IT news in your industry sector

List of tech conferences canceled, postponed due to coronavirus

IT events across the globe are being canceled, rescheduled or streamed in response to concerns about the possible spread of COVID-19 in public spaces and large groups. Continue Reading

By

• Jacqueline Biscobing, Senior Managing Editor, News

MPs call on PM to commit to full public inquiry into Post Office Horizon IT scandal

Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee to investigate the Horizon IT system and will question Post Office executives over subpostmasters wrongly accused of fraud Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA
• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

5G security is a concern for most companies

A study has found that decision-makers fear that 5G technology will make organisations more vulnerable to cyber attacks and will raise security-related costs Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Cabinet Office gives more non-answers on the future of Gov.uk Verify

The remarkable levels of secrecy and avoidance of scrutiny around the Gov.uk Verify digital identity scheme continue – and if anything, seem to have reached new levels of absurdity. Last week, ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Podcast: The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload – episode 49

In this week’s episode of the Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast, Caroline Donnelly, Clare McDonald and Brian McKenna discuss IR35 through the prism of Eamonn Holmes, the tech community’s reaction to the points-based immigration system, and robotic process automation as beneficial to humans Continue Reading

By

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

What is ARPA and what should a UK version look like?

The Prime Minister wants the UK to be a hotbed of science and research, and his advisor Dominic Cummings admires the US ARPA organisation – but what would a UK version need to be successful? Continue Reading

By

• Julian David, TechUK

EC publishes approach to human and ethical implications of AI, but what will UK do?

The European Commission has published a guide to the EU’s approach to the human and ethical effects that artificial intelligence might bring Continue Reading

By

• Louis Wihl, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Industry group launched to develop standards for fibre deployment in sewer network

Water utilities companies are working with SSE Enterprise Telecoms to deploy fibre in the sewers, as well as transform the sewage system into a “smart wastewater network” Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

MPs double down on criticism of HMRC's loan charge enforcement action report

The war of words between the Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and HMRC has deepened, as the cross-party group of MPs pens three-page letter outlining its issues with how tax agency is reporting on its enforcement activities Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Flash storage tiers: Performance, cost and use cases

We look at performance, cost and potential use cases for the key flash storage types available, such as Nand flash, 3D Xpoint and Intel Optane, plus SAS, SATA and NVMe connectivity Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

A five-point plan to get the UK out of the Huawei hole

It's not too late for the UK to develop an alternative to Huawei, says Labour's shadow digital minister Continue Reading

By

• Chi Onwurah, Labour

What will points-based immigration mean for IT recruitment?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at the government’s new points-based immigration rules and assess the implications for the tech sector. IR35 tax rules change in April – we find out how IT contractors need to prepare. And we examine whether the rise of cloud is really displacing the datacentre. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

HMRC CEO denies it is ‘deliberately misleading’ public over loan scheme promoter arrests

HMRC CEO Jim Harra has “strongly rejected” claims made on social media by the Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group of cross-party MPs that it is “deliberately misleading” the public about its recent loan scheme-related enforcement activities Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

NHSX appoints chief information officer

Sonia Patel is the latest senior appointment at the digital unit of the National Health Service Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Rook 101: Building software-defined containerised storage in Kubernetes

Rook – think castles, not birds – uses the principles of containerisation and the methods used in Kubernetes to build storage that’s abstracted from the hardware it lives on Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Nordic lessons on digital transformation

Swedish financial services firm reports a successful IT outsourcing project with India-based IT services company Continue Reading

By

• Alex Cruickshank

Volvo Group motors beyond annual performance review with Cornerstone

Volvo Group has broken with its traditional annual performance review process in order to stoke entrepreneurialism, says Bahar Rasouli, director of global people performance Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Boris Johnson’s commitment to inquiry into Post Office scandal in doubt

Boris Johnson’s apparent commitment to a public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal is not so certain Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How Asia’s tech firms are helping to stem the Covid-19 outbreak

Data analytics and robots are being deployed in China and other Asian countries that have been hardest hit by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

CIO interview: Ian Cohen, chief product and technology officer, Addison Lee

At taxi and transport company Addison Lee, technology is focused around customer experience before worrying about datacentres, servers and what elements make up the IT infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Student Loans Company to enlist IT suppliers for £200m transformation plan

Suppliers are being sought to support intended improvements to Student Loans Company's customer interface and technology estate Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Government claims it was misled by Post Office over IT scandal

Minister says Post Office IT experts misled the government when it asked questions about subpostmasters’ concerns over Horizon IT system Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Greenpeace urges AWS, Google and Microsoft to cut cloud ties with oil and gas customers

Environmental group wants three of the public cloud market’s biggest players to stop selling their technology to oil and gas companies – but will they? Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Would you still consider the UK an attractive destination for global tech talent?

Imagine you’re a skilled, ambitious IT professional living outside the UK and you want to maximise your earning potential and your exposure to the latest technology. You’re assessing where in the ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Long, dark winters contribute to Finland’s advantage in video game development

Finland and Southern California are worlds apart at first glance, but both are leaders in video game development. We find out why. Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

WikiLeaks founder Assange is well enough to participate in extradition proceedings, says judge

A judge dismissed claims that Julian Assange’s vulnerable psychological state would prevent him from taking part in his extradition hearing to face espionage and computer misuse charges in the US Continue Reading

By

• Greg Wilford

Gove warns EU that UK sovereignty is non-negotiable on eve of trade deal talks

The UK and the EU have published their divergent mandates for trade talks due to start on Monday 2 March 2020, and digital may emerge as a long-term terrain of dispute Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

NHSX launches Tech Plan vision

The strategy will see a phased approach to the delivery of digitisation in the healthcare sector, with delivery kicking off this summer Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Clearview hack fuels debate over facial recognition

Customers of Clearview AI, a controversial startup that scrapes and sells billions of photos of people from social media to police forces, have found themselves at the centre of a major data breach Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

IR35 private sector reforms: Treasury review concludes no delay needed to April 2020 start date

Contracting groups describe HM Treasury’s highly anticipated review into the implementation of the IR35 reforms as “recklessly inadequate” as it concludes roll-out should proceed as planned Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

IR35 reforms: IT contractors warned off joining non-compliant umbrellas to avoid loan charge risk

Contracting stakeholders are calling on the government to do more to regulate umbrella companies ahead of the IR35 private sector reforms coming into play, to prevent more contractors falling into the scope of the loan charge Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Redcar & Cleveland Council confirms ransomware attack

Local authority’s systems are still offline nearly three weeks after being attacked Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CW Nordics: Swedes lose faith in social media as data security fears increase

Swedish citizens are becoming more concerned about the activities of social media companies and are reducing their online interaction with them as a result. Also read about new mobility-as-a-service projects gaining traction across Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and why the Finnish government has committed resources to a cyber security project aimed at local authorities. Continue Reading

Fake CDNs obscuring credit card fraudsters

Fake content delivery networks and ngrok servers are being pressed into service to obscure credit card skimming activities Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Holmes under the hammer

IR35 has claimed its first big name, after Eamonn Holmes failed to convince the courts he’s a freelancer in his case against HMRC. For the humble freelancer, the introduction of the kaleidoscopic ... Continue Reading

By

• Ryan Priest

Personal transport as a service drives across Nordics

 Continue Reading

NHSX publishes first progress report since launch

Digital unit for the National Health Service outlines achievements in areas such as the NHS App and artificial intelligence and gives clues about future milestones Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be legally extradited for ‘political offences’, say lawyers

Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange argue that he has been charged with political offences and cannot be legally extradited to the US under the US-UK extradition treaty Continue Reading

By

• Greg Wilford

Boris Johnson commits to 'getting to the bottom of' Post Office Horizon IT scandal

Prime minister Boris Johnson appears to commit to a public inquiry into the Post Office scandal over its accounting system, but government is yet to offer any details Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Thousands of UK entrepreneurs register businesses in Estonia since Brexit referendum

UK entrepreneurs are registering businesses in Estonia to make sure they can continue to trade freely in the EU Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Met Police chief backs legislative framework for police tech

Met Police commissioner has called for legislative framework to govern police use of new technologies, while defending the decision to use live facial recognition technology operationally without it Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Julian Assange phoned White House to warn of risk to lives

Julian Assange phoned the White House to warn officials that unredacted cables published on the web posed a risk to lives, a court heard yesterday Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

IT Priorities 2020: Cloud storage key but SAN/NAS alive and well

In the Computer Weekly/TechTarget IT Priorities survey cloud dominates storage spending priorities for 2020, but on-premise technologies such as SAN and NAS are still key to IT Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Boots to trial private e-prescriptions

The pharmacy chain is trialling the service, underpinned by Doctor Care Anywhere technology, in 20 London stores Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Sports retailer Decathlon left employee data exposed

More than 123 million records were accidentally exposed on an unsecured ElasticSearch server Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

The Security Interviews: Gil Shwed’s 10-year vision for security

Check Point founder Gil Shwed discusses his new Infinity Next concept and how he plans to remodel the world of cyber security in the next 10 years Continue Reading

Podcast: The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload – Episode 48

In this week’s episode of the Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast, Caroline Donnelly, Clare McDonald and Brian McKenna discuss tech billionaires pledging to solve climate change, M&S smart lighting and open data in the EU Continue Reading

By

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

Government admits it was too passive managing Post Office as parliamentary pressure builds

The UK government faces accusations of neglecting its duties handling the Post Office as pressure mounts in Parliament for justice for the subpostmasters who suffered due to faults in the Horizon IT system Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Mastercard creates 1,500 tech jobs in Ireland

New roles at tech hub in Dublin will include professionals with expertise in artificial intelligence, cyber security, blockchain and user experience Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber criminals targeting UK motorists, warns DVLA

Cyber criminals are offering various services and tax refunds that purport to be from the DVLA Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Department for Education publishes tools to support learning at home

The Department for Education publishes apps featuring innovations such as artificial intelligence aimed at helping parents to use technology to create positive learning environments Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

The big retail tech themes from Retail’s Big Show

The National Retail Federation’s Big Show signals the kick-off of the retail events calendar. We look over the themes promised for retail tech over the next year. Continue Reading

Using meteorological data to prepare for the worst

In this week’s Computer Weekly, after the storms that swept across the UK, we look at the technology behind Weather Source’s meteorological data service. Oracle and SAP are battling over customers to upgrade their ERP systems to the cloud. And we report from the world’s biggest retail tech show. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Assange extradition is a politically motivated ‘abuse of power’, court hears

US government’s attempt to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges in the US is politically motivated and an abuse of process, court told Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

WikiLeaks founder Assange ‘put lives at risk’ by disclosing names in leaked documents, court hears

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange ‘put lives of US informants at risk’ by publishing unredacted documents, lawyers for the US argued at the first day of a week-long extradition hearing Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Estonia to give citizens Alexa-like access to public services

The Estonian government is working on a project that will ultimately allow citizens to ask Siri, Alexa or almost any other virtual digital assistant to interact with government departments on their behalf Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IR35 private sector reforms: First year of enforcement won't be ‘heavy-handed’, claims chancellor

New chancellor Rishi Sunak has moved to assure business leaders that HMRC will not be heavy-handed in enforcing the new IR35 rules Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Tech reaction to UK’s upcoming immigration rules

The government has outlined its plans for a new points-based immigration system to ensure only skilled workers can enter the UK – but what does the technology sector think? Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Australian government inks sourcing deal with Rimini Street

The whole-of-government agreement will provide Australian government agencies with easier and cheaper access to third-party software support Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Labour condemns Google data plans

Shadow digital minister Chi Onwurah challenges the government to stop Google’s plans to move UK user data out of the EU Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Scotland to set up payments service for public sector

Scottish government seeks supplier to work on beta phase of development Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Exploring the Nordics’ healthy advantage in leisure tech

The Nordic region is home to an increasing number of global leisure tech startups Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Executive interview: Making IT sustainable

Defra recently reported that “cloud-first” IT strategies are driving green information and communications technology in government. This puts a greater emphasis on datacentre transparency Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

EU defies big tech firms and proposes single data market

The European Commission outlines actions needed to enable the continent's digital success Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Deutsche Telekom claims most successful year ever

Global telco releases end-of-year results showing record revenue and profit growth in all of its operating segments Continue Reading

By

• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly

Refinitiv uses Google Cloud to revolutionise delivery of huge datasets

Financial data giant is expanding delivery of its services in the cloud, removing the need for customers to use hard disks and trucks to transport large datasets onsite Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

EU puts up AI and data strategies with an ethical twist

European Commission launches strategies for artificial intelligence and data economics, making the fight against climate change their raison d’être Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Swedish consumer-protection legislation will hit fintechs

New financial regulation to protect consumers from agreeing to unnecessary credit will force financial technology companies to make changes to their products Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Data sharing between private healthcare and NHS to move into new phase

A consultation has been launched to seek views on the creation of a single source of healthcare data in England, with a series of pilots announced Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Air transport industry examines blockchain that could boost revenue by $40bn

Businesses supplying aircraft parts and maintenance services are collaborating to investigate the potential of blockchain technology to improve logistics Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Dutch tech firm transforms real-life football through video game concept

Tech company that helped the Belgian football team in the last World Cup is changing the way footballers are scouted and teams are trained Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

US ‘breached due process’ in spying operation against Julian Assange’s lawyers

Surveillance footage of Julian Assange’s meetings with lawyers and doctors in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London was an “abuse of process” Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
• Sander Priston

IR35 private sector reforms: National Grid contractors up in arms over tax status assessments

Assessments are claimed to have resulted in “99%” of utility firm’s off-payroll workers having their roles reclassified as inside IR35 Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Is this Netflix-style thriller the future of security training?

Cyber awareness specialists at KnowBe4 reckon that bringing Netflix-style production values to corporate videos heralds a new approach to security training Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Podcast: The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload – Episode 47

In this week’s episode of the Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast, Caroline Donnelly, Clare McDonald and Brian McKenna discuss IR35 protests, the Oracle vs SAP cloud applications dog fight, and a Goldman Sachs cloud service for its banking sector Continue Reading

By

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

Swedish council tests virtual reality in care for vulnerable people

Local authority is testing virtual reality technology to provide care services to vulnerable groups such elderly and disabled citizens Continue Reading

By

• Jane Hamrin

Trust no one – the benefits of zero-trust security

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we take an in-depth look at zero-trust security and examine how it changes traditional IT risk models. After SAP extended the support deadline for its ECC ERP system, we find out the options for users. And we analyse explainable AI and the ethical importance of understanding algorithms. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Isilon’s multi-dot upgrade to OneFS 8.2.2 masks big changes

The latest quarterly update to OneFS sees maximum file size grow to 16TB, brings in data deduplication in real time for HDDs, better load balancing and a new Kubernetes CSI Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

Government invests in tech to tackle traffic congestion

Councils and SMEs will get a share of £1.5m government funding to work on trials aimed at improving driving conditions Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Concerns raised over former Post Office CEO’s appointment at NHS trust under review

Care Quality Commission to review concerns over Paula Vennells’ appointment after they were raised by a former NHS consultant psychiatrist Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Mastercard opens European security resilience unit

Mastercard’s European Cyber Resilience Centre will bring together its partners and other industry bodies to support enterprise resilience Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Ex-soldiers to become ethical hackers

A new programme will give armed forces veterans in Scotland a grounding in cyber security skills, including penetration testing and ethical hacking Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

From Pixar to GovTech: The inside story of Singapore’s AI whizz

After nearly a decade at Pixar, GovTech’s Chong Jiayi is leading a team of experts to solve hard problems in robotics and artificial intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Met Office gets a decade of funding to update supercomputers

As the UK goes through another storm battering, the Met Office has received a £1.2bn investment to power the next decade of weather forecasts Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Smart use of data takes Dutch railways further

De Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways), ensures, among other things, that 1.2 million train passengers arrive at their destination every day. Through a subsidiary, it’s using data to improve both the customer experience and internal processes Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

Want to hear the latest on Gov.uk Verify? Sorry, GDS still has nothing to say

The great and the good of the digital identity sector gathered in London yesterday (13 February) for the Think Digital Identity for Government conference – a popular bi-annual event that always ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

CIO Interview: Siim Sikkut, Estonian government CIO

Siim Sikkut is one of a generation of tech native Estonians, who is turning his knowledge and experience to transforming government services Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

PM Johnson shuffles technology and digital ministers again

Boris Johnson has changed all the key Cabinet appointments responsible for tech and digital policy for the second time since becoming prime minister last year Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Calls for inquiry into Post Office IT scandal increase in Parliament, with cross-party support

Many MPs might not yet fully understand the suffering subpostmasters have endured because of the Post Office’s faulty IT system and its oppressive behaviour, but they will soon Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber criminals spread coronavirus conspiracy theories

The latest email campaigns identified by Proofpoint are spreading conspiracy theories about the coronavirus outbreak Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CW Benelux: Ericsson helps driverless buses hit European streets

Ericsson has revealed its plans for new technologies including 5G, the internet of things and self-driving buses. Also read about the Dutch government lacking the knowledge and skills for its own IT strategy, and the Dutch government’s need to push for an electronic ID system for its citizens. Continue Reading

Half of technology workers want to find a new job in 2020

Better pay and work/life balance are major reasons for tech workers to seek a new job, according to a new study Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Dutch government must sort IT mess as priority

 Continue Reading

Brexit cited as reason for German digital bank’s UK exit

German challenger bank N26 leaves the UK, saying Brexit is the reason behind the decision due to the removal of passporting rights Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Emotet evolving to exploit coronavirus fear

With coronavirus cases now reported across the world, Emotet campaigns are exploiting legitimate fears to compromise their targets Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Communications watchdog Ofcom to gain extra powers as online harms regulator

The government has released its initial response to 2019’s Online Harms White Paper, setting out a number of decisions about how it will regulate harmful content on the internet Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Adult social care organisations get £4.5m in funding for digital

A group of 16 local authorities was selected to receive the grant from NHS Digital to fund digital projects for adult social care Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Pressure for public inquiry into Post Office IT system scandal begins with mountain to climb

Members of Parliament seeking a public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal face huge challenges, but pressure and time could force justice Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IBM unifies storage arrays under FlashSystem brand

IBM to bring together all non-mainframe storage arrays as FlashSystem product, with options from entry-level to petabyte-scale with NVMe flash and storage class memory Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

MI5 failed to disclose failings in handling intercepted data, court hears

MI5 failed to disclose serious failures in the way it handled intelligence data to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the surveillance regulator and ministers. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly