News

IT for government and public sector

• June 05, 2024 05 Jun'24

  Qilin ransomware gang likely behind crippling NHS attack

  Security experts investigating a major cyber attack on an NHS partner that has caused frontline services across South London to grind to a halt say the Qilin ransomware gang appears to be the culprit

• June 05, 2024 05 Jun'24

  Subpostmasters consider legal action against government in pursuit of financial redress

  Campaigner says former subpostmasters may have to resort to legal action in pursuit of the money they are owed

• June 04, 2024 04 Jun'24

  NHS services at major London hospitals disrupted by cyber attack

  A major cyber attack at NHS services provider Synnovis is disrupting frontline care at hospitals across London

• June 04, 2024 04 Jun'24

  Russia used fake AI Tom Cruise in Olympic disinformation campaign

  Microsoft threat researchers report a surge in Russian disinformation campaigns targeting the 2024 Summer Olympics, including AI-enhanced propaganda

• June 04, 2024 04 Jun'24

  Post Office bosses misled subpostmasters a day before IT project problems were exposed

  Subpostmasters were reassured by Post Office executives that the Horizon replacement project was satisfactory the day before Computer Weekly reported news to the contrary

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  Police chief commissions ‘independent review’ of surveillance against journalists and lawyers

  PNSI chief constable appoints lawyer to conduct review into police phone surveillance of journalists, lawyers and NGOs

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  97 FTSE 100 firms exposed to supply chain breaches

  Between March 2023 and March 2024, 97 out of 100 companies on the UK’s FTSE 100 list were put at risk of compromise following supply chain breaches at third-party suppliers

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  AI Seoul Summit review

  Dozens of governments and tech companies attending the second global AI Safety Summit have committed themselves to the safe and inclusive development of the technology, but questions remain around whether the commitments made go far enough

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  Uktech50 2024: The longlist of the UK’s influential tech leaders

  UKtech50 received a record-breaking 434 nominations for the 2024 list. Unfortunately, there wasn’t space for everyone in the top 50, and as you can see for yourself in this year’s longlist, it was a difficult decision for the judges

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  How poor IT project management failed Birmingham Oracle implementation

  Birmingham City Council’s Oracle system – the biggest of its kind in Europe – went live in April 2022, resulting in a catastrophic IT failure. We investigate

• June 03, 2024 03 Jun'24

  Sellafield local authority slammed over response to North Korean ransomware attack

  The local authority for Europe’s biggest nuclear site has been slammed by auditors for its response to a North Korea-linked cyber attack that temporarily crippled its operations

• May 31, 2024 31 May'24

  Fujitsu set for further £180m deal as Post Office Horizon replacement delayed

  Problems with the Post Office project to replace its controversial Horizon IT system mean Fujitsu is set to receive up to £180m more in taxpayers' cash to support the system for another five years

• May 30, 2024 30 May'24

  Post Office Horizon replacement project labelled 'unachievable' as taxpayer bill reaches £1bn

  The project to replace the Horizon IT system in Post Office branches is late, over budget and lacking quality – and government auditors sent in to assess a request for £1bn funding say it is currently unachievable

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Storebrand divests from IBM over supply of biometrics to Israel

  Norwegian asset manager Storebrand’s decision to divest from IBM comes amid growing scrutiny of the role technology companies play in Israel’s human rights abuses

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Organisations value digital trust, but aren’t working at it

  Three quarters of organisations believe digital trust is relevant to their businesses, yet clear gaps in strategies still seem to persist

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Next UK government must be prepared to legislate on AI, say MPs

  The House Science, Innovation and Technology Committee says the next government should be ready to legislate on artificial intelligence to plug any regulatory gaps

• May 29, 2024 29 May'24

  Interview: EU data chief Ulrich Ahle on obstacles to Europe’s digital single market

  EU data scheme Gaia-X is trying to plug the UK into Europe’s planned digital single market as opposition mounts to efforts to extend the reach of Europe’s vast and controversial data laws over global supply chains

• May 28, 2024 28 May'24

  Executive Interview: Why Dell wants to be your one-stop AI shop

  At Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, artificial intelligence was the talk of the town as Dell staked out an all-encompassing strategy ahead of an anticipated goldrush. Dell’s Nick Brackney explains why the tech giant believes it's onto a winner

• May 28, 2024 28 May'24

  Government appoints investigators to analyse Post Office Capture software used before Horizon

  PC-based accounting software used by subpostmasters in the 1990s will be investigated by forensic specialist Kroll after reports that Post Office workers may have been wrongly prosecuted in the years before Horizon

• May 28, 2024 28 May'24

  Post Office scandal: Met Police investigation set to go national

  The police investigation into Post Office and Fujitsu executives is about to gain the status of a major national investigation – but it could be years before any individuals are charged with crimes or face trial

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  Parliamentarians warn of UK election threat from Russia, China and North Korea

  Joint parliamentary security committee chair Margaret Beckett writes to prime minister urging government to prepare for foreign states interfering with 4 July election

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  Over 700 wrongful subpostmaster convictions overturned by new legislation

  Parliament has approved a law that will see hundreds of subpostmasters with wrongful convictions exonerated as one of the government’s final acts before the general election

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  Paula Vennells boasted about removing Horizon risk reference in Royal Mail flotation prospectus

  A reference to Horizon was removed from Royal Mail prospectus by Paula Vennells in the eleventh hour

• May 24, 2024 24 May'24

  UKtech50 2024: Vote for the most influential person in UK IT

  Our judges have selected the top 50 leaders from a shortlist of more than 400 people – now it’s your chance to tell us who you think is the most influential person in UK technology

• May 23, 2024 23 May'24

  Government was aware of Post Office strategy to fight subpostmasters

  Former CEO Paula Vennells reveals that the government was aware of the controversial Post Office strategies to suppress subpostmasters' campaign for justice

• May 23, 2024 23 May'24

  Northern Ireland police face £750,000 fine after data protection blunder put lives at risks

  Information commissioner John Edwards uses discretion to reduce proposed fine from £5.6m to £750,000

• May 23, 2024 23 May'24

  Third police probe into Post Office scandal under consideration

  The Metropolitan Police Service is looking into investigating potential corporate and individual crimes committed in the Post Office Horizon scandal

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  ‘You knew’ – former ally accused Paula Vennells of knowing about Horizon problems

  Former Royal Mail CEO messaged Paula Vennells following the broadcasting of ITV’s dramatisation of the Post Office scandal, questioning what the former Post Office boss knew and removed her support

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  AI Seoul Summit: 27 nations and EU to set red lines on AI risk

  The countries will now work together to identify thresholds at which the risks presented by an AI model or system would be unacceptable without safeguards in place, as well as develop interoperable safety testing regimes for the technology

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  UK government announces £8.5m in grants for AI safety research

  The funding programme will be directed by the UK’s AI Safety Institute, with grants being used to understand and mitigate the impacts of artificial intelligence, including any systemic risks it presents at the societal level

• May 22, 2024 22 May'24

  G-Cloud 14: Overseas suppliers risk non-compliance as CCS changes stance on UK VAT requirements

  After assuring overseas suppliers multiple times during the G-Cloud clarification period that they did not need a UK VAT number to participate in the framework, government procurement chiefs have now backtracked on this guidance by telling non-UK ...

• May 21, 2024 21 May'24

  AI Seoul Summit: 10 nations and EU recommit to safe inclusive AI

  During the latest AI Summit in South Korea, the participating governments reaffirmed their prior commitments to deepening international cooperation on AI safety, and have agreed to launch an international network of ‘safety institutes’

• May 21, 2024 21 May'24

  AI Seoul Summit: 16 AI firms make voluntary safety commitments

  Prominent artificial intelligence companies from around the world have committed to a set of voluntary AI safety measures, which includes developing continuous risk assessment processes, setting acceptable risk thresholds, and ensuring greater ...

• May 21, 2024 21 May'24

  Parliamentary committee criticises big tech response to election threats

  Parliamentary committee says tech companies ‘regurgitated publicly available content’ and failed to address questions raised by MPs and peers

• May 21, 2024 21 May'24

  CIO interview: Nic Granger, director of corporate and CFO, North Sea Transition Authority

  Spending time with penguins in the Falkland Islands may not seem an obvious background for an IT leader, but it's worked for Nic Granger as she sets out to overhaul the way data is used in the oil and gas sector

• May 21, 2024 21 May'24

  Post Office clique deepened Horizon scandal

  A general counsel annoyed by independent investigators and comms director that bragged about his contacts were part of a Post Office clique with former CEO Paula Vennells

• May 20, 2024 20 May'24

  HMRC underestimates Single Trade Window project complexity, says NAO

  A National Audit Office report on UK border calls on government to have a more realistic approach to digital transformation

• May 20, 2024 20 May'24

  UK AI Safety Institute to open San Francisco branch

  News of the AI Safety Institute’s expansion to the US follows the first public release of its AI safety testing results

• May 20, 2024 20 May'24

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange granted appeal

  Two high court judges granted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leave to appeal against extradition to the US after defence lawyers argued that the US had failed to give adequate assurances

• May 20, 2024 20 May'24

  Post Office directors went crawling back to Fujitsu when IBM project got complex, inquiry told

  More details emerge about how close IBM came to replacing Fujitsu and its controversial Horizon system at the Post Office

• May 20, 2024 20 May'24

  The fall from grace of ex-priest and Post Office boss Paula Vennells

  As Paula Vennells faces statutory public inquiry into Horizon scandal, Computer Weekly compiles some of its must-read articles about the controversial former Post Office boss

• May 17, 2024 17 May'24

  Why the UK needs to fix its broken IT security market

  Ollie Whitehouse, CTO of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, says the market for secure software is broken. Are new laws required to make software companies liable for poor security?

• May 17, 2024 17 May'24

  Report highlights disagreement among experts on AI safety

  An interim AI safety report coming out of the Bletchley Declaration shows AI experts are not in agreement over some of the biggest risks

• May 17, 2024 17 May'24

  Post Office CEO Paula Vennells ‘didn’t believe there were miscarriages of justice,’ inquiry told

  As the nation waits for the impending appearance of former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells at the public inquiry, a former colleague reveals her certainty that there were no miscarriages of justice

• May 17, 2024 17 May'24

  Post Office considered asking Computer Weekly to review Horizon IT system

  The Post Office CIO was tasked by directors with sizing up Computer Weekly for the task of reviewing a forensic investigation into Horizon

• May 16, 2024 16 May'24

  Post Office IT boss failed to raise concern over false Horizon statements

  Former Post Office CIO Lesley Sewell failed to raise concern over Post Office’s false stance on Horizon integrity

• May 16, 2024 16 May'24

  HMRC Single Trade Window project hits turbulence

  Less than a year into the programme to create a Single Trade Window as a digital gateway for traders, HMRC has already gone through a formal dispute resolution process with its supplier

• May 16, 2024 16 May'24

  Sunak warned against changing foreign student visa rules

  Business leaders have called on prime minister Rishi Sunak not to be pressured into altering the graduate visa route

• May 16, 2024 16 May'24

  HMRC channel shift to digital ‘too aggressive’, says NAO

  HMRC digital services have not had the anticipated effect on customer service it hoped for, NAO report reveals, as the auditor says the department needs to develop more realistic plans

• May 16, 2024 16 May'24

  Tom Read to bid farewell to GDS

  The Government Digital Service chief is leaving his role, and the civil service as a whole, in June, after three-and-a-half years in charge of the department