News

IT for government and public sector

• December 20, 2024 20 Dec'24

  Post Office creates CTO role to support ‘extensive and complex’ plans

  Post Office bolsters its IT leadership team as it grapples with massive tech transformation with the nation looking on

• December 20, 2024 20 Dec'24

  Government introduces technology adoption review

  Whitehall has launched a call for evidence on barriers to adopting new technologies in the UK, wanting to know what needs to change for the country to stay at the forefront of technology adoption

• December 20, 2024 20 Dec'24

  Top 10 data and ethics stories of 2024

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 data and ethics stories of 2024

• December 19, 2024 19 Dec'24

  LockBit ransomware gang teases February 2025 return

  An individual associated with the LockBit ransomware gang has broken cover to tease details of a new phase of the cyber criminal operation's activity, which they claim is set to begin in February 2025

• December 19, 2024 19 Dec'24

  Latest attempt to override UK’s outdated hacking law stalls

  Amendments to the Data Bill that would have given the UK cyber industry a boost by updating restrictive elements of the Computer Misuse Act have failed to progress beyond a Lords committee

• December 19, 2024 19 Dec'24

  AWS offers Hackney Council ‘minimum 22%’ discount on cloud services through OGVA 2.0

  Amazon Web Services has renewed its cloud deal with Hackney Council, with the local authority receiving a minimum discount of 22% in exchange for agreeing to grow its AWS cloud footprint by 8% each year

• December 18, 2024 18 Dec'24

  The Security Interviews: Martin Lee, Cisco Talos

  Threat intel expert and author Martin Lee, EMEA technical lead for security research at Cisco Talos, joins Computer Weekly to mark the 35th anniversary of the first ever ransomware attack

• December 18, 2024 18 Dec'24

  Top 10 cyber security stories of 2024

  Data breaches, data privacy and protection, and the thorny issue of open source security were all hot topics this year. Meanwhile, security companies frequently found themselves hitting the headlines, and not always for good reasons. Here are ...

• December 18, 2024 18 Dec'24

  Post Office IT department fired and rehired ‘friends’ at ‘exorbitant’ rates, says former HR chief

  The Post Office got rid of permanent roles, including IT, and rehired the holders on over double the pay

• December 18, 2024 18 Dec'24

  Top 10 cyber crime stories of 2024

  From ransomware targeting the NHS to nation-state-backed intrusions, 2024 was another big year for cyber criminals and cyber spooks alike, but they didn't have it all their own way as the good guys fought back

• December 18, 2024 18 Dec'24

  Axon still in possession of Police Scotland encryption keys

  Supplier’s possession of encryption keys for Police Scotland data sharing system opens potential for access and transfer of sensitive data without the knowledge or consent of the force

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Conservative MP adds to calls for public inquiry over PSNI police spying

  Conservative MP David Davis calls for a public inquiry following a court ruling that the PSNI and Metropolitan Police unlawfully placed journalists under electronic surveillance

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Ofcom publishes Illegal Harms Codes of Practice

  The codes of practice and guidance from Ofcom outline the steps online services providers can take to protect their users from illegal harms

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Latest list of AI in government decision-making published

  The government wants to show it’s being transparent over the use of algorithms that directly impact citizens

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Digital Ethics Summit 2024: recognising AI’s socio-technical nature

  At trade association TechUK’s eighth annual Digital Ethics Summit, public officials and industry figures and civil society groups met to discuss the ethical challenges associated with the proliferation of artificial intelligence tools globally and ...

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Tribunal criticises PSNI and Met Police for spying operation to identify journalists’ sources

  The Investigatory Powers Tribunal has criticised the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Metropolitan Police for unlawfully spying on journalists

• December 17, 2024 17 Dec'24

  Government promises redress and justice to Post Office Capture system users

  The government has officially recognised that users of the Post Office’s Capture software experienced shortfalls caused by the system’s errors

• December 16, 2024 16 Dec'24

  Post Office ‘weaponised’ IT system in most ‘extensive and prolonged’ miscarriage

  In closing, public inquiry counsel made clear that it’s not a computer system being investigated, but rather human beings

• December 16, 2024 16 Dec'24

  Top 10 IT leadership interviews of 2024

  The top technology leaders talk to Computer Weekly to discuss the challenges they face and the strategies, solutions and successes they are delivering

• December 13, 2024 13 Dec'24

  Computer Misuse Act reform gains traction in Parliament

  An amendment to the proposed Data (Access and Use) Bill that will right a 35-year-old wrong and protect security professionals from criminalisation is to be debated at Westminster

• December 13, 2024 13 Dec'24

  Post Office scandal 2024 – part 3: Fujitsu’s 12-month fall from grace

  After years of refusing to comment, Fujitsu was unable to continue hiding from its role in the Post Office Horizon IT scandal as politicians and a public inquiry demanded answers

• December 12, 2024 12 Dec'24

  Emerging Ymir ransomware heralds more coordinated threats in 2025

  A newly observed ransomware strain has the community talking about more collaboration, and blurred lines, between threat groups next year, according to NCC’s monthly cyber barometer

• December 12, 2024 12 Dec'24

  Post Office scandal in 2024 – part 2: Capture, the prequel

  Users of the Post Office’s Capture system had similar experiences to those who struggled with the Horizon system, which came later, but their stories are only just coming out now

• December 11, 2024 11 Dec'24

  Police not ruling any person or crime out of Post Office scandal investigation

  Metropolitan Police provides update on Operation Olympos, its national investigation into potential criminality in the Post Office Horizon scandal

• December 11, 2024 11 Dec'24

  Post Office scandal in 2024 – part 1: A year in the mainstream

  Read this year’s 10 most read Computer Weekly articles about the Post Office Horizon IT scandal

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  Dangerous CLFS and LDAP flaws stand out on Patch Tuesday

  Microsoft has fixed over 70 CVEs in its final Patch Tuesday update of the year, and defenders should prioritise a zero-day in the Common Log File System Driver, and another impactful flaw in the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  iOS vuln leaves user data dangerously exposed

  Jamf threat researchers detail an exploit chain for a recently patched iOS vulnerability that enables a threat actor to steal sensitive data, warning that many organisations are still neglecting mobile updates

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  UK police continue to hold millions of custody images unlawfully

  Annual report from the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner of England and Wales highlights the ongoing and unlawful retention millions of custody images of innocent people never charged with a crime by police

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  Government launches £100m innovation fund for public service reform

  Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster calls on Whitehall to adopt a ‘test-and-learn’ culture and pledges to make government ‘more like a startup’

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  DWP ‘fairness analysis’ reveals bias in AI fraud detection system

  Information about people’s age, disability, marital status and nationality influences decisions to investigate benefit claims for fraud, but the Department for Work and Pensions says there are ‘no immediate concerns of unfair treatment’

• December 10, 2024 10 Dec'24

  Controversial Horizon system to remain in Post Office branches as part of tech ‘fusion’, says source

  A source says the Post Office is set to buy the Horizon system from Fujitsu and combine it with both in-house developed and commercially available software

• December 09, 2024 09 Dec'24

  Bahrain faces legal action after planting Pegasus spyware on UK blogger

  A court has given the go-ahead to UK-based blogger Yusuf Al-Jamri to seek damages from the Kingdom of Bahrain after it deployed spyware from Israel’s NSO Group to hack his phone

• December 09, 2024 09 Dec'24

  Post Office senior leadership warned of IT project data safeguarding risk

  Post Office board members and senior executives have been made aware of the risk to data related to its ill-fated Horizon system replacement project

• December 06, 2024 06 Dec'24

  What do the home secretary’s policing reforms mean for the future of the Police Digital Service?

  The government is to create a new central body for policing with IT strategy in its proposed purview, but what does this mean for the Home Office-backed Police Digital Service?

• December 05, 2024 05 Dec'24

  Met Police challenged on claim LFR supported by ‘majority of Lewisham residents’

  A community impact assessment for the Met Police’s deployment of live facial-recognition tech in Lewisham brings into question the force’s previous claims to Computer Weekly that its use of the technology is supported by ‘the majority of residents’

• December 05, 2024 05 Dec'24

  Post Office Fujitsu contract extended by a year as decision time looms

  The Post Office has let contractors and third parties go as it completes its analysis of the future Horizon replacement options

• December 04, 2024 04 Dec'24

  Shared digital gateway was source of three NHS ransomware attacks

  Alder Hey children’s hospital confirms ransomware operators accessed its systems through a shared digital gateway, but is standing firm in the face of the gang’s demands

• December 03, 2024 03 Dec'24

  Australian utilities explore potential of AI

  Australia’s utilities sector is exploring and implementing AI to enhance grid stability, manage rooftop solar and prepare for the influx of electric vehicles

• December 02, 2024 02 Dec'24

  NCSC boss calls for ‘sustained vigilance’ in an aggressive world

  NCSC CEO Richard Horne is to echo wider warnings about the growing number and severity of cyber threats facing the UK as he launches the security body’s eighth annual report

• November 29, 2024 29 Nov'24

  Swedish authorities urged to discontinue AI welfare system

  Amnesty International is calling on Sweden’s social insurance agency to immediately discontinue its machine learning-based welfare system, following an investigation by Lighthouse Reports and Svenska Dagbladet that found it to be discriminatory

• November 28, 2024 28 Nov'24

  Fujitsu’s charity boss made redundant while Post Office scandal victims await support

  At a time when it could give something back to Post Office Horizon victims persecuted as a result of its faulty software, Fujitsu makes UK charity boss redundant

• November 28, 2024 28 Nov'24

  Chulalongkorn University debuts GenAI platform

  Thai university teams up with Google Cloud to empower its community with responsible and customisable AI tools for research, learning and administration

• November 27, 2024 27 Nov'24

  Post Office Capture users invited to pivotal meeting with government

  About 80 former Capture users have now come forward for legal support in making claims against the Post Office

• November 27, 2024 27 Nov'24

  Dutch politicians raise concerns over Big Tech reliance

  Dutch political parties have warned about the Netherlands’ growing reliance on US tech giants

• November 26, 2024 26 Nov'24

  Post Office scandal redress echoes Windrush compensation problems

  Campaigning former subpostmaster Sir Alan Bates met with Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) over financial redress scheme

• November 26, 2024 26 Nov'24

  Russian threat actors poised to cripple power grid, UK warns

  UK government escalates cyber rhetoric in a speech at a Nato event, saying Russian advanced persistent threats stand ready to conduct cyber attacks that could ‘turn off the lights for millions’

• November 25, 2024 25 Nov'24

  Metropolitan Police officer dismissed for unlawfully accessing Sarah Everard files

  Over 100 Met Police officers and staff have been investigated for accessing sensitive data related to the Sarah Everard case, leading to the dismissal of a Roads and Transport officer who accessed the information while off-duty

• November 25, 2024 25 Nov'24

  Post Office scandal: How much deeper and wider can it get?

  It took decades to expose the Post Office Horizon scandal but that effort has laid the groundwork for others to seek justice and financial redress

• November 25, 2024 25 Nov'24

  Microsoft calls on Trump to ‘push harder’ on cyber threats

  Microsoft’s Brad Smith urges president-elect Donald Trump to keep the faith when it comes to fighting back against hostile cyber actors from China, Iran and Russia

• November 25, 2024 25 Nov'24

  Geopolitical strife drives increased ransomware activity

  The lines between financially motivated cyber criminals and nation state APTs are rapidly blurring, as geopolitical influences weigh heavily on the threat landscape, according to data from NCC