News

IT for government and public sector

• May 02, 2023 02 May'23

  HMRC confirms potential April 2024 end date for double-taxation issue in IR35 compliance cases

  HM Revenue & Customs launches eight-week consultation on plans to roll out a legislative tweak that would put a stop to the government tax collection agency over-collecting tax in IR35 non-compliance cases

• April 28, 2023 28 Apr'23

  Government is playing ‘psychic war’ in battle over end-to-end encryption

  Peers hear that the UK government is being deliberately ambiguous about its plans to require technology companies to scan the content of encrypted messages

• April 28, 2023 28 Apr'23

  More Post Office software-related convictions overturned takes total to 86

  A total of 86 former subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted for financial crimes after computer errors showed phantom losses have had convictions overturned

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  Police Scotland receive formal notice about cloud system

  Scotland’s biometrics watchdog has issued Police Scotland with an information notice over its deployment of a cloud-based digital evidence system, following disclosure of major data protection concerns by Computer Weekly

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  UK government introduces Digital Markets Bill to Parliament

  The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will seek to level the playing field in digital markets by empowering regulators with new tools and powers to directly enforce competition and consumer protection laws

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  Post Office paid IBM millions when it ended proposed contract to replace Horizon

  The Post Office ended a proposed contract with IBM to replace its controversial Horizon system after work had already started

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  UK taskforce set to drive generative AI safety and opportunities

  The government has committed £100m to helping the UK develop and build out generative artificial intelligence capabilities

• April 24, 2023 24 Apr'23

  Emergency alert test review confirmed after ‘small number’ of mobile users excluded

  In wake of emergency alert test on 23 April, government confirms review into why some 4G and 5G mobile phones were excluded

• April 24, 2023 24 Apr'23

  Finland and Estonia deepen cross-border digital partnerships

  Finland and Estonia, two global tech pioneers, are increasingly sharing their expertise

• April 21, 2023 21 Apr'23

  UK biometrics watchdog questions police cloud deployments

  The UK biometrics commissioner has warned that policing and justice bodies must be able to demonstrate ‘immediately and unequivocally’ that their cloud deployments are lawful

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  UK Emergency Alert Test sparks cyber fraud warning

  Fraudsters and scammers are likely to use the upcoming test of the UK's new mobile Emergency Alert system as bait in their attacks, while misinformation and conspiracy theories spread

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  New GovAssure cyber regime launches across UK government

  An enhanced cyber security regime is being put in place to better protect UK government IT systems from growing threats

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  Capita customer data was stolen in March ransomware attack

  Capita says it has uncovered evidence of data exfiltration from a small proportion of its server estate following a cyber attack at the end of March

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  TUC says government is failing to protect workers from AI harms

  TUC issues warning about artificial intelligence leading to more widespread workplace discrimination if the right checks are not put in place

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  Surrey and Sussex police spared fines after recording 200,000 phone calls without people’s knowledge

  Police forces escape potential £1m fines following change of policy by ICO to protect the finances of public sector bodies

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  IT Priorities 2023: Budget optimism among EMEA IT leaders

  IT leaders across the EMEA region are optimistic that their budgets will increase over the coming year

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  Global finance firms take part in NATO cyber attack simulation

  Global financial services organisations take part in NATO annual event which simulates cyber attacks on critical infrastructure

• April 19, 2023 19 Apr'23

  CyberUK 23: Alert over mercenary Russian threat to CNI

  Russian hacktivists supportive of their government’s war on Ukraine are turning their attention to disruptive or destructive attacks on critical infrastructure in the UK, the NCSC has warned

• April 18, 2023 18 Apr'23

  Fintechs get more certainty about open banking’s future direction

  Fintechs have welcomed the UK open banking regulators recommendations for the future of the sector

• April 18, 2023 18 Apr'23

  Reduced spending on cloud services weighs European IT services market down

  Reduced spending on cloud services in the EMEA region meant a year-on-year drop in total IT and BPO services spend

• April 18, 2023 18 Apr'23

  Tech companies and NGOs urge rewrite of Online Safety Bill to protect encrypted comms

  The Online Safety Bill faces amendments in the House of Lords amid concerns that it could weaken the security of end-to-end encrypted communications for UK citizens

• April 17, 2023 17 Apr'23

  Government launches Smart Data Council to lower utility bills

  The council aims to find ways to use and encourage uptake of smart data to make it easier to switch utility providers and save money

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  Thousands at risk from critical RCE bug in legacy MS service

  Thousands of organisations worldwide are at risk from three vulnerabilities – one critical – in a legacy Microsoft service that they may not be aware they are running

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  Sweden and Finland make advances in quantum computing

  Separate Swedish and Finnish quantum computing projects make promising advances in the technology of the future

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  ICO responds to UK government AI regulation plans

  The ICO has officially responded to the government’s plans for regulating artificial intelligence as outlined in its recent whitepaper, but called for clarity on certain aspects before the proposals are taken further

• April 12, 2023 12 Apr'23

  UK police double down on ‘improved’ facial recognition

  The Met and South Wales Police have doubled down on their use of facial recognition technology after research found improved accuracy in their algorithms when using certain settings, but civil society groups maintain that the tech will still be used...

• April 12, 2023 12 Apr'23

  April Patch Tuesday fixes zero-day used to deliver ransomware

  A zero-day in the Microsoft Common Log File System that has been abused by the operator of the Nokoyawa ransomware is among 97 vulnerabilities fixed in April’s Patch Tuesday update

• April 12, 2023 12 Apr'23

  Gartner: Rebalance cyber investment towards human-centric elements

  Security decision-makers need to reprioritise their investment outlooks towards people, rather than technology, according to the latest market forecast from Gartner

• April 12, 2023 12 Apr'23

  Bank of England starts recruiting Britcoin team

  The Bank of England is recruiting people to join its team focused on the development of a digital pound

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  Anne Keast-Butler named as new director of GCHQ

  The government has appointed current MI5 deputy director general Anne Keast-Butler to head signals and cyber agency GCHQ

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  UKtech50 2023: Help us find the most influential people in UK IT

  Computer Weekly’s annual search for the 50 most influential people in UK IT is back – let us know who you would like to nominate for this year’s list

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  Scotland links its tech scaler programme with the NHS

  As part of the deal, firms part of the tech scaler programme aimed at helping startups scale up will be given access to NHS regional test beds

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  Controversial Fujitsu contract with Post Office extended after technical challenges moving to cloud

  The Post Office has extended a contract with Fujitsu after being unable to resolve technical issues related to migrating its IT to the cloud

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  DWP appoints former Boots IT chief Richard Corbridge as CDIO

  In his new role as the chief digital and information officer for the Department for Work and Pensions, Corbridge will be responsible for a £1.4bn annual budget

• April 06, 2023 06 Apr'23

  Government to pump more than £100m into digital social care

  As part of its Better Care Fund framework, the government has allocated £100m to accelerate digitisation in social care, £50m to improve data, as well as £35m for the creation of an innovation and improvement unit

• April 06, 2023 06 Apr'23

  Government on the hunt for national tech adviser

  Applicants for the role, which pays up to £135,000, will need to have “deep experience” of innovation and technology development, along with a “fantastic network” in the sector

• April 06, 2023 06 Apr'23

  CCRC says ‘door open’ for more reviews of subpostmaster convictions

  The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has told former Post Office workers the door is still open for them to come forward if they were prosecuted for financial crimes based on evidence from Horizon software

• April 05, 2023 05 Apr'23

  Quick-acting Rorschach ransomware appears out of nowhere

  Emergent Rorschach ransomware strain is highly advanced and quite unusual in its capabilities, warn researchers, who say they have been unable to link it to any other known strains

• April 05, 2023 05 Apr'23

  Scottish police tech piloted despite major data protection issues

  Scottish policing bodies are pressing ahead with a data sharing pilot despite data protection issues around the use of US cloud providers, placing sensitive personal data of tens of thousands of people at risk

• April 05, 2023 05 Apr'23

  CGI signs up to prison leaver employment initiative

  IT supplier is working with training company specialised in helping prison leavers to find recruitment in the tech sector

• April 05, 2023 05 Apr'23

  Developers say Apple and Google are running app store monopolies

  Coalition for App Fairness and its members speak to Computer Weekly about alleged anti-competitive practices of Apple and Google in their respective app stores, and call for urgent regulatory action to level the playing field

• April 04, 2023 04 Apr'23

  National Cyber Force carrying out daily hacking operations to disrupt hostile threats

  Government discloses details about the National Cyber Force’s disruption activities against terrorists, organised criminals and nation states – and names first NCF chief as James Babbage

• April 04, 2023 04 Apr'23

  Threat researchers dissect anatomy of a Royal ransomware attack

  Trellix researchers share the inside track on a Royal ransomware attack that hit one of its customers in late 2022

• April 04, 2023 04 Apr'23

  UAE central bank selects partners for phase one of digital currency programme

  The UAE central bank has kicked off the first phase of its project to launch a digital currency

• April 04, 2023 04 Apr'23

  Over 90% of organisations find threat hunting a challenge

  Understaffed security teams and high levels of background noise are making basic security operations tasks a chore for defenders, according to a report

• April 03, 2023 03 Apr'23

  Three-day Capita outage was result of cyber attack

  Public sector outsourcer Capita has confirmed a major outage which began on 31 March was the result of a cyber attack affecting its Office 365 apps

• April 03, 2023 03 Apr'23

  Wales launches innovation fund for pharmacy systems suppliers

  The fund aims to help suppliers of pharmacy systems in the country to deliver an electronic prescription service

• March 31, 2023 31 Mar'23

  Generative AI central to Accenture’s tech vision

  Generative AI will play a central role over the next 10 years as the digital and physical world become more and more integrated

• March 30, 2023 30 Mar'23

  OSC&R supply chain security framework goes live on Github

  The OSC&R framework for understanding and evaluating threats to supply chain security has made its debut on Github to allow anybody to contribute to the framework

• March 30, 2023 30 Mar'23

  NCSC issues revised security Board Toolkit for business leaders

  National Cyber Security Centre calls on CEOs and senior business leaders to take a more hands-on approach to cyber resilience with the launch of revised board-level tools