News

IT for government and public sector

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  HMRC accused of 'utter hypocrisy' over use of IT contractors enrolled in tax avoidance schemes

  Campaign group calls for HMRC to face an investigation, while accusing the department of ‘utter hypocrisy’ for using IT contractors enrolled in disguised remuneration schemes

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  City of Helsinki adopts MyData principles to improve digital services

  Principles on the use of personal data for the benefit of society will guide Finnish capital’s ambitious digital plans

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  Assessing UK law enforcement data adequacy

  Data protection experts discuss the consequences of achieving data adequacy between the UK and EU for the UK’s intelligence services and criminal justice sector

• February 17, 2021 17 Feb'21

  HMRC denies misleading House of Lords over IT contractors’ use of tax avoidance schemes

  MPs from Loan Charge All-Party Parliamentary Group write to HMRC CEO Jim Harra to demand the department be investigated for breaching the civil service code

• February 16, 2021 16 Feb'21

  NHSX set to become part of new NHS England 'transformation directorate'

  Latest plans for the National Health Service’s central digital strategy arm are currently at the proposal stage

• February 16, 2021 16 Feb'21

  Central government should promote data policy compliance, say civil servants

  Most civil servants want the government to gain additional powers to promote data policy compliance to ensure better use of data, according to research

• February 15, 2021 15 Feb'21

  Digital investments will add £232bn to UK economy by 2040

  The UK economy could grow by £232bn over the next two decades if investments in digital technologies continue

• February 15, 2021 15 Feb'21

  Post Office to offer digital ID services to customers

  Post Office partnership with Yoti is intended to expand customer choice as to how people prove their identity when accessing services

• February 15, 2021 15 Feb'21

  NCSC recognises UK’s top cyber schools

  National Cyber Security Centre CyberFirst Schools initiative has handed out 14 gold, silver and bronze awards recognising excellence in cyber security teaching

• February 15, 2021 15 Feb'21

  Government to impose new digital identity system across all Gov.uk services

  Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove writes to Whitehall departments mandating the use of a new digital identity system that will allow citizens to be tracked across the Gov.uk website

• February 12, 2021 12 Feb'21

  University benefited from early virtual desktop investments when pandemic struck

  Edinburgh Napier University was able to react quickly to some of the main challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic

• February 12, 2021 12 Feb'21

  UK border surveillance regime highly privatised, says Privacy International

  Research from Privacy International raises concerns about the deep involvement of technology companies in the development and deployment of various technologies throughout the UK’s border regime, along with the lack of scrutiny they receive

• February 11, 2021 11 Feb'21

  The government’s ‘blue skies’ funding agency lacks purpose, MPs find

  The £800m research and development funding agency announced in December 2019, lacks a clear purpose so far, according to the Science and Technology Committee

• February 11, 2021 11 Feb'21

  Government launches digital identity trust framework

  The government’s draft framework, which aims to set out rules for the use of digital identities, will be tested with industries, services, users and organisations ahead of a final version being published

• February 11, 2021 11 Feb'21

  Nordic states launch joint drone development initiative

  Nordic Drone Initiative backed by 16 public and privately owned organisations in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark to probe the efficient use of airspace for drones

• February 10, 2021 10 Feb'21

  Tech sector calls for renewed cooperation in global digital tax talks

  Industry groups want renewed multilateral negotiations between countries about taxation of the digital economy in the wake of Joe Biden’s election as US president

• February 09, 2021 09 Feb'21

  Oracle claims major win in Australian public sector

  Australian Data Centres will deploy Oracle’s Dedicated Region Cloud@Customer to host cloud services for the federal government

• February 09, 2021 09 Feb'21

  Facebook sued for data-sharing practices with third parties

  Data protection claim filed in London against social media giant for its alleged failure to give at least one million users in England and Wales meaningful control over their personal data

• February 09, 2021 09 Feb'21

  Government launches review of use of health data for research

  The review, which will be led by Ben Goldacre, will look at home-efficient and safe use of health data for research and analysis

• February 09, 2021 09 Feb'21

  Experian to close more than two million Gov.uk Verify accounts

  Gov.uk Verify’s largest identity provider is closing down its accounts, telling users to re-register with one of the two remaining providers by the end of March 2021

• February 09, 2021 09 Feb'21

  ‘Batman Begins’ cyber attack is a warning to CNI providers

  A thwarted cyber attack in a Florida town that could have resulted in the poisoning of the water supply is a timely reminder of the vulnerability of critical services

• February 08, 2021 08 Feb'21

  Interview: Robert Opp, chief digital officer, United Nations Development Programme

  Chief digital officer of the United Nations Development Programme talks about the relationship between digital technologies and sustainability, and how it can be used for a more environmentally-friendly and inclusive future

• February 08, 2021 08 Feb'21

  NHSX backs mobile app to detect kidney disease

  The app, which is being funded by the AI in Health and Care Award programme, turns a smartphone camera into a clinical-grade tool to help detect kidney disease

• February 08, 2021 08 Feb'21

  North-West England ‘perfect’ growth area for tech startups

  Industry groups mapping the UK’s technology landscape say the North-West of England is a hotspot for growing tech firms, which benefit from increasing investment and geographic proximity to academic and business support networks

• February 08, 2021 08 Feb'21

  Data of thousands of Dutch citizens leaked from government Covid-19 systems

  Weak access controls and outdated systems blamed for leaking of the personal details of thousands of Dutch citizens tested for Covid-19

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  EncroChat: Appeal court finds ‘digital phone tapping’ admissible in criminal trials

  Appeal Court decides EncroChat-encrypted phone records can be used in criminal trials. Critics say the decision means phone tapping no longer has a ‘clear meaning in the digital age’

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  Mayor of London launches digital inclusion initiative

  Taskforce focused on increasing digital inclusion in London will promote digital skills and increase access to devices and connectivity

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  Government R&D funding fails to maximise ‘catapult’ potential

  Barriers in the UK’s research and development funding system mean technology and innovation centres, also known as catapults, are prevented from maximising their potential economic impact

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  Financial regulatory body bombarded with malicious emails

  New disclosures reveal the FCA’s systems bounced almost a quarter of a million malicious emails in a three-month period

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  Security firm Stormshield loses source code in cyber attack

  Source code from two products developed by French cyber security firm was compromised in a December 2020 incident

• February 04, 2021 04 Feb'21

  UKRI should speed up Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund approval processes, says NAO

  Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s lengthy approval process leads to delays in funding projects and could be a deterrent, according to the National Audit Office

• February 04, 2021 04 Feb'21

  CCS goes live with £800m NHS IT framework

  Digital Capability for Health framework covers development and IT management services for health and social care organisations

• February 04, 2021 04 Feb'21

  CDEI: Local government data use must keep up Covid momentum

  The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation says momentum in local authority data use during the Covid-19 pandemic is in danger of being dissipated without central government investment and support for data skills development

• February 03, 2021 03 Feb'21

  Venture capital trusts lobby for relaxed state aid rules

  Venture Capital Trust Association chair speaks to Computer Weekly about how the UK’s exit from the EU means state aid rules can be rewritten to allow for the expansion of funding mechanisms used by tech startups

• February 03, 2021 03 Feb'21

  Google grows cloud sales as parent’s profits top $40bn

  Alphabet announces massive overall profits and increased Google cloud sales

• February 03, 2021 03 Feb'21

  ‘Classic’ Cerber ransomware targets health sector in high volumes

  Cerber ransomware-as-a-service seems to have re-emerged as one of the most critical cyber threats facing healthcare organisations, reports VMware Carbon Black

• February 02, 2021 02 Feb'21

  Ten startups graduate from virtual reality-focused accelerator

  Startups focusing on building new immersive technology products have completed Digital Catapult’s Augmentor accelerator programme

• February 02, 2021 02 Feb'21

  Nordic region provides autonomous vehicle test bed

  Nordic region has the suppliers, environment and appetite for pioneering the development of autonomous vehicles

• February 02, 2021 02 Feb'21

  Liverpool City Council upgrades to cloud-based contact centre

  An 8x8 integrated cloud PaaS contact centre with voice, team chat and meetings support is helping to drive the council’s digital agenda

• February 01, 2021 01 Feb'21

  West Midlands refreshes digital strategy

  Combined authority’s 2021-2026 digital roadmap aims to address the digital divide and make the West Midlands the most digitally connected region in the country

• February 01, 2021 01 Feb'21

  UKRI suspends services after ransomware attack

  UK Research and Innovation was hit by an undisclosed strain of ransomware at the end of January

• February 01, 2021 01 Feb'21

  ‘Victory for free speech and openness’ after tribunal confirms no territorial restrictions to FOIA

  Freedom of information tribunal rules that investigative journalists and others can use the Freedom of Information Act if they live outside the UK or are not British citizens

• January 29, 2021 29 Jan'21

  Biometrics ethics group addresses public-private use of facial recognition

  Home Office’s Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group releases briefing note on the use of live facial recognition in public–private collaborations following a year-long investigation

• January 29, 2021 29 Jan'21

  Revealed: Brits who fuelled ‘vicious’ conspiracy theory by Trump supporters

  Trump supporters have apologised and paid millions in damages to the family of murdered Democratic Party staffer Seth Rich for promoting false allegations that Rich – not Russian agents – stole emails from the Democratic National Committee

• January 26, 2021 26 Jan'21

  Conservatives broke data law to racially profile millions

  The Conservative Party acted illegally in collecting data that inferred voters’ ethnicity and religious background, a Select Committee has heard

• January 26, 2021 26 Jan'21

  Cyber fraud a national security issue, says Rusi report

  A report from the Rusi think tank calls for fresh approaches to how we think about fighting fraud

• January 25, 2021 25 Jan'21

  Department for International Trade signs £2.6m deal with Capita

  Deal will see department deploy a digital platform to distribute grants to small and medium-sized enterprises

• January 22, 2021 22 Jan'21

  Sepa data leaks as agency resists ransom demands

  The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is resisting extortion demands from a ransomware gang, but has suffered a data leak in retaliation

• January 21, 2021 21 Jan'21

  Immigration exemption in data protection law faces further legal challenge

  Human rights groups set to take legal challenge against immigration exemption to Court of Appeal on the basis that everyone, regardless of their nationality or residence, should have their fundamental rights and freedoms protected as stated in the ...

• January 21, 2021 21 Jan'21

  Hackney Council tenders for cyber security upgrade

  Suppliers are being invited to tender for enhanced cyber security capabilities at ransomware victim Hackney Council