IT news in your industry sector

Three-quarters of finance firms report more potentially criminal activity in their networks

Fears of failing to comply with strict regulations grow as financial services firms identify more suspicious financial activity on their networks Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Unravelling the new digital leadership plans in UK government

In September 2019, the then civil service chief executive John Manzoni told Computer Weekly that the new digital leader he wanted to recruit for the UK government would “have to be very wise, very ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Covid-19 immunity passport tests to begin in UK

A Covid-19 immunity and vaccination passport developed by two UK firms and backed by Innovate UK has entered the live testing phase Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Stolen Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine data leaked

Data dump understood to include screenshots of emails, peer review information, PDFs and PowerPoint presentations Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

European IT outsourcing spend up in 2020 after cloud boost

IT outsourcing sector growth is an indication that businesses are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic disruption it has brought Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

South Central Ambulance Service drives out of Covid data fog with Qlik

Ambulance service’s business intelligence has come into its own during the coronavirus crisis, helping the managers behind the paramedics to deliver the service with fast data flows and joined-up datasets Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Mimecast latest security firm to be compromised

Users of a specific Mimecast certificate used to authenticate services to Microsoft Office 365 may be at risk of compromise in an attack that may relate to the ongoing SolarWinds incident Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government appoints digital leadership roles and sets up new digital office

The government is creating a new Central Digital and Data Office, which will be led by Home Office tech boss Joanna Davinson Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Cloud DR from the Big Three: Who’s best at what?

We look at cloud disaster recovery from AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google to see which is best for provision of turnkey solutions, breadth of portfolio and modular building blocks Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Data Dynamics aims at single view of unstructured data

Data volume is ballooning, and storage is becoming more disparate, which makes the need for a single platform to manage storage and compliance a key requirement for organisations Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Parler collapse opens door to phishing attacks

The shutdown of controversial social media site Parler, and the publication of huge amounts of user data scraped by ethical hackers, is giving cyber crime experts cause for concern Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Retail giant Walmart to launch a fintech

Fintech will be geared towards offering the services Walmart’s customers and employees want Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IR35 private sector reforms: Research highlights lack of preparedness ahead of April 2021 start date

As the private sector start date for the IR35 reforms looms large, research suggests some companies are still dragging their feet with their preparations Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Bahrain hopes 5G roll-out will attract more tech firms to its shores

Bahrain has completed its 5G roll-out, which will support its IT infrastructure in creating the right environment for technology firms Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Covid-19 has led to a 25% increase in health app downloads, research shows

The pandemic has led to a huge increase in health apps downloads, particularly mental health apps, where downloads have increased 200%, as people struggle to cope during the crisis, according to Orcha Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Early stage UK security startups face funding crisis

Overall cyber security funding since the advent of the pandemic is well up, but investment is dominated by safe, later-stage firms while those raising capital for the first time fall away Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Wales invests £4.9m in digital services improvement

Government funding aims to accelerate the design and delivery of citizen-focused offerings in Wales Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

The UK’s struggle with digital schooling

The UK government’s sudden decision to close schools left many either unprepared or unable to provide children with online schooling, so what does home learning currently look like for children across the UK? Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Jobs in fintech bounce back after brief lockdown lull

Fintechs and payments companies need to make staff recruitment a priority as talent pool shrinks Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Ordnance Survey opens up direct, API access to location data for public sector

Location data made available to public sector organisations via application programming interfaces, reducing data management overheads Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Tech key to improving lives of people with rare diseases, says government report

The UK Rare Diseases Framework will build on advances in genomics and data analysis to improve testing and diagnosis Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

New Zealand central bank IT system breached in cyber attack

Bank is responding to a cyber attack after hackers breached the system of a third-party supplier Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Pennine NHS trust gets new imaging tech

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is the first of eight NHS trusts to go live with a Manchester-wide diagnostic imaging project Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Government use of 'general warrants' to authorise computer and phone hacking is unlawful

A court has ruled that the security and intelligence services can no longer rely on ‘general warrants’ to authorise the hacking of large numbers of computers and phones belonging to UK citizens Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Tech sector reacts to Trump social media bans

Facebook, Instagram and others moved to limit US president’s social media access after the violence in Washington DC, but experts have condemned them for acting too slowly, while disinformation about the riots persists Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Major facial-recognition supplier builds system to identify masked faces

Facial-recognition supplier claims new system can accurately identify masked faces, therefore promoting public health during the pandemic. But questions remain about whether its existing UK law enforcement clients will be deploying the technology Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

AI Council advises government to do artificial intelligence moonshots

The AI Council has published a “roadmap” of advice to government in respect of developing a UK state strategy for artificial intelligence, encompassing skills, vendor support and public sector procurement Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Brexit deal grants UK temporary data adequacy

The EU-UK Brexit deal has granted the UK temporary data adequacy to allow for the continued flow of data across borders, but the agreement has divided data protection experts Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

British Gas tackles omnichannel customer correspondence

Utility firm hopes to map out customer communications to help deliver a better customer experience and improve the business Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Which? online banking investigation reveals ‘worrying gaps’ in security

Consumer rights organisation has ranked the security of UK online current account providers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Majority of suppliers won’t have software ready for CDS until March

Brexit IT systems are all up and running, but little traffic through the borders means they haven’t yet been put to the test, and in Northern Ireland, suppliers don’t yet have software ready to use the Customs Declaration Service Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Poor data flows hampered government’s Covid-19 response, says the Science and Technology Committee

House of Commons Science and Technology Committee finds poor data management to have hampered the government’s Covid-19 pandemic response Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Biden picks cyber veteran to reinvigorate security response

Appointment of career intelligence operative Anne Neuberger signals refreshed security approach for the US government under Joe Biden's administration Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Nordic digital innovation offers a proactive approach to mental health

Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to support people suffering mental health issues – and digital technology can help Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Trump bans Chinese payment apps

US president signs executive order banning the use of Chinese payments app, citing national security risks Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Hackney Council data leaked by Pysa ransomware gang

Council data stolen in October is leaked online in a double extortion attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Most British people don't trust government with personal data

The UK ranks high in a list of countries where citizens are least confident about how their private information is handled by public authorities, research shows Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Robust member administration system indispensable for Dutch Coeliac Society

Organisation had to find a dedicated member administration system to support existing members, new members and countless volunteers Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

Robin.io aims its Kubernetes storage at databases and big data

Cloud-native storage runs in Kubernetes and pools storage media to present it to application persistent storage needs, including snapshots and backup on top Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

DBS opens tech academy in skills training drive

The DBS Future Tech Academy will focus on training the bank’s technologists in three disciplines for a start – site reliability engineering, data processing and analytics, and application security Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Labour urges government to adopt new plan for at-home education

Labour MPs have written to government officials urging them to provide schools and children with the digital provisions necessary to ensure every child can properly work from home during lockdown Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to remain in prison despite winning extradition battle

Judge cites Assange’s support of NSA whistleblower as one of the reasons for him being at high risk of absconding. He will remain in Belmarsh prison until the US government completes its appeal Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

SolarWinds attack almost certainly work of Russian spooks

Investigations into the far-reaching SolarWinds Solorigate attack did not let up during the holidays Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Why Jack Ma might be too good a tech entrepreneur for China's leaders

Tech pioneer Jack Ma is facing new regulatory pressure from the Chinese authorities – is this some ideological spat, or simply that he's too good at what he does compared to the state-owned financial system? Continue Reading

By

• Tim Worstall, Adam Smith Institute

NHS trust says appointment processes robust despite criticism of role for Post Office scandal CEO

NHS trust defends its director appointment process following an external review of its recruitment of former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Five key points about cloud vs in-house disaster recovery

The cloud is well suited as a disaster recovery failover option. The key questions are about what you should keep on-site and what goes to the cloud. We look at five key points to consider Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Huawei battles for market access in Nordics

Chinese networking equipment supplier Huawei fights to retain access to potential 5G contracts across the Nordic region Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Banking trade body calls for increased contactless payment limit

UK Finance proposes an increase in the limit on spending using contactless cards Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

AAT calls on government to re-think the Making Tax Digital exemption threshold

The Association of Accounting Technicians calls for improvements to HM Revenue and Customs’ Making Tax Digital programme, and says the exemption threshold, currently at £10,000, should be raised Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Government delays digital strategy

The digital strategy, originally due in autumn 2020, is likely to be published at some point in 2021, and the government is ‘continuing to consider the best timeframe for delivering the strategy’ Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

The tech sector cannot build back better from the kitchen table

While technology has supported the lockdown economy by allowing millions to work from home, the in-person collaboration and shared experience on which the tech sector thrives will need to return soon Continue Reading

By

• Amy French, Level39

Nominations open for Computer Weekly Innovation Awards APAC

Computer Weekly is looking for nominations for its inaugural Innovation Awards in APAC to honour digitisation initiatives that have transformed organisations in seven industries Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Caerphilly council delivers free school meals through automation

Welsh council expands its robotic process automation project, which has successfully helped the council deliver free school meals during the Covid-19 pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be extradited to face charges in US, court rules

Court rules it would be oppressive to send Julian Assange to the US to face trial after finding he is at high risk of suicide. US government says it will appeal Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Covid-19’s impact on the retail supply chain

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in the ability of retailers to mitigate supply chain imbalances Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Pandemic heroes dominate New Year Honours List 2021

The New Year Honours List 2021 is remarkable for its recognition of those who have excelled during the Covid-19 public health emergency, including digital and data professionals Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Innovation at the shelf edge

It’s been a challenging year for stores due to Covid-19, but some retailers have found time to innovate at the shelf edge with noteworthy technology deployments Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

Top 10 investigations and national security stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 investigations and national security stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Top 10 NHS IT stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 NHS IT stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Top 10 technology and ethics stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 technology and ethics stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

UK-EU Brexit deal passes Commons with six-month data adequacy bridge

IT industry trade body TechUK has welcomed a six-month data adequacy bridge, in the wake of the EU-UK trade deal that the House of Commons has voted for Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Top 10 government and public sector IT stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 government and public IT stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Top 10 Benelux IT stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Benelux IT stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Top 10 financial services stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 financial services IT stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK-EU Brexit deal: TechUK and DigitalEurope hail new dawn but note unfinished data business

Technology trade bodies TechUK and DigitalEurope welcome Christmas Eve UK-EU Brexit deal as a new dawn, but say there is work still be to done on data adequacy and financial equivalence Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

UK-EU Brexit deal: TechUK sees positive runes on digital and data adequacy

TechUK is giving a cautious welcome to the imminent UK-EU trade deal, seeing positive signs for data adequacy and digital trade Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Top 10 Middle East stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Middle East stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Top 10 Downtime Upload podcasts of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Downtime Upload podcasts of 2020 Continue Reading

By

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

Wipro acquires IT units at German wholesalers

German wholesaler Metro has sold IT units to Indian IT services company Wipro, as part of a long-term agreement Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Top 10 startup stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 startup stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Top 10 cloud storage stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 cloud storage stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Swedish central bank moves e-krona project to next stage

Riksbank takes digital currency project to the next phase with Accenture building a platform to test the concept Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Top 10 retail technology stories of 2020

Computer Weekly looks at what 2020 had in store for the retail industry – just how did technology help retailers adapt to changing customer behaviour during the pandemic? Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

A Covid-19 response to supply chain fragility

The global pandemic, lockdowns and local lockdowns have required organisations to operate agile supply chains Continue Reading

By

• Selina Yuan

Use predictive analytics in manufacturing to gain insight

Predictive analytics in manufacturing is a crucial part of a predictive manufacturing system. Learn about its promise, its drawbacks and why. Continue Reading

By

• Alan R. Earls

Data has never been more important for London

As London looks to 2021 and a hoped-for recovery after Covid-19, responsible data sharing and data-driven decision-making become ever more important to the future for all the capital’s businesses Continue Reading

By

• David Lutton

Nordic CIO interview: Åsa Melvanius, Lund municipality

For Åsa Melvanius, CDO at the Swedish municipality of Lund, created a “robot factory” that has saved the city more than 6,500 hours by automating routine processes Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo

Interview: AWS’s Teresa Carlson talks about new role and cloud adoption during Covid-19

AWS executive talks about her expanded remit beyond public sector to include other industries, and driving a unified agenda to push cloud and data adoption worldwide Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Top 10 enterprise IT in the Nordics stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Nordic enterprise IT stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Top 10 container storage stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 container storage stories for 2020, when providing persistent Kubernetes storage, backup and disaster recovery became a key challenge for many organisations Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

THKD taps SAP and Azure to improve patient experience

Malaysian healthcare group THKD is deploying new SAP systems and plans to tap Azure’s cloud infrastructure to enhance patient experience Continue Reading

Government to spend more on IT consultants as skills gap remains unsolved

According to a Public Accounts Committee report, the need to fill gaps in tech expertise as a result of Covid-19 and Brexit means the public sector will resort to costly third-party support Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Interview: Chris Hayman, AWS UK public sector director, on cloud evolution during Covid-19

AWS executive discusses the evolution of cloud technology in government, the need for dynamic procurement, skills, and joining the oligarchy of government tech suppliers Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Prepare for bringing people back to the office with the Nordic tech startup blueprint

Business can learn lessons from Nordic tech startups to prepare employees to return to the office after Covid restrictions Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Utility supplier People’s Energy has entire customer list stolen

All 270,000 customers of People’s Energy, a renewable energy startup, have had their details compromised in a major data breach incident Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

SolarWinds cyber attack is ‘grave risk’ to global security

More victims of the SolarWinds Orion Sunburst cyber attack are being identified as the massive scale of the Russia-linked cyber espionage campaign becomes more clear Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government can’t be complacent with AI, says Lords report

Report urges coordination on policy and use of artificial intelligence, and sets out recommendations for how official bodies should respond to advances in the technology Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Post Office suffers latest court defeat in Horizon IT scandal

Court of Appeal indicates subpostmasters can pursue appeal route that could do more damage to Post Office’s reputation Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

NHS Scotland taps Check Point to secure Covid-19 data

NHS National Services Scotland is working with security firm Check Point to safeguard its sensitive data in the cloud and support its work on the coronavirus Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Guide Dogs data strategy navigates path to organisational view

Guide Dogs CIO Gerard McGovern is mapping out a data strategy that is aimed at taking the charity from an individual to an organisational view of data Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Government aims to ‘unleash innovation’ with procurement overhaul

A government greenpaper sets out changes to simplify buying in the public sector and to benefit small and medium businesses Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

UK police unlawfully processing over a million people’s data on Microsoft 365

The roll-out of Microsoft 365 to dozens of UK police forces may be unlawful, because many have failed to conduct data protection checks before deployment and hold no information on their contracts Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How 5G is going to transform digital banking in 2021

Covid-19 has accelerated digital banking this year and 5G promises to have an even bigger impact next year Continue Reading

By

• Evgenia Loginova

Danske Bank fights money laundering with AI

Danske Bank is using artificial intelligence to help it prevent a repeat of the huge money laundering scandal that hit one of its operations in Estonia Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lancashire police integrate body-worn video into digital policing app

Body-worn video integration will transform Lancashire police’s time-consuming and manual procedures into an efficient digital workflow, but claims that BMV will increase transparency and accountability are not backed by the evidence Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Why our online harms laws will be good for tech

The UK's minister for digital infrastructure explains the government's thinking behind its proposals to regulate internet companies such as Facebook, Google and others Continue Reading

By

• Matt Warman, Digital minister

Digital patient engagement tops NHS IT chiefs' priorities for 2021

Most leaders do not feel like they have sufficient funding to deliver new digital capabilities, despite engagement topping priorities for the NHS in 2021, finds study Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

DWP completes migration to hybrid cloud

The milestone is part of a major insourcing exercise that saw the department move away from monolithic contracts Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

UK government unveils details of upcoming online harms rules

Online Harms Bill due early 2021 will introduce GDPR-style fines for technology companies that breach online duty of care rules Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Covid-19 sparks boom in Middle East digital payments sector

Stubborn cash use could fall in the Middle East after an acceleration in the take-up of digital payments amid the coronavirus pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Alicia Buller