IT news in your industry sector

How the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium sequenced Sars-Cov-2

Consortium of universities and other institutions has harnessed datasets, analytics and cloud computing to sequence Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, in a blisteringly short time Continue Reading

By

• SA Mathieson

Another 27 Danish banks get access to open banking APIs

Nordic banks gain access to open banking capabilities from Nordic API Gateway, with an agreement through their shared IT service provider Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Ctera KubeFiler to bring Kubernetes storage to its cloud gateways

KubeFiler uses the container storage interface to allow Kubernetes to access persistent storage as if it were from a local NAS device, and while keeping existing access profiles Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

University students adapt to remote learning but question value for money

New research outlines students’ fears around the impact of long-term remote education and lecturers’ skills to operate online Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Loan Charge Group MPs demand IR35 shake-up to stop contractors becoming ‘zero-rights employees’

Inquiry by Loan Charge All-Party Parliamentary Group calls on government to tweak IR35 legislation during passage of next Finance Bill Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Datacentre Editor

CIO interview: Nitin Chaturvedi, chief digital and technology officer, KFC Global

The Covid-19 pandemic led to the digital element of KFC’s business becoming increasingly important, says the fast food retailer’s chief digital and technology officer Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

NCSC: Using your pet’s name as a password is very stupid

If your email password is still Rex, Rover or Mr Fluffles, it’s probably best to change it, the NCSC has said Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Tech industry sees surge in remote working job postings

Pandemic drives an increase in demand for “work anywhere” jobs and hybrid skills, research says Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

IR35 reforms: MPs call on government to clean up UK’s ‘wild west’ contracting labour supply chain

A 200-strong group of MPs is calling for urgent action from the government to protect contractors from the dubious practices of non-compliant umbrella companies and badly behaved employment agencies just days after private sector IR35 reforms came into force Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Post Office Horizon contract extension is part of project to bring Fujitsu work in-house

The Post Office is to move work done by Fujitsu in-house when its outsourcing contract ends, and is already recruiting IT experts Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HMRC signs reworked, three-year public cloud deal with AWS worth £94m

HMRC has ripped up and replaced its deal with AWS several months after signing it to tap into cost-savings on Amazon cloud services via the One Government Value Agreement Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Future working models at big banks begin to fall into place

Banks traditionally lead the way in technology adoption, but what can businesses take from their post-Covid-19 remote-working strategies? Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CIO interview: Gary Delooze, CIO, Nationwide

Building society’s CIO talks about building a technology strategy, working with the rest of the business and the Covid-19 pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

IBM Cloud for Financial Services goes on general release

IBM Cloud’s push to provide sector-specific public cloud services to financial services firms enters a new phase Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Inside Microsoft’s industry cloud strategy

Microsoft dives deeper into its industry cloud strategy and what it means for enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Deliveroo riders strike over pay and work conditions

Riders across the country are demanding fair pay, safety protections and basic workers’ rights pay on Deliveroo’s first day of trading as a public company Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Facebook ducks calls to apologise over huge data leak

Facebook gives its side of the story as data on millions of its users leaks, but is yet to apologise for security lapses that put half a billion people at risk of compromise Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

A billion extra contactless payments in year since limit increase

Visa said there was an extra one billion contactless payments made by its customers last year Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Digital Markets Unit starts work on codes of conduct for tech giants

Digital markets regulator officially launched to ensure tech giants such as Facebook and Google cannot exploit their market dominance to crowd out competition and stifle innovation online Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Post Office gives controversial Fujitsu contract another year

The Post Office's controversial contract with Fujitsu has been extended another year to help the organisation manage its exit Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Irish employees’ ‘right to disconnect’ enshrined in code of practice

A code of practice giving employees the ‘right to disconnect’ from work and not engage in electronic communications outside of their normal hours has come into effect in Ireland Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Demands for changes to ‘barmy’ rules on digital evidence have government’s ear

The government is listening to calls for changes in how digital evidence is considered in court, as Post Office IT scandal spells out current rule's inadequacy Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Where now for storage? Hitachi, IBM and Pure Storage

Part II: Storage supplier strategy in the cloud era: Hitachi, IBM and Pure Storage. We snapshot the big six hardware makers, as they take things to the cloud and as-a-service models Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Facebook data leak could be outside scope of GDPR

Regulators may be unable to do much about leaked data on 533 million Facebook users, as it seems to have been stolen before GDPR came into force Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CDDO will assess delivery of government digital projects

Government Digital Service boss Tom Read and the government’s Central Digital and Data Office executive director Joanna Davinson reveal next steps for digital, data and technology in government Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Where now for storage? Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE

Part I: Storage supplier strategy in the cloud era: Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE. We snapshot the big six hardware makers, as they take things to the cloud and as-a-service models Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

GDS seeks director for identity assurance programme

The new leader will be focused on efforts to deliver a single digital identity system for online public services Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

