News

IT for government and public sector

• November 22, 2024 22 Nov'24

  Convictions of Post Office Capture system users to be reviewed by statutory body

  Statutory body to look at the convictions of subpostmasters who used a pre-Horizon branch accounting system

• November 22, 2024 22 Nov'24

  NHS Federated Data Platform celebrates first birthday

  In its first year, more than 100 NHS organisations have signed up to the controversial platform, aiming to bring together data from different IT systems

• November 22, 2024 22 Nov'24

  Government looking into third faulty Post Office IT system

  The Department for Business and Trade will look into claims that a third Post Office branch system caused unexplained shortfalls that branch workers and subpostmasters were blamed for

• November 21, 2024 21 Nov'24

  BianLian cyber gang drops encryption-based ransomware

  The Australian and American cyber authorities have published updated intelligence on the BianLian ransomware gang, which has undergone a rapid evolution in tactics

• November 21, 2024 21 Nov'24

  Microsoft slaps down Egyptian-run rent-a-phish operation

  Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit has conducted a successful takedown of almost 250 malicious websites used in the cyber criminal ONNX phishing-as-a-service operation

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  ORG urges ICO to revise public sector enforcement approach

  The Open Rights Group is urging the Information Commissioner’s Office to revise its light touch approach to public sector data protection issues, arguing that its experimental policy of limiting its enforcement actions to reprimands and notices, ...

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  Apple addresses two iPhone, Mac zero-days

  Two zero-day vulnerabilities uncovered in Apple’s operating systems could have allowed for arbitrary code execution and cross-site scripting attacks

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  Post Office to harness technology to automate scandal financial redress payments

  Technology that could speed up financial redress for subpostmasters is being worked on in-house by the Post Office

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  Government issues strategic priorities for online safety regulator Ofcom

  Technology secretary Peter Kyle sets out the government’s strategic priorities for how Ofcom should approach regulating online safety, including embedding safety by design and supporting innovation in technologies to help protect people online

• November 20, 2024 20 Nov'24

  Post Office project taking control of Horizon data from Fujitsu as part of messy split

  The Post Office will no longer rely on Fujitsu for Horizon data past and present once cloud migration project is complete, in a major uncoupling of the 30-year relationship

• November 19, 2024 19 Nov'24

  Post Office is paying lawyers too much, admits minister

  When pushed, a government minister admits the Post Office is paying lawyers too much money in relation to the Post Office scandal

• November 19, 2024 19 Nov'24

  Subpostmasters hit by Post Office scandal plan to meet over 'nuclear option'

  Members of campaign group Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance will discuss taking legal action in their pursuit of full, fair and final financial redress

• November 19, 2024 19 Nov'24

  Post Office scandal: Inquiry’s final phase exposes dysfunction past and present

  Conclusion of the seventh and final phase of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry hearings is another landmark in a scandal that has unfolded over a quarter of a century

• November 19, 2024 19 Nov'24

  UK government seeks AI innovators to support clean energy transition and pursuit of net zero by 2050

  The UK government has launched the second round of the Manchester Prize, which is geared towards using artificial intelligence technologies to assist with the clean energy transition

• November 18, 2024 18 Nov'24

  AWS widening scope of MFA programme after early success

  AWS reports strong take-up of multi-factor authentication among customers since making it compulsory for root users earlier this year, and plans to expand the scope of its IAM programme in spring 2025

• November 18, 2024 18 Nov'24

  Denmark’s AI-powered welfare system fuels mass surveillance

  Research reveals the automated tools used to flag individuals for benefit fraud violate individuals’ privacy and risk discriminating against marginalised groups

• November 18, 2024 18 Nov'24

  Post Office IT boss calls for subpostmasters to judge him on his actions

  Recently installed Post Office chief transformation officer tasked with replacing controversial IT system tells Computer Weekly the organisation’s leadership understands the challenges ahead

• November 15, 2024 15 Nov'24

  Post Office to decide on Horizon before April, Fujitsu board considers final contract extension

  Chief transformation officer tells Computer Weekly about ongoing work on replacing controversial Post Office Horizon system and extending contract with Fujitsu

• November 14, 2024 14 Nov'24

  MPs hold first ever debate on live facial recognition

  MPs have held an open debate on police use of live facial recognition technology for the first time since it was initially deployed by the Met Police in August 2016

• November 14, 2024 14 Nov'24

  Mike Potter’s departure leads to changes at the CDDO

  The government digital officer left his role in September, and government chief technology officer David Knott is currently leading the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) in the interim while permanent arrangements are agreed

• November 12, 2024 12 Nov'24

  Microsoft fixes 89 CVEs on penultimate Patch Tuesday of 2024

  High-profile vulns in NTLM, Windows Task Scheduler, Active Directory Certificate Services and Microsoft Exchange Server should be prioritised from November’s Patch Tuesday update

• November 12, 2024 12 Nov'24

  Zero-day exploits increasingly sought out by attackers

  Threat actors increasingly favour zero-day exploits to attack their victims before patches become available, according to the NCSC and CISA, which have just published a list of the most widely used vulnerabilities of 2023

• November 12, 2024 12 Nov'24

  Police cloud project raises data protection concerns despite legal reforms

  Ongoing data protection issues with the use of hyperscale public cloud infrastructure by UK police could complicate the ambitions of nine forces to move their common records management system into the cloud

• November 11, 2024 11 Nov'24

  Post Office scandal not caused by software errors, says combative Fujitsu boss

  During a sometimes heated appearance at the public inquiry, Fujitsu’s European boss Paul Patterson said the inquiry has shed light on who is to blame for the scandal

• November 11, 2024 11 Nov'24

  Fresh concerns over NHS England registries procurement

  Clinicians and technologists behind a number of medical devices registries being brought together by NHS England on a new common platform have accused the health service of flouting public sector procurement regulations

• November 08, 2024 08 Nov'24

  Government announces Green Paper on future of scandal-ridden Post Office

  Consultation process will enable a wide range of people to air their views on the future of the scandal-hit Post Office

• November 07, 2024 07 Nov'24

  Post Office wrongly used public funds to pay for legal battle

  Senior civil servant’s appearance at public inquiry reveals Post Office broke spending rules when it diverted money to legal battle

• November 07, 2024 07 Nov'24

  Google Cloud MFA enforcement meets with approval

  Latest Google Cloud policy to enforce multifactor authentication across its user base is welcomed by security professionals

• November 07, 2024 07 Nov'24

  AI a force multiplier for the bad guys, say cyber pros

  CIISec’s annual report on the security profession finds evidence of growing concern that artificial intelligence will ultimately prove more useful to threat actors than defenders

• November 07, 2024 07 Nov'24

  Post Office appointing third-party reviewer of current Horizon system

  According to government representative on the Post Office board, an independent reviewer of Horizon is being appointed

• November 07, 2024 07 Nov'24

  Government presses pause on Single Trade Window project

  The project to create a UK Single Trade Window, a digital gateway for traders, has been put on hold for the 2025/26 financial year as mounting costs cause concerns

• November 07, 2024 07 Nov'24

  Interview: Petra Molnar, author of ‘The walls have eyes’

  Refugee lawyer and author Petra Molnar speaks to Computer Weekly about the extreme violence people on the move face at borders across the world, and how increasingly hostile anti-immigrant politics is being enabled and reinforced by a ‘lucrative ...

• November 06, 2024 06 Nov'24

  UK government launches AI assurance platform for enterprises

  The platform is designed to drive demand for the UK’s artificial intelligence assurance sector and help build greater trust in the technology by helping businesses identify and mitigate a range of AI-related risks

• November 06, 2024 06 Nov'24

  Lords shoplifting inquiry calls for facial recognition laws

  A Lords committee has expressed concern about the use of facial recognition technology by retailers to combat shoplifting, and is calling on the government to introduce new laws to ensure there are minimum standards for their deployments

• November 06, 2024 06 Nov'24

  Post Office was reluctant to cut costs despite 143 central staff earning more than £100k

  Former Post Office minister told public inquiry that Post Office boss did not want to cut central costs, despite how many staff were earning more than £100k

• November 06, 2024 06 Nov'24

  Starmer announces tech-enabled crackdown on people smuggling

  The UK government has announced a further £75m of funding for its Border Security Command, meaning it will now have £150m over two years to spend on new technologies and staff

• November 06, 2024 06 Nov'24

  How enterprises can ride the AI coding wave

  GovTech leader urges developers to prioritise value, security and compliance when implementing AI coding tools in enterprise environments

• November 05, 2024 05 Nov'24

  Post Office data breach caused by botched website upgrade

  Data breach exposed personal details of the hundreds of former subpostmasters who had defeated the Post Office in the High Court

• November 04, 2024 04 Nov'24

  Government’s £600,000 offer to Horizon scandal victims was 'political'

  The Post Office was blindsided by the previous government’s decision to offer £600,000 to all subpostmasters wrongly convicted of financial crimes as a result of Horizon failures

• November 04, 2024 04 Nov'24

  Government to roll out Gov.uk Forms across its websites

  The tool, which is already in use, aims to transform how the public fill out applications and information online, making it easier and more intuitive

• November 04, 2024 04 Nov'24

  Financiers isolate Middle East over sanctions-evading paytech

  Cross-border payment system loses support of association of global central banks

• November 01, 2024 01 Nov'24

  CISA looks to global collaboration as fraught US election begins

  The US' CISA cyber agency has unveiled a two-year International Strategic Plan to advance collaboration and improve resilience against shared risks and threats

• November 01, 2024 01 Nov'24

  Outside IR35: What the Autumn Budget’s Employers’ NI changes mean for IT contractors

  The UK government used the Autumn Budget to announce an increase to the amount of Employers’ National Insurance Contributions companies will have to pay, which could have big implications for IT contractors

• October 31, 2024 31 Oct'24

  Post Office scandal affected relationships of two-thirds of victims

  The Post Office scandal, regarded as the UK’s widest miscarriage of justice, destroyed the financial wellbeing of former subpostmasters, took away their liberty and inflicted grief on their relationships

• October 31, 2024 31 Oct'24

  DWP appoints Helen Wylie as its new chief digital and information officer

  Wylie steps up from chief technology officer to replace her departing boss, Rich Corbridge, to take over one of the largest IT estates in Europe

• October 31, 2024 31 Oct'24

  Fujitsu boss to face tough reappearance at Post Office inquiry, following inaction and sidestepping

  Fujitsu’s European boss will have to justify why promises made at the public inquiry months ago have not been followed through

• October 31, 2024 31 Oct'24

  Autumn Budget: Employment agencies to take on PAYE processing from umbrella firms from April 2026

  The government has pledged legislation to make employment agencies and end-hirers responsible for making sure contractors pay the right amount of tax, in a clampdown on non-compliant umbrella companies

• October 30, 2024 30 Oct'24

  Autumn Budget 2024: Chancellor emphasises importance of tech for UK growth

  In her first budget, Rachel Reeves reiterated the vital role of technology in delivering economic growth and improving productivity and efficiency in public services

• October 30, 2024 30 Oct'24

  No simple replacement for digital evidence rules, says Post Office Horizon trial judge

  Judge in Post Office Horizon trial says a more flexible approach to how digital evidence is used in court cases may be required as IT complexity increases

• October 29, 2024 29 Oct'24

  EMEA businesses siphoning budgets to hit NIS2 goals

  With NIS2 now in effect, European business leaders are having to divert budget from elsewhere to achieve compliance