IT news in your industry sector

AI researcher says police tech suppliers are hostile to transparency

Expert witness in Lords police tech inquiry welcomes committee’s findings but questions whether its recommendations on how to end the ‘Wild West’ of police artificial intelligence and algorithmic technologies in the UK would be implemented Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Disney combines digital, data and creativity to win advertising opportunities

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to the executive vice-president for client and brand solutions at Disney Advertising Sales about how it is using data to subserve story-telling excellence. We delve into how rising energy costs negatively impacted the UK arm of Sungard Availability Services. And we look at the role of infrastructure as code in edge datacentres. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

As Inflation Rages On, Retailers Turn to AI and Dynamic Pricing

GUEST BLOG: In this contributed blog post, Matt Pavich, senior director of retail innovation, Revionics, talks about how AI-driven dynamic pricing decisions can assist in a retailer’s ability to ... Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Border IT system fixed after 10-day outage

Post-Brexit border IT system failure fixed after going down at the start of April, allowing traders to once again file customs documents electronically rather than by hand Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Energy crisis impact on datacentre market – Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

Podcast team discusses the energy crisis by way of the Sungard AS UK collapse, data analytics-powered wind turbines, and CW survey showing big increase in flexible working for IT professionals Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK
• Clare McDonald, Business Editor
• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Mastercard opens European tech hub in Dublin

Mastercard is doubling its technology workforce in Dublin through a new European tech hub in the Irish capital Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CDO interview: Lisa Valentino, executive VP for client and brand solutions, Disney Advertising Sales

How the entertainment giant is bringing marketing, data and technology together to make the most of its growing digital advertising opportunities Continue Reading

EncroChat: France says ‘defence secrecy’ in police surveillance operations is constitutional

Constitutional court finds that invoking ‘defence secrecy’ to withhold information about the state hacking of EncroChat cryptophones is constitutional. Defence lawyers now head for the supreme court Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Storage requirements for AI, ML and analytics in 2022

We look at what is needed for artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the pros and cons of block, file and object storage to store and access very large amounts of often unstructured data Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Goldacre review outlines recommendations on safer use of health data

The findings of an investigation into use of health data for research and analysis includes a number of proposals to improve innovation in the NHS Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Online Safety Bill: Collaborating to make the internet safer for all

The UK government's plan to regulate the internet and social media includes some positive and progressive measures – but by working with industry, a lot more could be achieved Continue Reading

By

• Martin Wilson

Banks should be able to integrate e-krona into existing systems, says Swedish regulator

Swedish financial services regulator says banks and service providers should be able to integrate a potential digital currency into existing systems Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

MPs and editors sound alarm over threat to Freedom of Information

Government secrecy and trend for departments to block Freedom of Information requests pose a long-term risk to accountability Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Amazon workers defeat company to form first US union

Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York, have successfully formed the first union at the company, with organisers pledging to help their colleagues across the US do the same Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

European IT and BPO outsourcing off to strong start

European IT and business process outsourcing services continue to increase rapidly, with cloud-based services now more than half of the total Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CW Middle East: UAE and UK researchers work on ‘trustworthy’ cloud OS for datacentres

Imperial College London is embarking on a three-year project with an Abu Dhabi-based group of researchers to find ways for datacentre operators and cloud providers to secure their infrastructure. Also read how Dubai is positioning itself to reap the benefits of a promising global market for drone technology. Continue Reading

Pure says unstructured data needs storage scale and performance

Podcast: Pure Storage says huge growth of unstructured data and its diversity means storage has to be able to scale with it and offer performance to gain insights Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Siemens looks at quantum computing to accelerate simulations

Using quantum computing to solve complex non-linear differential equations offers a way to speed up digital-twin simulations Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

IR35 reforms: Private sector warned HMRC's 12-month 'light-touch' enforcement period is ending

HMRC confirmed, in the lead up to the IR35 reforms coming into force in the private sector in April 2021, that it would be taking a ‘light-touch’ approach to enforcing the rules for 12 months. And that grace period ends today Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Datacentre Editor

Dubai’s fledgling drone programme gets another nudge

 Continue Reading

Snapshots best practice: Five key things you need to know

We look at snapshots best practice, including the way they work, why they are not the same as backups, how to avoid heavy processing overheads and key user permissions tweaks Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

How data sharing and collaboration can solve great challenges

Daniel Hirst and Arjan Dhaliwal from Ordnance Survey argue for the value of data sharing, collaboration and data skills enhancement to address social, ecological economic problems Continue Reading

By

• Daniel Hirst and Arjan Dhaliwal

Secrecy over police EncroChat hacking is unconstitutional, defence lawyers tell top French court

France’s constitutional court, the Conseil Constitutionnel, has heard arguments that the use of ‘defence secrecy’ to withhold information about police surveillance operations breaches the French constitution Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Discount retailer The Works hit by cyber attack

A small number of The Works’ bricks-and-mortar stores were forced to close amid a cyber attack of an undisclosed nature Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Triple-threat Borat malware no joke for victims

Unlike its namesake, the newly discovered Borat malware won’t raise a smile for IT security pros Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Zopa bank profitable after just 21 months

The bank that emerged from peer-to-peer lending pioneer has hit its first profit after 21 months of operation Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Saudi Arabian ICT sector hits $32.1bn after strong pandemic response

The Saudi Arabian IT and communications sector is recovering strongly from the Covid-19 pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Police use of AI needs overhaul to prevent abuse

In this week’s Computer Weekly, a House of Lords inquiry calls for a rethink on how police forces use AI technologies – we examine the issues. Our new buyer’s guide looks into edge datacentres. And the EU and US agree a new data protection deal to replace Privacy Shield, but will it stand up to scrutiny? Read the issue now. Continue Reading

UCL and AWS team up for health tech-focused startup accelerator

AWS is lending its cloud expertise to UCL’s startup accelerator programme, which is geared towards helping health and education organisations address global health issues Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Fujitsu bags £430m government contracts despite rising cost of Post Office Horizon scandal

Fujitsu has won two huge government IT contracts, worth over £400m, while taxpayers face footing the massive bill for the Post Office scandal caused by its software Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Environmental campaigners halt Meta datacentre construction in the Netherlands

Datacentre being built to serve ‘metaverse’ worlds would consume nearly half as much energy as all other datacentres in the country Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

Two teenagers charged with Lapsus$ cyber attacks

City of London Police have charged two teenagers in connection with the Lapsus$ cyber crime spree Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Four moves to ‘checkmate’ critical assets thanks to lax cloud security

Malicious actors can compromise 94% of critical assets within four steps of the initial breach point, according to a report Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

TechUK calls on government to seize post-Brexit data opportunities

Ahead of the government’s reply to its late 2021 consultation about proposed post-Brexit reforms to the data protection regime, TechUK has published a paper declaring six data governance principles Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

EU Act ‘must empower those affected by AI systems to take action’

Ada Lovelace Institute publishes recommendations on how European institutions can improve the Artificial Intelligence Act by establishing a ‘comprehensive remedies framework’ around those affected by the deployment of AI systems Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Spain’s La Liga looks to enleague data analytics with Databricks

La Liga, the first division of the Spanish football league, has turned to Databricks’ Lakehouse Platform to analyse footballer performance and engage with fans Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Global upheaval shows cyber security isn’t good enough, says GCHQ director

Generational global upheaval has laid bare significant gaps in national cyber strategies, GCHQ chief Jeremy Fleming has said in a speech Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Bank fraud prevention scheme blocked £60m in fraud last year

Scheme to catch fraudsters, including online scammers, before they commit their crimes has reported a significant increase in crimes prevented Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lapsus$ cyber crime spree continues despite arrests

The arrests of seven people in connection with the Lapsus$ cyber crime group has not dented the gang’s enthusiasm for causing chaos Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Fast Guide to acronyms used in manufacturing

The following glossary or acronyms are those most used in internal communications within the manufacturing industry. Continue Reading

By

• Katie Terrell Hanna

Compensation goal finally in sight for 555 Post Office scandal victims

The subpostmaster campaign group which exposed the Post Office Horizon scandal could be close to achieving the objective it was established for, with fair compensation for its members in sight Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Data may save lives but does sharing it inevitably vitiate privacy?

The balance between sharing data for the common good and protecting data to safeguard individual liberty is nowhere more fraught, as a question, than in the field of health data. Under the banner ... Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Why diversity in AI remains a challenge and how to fix it

With artificial intelligence set for a global economic explosion, its development must put diversity at its core to avoid discriminating systems Continue Reading

By

• Shawn Tan

Acquisition of UK fintech Azimo will address home-working challenges for enterprises

UK fintech acquired by Papaya Global is looking to improve cross-border employee payments Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lax money laundering controls lands N26 with ban from Italian central bank

German digital bank N26 has had problems with anti-money laundering regulations in the past, and is now banned in Italy Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

One-third of UK firms suffer a cyber attack every week

New statistics from the annual DCMS Cyber security breaches survey reveal the extent and frequency with which UK organisations are being attacked by malicious actors Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Boots accelerates its digital accessibility journey

Boots is working with website accessibility software provider Recite Me to make its website more user-friendly and improve the customer experience Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

Backup types explained: Full, incremental, differential, synthetic

We look at backup – on-prem and cloud – and the key variants available, from full backup to synthetic full, via incremental, differential, incremental forever and reverse incremental Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

CIO interview: Spencer Clarkson, CTO, Verastar

Digital transformation and unifying customer relationship management systems are driving the business services group forward Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Recruitment risks: Avoiding the dangers of fraudulent candidates

Tech companies are seeing an increase in fraudulent job applications, with associated impacts on risk and cyber security. So how can organisations protect themselves from fraudulent applicants while ensuring they recruit the best talent? Continue Reading

By

• Peter Ray Allison

Overhaul of UK police tech needed to prevent abuse

Lords inquiry finds UK police are deploying artificial intelligence and algorithmic technologies without a thorough examination of their efficacy or outcomes, and are essentially ‘making it up as they go along’ Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

NCSC: Not necessarily wise to ditch Kaspersky

UK’s National Cyber Security Centre issues refreshed guidance on organisations’ usage of technology and services of Russian origin, but stops short of advising users to expunge all Russian products from their IT estates Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK tech ecosystem reaches $1tn valuation

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic prompted massive investment in the UK’s digital companies, which are collectively valued at $1tn Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Wave of Log4j-linked attacks targeting VMware Horizon

Sophos issues a new warning to organisations that have so far failed to patch their VMware Horizon servers against Log4Shell Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

FCA reports 52% jump in security incidents

The Financial Conduct Authority received 116 cyber incident reports in 2021, a fifth of them involving ransomware Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Spring Statement lays the foundation for a make-or-break Budget for business in the autumn

The tech sector has welcomed much of the chancellor’s latest financial plans, but says there is more to do if technology is to achieve its full potential for driving economic growth Continue Reading

By

• Julian David, TechUK

Cabinet Office publishes playbook with rules for government digital projects

Digital, Data and Technology guide outlines measures supporting overhaul intended to “get things right at the start” Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

IT professionals wary of government campaign to limit end-to-end encryption

Members of the Chartered Institute of IT, the professional body for technology professionals in the UK, warn against limiting end-to-end encryption Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Backup: N-able emerges from white box to aim at enterprise customers

It spent years integrated with Solarwinds and as a re-sold product, but now it plans to target enterprise customers with a backup product that aims at granular file protection and restore Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

NHS England deploys pilot AI tool to forecast A&E admissions

The NHS is deploying an AI-based demand forecasting tool to accurately predict activity levels and free up staff, space and resources to tackle post-pandemic treatment backlogs Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Babylon Health expands hybrid cloud infrastructure setup to include Google

Digital healthcare provider Babylon has opened up about the work it is doing with the Google Cloud team, as it grapples with trying to meet the infrastructure needs of its rapidly growing business Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Datacentre Editor

Sajid Javid pushes digitisation of social care records

Health secretary wants 80% of providers to abandon paper-based records by 2024 ahead of broader plans for digital health and care Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Most big businesses are taking up banking as a service

API-based banking services allow corporate customers to offer financial services without the need for heavy tech development or regulatory approval Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles)

GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) is a collection of commonly followed accounting rules and standards for financial reporting. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

Industry clouds are all the rage, but are they driven by marketing or customer need?

Industry clouds – cloud applications designed for specific sectors – are fashionable staples of supplier marketing, but are they what corporate IT is demanding? Continue Reading

By

• Marc Ambasna-Jones

European Commission proposes new cyber security regulations

New cyber and information security regulations have been proposed by the European Commission to create a minimum set of standards in both areas Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

London police arrest seven in connection to Lapsus$

Seven people arrested by London police over cyber attacks carried out by Lapsus$ group, which is responsible for a number of recent, high profile attacks Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

NHS advances digital trials with high-tech mobile health clinic

The NHS’ Find and Treat van uses tech tools including artificial intelligence software and a tele radiology network to care for vulnerable, high-risk Londoners Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

NHS health and social care staff offered training on healthcare apps

Health service staff have free access to training courses to help them understand which digital healthcare apps and websites are best for their patients Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Ransomware demands and payments increase with use of leak sites

Ransomware demands and payments continue to climb as gangs increasingly turn to Dark Web leak sites to add pressure on victims Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Trainline readies for fresh challenges from launch of Great British Railways

The travel industry is recovering from pandemic restrictions, and now the UK train sector faces a shake-up from a new state-run rail operator – all of which mean challenges for the popular ticketing app Trainline Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

CIO interview: Craig York, CTO, Milton Keynes University Hospital

A cloud-first digital strategy is helping the NHS trust becoming an innovator in the use of healthcare systems such as document management and electronic patient records Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Ad agency slashes NetApp costs with Datadobi data migration

US-based branding agency needed to migrate 20TB of large files to new NetApp hardware, but unwilling to stomach the vendor’s migration costs it chose Datadobi instead Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

CW Innovation Awards: Plugging supply chain gaps

StratMed’s Integer platform is facilitating data exchanges between healthcare providers and their suppliers to improve transparency in India’s healthcare supply chain Continue Reading

By

• Eileen Yu

CW Innovation Awards: Transforming Australia’s national assessment programme

Education Services Australia has transformed the country’s national assessment programme through an online platform that has enabled teachers to design adaptive tests and improved student engagement Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

CW Innovation Awards: Tracking cargo on the road

Through Geodis APAC’s One Road platform, supply chain companies have received fewer enquiries on cargo locations and improved on-time performance using roads as an alternative way to move cargo Continue Reading

By

• Edwin Yapp

CW Innovation Awards: How WLTH is disrupting traditional banking

The fintech company built its own technology stack that delivers data analytics and other capabilities as it seeks to win market share from traditional banks Continue Reading

By

• Edwin Yapp

Meta teams up with NatWest Bank to support female entrepreneurs in the UK

Partnership will see female business owners receive financial readiness and digital training, and help with increasing their business connections and networks Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Digital continues to deplete bank branch networks as Lloyds cuts 60 more

Lloyds Banking Group has stripped UK high streets of a further 60 branches as the take-up of digital banking continues Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Japan’s Mizuho partners Google to accelerate tech transformation after a year to forget

Following a year when it hit the tech headlines for the wrong reasons, Mizuho is on a mission to modernise IT in collaboration with Google Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK government promises high-speed internet for all schools by 2025

Hot on the heels of announcing upgrades to UK mobile networks in hard-to-reach places, and as part of its latest plans to roll out gigabit broadband across the country, government turns connectivity focus on educational establishments Continue Reading

By

• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly

Umbrella company Workwell refutes contractor’s ‘withheld holiday pay’ claim

A dispute between a contractor and their former umbrella company shines a light once more on the knotty issue of holiday pay Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Private equity house spins SSE company out of McAfee Enterprise

The launch of Skyhigh Security completes division of McAfee Enterprise into separate businesses by Symphony Technology Group, which acquired the long-standing cyber security firm for $4bn in March 2021 Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Spring Statement: Chancellor expands R&D tax relief to cloud computing and storage

Rishi Sunak announces further measures intended to improve innnovation and tech-enabled productivity in UK businesses Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

NHS urgent care provider uses ID and access management to reduce complexity for clinicians

Provider of care through NHS 111 is using a cloud-based identity and access management system to remove the need for clinicians to remember multiple passwords Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Chinese state media use Facebook to push pro-Russia disinformation on Ukraine war

Facebook owner Meta accused of failing to follow its own policies by not disclosing how Chinese state media were targeting Facebook users with ‘propaganda’ ads about the conflict in Ukraine Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Biden issues warning about Russian cyber attacks

President Biden has said that US companies running critical infrastructure should immediately harden their defences in anticipation of potential cyber attacks from Russia Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

NetApp Cloud Insights gets AI monitoring and ransomware detection

Cloud Insights adds artificial intelligence-based continuous audit and monitoring of entire IT estate and generates impact assessments from performance events, plus anomaly alerting for ransomware Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

BMW Group adopts HPE GreenLake to improve data management

HPE GreenLake will enable the vehicle manufacturer to provide a unified cloud for data management Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Details of Conti ransomware affiliate released

Information about a new Conti affiliate has been released by eSentire and BreakPoint Lab after a joint investigation into the group’s indicators of compromise Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Competition watchdog contacts Barclays and Lloyds banks over API failures

Barclays and Lloyds banks have failed to meet some of the open banking rules, says competition watchdog Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Interview: Eddie Copeland, director, London Office of Technology and Innovation

The leader of the London Office of Technology and Innovation discusses local government’s response to the pandemic and its priorities for collaborative work around data and innovation in 2022 Continue Reading

Revised scope of UK security strategy reflects digitised society

The omission of the word ‘security’ from the title of the UK government’s new National Cyber Strategy is a telling one, reflecting our increasingly digitised society, say Maximillian Brook and Arunoshi Singh of the ISF Continue Reading

By

• Maximillian Brook & Arunoshi Singh

One year on from IR35 reforms – why IT skills are harder to find

In this week’s Computer Weekly, a year after IR35 tax reforms were introduced, we assess the impact on the UK’s IT talent pool – and it’s not looking good. We examine the rise of industry clouds, and how they are changing the market. And we find out how London councils plan to work together on data and innovation. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

555 subpostmasters to get fair compensation after government U-turn

Government finally agrees to pay 555 Post Office scandal victims fair compensation Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Teleperformance’s robotic process automation increases job satisfaction

A project to introduce software robots at the Dutch arm of Teleperformance has been adopted globally Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Siloed data holding back coordinated health responses

Digital health experts discuss the role of data in coordinating the NHS’s pandemic response and how managing privacy and governance issues are key to further success Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

DWP Digital launches Birmingham hub

The new space will aim to create 130 jobs and tap into the digital talent pool of the West Midlands Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

UK Cyber Strategy a welcome injection of progress

The National Cyber Strategy should be seen as a welcome injection of both focus and investment in bettering cyber defence for everyone, says Turnkey Consulting senior consultant Louise Barber Continue Reading

By

• Louise Barber, Turnkey Consulting

NZ glassmaker taps IoT to track delivery trolleys

Architectural Glass Products has installed tracking devices on delivery trolleys to track its products and delivery trolleys in real time Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget