco 49ers add pace to the team with NVMe flash from Datrium

US NFL football team plans high-performance NVMe flash to power in-game statistics and video decision-making, plus access for scouts to player databases during draft Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Banks already looking for EU-based IT staff for post-Brexit operations

UK banks already have plans to move some of their operations to the EU, with the search for EU-based IT professionals under way Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nine out of 10 enterprises will use robotic process automation by 2020

Robotic process automation take-up expected to reach 92% of European enterprises within two years, finds ISG survey Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Oracle full-year results show 6% growth, but cloud revenue opaque?

Oracle’s full-year results for 2017-18 reveal total revenue of $39.8bn, up 6%, but reporting of cloud with on-premise revenue under “bring your own licence” policy has raised qualm over cloud weakness obfuscation Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

CIO interview: Taavi Kotka, former CIO, Estonian government

Estonia’s former CIO talks to Computer Weekly about how to make services work for people, why the skills gap shouldn’t be an excuse not to digitise, and the importance of going to the gym Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

More APAC consumer goods firms expected to adopt blockchain

The adoption of blockchain technology is likely to increase in the consumer goods industry as more businesses use the technology to address fraud and improve supply chain management Continue Reading

By

• Kimberly Chua

Dutch organisations must unite to fight DDoS attacks

Experts in the Netherlands call on Dutch corporations and institutions to work together to help prevent distributed denial of service attacks Continue Reading

By

• Tijs Hofmans

Most small businesses fail to act after a cyber attack  

Nearly half of small businesses have suffered at least one cyber attack in the past year, yet most fail to take action afterwards, citing lack of budget at the biggest challenge Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Fintech takes headlines but Insurtech is a huge opportunity

Insurtech doesn't have the ring of Fintech but the opportunity to personalise insurance through tech is huge Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Debit card payments surpassed cash for first time in 2017

For the first time, UK customers used debit cards to make more payments than cash in 2017, a change which has come a year earlier than expected. Continue Reading

By

• Zach Emmanuel, Computer Weekly

Visa reveals 'rare' datacentre switch fault as root cause of June 2018 outage

Visa has offered a retrospective analysis of what went wrong in its datacentre during its UK-wide outage on Friday 1 June, in response to a request from the Treasury Select Committee for more detail about the downtime Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Surface web used in private data sales

The surface web plays an integral role in the selling of personal information, a report on identify fraud has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Young generation tempted by Amazon bank-like services

Tech firms offering banking services will be inevitable in the future as more than half of young people are tempted by such a prospect Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government’s broadband service obligation derided by industry

As Ofcom starts the process of finding a provider willing to step up to manage the government’s 10Mbps broadband universal service obligation, the project has been derided by network builders and stakeholders alike Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CIO interview: Michael Cole, European Tour and Ryder Cup

Michael Cole, chief technology officer at the European Tour and Ryder Cup, discusses how he is helping the sport of golf broaden its appeal through his “connected course” digital transformation vision Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NHS trust dumps creaking EMC SAN for Nutanix hyper-converged

Derbyshire-based NHS trust had reached end-of-life with Dell servers and EMC SAN, so it took the plunge with Nutanix hyper-converged to reap space, power and reliability gains Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

MPs see risk to critical infrastructure as top threat

A majority of MPs are concerned about the cyber threat to critical national infrastructure, a survey has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Technology can help solve some of society’s pressing social and environmental problems

A recent initiative on using technology to tackle the illegal wildlife trade shows how much the tech sector can contribute to solving some of society's biggest challenges Continue Reading

By

• Julian David, TechUK

An audience with Matt Hancock, secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport

Matt Hancock is the first Cabinet minister with a digital background, and he's keen to impress on the tech sector that he’s on their side. Continue Reading

Theresa May gives NHS £20bn birthday gift and says tech is key

The prime minister promises to increase NHS funding by an extra £20bn a year by 2023, and highlights importance of tech in improving care and enabling earlier diagnosis Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Bank uses AI to select job candidates

Singapore’s DBS Bank is using artificial intelligence to automate parts of its recruitment process Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IPsoft’s digital worker is part of a shift in human productivity

IPsoft used its annual user summit to allow customers to update themselves on the career of its cognitive digital agent Amelia Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

DeepMind Health must be transparent to gain public trust, review finds

Independent review of DeepMind Health says the company should provide more clarity on data and business plans, while legal audit finds its controversial data-sharing deal with Royal Free is lawful Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Universal Credit value for money ‘unproven’, says NAO

National Audit Office is uncertain DWP’s flagship benefits reform programme will ever achieve value for money, but says it’s too late to turn back Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

The next moves by DCMS on data and digital identity must lay foundations for UK's digital economy

Matt Hancock, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS), is not everyone’s cup of tea – especially when that cup is Matt Hancock branded. But regardless of whether you’re ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief