News

IT for government and public sector

• January 13, 2022 13 Jan'22

  ICO investigates police use of app to covertly record calls from mobile phones

  Surrey and Sussex police forces call in regulators after 1,000 police officers downloaded an app to covertly record phone calls on police-issued mobile phones

• January 12, 2022 12 Jan'22

  MEPs demand EU probe into Pegasus spyware abuse

  A group of European Parliament Members has called for an EU-wide investigation into NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware after it emerged EU member states may have used it

• January 12, 2022 12 Jan'22

  UK government bodies challenged on secure identity

  Public sector bodies in the UK recognise secure identity and access management as critical to the roll-out of digital services, but face challenges in addressing this

• January 12, 2022 12 Jan'22

  Government backs Turing Institute in bid to set global AI technical standards

  The DCMS has announced an AI Standards Hub, comprising The Alan Turing Institute, the National Physical Laboratory and the British Standards Institution to set a global bar for AI technical standards

• January 12, 2022 12 Jan'22

  Microsoft fixes six zero-days in January Patch Tuesday update

  A larger than of late Patch Tuesday update from Microsoft comes as defenders continue to grapple with Log4Shell

• January 12, 2022 12 Jan'22

  Dutch cyber volunteers receive major funding boost

  The Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure has received a $100,000 donation to expand the scope of its work

• January 12, 2022 12 Jan'22

  Macquarie joins NSW government’s cloud supplier panel

  New South Wales state agencies will be able to access Macquarie’s sovereign cyber expertise and secure cloud, network and datacentre services

• January 11, 2022 11 Jan'22

  Almost half of Log4j downloads still dangerously exposed

  Whether by error or design is unclear, but a great many IT teams are still exposing themselves by downloading outdated, insecure versions of Apache Log4j

• January 11, 2022 11 Jan'22

  Post Office can’t access records of all money paid to it by victims of the Horizon scandal

  A parliamentary select committee was told that the Post Office is unable to access information to accurately calculate compensation for some Horizon scandal victims

• January 11, 2022 11 Jan'22

  NHS England urged to produce tech roadmap to cope with pandemic backlog

  Tech can help to ease the pressure on the health and care system, but basic infrastructure is lacking, a House of Commons report has found

• January 11, 2022 11 Jan'22

  Companies propose scanning content pre-encryption to fight CSAM

  Firms working on the UK government’s Safety Tech Challenge have suggested that scanning content before encryption will help prevent the spread of child sexual abuse material – but privacy concerns remain

• January 11, 2022 11 Jan'22

  Cyber security failure one of biggest risks facing countries and businesses, warns WEF

  Cyber risks are among the top five risks facing organisations and governments over the next two to five years. Digital inequality and the over-crowding of space with communication satellites present further risks 

• January 10, 2022 10 Jan'22

  Public sector IT and communications spend down 4% last year

  Public sector spending on IT and communications was down in 2021, but some departments bucked the trend with major investments

• January 10, 2022 10 Jan'22

  Ministry of Justice caught up in multiple cyber incidents

  Besides multiple disclosed data breaches, department was also affected by two ransomware attacks

• January 10, 2022 10 Jan'22

  MPs call for fair compensation for excluded victims of Post Office scandal

  Almost 100 MPs have backed a call for the government to reverse its decision to exclude 555 subpostmasters from fair compensation for their suffering and losses as a result of the Post Office Horizon scandal

• January 06, 2022 06 Jan'22

  How far has Saudi Arabia come with open data?

  While clearly on the right path, Saudi Arabia still has a lot to do before it reaps the full benefits of open data

• January 06, 2022 06 Jan'22

  Government cans electronic monitoring overhaul

  Nearly £100m of taxpayer money has been spent in tech that will not result in future benefits, according to the Ministry of Justice's annual accounts report

• January 05, 2022 05 Jan'22

  Google buys Siemplify in first phase of cyber investment

  Once integrated into Google Cloud, Siemplify’s platform will serve as the basis for deeper security development at Google

• January 05, 2022 05 Jan'22

  NHS App exceeds 22 million user mark

  Boosted by Covid-19 pass functionality, the NHS App is one of the most downloaded apps in the UK

• December 31, 2021 31 Dec'21

  Top 10 crime, national security and law stories of 2021

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 crime, national security and law stories of 2021

• December 31, 2021 31 Dec'21

  Top 10 Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcasts of 2021

  The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast team began the year discussing the online fallout from the storming of the White House and finished it discussing IT and climate change, touching on bees and datacentres along the way

• December 30, 2021 30 Dec'21

  Top 10 technology and ethics stories of 2021

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 technology and ethics stories of 2021

• December 30, 2021 30 Dec'21

  Top 10 Post Office Horizon stories of 2021

  The past 12 months have seen some of the biggest landmarks in the unravelling of the Post Office Horizon scandal. Computer Weekly takes a look at a selection of key articles in 2021

• December 30, 2021 30 Dec'21

  Top 10 information management stories of 2021

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 information management stories of 2021

• December 29, 2021 29 Dec'21

  Top 10 Nordic IT stories of 2021

  Computer Weekly selects some of the biggest Nordic tech stories of 2021

• December 24, 2021 24 Dec'21

  Top 10 IR35 stories of 2021

  The extension of the IR35 reforms to the private sector in April 2021 has provided Computer Weekly with lots to write about this year

• December 22, 2021 22 Dec'21

  Top 10 government and public sector IT stories of 2021

  Technology is an increasingly important part of government policy in the UK – while the digital transformation of the public sector continued during 2021, albeit slowly in some places

• December 21, 2021 21 Dec'21

  IT services spending recovery to get renewals boost in 2022

  IT services and BPO deals worth $18.5bn globally up for renewal next year, adding fuel to already-expected high growth

• December 21, 2021 21 Dec'21

  Top 10 cloud storage, DR and datacentre storage stories of 2021

  Key articles from 2021 that demonstrate the growing importance of cloud storage and disaster recovery, but also the snags that lead to cloud repatriation and difficulties restoring from the cloud

• December 20, 2021 20 Dec'21

  Defra and MoJ hit with £120m IR35 tax bill despite using HMRC guidance

  Government departments landed with tax bills totalling just over £120m over contractor IR35 status errors, despite receiving HMRC guidance and training

• December 17, 2021 17 Dec'21

  CDEI research pinpoints barriers to trustworthy AI exploitation

  Survey of UK business by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has disclosed the patchiness of artificial intelligence and data-driven technology adoption across different economic sectors

• December 15, 2021 15 Dec'21

  Pressure on government to pay fair compensation to subpostmasters left out of current schemes

  MPs demand that the subpostmasters who defeated the Post Office in court should be properly compensated for their losses and suffering

• December 15, 2021 15 Dec'21

  Gig economy algorithmic management tools ‘unfair and opaque’

  Report published by Worker Info Exchange warns of algorithmically enabled rights abuses in the gig economy, noting the insufficient transparency of employers and the lacklustre nature of legal redress

• December 15, 2021 15 Dec'21

  After Log4j, December Patch Tuesday piles on the pressure

  December’s Patch Tuesday update from Microsoft contains several critical CVEs, but this month all attention is focused on the fall-out from Log4Shell, and burn-out is becoming a real issue

• December 15, 2021 15 Dec'21

  Digital Ethics Summit: Innovation needs regulation to be ethical

  Experts attending the 2021 Digital Ethics Summit spoke out against the idea that regulation will stifle technological innovation, arguing that setting clear rules will produce more ethical innovation

• December 15, 2021 15 Dec'21

  UK government to take ‘whole-of-society’ approach to cyber

  Second iteration of the UK’s National Cyber Strategy broadens its focus to build a ‘whole-of-society’ security posture

• December 15, 2021 15 Dec'21

  UK advances research of autonomous robots in lab environments

  The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory has been awarded new funding to develop the equipment alongside industry and academia

• December 14, 2021 14 Dec'21

  Almost half of networks probed for Log4Shell weaknesses

  Close to half of corporate networks have already been actively targeted by individuals seeking to exploit the critical Log4Shell Apache bug

• December 14, 2021 14 Dec'21

  Joint committee publishes report on improving Online Safety Bill

  MPs and peers release report on Online Safety Bill following five-month inquiry into the draft legislation and make a number of recommendations on how it can be improved to deal with harmful content and abuse on the internet

• December 14, 2021 14 Dec'21

  Lords urge regulators to evolve as digital change accelerates

  A cooperative approach with common objectives is needed to resolve potential conflicts between bodies in digital regulation as well as better oversight, according to a House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee report

• December 14, 2021 14 Dec'21

  Government must go further after agreeing to pay compensation for wrongly convicted subpostmasters

  The government has agreed to pay compensation to former subpostmasters wrongly convicted in the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, but continues to refuse to pay a significant group of victims

• December 13, 2021 13 Dec'21

  Scottish government announces support for right to disconnect

  The Scottish government is the first in the UK to publicly support a right to disconnect, which would give people the ability not engage in digitally enabled work-related activities outside of their contracted hours

• December 13, 2021 13 Dec'21

  What is Log4Shell, and why are we panicking about it?

  It’s been described as a ‘design failure of catastrophic proportions’ that threatens the very fabric of the digital world. Find out what the Log4j2 Log4Shell panic is all about, and what you should do about it

• December 10, 2021 10 Dec'21

  SMEs dominate list of 200 fastest growing tech companies

  List of 200 fastest growing companies in the public sector is made up primarily of small and medium-sized enterprises, which collectively earned £936m from government contracts in the past fiscal year

• December 10, 2021 10 Dec'21

  Julian Assange can be extradited to the US to face espionage and hacking charges, court rules

  High Court overturns decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder after US government gives assurances over his treatment

• December 10, 2021 10 Dec'21

  Singapore and UK sign digital trade deal

  Described as the world’s most comprehensive digital agreement between two countries, the deal supports the UK’s bid to join Trans-Pacific Partnership to build trade connections with 11 Indo-Pacific markets

• December 10, 2021 10 Dec'21

  Drone killer app saves Swedish lives

  Drones could get life-saving equipment to heart attack victims ahead of emergency services staff, increasing survival rates

• December 10, 2021 10 Dec'21

  Channelling Nordic startup innovation towards global survival

  Nordic startup innovation offers global organisations the green light towards sustainability

• December 10, 2021 10 Dec'21

  Loan charge: Tax experts call on chancellor for simpler, more affordable policy settlement terms

  A group of tax barristers and accounting experts are calling on Rishi Sunak to force HMRC to revise its loan charge settlement terms

• December 10, 2021 10 Dec'21

  PAC scrutinises failure of large government IT modernisation projects

  From unskilled senior government officials to over-reliance on outsourcers and contractors, the factors underpinning unsuccessful tech-driven transformation initiatives are investigated in a new report