IT news in your industry sector

Sainsbury’s outsources for cloud-first benefits

Retailer signs multi-year IT services contract with Tata Consultancy Services to support move to cloud-first strategy Continue Reading

Apple puts pressure on manufacturing partners to decarbonise their operations through yearly audits

Consumer electronics giant wants its global supply chain partners to follow its lead on becoming a carbon-neutral company Continue Reading

US authorities charge two Chinese spies over telco security probe

Two Chinese nationals have been charged with attempting to obstruct the criminal prosecution of a prominent Chinese telecoms firm Continue Reading

UK needs stronger regional innovation clusters outside South East

Venture capital fund managers speak to Computer Weekly about the importance of innovation clusters to the UK tech ecosystem, and the need to develop further investment opportunities outside the South East Continue Reading

UK finance regulator investigates big tech finance threats and benefits

The UK financial services regulator is gathering information about the benefits and targets of big tech firms offering financial services Continue Reading

Germany: European Court of Justice asked to rule on legality of hacked EncroChat phone evidence

Berlin’s Regional Court has asked the European Court of Justice to answer questions about whether the use of hacked EncroChat phone evidence complies with European law Continue Reading

Digital-first businesses more willing to accept some fraud

Companies founded in the past 20 years appear more willing to accept higher levels of fraudulent activity during the customer onboarding process, according to a report Continue Reading

Government speeds up NHS Digital and NHS England merger

NHS bodies will now merge in early January 2023, aiming to create a single statutory body for NHS data and technology Continue Reading

Half of staff might quit after a cyber attack, report says

Findings from a survey of CISOs, IT leaders and staffers reveal how experiencing a cyber incident may take a larger-than-thought toll on employee retention Continue Reading

Berlingske Media to go all-digital in 2023

Danish publisher moves national daily newspaper fully online as it cuts costs and reacts to changing customer habits Continue Reading

HSBC chooses Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer service to underpin digital

Bank selects Oracle’s Cloud@Customer service to upgrade and migrate some of its database systems as part of its digital transformation Continue Reading

Cloud bursting: Six key steps in planning and decision-making

We explore the key stages in a cloud bursting project: assessing the data and workflows, variants in the mechanism, application suitability, having the right resources, and planning and testing Continue Reading

Ukrainian and UK IT sectors to deepen collaboration, partnerships

BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, and the IT Ukraine Association have signed an MoU to deepen collaboration between the UK and Ukrainian IT sectors, and champion new partnerships and growth opportunities Continue Reading

Did Truss authorise ‘war risk’ provocation over Black Sea?

A UK Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joint spy plane was ordered to approach Russian territory in a Cold-War-style provocation just days after Liz Truss’s mini-budget collapsed Continue Reading

What do the US’s new software security rules mean for UK organisations?

The White House announced recently that all software supplied to the US government and its agencies needs to be secure, so what does this mean for the UK and EU security sectors? Continue Reading

Manchester to launch digital strategy

Four-year strategy to focus on smarter use of technology and data to make Manchester a sustainable and resilient city Continue Reading

Parliamentary committee launches inquiry into AI governance

MPs will examine the impacts of artificial intelligence throughout the UK economy and how governance of the technology can be improved ahead of the government publishing its formal regulatory proposals Continue Reading

Cyber professional shortfall hits 3.4 million

Shortage of cyber security professionals continues to grow and shows no signs of abating, says report Continue Reading

NatWest data breach whistleblower demands bank pay data controller fee to ICO

Whistleblower calls for NatWest to pay the Information Commissioner’s Office annual data controller fee, as the personal details of 1,600 current and former NatWest customers remain under her bed Continue Reading

Singapore extends cyber security labelling scheme to medical devices

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore is extending its cyber security labelling scheme to medical devices to encourage medical device manufacturers to adopt a security-by-design approach to product development Continue Reading

Lloyds Bank launches innovation sandbox

Banking group establishes a sandbox where fintechs can build and test applications for Lloyds Continue Reading

Greenland investigates potential blockchain-based election system

Researchers have been funded to investigate blockchain-based online voting in Greenland Continue Reading

Oracle CloudWorld 2022: Ellison vaunts centrality of healthcare to mission

Oracle CTO Larry Ellison put the company’s healthcare initiatives front and centre of its vision during his keynote at Oracle CloudWorld 2022 in Las Vegas Continue Reading

Treat cyber crime as a ‘strategic threat’, UK businesses told

The government’s new National Cyber Advisory Board aims to help elevate cyber discussion and spur action in the business community Continue Reading

MoD must have clear delivery plan for digital strategy, says NAO

While the Digital Strategy for Defence seems to be going well, the National Audit Office is concerned there is no overarching plan to implement it, or a clear way of measuring whether it is on track Continue Reading

Government introduces Electronic Trade Documents Bill

Digital trade documents will be legally recognised as part of plans to reduce paper documents and speed up processing times Continue Reading

Subpostmaster federation failed its members when they needed it most

A dereliction of duty saw subpostmaster federation ignore its members when IT problems hit and allowed the Post Office destroy their lives Continue Reading

How Russia hacked a former MI6 spy chief

In this week’s Computer Weekly, Russian hackers leaked emails and documents from British government, military, and intelligence officials – we examine the implications. New EU laws will govern online safety and the use of AI, but what do they mean for organisations? And we look at the growth in checkout-free shopping. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Mapping the rise in checkout-free shopping

There has been a boom in the number of checkout-free stores globally, but will that growth continue and which retailers are interested? Continue Reading

GRAID puts RAID on a GPU for cut-price disk protection and rebuilds

US startup puts its software on Nvidia graphics cards to offload RAID processing and throughput of 110GBps throughput across up to 32 NVMe solid-state drives Continue Reading

IR35 reforms repeal scrapped: Government labelled ‘spineless’ over u-turn

The contracting community has not taken kindly to the news that the government is rowing back its plans to repeal the IR35 reforms in the private and public sectors Continue Reading

Government u-turns on plans to scrap IR35 reforms in public and private sector from April 2023

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirms that the planned repeal of the IR35 reforms in the public and private sector is cancelled Continue Reading

Biden ramps up China chip sanctions

The war of words between China and the US has ramifications across the high-tech sector. We report on the latest developments 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

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

Dutch influence standards for post-quantum cryptography

Cryptology group at Dutch research institute is involved in the two primary algorithms of the next NIST portfolio comprising four new standards 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

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

Turing launches government-backed AI standards information hub

The Alan Turing Institute has launched the AI Standards Hub jointly with the British Standards Institution and the National Physical Laboratory, backed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Continue Reading

Bowled out: NVMe flash pioneer Pavilion Data ceases business

Last of the pioneer NVMe flash storage array makers, Pavilion made multiprotocol highs-speed boxes – but it seems to have run out of sources of investment and gone out of business Continue Reading

Cloud bursting: What is it, what workloads, what technologies?

We look at cloud bursting, its benefits and how to deploy it, as well as the limitations in terms of suitable workloads, the technologies needed and the skills to make it happen 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

French Supreme Court rejects EncroChat verdict after lawyers question secrecy over hacking operation

France’s Supreme Court has sent a case back to the court of appeal after police failed to disclose technical details of EncroChat hacking operation 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

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

Google Cloud fleshes out sovereign cloud capabilities for European enterprises

Google Cloud uses the first day of its user conference to provide an update on how its efforts to meet the data sovereignty needs of European enterprises are progressing 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

Online marketplace momentum ushers in new era for retailers

Superdrug is the latest in a growing list of retailers to launch its own online marketplace, joining B&Q, Boots and others in driving a new era for UK retail 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

BHRUT launches digital surgery clinic

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust’s digital surgery clinic, thought to be the first in the world, will give 700 patients access to a digital platform to help them prepare for surgery and speed up recovery Continue Reading

Morrisons joins the fast-growing retail media movement

More retailers are becoming publishers as they realise the potential of their online assets, helping to fuel a new fast-growth segment of digital marketing – and Morrisons is no exception 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

ODI food poverty study shows black families and North East suffering most

A food poverty data report from the Open Data Institute shows black families and the North East of England are suffering the most Continue Reading

Bolt drivers take legal action over employment status

Drivers argue they have been wrongly classified as self-employed, and are seeking backdated wages and holiday pay 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

Proposals for scanning encrypted messages should be cut from Online Safety Bill, say researchers

Automatic scanning of messaging services for illegal content could lead to one billion false alarms each day in Europe 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

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

Developer wellbeing: A Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

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

NFS vs SMB vs CIFS: File storage protocols defined

We take a close look at NFS and SMB – the key file storage access protocols – and weigh up their pros, cons and suitability to differing datacentre environments 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

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

France extradites Spanish EncroChat cryptophone distributors for complicity with organised crime

Three phone sellers have been extradited from Spain to France to face charges that they were complicit in the activities of criminal EncroChat phone users   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

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

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

Security regulation cuts online payment fraud at 73% of retailers

New online payments security standard, Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), sees immediate fall in fraudulent payments to retailers 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

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

Interview: Rachel Hilliam, chair, Alliance for Data Science Professionals

Rachel Hilliam talks about the origins, mission and future plans for the Alliance for Data Science Professionals 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

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

Failure of Russia’s cyber attacks on Ukraine is most important lesson for NCSC

Russia has so far failed in its attempts to destabilise Ukraine through cyber attacks due to strength of Ukrainian, security industry and international efforts 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

Essential Guide: Data Analytics in Healthcare

In the healthcare industry, a large amount of data is already being collected to generate insights on emerging conditions and to improve patient care. Yet, like other industries, the healthcare sector continues to grapple with issues such as data silos and security challenges that stand in the way of harnessing insights. 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

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

How the pandemic accelerated tech adoption in hospitality

The pandemic led to technology adoption across several sectors, with hospitality being no exception 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

Robo investment platform adopts open banking-based payments

Nordic consumer investment fintech simplifies customer experience through open banking software from Mastercard-owned Aiia 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

American football giants jet into digital age with HCLTech

US football clubs the New York Jets and New York Giants outsource their digital transformations to Indian service provider as they target improved fan engagement Continue Reading