EncroChat hearings delayed as lawyers seek disclosure on police hacking

Court hearings precipitated by police cracking the EncroChat secure mobile phone network have been delayed after defence lawyers request further disclosures on police decryption capabilities Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Lose-lose US sanctions apply brakes to Huawei’s 2020 growth

Bans on Huawei products in infrastructures around the world begin to affect its bottom line, but comms technology provider shows growth and reaffirms commitment to creating greater value for customers and society in the face of adversity Continue Reading

By

• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly

DCMS publishes report on opening data access to stoke economic growth

Research from Frontier Economics with economist Diane Coyle describes how the government could prime data sharing to stimulate economic growth Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Commerzbank picks Google for cloud migration

German bank expands its work with Google Cloud and plans to move 85% of applications to its platform Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

NHS is apparently closing security skills gap

By the end of 2020, there were more than twice as many in-house security professionals at NHS trusts as there were two years before Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: Evolving threats, tech, leaves CNI exposed

In light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them? Continue Reading

By

• Tim Parker

Asda bags ex-Marks and Spencer CIO

Carl Dawson, who has been CIO at department store M&S for six years, is leaving the retailer to become CIO at Asda Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Privacy campaigners hail legal victory over Hancock and Palantir

Civil liberties organisation OpenDemocracy says it has scored a legal victory over health secretary Matt Hancock regarding the involvement of Palantir in the NHS Covid-19 data store Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Ransomware attack on London schools highlights warnings

Ransomware attack on Harris Federation comes just days after a fresh NCSC alert for the education sector Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

IR35 reforms: Slow government progress on umbrella regulation exposes IT contractors to tax risks

With thousands of IT contractors set to start working through unregulated umbrella companies for the first time when the IR35 reforms take hold in the private sector, concerns are growing about the danger this could pose to their income and tax affairs in years to come Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

The ticking timebomb of IR35

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we reveal that IT contractors are seeking a multimillion-pound payout after confusion over the forthcoming IR35 tax reforms. Many firms are building data lakes to improve their analytics – we examine the storage implications. And we talk to the CIO at the London School of Economics. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

The Security Interviews: How to secure an F1 team in a pandemic

A multi-year digital transformation programme paid off for F1 team Williams Racing when the 2020 season was abruptly postponed thanks to Covid-19. Learn how the team’s CIO has been supporting remote working and protecting data Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Data warehouse storage: Has cloud made on-premise obsolete?

There once was no alternative to building a data warehouse on-premise, but with cloud providers targeting analytics, building data warehouses on-site is looking obsolete Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Big Tech eclipses telecoms and arms giants as biggest lobbying spenders

Facebook and Amazon are spending more on lobbying and campaign contributions than any other companies in the US, including those in the arms and telecommunications sectors that have traditionally been the highest political spenders Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How far has open banking come in Europe?

Open banking is a relatively new concept, having come into effect in Europe only in the last couple of years. So what is the state of play? Continue Reading

By

• Alex Cruickshank

TSB Smart Agent integrated into mobile banking app

TSB has integrated a smart agent, developed to relieve pressure on its contact centres during the Covid-19 pandemic, into its mobile app Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Backup survey: UK councils’ downtimes five times longer than average

Backup product supplier Veeam’s freedom of information request finds councils’ average downtime is seven hours and that backup and disaster recovery testing is not done frequently Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

UK courts face evidence ‘black hole’ over police EncroChat mass hacking

French investigators have refused to disclose how they downloaded millions of messages from a supposedly secure cryptophone network used by organised criminals – leaving UK courts to grapple with a forensic ‘black hole’ of evidence Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Ecolabels and data sanitisation key to recycling and reusing IT assets

Ecolabels on hardware and data sanitisation of devices are key to recycling and reusing old IT equipment respectively, helping enterprises avoid unnecessary asset destruction and contributing to increasingly high levels of electronic waste globally Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

CW Innovation Awards: How DBS is transforming credit processes

DBS Bank’s credit architecture programme has digitised and reimagined credit processes through a unified platform that has improved the productivity and efficiency of its credit teams Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

CW Innovation Awards: Sime Darby ups ante in service management

Sime Darby Industrial’s inService Suite has returned more than 100,000 hours to the company in a digitisation initiative that has improved efficiency and customer engagement Continue Reading

By

• Edwin Yapp

CW Innovation Awards: SIA taps blockchain for loyalty app

Singapore Airlines, winner of the transportation category in this year’s CW Innovation Awards APAC, expands its blockchain-based digital wallet into a broader digital lifestyle platform Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Surveillance expert ‘unfairly’ refused job at intelligence regulator after MI5 intervened

The Home Office unfairly refused Eric Kind, a specialist in criminal justice and UK surveillance law, clearance for a job at an intelligence watchdog after MI5 claimed he was “insufficiently deferential” Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Sarah Wilkinson resigns as NHS Digital CEO

