IT news in your industry sector

Lloyds bank kicks off Hyderabad operation

Lloyds Banking Group has opened its latest tech operation in Hyderabad, with plans to recruit around 600 IT experts Continue Reading

Government announces millions to fund AI skills

Funding has been allocated to ensure the UK grows its understanding of artificial intelligence and develops an AI talent base to help properly utilise the technology in the future Continue Reading

The cause of the Post Office Horizon scandal? The Law Commission? Judges? Lawyers?

The appropriateness of the current law on the use of computer evidence in court is under the spotlight following Post Office scandal revelations Continue Reading

Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson on her AI Safety Summit goals

As the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park takes place, Computer Weekly caught up with Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson to find out what one of the UK’s most prominent AI advocates wants from proceedings Continue Reading

The world's most advanced Arabic LLM is now available on open source

On 30 August 2023, Abu Dhabi-based Inception, a subsidiary of G42, announced the release of an Arabic large language model to open source Continue Reading

British Library falls victim to cyber attack

The British Library is experiencing a major IT outage following a cyber incident of an undisclosed nature Continue Reading

Biden’s AI plans focus on US workers’ protection

The US president has issued an Executive Order that sets out his administration’s strategy for AI safety and security Continue Reading

Over a quarter of UK adults use buy now, pay later fintechs

Latest research from UK financial services regulator shows BNPL more likely to be used by people experiencing financial difficulty Continue Reading

The implications of biased AI models on the financial services industry

The Bank of England has warned of the risk artificial intelligence models present in creating bias that could pose a threat to the UK’s financial services sector. How do those risks emerge and how they might be mitigated?   Continue Reading

UK government to invest £100m in using AI to research treatments for incurable diseases

Prime minister Rishi Sunak confirms £100m in government funding for AI-led research into incurable diseases Continue Reading

UK government AI Summit already branded ‘missed opportunity’

The dominance of big tech firms, a focus on speculative risks over real-world harms, and the exclusion of affected workers, mean the AI Safety Summit is a wasted opportunity, say civil society groups Continue Reading

Frontier AI Taskforce starts recruitment drive

The second progress report from the Frontier AI Taskforce reveals new hires plus vacancy posts for software and research engineers Continue Reading

Tech firms cite risk to end-to-end encryption as Online Safety Bill gets royal assent

Tech firms continue to be concerned that the Online Safety Bill could undermine end-to-end encryption despite government reassurances Continue Reading

Domestic abuse charities surface fresh worries over NHS data sharing

With new NHS data access options coming into effect at the end of October, a group of campaigners including womens' charities and the BMA have warned that the revived GP-patient data sharing scheme risks putting vulnerable people at risk Continue Reading

‘Egregious’ to link passport data with facial recognition systems

The Scottish biometrics watchdog has spoken out against the UK policing minister’s plans to integrate passport data with police facial recognition systems Continue Reading

UK regulators confident they are ready for AI safety governance

MPs at a recent artificial intelligence governance meeting were keen to hear how Ofcom, the FCA and the ICO are preparing for UK AI legislation Continue Reading

Germany: European Court opinion kicks questions over EncroChat back to national courts

Germany lawfully obtained data on German EncroChat users from France, but whether the evidence is legally admissible is a matter for national courts Continue Reading

ChatGPT, Bard, lack effective defences against fraudsters, Which? warns

Consumer advocacy Which? warns that popular generative AI tools are vulnerable to loopholes that render existing protections against malicious usage easily bypassed Continue Reading

Sunak sets scene for upcoming AI Safety Summit

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has outlined how the UK will approach making AI safe, but experts say there is still too big a focus on catastrophic but speculative risks over real harms the technology is already causing Continue Reading

Government-led Smart Data Discovery Challenge launched to stoke innovation

A government-led coalition has launched an open-call competition for ideas using smart data to help support individuals and small businesses, emulating open banking Continue Reading

Key themes emerge from Lenovo's 2023 analyst conference

Enterprise Strategy Group looks at Lenovo's 2023 Global Industry Analyst Conference and how the company is taking a more holistic view, with a focus on AI and sustainability. Continue Reading

Finland shows off its new 20-qubit quantum computer

Anybody who scoffs at Finland’s lofty ambitions in the field of quantum computing should remember that not only is the country home to one of Europe's most successful companies (Nokia), but it also houses Europe’s most powerful supercomputer (LUMI). Continue Reading

UK Finance paints mixed picture of fraud as losses top £500m

UK losses to fraud in the first six months of the year topped £500m, but a slight decline in overall crime rates was observed, according to UK Finance’s latest data Continue Reading

1Password caught up in Okta support breach

After breaches at BeyondTrust and Cloudflare, 1Password, a third customer of Okta operating in the same space, has revealed that it too was impacted in a breach of the IAM house’s support systems Continue Reading

UK IT professionals express concerns about government’s generative AI goals

Research reveals 93% of UK IT professionals are concerned by the government’s current plan to become a global leader in artificial intelligence because of lack of training and risk assessment Continue Reading

Michelle Donelan reaffirms UK's commitment to AI safety

In a keynote speech, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology discussed the UK's pro-innovation approach to AI safety Continue Reading

Kaspersky opens up over spyware campaign targeting its staffers

Kaspersky has shared more details of the TriangleDB spyware that was used against its own workforce by an unknown APT group Continue Reading

Customers speak out over Okta’s response to latest breach

Customers of identity specialist Okta have been attacked via a compromise of its systems, and are claiming Okta’s response leaves something to be desired Continue Reading

Suzy Lamplugh Trust treads path to improved cyber resilience

Personal safety charity enlists the support of the London Cyber Resilience Centre to improve staff awareness and strengthen its overall cyber resilience Continue Reading

NetApp ‘unified storage’ adds new ASA block storage at Insight

Las Vegas event sees NetApp continue its evolution to hybrid cloud and data management player announce ASA C-series and Keystone and Kubernetes storage enhancements Continue Reading

Government puts £75m into innovation hubs

Eight innovation ‘launchpads’ will each get a share of the funding for projects covering sectors such as agri-tech, digital healthcare, renewable energy and technologies for the creative industry Continue Reading

Brewing data insights at Heineken

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how brewing giant Heineken is building a data ecosystem to share insights and tap into AI capabilities. The UK is conducting a formal investigation into AWS and Microsoft’s cloud dominance – what will it mean for users? And we examine how generative AI could be used to improve customer experience. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

CTO interview: Pegasystems’ Don Schuerman on using AI to set business goals

Generative AI is on the cusp of allowing companies to automate business processes to meet business goals Continue Reading

Dell updates PowerStore, PowerMax and PowerFlex storage

Dell storage upgrades include improved AIOps, lower energy usage, real-time HA failover, seamless hardware replacement, and enhancements to take advantage of DPU acceleration Continue Reading

Taxpayers to fund a further £150m for Post Office IT scandal

Total bill for the scandal goes well over £1bn, as subpostmaster campaign leader considers private prosecutions of Post Office executives Continue Reading

Jaguar TCS Formula E racing team making breakthroughs that will fine-tune electric road vehicles

The Jaguar TCS Formula E racing team is using software and digital simulations to continually improve its electric racing cars, leading to better performing electric vehicles on our roads Continue Reading

Collaboration paramount in KPN’s successful business transformation

KPN tells Oracle CloudWorld 2023 how it transformed when its legacy systems became obstacles to supporting its customers on their digital journeys Continue Reading

Five Eyes chiefs warn of Chinese spying campaign to steal high-tech secrets

Intelligence chiefs warn high-tech companies and universities they may be the target of attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to steal technology secrets Continue Reading

Five key questions about disaster recovery as a service

Disaster recovery as a service builds recovery data and systems into the cloud, accessible from anywhere. We look at the difference vs cloud backup, DRaaS use cases, the cost, and the firms that provide it Continue Reading

CDO interview: Carter Cousineau, vice-president of data and model governance, Thomson Reuters

The news and information provider places a premium on responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence, and central to that is the governance of data and the models surrounding it Continue Reading

NetApp: NAS pioneer well set for the cloud revolution

In this storage profile, we look at NetApp, which built a reputation in file access storage but seems to be set fair to navigate a future of hybrid cloud, cloud-native and containerisation Continue Reading

Public Accounts Committee highlights smart meter failures

In spite of failing to meet roll-out targets, millions of smart meters are not working, and some will break once 3G and 2G networks are switched off Continue Reading

Nuclear regulator raps EDF over cyber compliance

The Office for Nuclear Regulation says EDF has come up short on needed measures to improve cyber security standards at several critical UK nuclear facilities Continue Reading

Sellafield local authority unsure if data was stolen six years on from North Korea ransomware attack

Senior managers at an ‘Achilles heel’ local authority for Europe’s biggest nuclear site ‘still don’t know what was lost’ in a 2017 cyber attack, according to a council source Continue Reading

Government concedes it will miss 2024 e-prescribing target

The government won’t meet its target to get rid of paper prescribing in hospitals by 2024, and has pushed the goal post back two years to 2026 Continue Reading

Scality gets a jump with VMware Cloud Director integration

S3-compliant object storage specialist will use new OSIS integration with VMware’s cloud management tool to target service providers that want to deliver regional cloud offers Continue Reading

DORA: Moving into a new era of digital resilience

The EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act will come into force in just over a year, the majority of risk management professionals are only at the beginning of their planning journey. Kate Needham-Bennett of Fusion Risk Management explains how to get things moving Continue Reading

Post Office auditors presumed subpostmasters were ‘on the fiddle’ or ‘in a muddle’

Public inquiry into Post Office scandal hears how head office staff routinely made negative assumptions about subpostmasters in small branches Continue Reading

Where is our National AI strategy heading?

The recent House of Lords Communications Committee expert witness session revealed a somewhat bizarre situation in government relating to our National AI Strategy. By her own admission, Dame Wendy ... Continue Reading

Former Post Office executive admits he wouldn’t sign unfair contract he pushed on subpostmasters

Former contract manager said contract that subpostmasters had to sign with Post Office “put them on the hook” for everything Continue Reading

Hacktivist attacks against Israeli websites mirror attacks following Russian invasion of Ukraine

Hacktivists supporting Gaza and Palestine have launched hundreds of website defacement attacks against Israeli websites, mirroring the pattern of attacks that occurred after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Continue Reading

Generative AI is a game changer for higher education

As in most areas of society, generative AI presents risks and opportunities for the higher education sector. But regardless of which side of the debate you fall, it will be a revolutionary technology Continue Reading

UK Apple Store workers detail ‘union-busting’ tactics

Apple Store workers in the UK are attempting to unionise, but say they are facing pushback from the company, which is allegedly deploying a variety of “union-busting” tactics Continue Reading

Government to pump £30m into NHS medtech

The government hopes the funding, which is available to integrated care systems across the country, will ease winter pressures through the help of technology Continue Reading

Flash prices drop towards spinning disk levels in 2023

Number-crunching data on 17,000-plus drive prices shows cost of flash drives per gigabyte fell by around 10% in past six months while hard disk drive per-gigabyte prices stood still Continue Reading

US SEC launches probe into mass MOVEit breach

Progress Software is facing an investigation from the SEC for the breach of its MOVEit tool, as well as dozens of legal battles resulting from the exfiltration of personal data from the roughly 2,000 organisations affected Continue Reading

CDO interview: Andrew Curry, manager of the Central Data Office, ExxonMobil

The head of the oil and gas giant’s data organisation is leading a strategy to establish enterprise-wide principles for the use of data as part of a unified corporate ecosystem Continue Reading

UK startups pilot semiconductor funding

ChipStart is a new initiative from the UK government to help build out the National Semiconductor Strategy by supporting startups Continue Reading

Ryder Cup testbed to feature tech firsts in Rome

This year’s Ryder Cup will test out technology to improve how fans digitally consume the event while reducing the workload on IT teams Continue Reading

Accenture’s Brussels AI lab to focus on European public sector and health

Accenture will use its Brussels AI lab to test AI and generative AI's application in the European public sector Continue Reading

‘Angry’ lawyer warned against Post Office computer investigation in 2010 email

Angered by his exclusion from an important discussion, former Royal Mail lawyer told colleagues of the risks to the Post Office if, as planned, they publicly investigate allegations against its computer system Continue Reading

Scottish biometrics watchdog outlines police cloud concerns

Police Scotland’s response to the biometrics commissioner’s formal information notice ‘did not ameliorate’ his concerns about the sovereignty and security of the sensitive biometric information being uploaded to cloud infrastructure that is subject to intrusive US surveillance laws Continue Reading

Public sector buyers of AI tech must interrogate its suitability

The Ada Lovelace Institute has published a review on public sector use of artificial intelligence foundation models, looking at the risks and opportunities associated with the technology, and how these can be dealt with from the early stages of procurement onwards Continue Reading

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust uses RealWear headsets for training

NHS trauma and orthopaedic department deploys head-mounted cameras to livestream surgeon’s view footage of operations to classroom Continue Reading

Why only 1% of the Snowden Archive will ever be published

Speaking to Computer Weekly after we published new revelations from the Snowden archive, the Guardian’s Pulitzer Prize winner, Ewen MacAskill, explains why more of the Snowden trove is unlikely to see the light of day Continue Reading

Pure offers Evergreen energy and rackspace cost guarantees

Pure Storage will take upfront payments for power and rackspace and guarantee those for product lifecycles in its Evergreen One, Flex and Forever consumption purchasing models Continue Reading

MGM faces £100m loss from cyber attack on its casinos

MGM Resorts has provided further details on the fallout of the hack targeting its casinos in early September, confirming that a range of personal information has been stolen and that it will likely cost the firm around $100m Continue Reading

Ryder Cup testbed tees up tech firsts in Rome

Michael Cole, CTO of the European Tour Group, explains how this year’s Ryder Cup golf competition introduced technology to improve fans’ digital experience of the event while reducing the workload on IT teams. Continue Reading

Teeing up tech at the Ryder Cup

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we go behind the scenes at golf’s Ryder Cup to see the tech firsts introduced to improve the fan experience. UK tech leaders explain why they feel ‘betrayed’ by the government’s net-zero policy changes. And we examine the governance challenges behind immerse technologies such as VR and the metaverse. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Microsoft: Nation-state cyber espionage on rise in 2023

Microsoft’s latest Digital Defence Report outlines how nation-state cyber activity has largely moved from destructive attacks to espionage and intelligence gathering Continue Reading

Red Cross issues rules of engagement for hackers in conflicts

The digital rules of engagement are the first time cyber activity has been looked at by the conflict watchdog, but a number of hacker groups have already come out and said they will not be following them Continue Reading

Government launches £60m Regional Innovation Fund

The £60m fund aims to support universities in areas with lower R&D investment, while the government is also pumping £8m towards AI scholarships Continue Reading

Policing minister wants to use UK passport data in facial recognition

The policing minister’s plans to integrate the UK’s passport database with police facial-recognition systems have been met with criticism from campaigners, academics, and the biometrics commissioner for England and Wales Continue Reading

IR35: HMRC completes first phase of CEST upgrades with Ocelot platform migration

HMRC has confirmed that its online IR35 status checker tool has completed its migration to a new platform, as the government tax collection agency’s revamp of the service continues apace Continue Reading

Lloyds Bank launches digital identity app

Lloyds Bank has launched a digital identity app with tech startup Yoti, after it invested £10m in the firm Continue Reading

Visa to invest $100m in generative AI startups

Payments giant investing in startups that focus on applying generative AI to commerce and payments Continue Reading

Will computational storage meet data processing demands?

Computational storage promises performance for workloads that can benefit from dedicated oomph, but it’s not a cure-all. It may come at a cost, and with added application complexity Continue Reading

AI vs software outsourcing: An opportunity or a threat?

While artificial intelligence offers unprecedented opportunities for growth, efficiency and automation, it also raises pertinent questions about the future of software outsourcing Continue Reading

Ransomware: All the ways you can protect storage and backup

We survey the key methods of ransomware protection, including immutable snapshots, anomaly detection, air-gapping, anomaly detection, and supplier monetary guarantees Continue Reading

ICO issues guidance on workplace surveillance

Guidance on employee monitoring covers how employers can conduct their digital surveillance lawfully, transparently and fairly, and warns against businesses intruding on their workers’ private lives Continue Reading

Cyber experts urge EU to rethink vulnerability disclosure plans

The European Union’s proposed cyber security vulnerability disclosure measures are well-intentioned but ultimately counterproductive, as making unmitigated vulnerabilities public knowledge increases the risk of their exploitation by various actors, experts claim Continue Reading

Amnesia hides names of individuals behind Post Office’s ‘head on a spike’ strategy

Former Post Office lawyer deflects individual responsibility for a strategy that crushed subpostmasters, blaming the organisation as a whole Continue Reading

Public sector needs systemic reform of capacity to innovate

Improving the public sector’s capacity to innovate requires a culture of innovation underpinned by people, skills and new ways of working with the private sector Continue Reading

Top science journal faced secret attacks from Covid conspiracy theory group

A conspiratorial group of extreme Brexit lobbyists mounted an extraordinary campaign against one of the world’s most prestigious science journals – part of a series of joint investigations between Byline Times and Computer Weekly Continue Reading

CDO interview: Lalo Luna, global head of strategy and insights, Heineken

The brewing giant is building a data ecosystem to bring new insights to the business and to make the most of emerging developments in artificial intelligence capabilities Continue Reading

Versity targets Exabyte volumes in data archiving

Versity builds archiving for Exabyte data volumes on tape and in object storage. It has built its own S3 and transitioned to a GPL licence for supercomputing archives Continue Reading

How the Australian government is approaching AI

The Australian government is experimenting with AI use cases in a safe environment while it figures out ways to harness the technology to benefit citizens and businesses Continue Reading

Government hands over £12.5m to farming tech innovators

Some 19 projects focusing on automation and robotic technology will get funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to boost the agricultural sector Continue Reading

UK tech sector ‘let down’ and ‘betrayed’ over Rishi Sunak’s net-zero policy tweaks

Now the dust has settled on the news Rishi Sunak is tweaking several of the policies underpinning the government’s net-zero goal, the UK tech industry has hit back at the news Continue Reading

First subpostmaster Horizon conviction overturned in Scotland

Scotland has seen its first Post Office Horizon conviction overturned, taking the UK total to 92 Continue Reading

Government to hire 2,500 people for digital roles by 2025

Government is aiming to ramp up digital skills in Whitehall with a promise to recruit 2,500 new tech and digital roles through apprenticeships and talent programmes Continue Reading

Government ‘breached privacy’ of Horizon victims with compensation offer, says lawyer

The government breached the privacy of victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal through making a compensation offer public Continue Reading

Government launches £65m space tech fund

The funding from the UK Space Agency is part of the National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP), and aims to support and accelerate innovation in the sector Continue Reading

The trust deficit in CNI: How to address a growing concern

When it comes to addressing the trust deficit in CNI, technological advancements, evolving threats, inadequate regulations, insufficient investment, public awareness, and international cooperation are all critical components that need attention Continue Reading

Scottish watchdog urges wider biometric oversight

Scotland’s biometrics watchdog urges Scottish Parliament to extend oversight of biometric information to include the entire criminal justice system, not just police Continue Reading

Strasbourg court condemns Turkey for jailing teacher for using ByLock encrypted messaging app

The case is expected to have implications for the use of digital evidence in prosecutions against users of other encrypted phone apps Continue Reading

US lawmakers write to AI firms about ‘gruelling’ work conditions

Lawmakers have written to nine tech companies – including Amazon, Google and Microsoft – about the working conditions of those they employ to train and maintain their artificial intelligence systems, giving them until 11 October 2023 to respond Continue Reading

Cloud NAS, what is it good for?

We look at NAS file access storage, how it works, what it’s good for and the possibilities to access storage for files and unstructured data in the public cloud Continue Reading

Retailers and customers alike open to AI, but calls for caution

Retail-related studies into AI’s influence suggest its capabilities are welcome by the sector and shoppers alike – but tech leaders advise treading cautiously Continue Reading

Five more subpostmasters have IT system-related convictions overturned

Over 90 former subpostmasters have so far seen wrongful convictions overturned since it was proved that software errors were to blame for accounting shortfalls Continue Reading