After four years at the helm of NHS Digital, CEO Sarah Wilkinson will leave in the summer of 2021, and the organisation is looking for an interim replacement Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Backup appliances the hot topic for Pas-de-Calais fire brigade

With requirements for strict, long-duration backup and archiving, French fire brigade set out to replace optical media with a StorageCraft appliance and disaster-proof storage Continue Reading

By

• Pierre Berlemont
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Retailer FatFace pays $2m ransom to Conti cyber criminals

Retailer FatFace paid out a $2m ransom to restore its data following a January 2021 cyber attack by the Conti ransomware syndicate Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor
• Valéry Rieß-Marchive, Rédacteur en chef

Zombified Gov.uk Verify is officially dead - so what's next?

The UK government has finally admitted in public for the first time that its flagship digital identity programme, Gov.uk Verify, is dead. This will be no surprise to anyone following the project, ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

NHS Shared Business Services launches £1bn digital hardware framework

Framework consists of 19 suppliers, and offers user IT hardware products and services to the NHS and public sector organisations Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Cyber security complacency puts UK at risk, says NCSC head

National Cyber Security Centre CEO Lindy Cameron, in her maiden speech in the role, warns of challenges ahead for the UK and sets out the future agenda for cyber Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

DWP completes in-house VME replacement project

The department has taken an in-house approach to swapping its virtual machine environment (VME), getting rid of legacy infrastructure and replacing 11 key benefits systems Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

TUC warns of gaps in British law over use of AI at work

The TUC has published a report warning of AI-powered discrimination against working people enabled by gaps in existing British employment law Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Deliveroo faces pushback from investors and riders ahead of IPO

Two of the UK’s largest fund managers have said they will not buy shares in Deliveroo because of concerns over workers’ rights Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

NHS Wales shapes up ambitious plans for digital patient-facing app

Computer Weekly looks at NHS Wales’ project to create a patient-facing app and a collaborative ecosystem for technology suppliers and NHS providers to deliver joined-up care Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Government faces judicial review into plans for Post Office Horizon inquiry

Subpostmasters that suffered great hardship at the hands of the Post Office are applying for a judicial review of a government inquiry into the scandal, which they see as a "whitewash" Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Liverpool announces test and development area for drone technology

Project aims to stimulate investment opportunities, employment and skills for the region Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Interview: Paul Douglas, Scottish Water

Building an enterprise architecture involves balancing near- and mid-term goals with longer-term business objective, cost and technical challenges, says Paul Douglas, lead enterprise architect at Scottish Water Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

NHS to digitise the ‘red book’ by 2023

Every child born from April 2023 will have a digital ‘red book’, or personal child health record, Matt Hancock has promised Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

The 3-2-1 backup rule: Has cloud made it obsolete?

The 3-2-1 backup rule was made for small-scale use in the pre-cloud era when tape still ruled. Is it relevant in the 2020s, or can we repurpose its fundamental principles? Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Ex-Post Office CEO Paula Vennells walked away from IT scandal with over £400,000 in pay and bonuses

Former Post Office chief was paid over £400,000 when she left despite the organisation being involved in what would become the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IWM uses StorCycle to free capacity for all-flash SAN upgrade

Imperial War Museums set to embark on unstructured data archiving project that will archive cold data to tape and free up capacity for a move to IntelliFlash all-flash SAN Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Oil giant Shell hit through Accellion FTA breach

Energy firm discloses cyber attack through Accellion File Transfer Appliance Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Prime minister says people should be held to account for Post Office IT scandal

Boris Johnson agrees with MP that those responsible for the Post Office Horizon scandal should be brought to book Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Post Office was told in 2013 that Fujitsu witness was unreliable in subpostmaster prosecutions

The Post Office was warned that a former Fujitsu employee had misled courts when giving evidence on its behalf Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber criminals forging Covid-19 vaccine certificates

Vaccine passports and certificates are gaining mainstream traction, which means cyber criminals are also on the bandwagon Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Employees must be given the right to disconnect

As enterprises increasingly turn to workplace monitoring technologies and more of the workforce moves to remote or hybrid working, unions are campaigning for workers’ ‘right to disconnect’ and not engage in digitally enabled work after hours Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Pakes, Prospect Union

NUHS taps RPA in Covid-19 swab tests

Singapore’s National University Health System deploys RPA bots to automate patient registration during Covid-19 swab tests as part of broader efforts to improve efficiency Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Former Skyscanner COO will lead Scotland’s tech-led recovery programme

Following his independent review of the Scottish tech sector, Mark Logan will oversee a programme to establish the country as a world-class technology hub Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Anti-money laundering technology must operate in a collaborative ecosystem

With new technologies making it easier for banks to spot money laundering activity, we look at why the problem persists at scale, finding that ecosystems and collaborative processes need to be built Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

IR35 reforms: Confusion over who pays employers’ NI leaves IT contractors out of pocket

Litigators are circling as thousands of contractors realise that the 2017 roll-out of IR35 reforms to the public sector may have resulted in unlawful tax deductions – and the private sector could be next Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

NCSC beefs up support for education sector after spate of attacks

Refreshed guidance from the NCSC recommends a defence-in-depth strategy as schools and universities face a renewed wave of cyber attacks Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Scottish government AI strategy majors on ethics and inclusion

Scottish government announces artificial intelligence strategy that involves the creation of a Scottish AI Alliance to be drawn from across society, including trade unions and companies Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Commission calls for adult social care to get digital revamp

A commission on adult social care has called for the government to fund a personalised social care innovation programme, as well as invest £450m to replace outdated care and housing technology infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UK defence strategy strengthens AI, cyber and satellite spies

The nature of warfare is changing. Electronic warfare will need to be a key component of the UK’s defence strategy Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Interview: Ivan McKee, Scottish innovation minister

Scotland’s innovation minister talks to Computer Weekly about the country’s new digital strategy, the importance of inclusion, and why the strategy is underpinned by ethical thinking Continue Reading

Home Office completes transfer of all business apps to Oracle Cloud

Home Office has completed its deployment of Oracle’s Cloud Applications suite to all its functions across 35,000 staff, ahead of other government departments Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Security Think Tank: Attacks on CNI – an evolving frontier in warfare

In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them? Continue Reading

By

• Asaf Weisberg, ISACA board of directors

CIO interview: David Walmsley, chief digital and omni-channel officer, Pandora

The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic could have been a disaster for the jeweller, but due to its digital transformation programme, it was ready to carry on serving its customers online Continue Reading

Would the UK really nuke a cyber attacker?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, did the UK’s defence and security review really suggest a nuclear response to a cyber attack? Data visualisation has been widely used to explain the Covid-19 pandemic, but not always that effectively. And jewellery retailer Pandora explains how it kept the personal touch as customers went online. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Post Office staff instructed to shred documents that undermined its claims Horizon was robust

Barrister advising the Post Office in 2013 stated that destroying documents would "amount to a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice" Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

$50m ransomware demand on Acer is highest ever

Record-breaking double-extortion cyber attack saw REvil gang exfiltrate financial data from Taiwan-based PC manufacturer Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Unionised drivers call on Microsoft to suspend Uber’s Face API licences

Unionised private hire drivers in the UK are calling for Microsoft to suspend Uber’s licences to use its Face API technology after claims the ride-hailing firm’s ID-checking system has led to drivers losing their jobs and having licences revoked Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

QLC flash storage: What it costs and its best use cases

QLC flash brings high capacities at costs coming down close to spinning disk. So what are the use cases for QLC solid state, which make best use of its relatively low endurance Continue Reading

By

• Maxwell Cooter

Security Think Tank: Back to square one – ground-up CNI protection

In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them? Continue Reading

By

• Matthias Reinwarth, KuppingerCole

A real-life example of the self-distribution supply chain model

A self-distribution approach to supply chain management can help a company lower the risk of disruption. Learn how Ahold Delhaize USA is doing just that. Continue Reading

By

• Linda Rosencrance

Government bids final goodbye to Gov.uk Verify

Cabinet Office parliamentary secretary Julia Lopez confirms launch of “discrete” successor to Gov.uk Verify Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Post Office IT scandal executive forced out of job at Football Association of Wales

Angela van den Bogerd has left her role at the Football Association of Wales, following criticism of her part in Post Office IT scandal Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Security Think Tank: Properly protecting CNI demands specificity

In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them? Continue Reading

By

• Paddy Francis

Coronavirus: How PCs in quarantine and intensive care units can be managed remotely

NHS IT staff generally have limited access to deployed devices, especially if that device is in an operating theatre or intensive care unit Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Tech sector is key to the success of Global Britain

The maturity of its technology sector puts the UK in a good position to reimagine its role on the international stage post-Covid Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Roughan, Plexal

Vaccine passports cannot put basic rights at risk, warns BCS

BCS warns of challenges to come as the government presses on with its plans for Covid-19 vaccine passports Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government to bail out Post Office which can’t afford to pay compensation to subpostmasters

The Post Office does not have enough money to pay compensation to the subpostmasters it wrongfully prosecuted Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Reshaping the women-in-tech debate in Denmark, from the top down

Tech Nordic Advocates adopts a different approach to closing the gap between women and men in the Danish tech startup sector Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

NHS will get shared care records by September 2021, says Matt Hancock

The health secretary sets September 2021 target for shared care records roll-out, and wants to explore potential of moving patient data being held in proprietary systems to the cloud Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad