IT for government and public sector

Ethical hackers flex their muscles in 2022

Ethical hackers working through HackerOne programmes found 21% more vulnerabilities in 2022 than in 2021 Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Microsoft fixes two zero-days in final Patch Tuesday of 2022

December’s Patch Tuesday is typically a light month for Microsoft, and this year proved no exception, but there are still several critical issues worth addressing, and two zero-days for defenders to pore over Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

New cyber approaches ease Registers of Scotland’s AWS migration

As the holder of the oldest national public land register in the world, Registers of Scotland has a storied history dating back centuries. Find out how Palo Alto Networks is keeping its processes and data secure as it goes all-in on Amazon Web Services Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Crime Stoppers Tasmania debuts new reporting portal

Reporting tool will enable the public to share crime-related information with law enforcement agencies to support policing in Tasmania Continue Reading

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• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

EU issues draft data adequacy decision in favour of US

The European Commission has concluded that the United States does ensure an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred from the European Union and will now launch the process towards the adoption of an adequacy decision Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

The nature of the CISO role will be in flux in 2023

As cyber risk outpaces organisational defences, and cyber attacks and breaches cause more and more damage, the nature of the CISO role is entering a state of flux, according to a report Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

AI experts question tech industry’s ethical commitments

In this week’s Computer Weekly, the proliferation of ethical frameworks has done little to change how artificial intelligence is developed – we look at the challenges. We examine the future of the UK semiconductor sector as the government launches a review. And we hear how NatWest has put data at the heart of customer strategy. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Onwards to 6G - the UK government's 'bold plan' for a connected Britain

The UK telecoms minister outlines the government's thinking on developing a digital infrastructure for the connected age Continue Reading

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• Julia Lopez, DCMS

Cloud-based fingerprint system for UK police nears completion

Police Digital Service announces that a new cloud-based fingerprint system developed under its Transforming Forensics programme is nearly complete, but data protection concerns around the use of US-based cloud providers remain Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

IR35: HMRC claims ‘potential’ legislative change in pipeline to address settlement offset issue

HMRC claims work on a ‘potential legislative solution’ is underway to ensure it does not collect more tax than is due when end-user organisations are found to have made errors in determining the IR35 status of their contractors Continue Reading

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• Caroline Donnelly, Datacentre Editor

Security Think Tank: Embrace prioritisation, people, imperfections

Security and IT professionals should try to make peace with their imperfections in 2023, says Nominet CISO Paul Lewis Continue Reading

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• Paul Lewis, Nominet

Labour unveils plans to make UK global startup hub

The Labour Party has published a review into the UK startup landscape, which calls for a number of changes to help make the country a more attractive place for startups Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Iranian APT seen exploiting GitHub repository as C2 mechanism

A subgroup of the Iran-linked Cobalt Mirage APT group has been caught taking advantage of the GitHub open source project as a means to operate its latest custom malware Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Online Safety Bill returns to Parliament

MPs and online safety experts have expressed concern about encryption-breaking measures contained in the Online Safety Bill as it returns to Parliament for the first time since its passage was paused in July Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

IT system limitations a factor in passport delays

Limitations in the UK’s passport office IT system led to delays in applicants receiving their documents during a recent period of high demand Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Security Think Tank: 2022 changed how we thought about resilience

Increasing cyber resilience is at the heart of the people-processes-technology triangle, and 2022 saw shifts in all three of these aspects, says PA Consulting’s Sharon Shochat Continue Reading

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• Sharon Shochat

Apple to tap third party for physical security keys

Apple is launching a number of new security protections, including the addition of third-party-provided hardware security keys Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Google, MS, Oracle vulnerabilities make November ’22 a big month for patching

Vulnerabilities affecting the likes of Google, Microsoft and Oracle proved particularly troublesome in November Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: As cyber pros, we need to articulate our needs better

There is always a lot to learn about security, but one of the most important lessons may not relate to technology at all, says Petra Wenham Continue Reading

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• Petra Wenham

Post Office scandal – “cock-up or cook-up”?

The second phase of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal raised more questions over who did what, when and where, with shocking revelations at every turn Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Legacy IT magnifies cyber risk for Defra, says NAO

Some 30% of Defra’s applications are currently unsupported, magnifying cyber risk as the government department struggles to make progress on a digital transformation programme Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

EU fails to protect human rights in surveillance tech transfers

Transfers of surveillance technology from the European Union to African governments are carried out without due regard for the human rights impacts, the European Ombudsman has found after a year-long investigation into the European Commission’s management of an aid fund Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Don’t become an unwitting tool in Russia’s cyber war

Researchers have turned up evidence that enterprise networks are being co-opted by Russian threat actors to launch attacks against targets in Ukraine. How can you avoid becoming an unwitting tool in a state-backed attack? Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

AWS mutes trash talk at Re:Invent – Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

The team chats through the AWS Re:Invent conference, as well as an initiative for getting young women into cyber security, and how SAP Build travelled from Vegas to SAP users in Birmingham Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK
• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications
• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Civil servants want more digital skills training, survey finds

Civil servants are keen to learn more about how to use technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) to improve public services, yet only 5% have received AI training Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

Post Office boosted its ‘coffers’ as Horizon system threw up unexplained shortfalls, inquiry told

The Post Office was ‘keen’ to make subpostmasters cover unexplained accounting shortfall as its business struggled, public inquiry hears Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

MI6 chief’s hacked emails attacked MI5 and betrayed British spy operations in China

Former UK spy boss Richard Dearlove leaked names of MI6 secret agent recruiters in China to back an aggressive right-wing US campaign against tech company Huawei. His emails were hacked and then leaked – probably by Russian intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Duncan Campbell , 2QQ Ltd, Sussex University
• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
• Meike Eijsberg

Financial benefits of government’s shared services strategy remain unclear, says NAO

Cabinet Office needs to do more to avoid previous failings, as several barriers remain to a successful implementation of the strategy to deliver shared back-office services for government, according to National Audit Office report Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

Electronic Trade Documents Bill: Why we need to seize the day with distributed ledger technologies

Lord Chris Holmes pens his views for Computer Weekly on how the Electronic Trade Documents Bill, which he calls ‘the most important law you’ve never heard of’, could be a game-changer for the potential of distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain Continue Reading

By

• Lord Chris Holmes

Ransomware: Is there hope beyond the overhyped?

Up-and-coming cyber concepts attack surface management and security mesh architectures seem to hold some promise in tackling ransomware, but they are a little way off maturity Continue Reading

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• Paul Lewis, Nominet

Microsoft 365 banned in German schools over privacy concerns

German schools cannot legally use Microsoft Office 365 over lack of clarity about how data is collected, shared and used, as well as the potential for unlawful transfer of European citizens’ personal data to the US Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Subpostmaster federation deliberately kept public in dark over computer problems

The federation representing subpostmasters deliberately suppressed information about computer errors that could have saved its members from devastating life-changing events Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Latest LockBit ransomware versions have wormable capabilities

Sophos researchers have reverse-engineered the Lockbit 3.0 ransomware, shedding new light on its evolving capabilities and firming up links with BlackMatter Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NIS regulations to be extended to cover MSPs

The UK government is moving ahead with plans to update the Network and Information Systems regulations to bring outsourcers and MSPs into scope Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Scotland launches national digital platform for health and care

The online platform aims to give people access to their health and social care data, as well as provide staff with access to data to inform decisions about care Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Think technology, process, human risk to manage ransomware

Effective ransomware handling boils down to three core areas – technology, process and human risk Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Morris, Turnkey Consulting

MoD signs three-year deal with AWS to bolster defence sector’s digital skills

UK Ministry of Defence is joining forces with Amazon Web Services to boost the defence sector’s cloud capabilities Continue Reading

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• Caroline Donnelly, Datacentre Editor

‘Legal but harmful’ clause dropped from Online Safety Bill

Online Safety Bill’s ‘legal but harmful’ provision will be dropped by the UK government in favour of public risk assessments, tools to help users control the content they consume, and new criminal offences around self-harm Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Government needs to do more for UK semiconductor industry, say MPs

Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee report says the government is putting the UK chip industry at ‘significant risk’ by failing to support it sufficiently, and calls on Whitehall to publish its semiconductor strategy immediately Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

How gamifying cyber training can improve your defences

Security training is the cornerstone of any cyber defence strategy. With ever-escalating online threats, it is now more important than ever that this training is an engaging experience Continue Reading

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• Peter Ray Allison

Protecting children as they spend years in virtual worlds

To protect children online, we must now focus on pre-emptive and robust regulation around immersive technologies Continue Reading

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• Patrick Cronin

Data management, backup becoming the CISO's responsibility

More and more CISOs are taking on responsibility for wider data management strategies, and this trend looks set to grow next year Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Wales launches beta version of its own NHS app

NHS Wales has begun trialling the beta version of its patient-facing app ahead of plans for a full launch next year Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Fujitsu put pressure on UK government to sign off troubled Horizon project, public inquiry hears

Telegram from British Embassy in Tokyo to UK government reveals pressure on ministers to sign off controversial contract Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Indefinite storage: What it is and why you might need it

Indefinite storage addresses the issue that archived data may need to be kept well beyond the lifespan of the technology it was written for Continue Reading

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• Stephen Pritchard

Your staff are the frontline in your ransomware fight

As part of a solid cyber defence plan, the CISO must make sure that the frontline within the organisation is prepared for an attack, says Theodore Wiggins of Airbus Protect Continue Reading

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• Theodore Wiggins, Airbus Protect

UK police arrest 120 in largest-ever cyber fraud crackdown

The administrator and more than 100 users of the iSpoof.cc cyber fraud website have been arrested in a major counter-fraud operation led by the Metropolitan Police Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

South Korea data adequacy pact brings £15m Brexit bonus

UK government finalises a data adequacy agreement with South Korea, saying it will unlock a post-Brexit business bonus of just under £15m Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Netherlands wants watchdog to reduce bias in artificial intelligence

Dutch government will take swift action to prevent citizens getting into trouble due to the misuse of algorithms Continue Reading

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• Kim Loohuis

Government launches AI-focused green innovation programme

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy claims the programme will not only help the UK achieve its net-zero goals, but may also help bring down energy costs Continue Reading

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• Caroline Donnelly, Datacentre Editor

Ducktail spins new tales to hijack Facebook Business accounts

The increasingly active Ducktail cyber crime operation is refining its operations, seeking new methods to compromise its victims’ Facebook Business accounts Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Killnet DDoS hacktivists target Royal Family and others

Russia-aligned hacktivists targeted multiple UK websites, including those of the Royal Family, in a new campaign of DDoS attacks Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Businesses must embrace digital skills and innovate, says CBI president

Brian McBride, president of the Confederation of British Industry, says the UK is a ‘magnet for tech investment’ and calls on UK firms to step up and adapt, as tech adoption will help boost the economy Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

C-suite mystified by cyber security jargon

Malware, supply chain attack, zero-day, IoC, TTP and Mitre ATT&CK are just some of the everyday terms that security pros use that risk making the world of cyber incomprehensible to outsiders Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Genome lab puts Vast Data’s rapid I/O to work on patient data

French government-backed SeqOIA ditched its Lustre-based storage after it reached performance limits and files got corrupted. That got fixed by a Vast Data QLC flash-based array Continue Reading

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• Yann Serra, LeMagIT
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

NHS federated data platform must avoid repeating Care.data mistakes, says national data guardian

UK’s national data guardian agrees with the ambitions of the platform, but warns that the programme must avoid ‘common pitfalls around trust and transparency’ Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

Is Elon Musk’s Twitter safe, and should you stop using it?

With a litany of security and compliance issues exposed and in many cases caused by Elon Musk’s takeover of social media platform Twitter, some may be asking if it’s still safe or appropriate to use Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Post Office scandal inquiry’s expert IT witness ‘troubled’ by his findings

Controversial Post Office Horizon system lacked the integrity required to trust accounting data and contained ‘joke’ coding akin to an ‘overly engineered mousetrap’, inquiry told Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Brexit deregulation will make UK next Silicon Valley, vows Hunt

Chancellor vows to revolutionise how the IT industry is regulated to spur competition, investment and innovation in a technological ‘Big Bang’ Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Another Log4Shell warning after Iranian attack on US government

The breach of a US federal body by an Iranian threat actor exploiting the Adobe Log4j Log4Shell vulnerability has prompted a fresh flurry of patching Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Scottish government to pilot digital identity platform in early 2023

Pilot of Scotland’s digital identity platform will be run in partnership with Disclosure Scotland, using secure sign-on and identity verification Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

NHS Digital confirms final settlement of £3.95m with HMRC following conclusion of IR35 investigation

The health service’s digital arm has paid HMRC £3.95m in unpaid tax to cover the cost of its IR35 compliance errors Continue Reading

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• Caroline Donnelly, Datacentre Editor

HMRC will begin migration from Government Gateway to One Login in summer 2023

One Login for Government programme has the objective of simplifying access to central government, says HMRC chief technology and design officer Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Team working on controversial Post Office Horizon EPOSS software was the ‘joke of the building’

Former members of the ICL team developing software for the Post Office Horizon EPOSS system were unqualified and engaged in poor software development practices, public inquiry told Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Global network fragmentation a source of increasing risk

Risk consultancy’s report says the weaponisation of cyber space and geopolitical clashes herald a breakdown of global networks into distinct regional or national architectures Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: Ransomware defences: An extended to-do list

Strategies to extend ransomware protection beyond backups and intrusion detection must centre dark web monitoring, among other things Continue Reading

By

• Alex Holden

Post Office changed view of Horizon problems before roll-out, because of a ‘sunk cost fallacy’

Insider tells public inquiry that the Post Office continued to roll out the controversial Horizon system despite a ‘considerable’ number of errors, because it was too committed Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Commoditisation of NHS tech is a problem, says NHS Digital interim CEO

NHS Digital interim CEO Simon Bolton calls for a stronger mandate from the centre around the systems in use in the NHS, with no more than four to six electronic patient record systems used across the country Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

APP fraud volumes expected to double by 2026, says report

Losses to authorised push payment fraud in the UK are expected to climb to over $1.5bn in the next four years. Meanwhile, the NAO accuses the Home Office of lagging on progress to tackle the issue Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NHS Scotland extends video consultation scheme

The Scottish Near Me video consultation platform can now be used in community settings such as libraries and health and care centres for GP appointments, hospital appointments, care homes, dietetics and mental health support Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Inside Singapore’s public sector IT strategy

Adopting a platform approach with products that can scale across the board and building a strong engineering bench are some of the key aspects in Singapore’s public sector IT strategy Continue Reading

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• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Met Police removes nearly two-thirds of people from gangs matrix

Legal action by human rights group Liberty forces Met Police to overhaul its gangs violence matrix database Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Sadiq Khan launches Data for London Advisory Board

Board will look at how to join up and share data between public and private London organisations in an effort to build a stronger data economy and improve public services Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Security Think Tank: Let’s be transparent about ransomware

Greater transparency regarding ransomware attacks, including details about attack methods used and what kinds of assets were compromised, would likely help the community prevent future attacks Continue Reading

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• John Tolbert, KuppingerCole

Cyber insurance: The good, the bad and the ugly

Most cyber insurance contracts are innately flawed because they exclude losses arising from state-backed cyber attacks, and this will make proper attribution even more important in the future, says Cisco Talos’ Martin Lee Continue Reading

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• Martin Lee

Volume of self-reported breaches to ICO jumps 30%

The number of self-reported breaches to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office soared by nearly 30% in the 12 months to 30 June 2022 Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

An encouraging new conversation around sustainable IT, says Nordic CIO

What started as a whisper a decade ago has become distinctly audible chatter among IT leaders sharing best practices on how to protect the environment Continue Reading

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• Pat Brans, Pat Brans Associates/Grenoble Ecole de Management

MoD recruits Immersive Labs to bolster cyber resilience

UK’s Ministry of Defence will run cyber drills and address its security talent gap with Immersive Labs’ CyberPro, Cyber Crisis Simulator and Application Security products Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Defra confirms final settlement of £86.5m with HMRC over ‘historic’ IR35 status assessment errors

The conclusion of HMRC’s long-running enquiry into errors made by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when assessing the IR35 status of its contractors has seen it pay a final settlement of £86.5m to the tax collection agency Continue Reading

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• Caroline Donnelly, Datacentre Editor

Security Think Tank: To stop ransomware, preparation is the best medicine

You can’t ‘stop’ ransomware, but you can do a lot to keep yourself from becoming ensnared when it strikes Continue Reading

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• Paul Watts, Information Security Forum

Scrutinising AI requires holistic, end-to-end system audits

Understanding the full impacts of artificial intelligence requires organisations to conduct end-to-end social and technical audits of their systems, but the process comes with a number of challenges Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Dutch government finally allowed to use public cloud

 Continue Reading

ODI fuel poverty survey shows young adults most hard up

A fuel poverty data report and index from the Open Data Institute shows that young adults and people in multi-occupied accommodation are most at risk Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Anything can happen so IT teams need to be ready, says Kyiv City Council CIO

Kyiv City Council’s IT team has experienced challenges faced by no other tech department and is determined to use what it has learnt to take Ukraine forward when the war is over Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Microsoft serves smorgasbord of six zero-days

November’s Patch Tuesday fixes significantly fewer vulnerabilities of late, but includes six actively-exploited zero-days, three of them of critical severity Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Fujitsu expert witness in subpostmaster trial ‘manoeuvred’ into role, public inquiry told

A former Fujitsu technology expert who defended the Horizon system’s robustness in court was unhappy after being ‘manoeuvred’ into acting as an expert witness, public inquiry hears Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Security Think Tank: Anti-ransomware strategies should be as easy as ABC

When developing and implementing ransomware protection strategies, the importance of paying thorough attention to security measures you might consider elementary cannot be understated Continue Reading

By

• Petra Wenham

Six subpostmaster convictions referred for appeal in Scotland

Six former subpostmasters in Scotland will have appeals against criminal convictions heard after being referred by Scotland’s Criminal Cases Review Commission Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How government can capitalise on a revolution in data sharing

Alison Pritchard, deputy national statistician at the Office for National Statistics, says the new government Integrated Data Service enables tackling questions that we don’t yet know we need to answer Continue Reading

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• Alison Pritchard

UK climate tech startup investment doubles in 2022

Climate technology investment has nearly doubled in the UK over the past year and is growing globally, but questions remain over how to scale capacity and whether the necessary change will occur in time to prevent climate catastrophe Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Public sector IT projects need ethical data practices from start

Data ethics needs to be integrated into public sector IT projects from the very start, and considered throughout every stage of the process, to be effective Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Department for Education escapes £10m fine over data misuse

Department entrusted data on 28 million children to a company called Trustopia, which turned out to be anything but trustworthy, but has escaped a £10m fine under new rules Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Data-driven decision making will fail – and here is why

Marc Warner, CEO at Faculty, contends that corporate organisations need to go through a cycle similar to the development of scientific thought – from divination, via data deluge to theoretical understanding Continue Reading

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• Marc Warner

To fight ransomware, we must treat digital infrastructure as critical

Ransomware defence is failing because we don’t view our digital infrastructure in the same way as our physical infrastructure, argues Elastic’s Mandy Andress Continue Reading

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• Mandy Andress, Elastic

Microsoft: Nation-state cyber attacks became increasingly destructive in 2022

The willingness of nation-state actors to conduct destructive cyber attacks is a source of grave concern, as Microsoft’s latest annual Digital Defence Report lays bare Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Crown Hosting Data Centres secures £250m government colocation deal

Cabinet Office joint venture with Ark Data Centres secures a second term providing colocation services to the government Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Data Lab bolsters business execs data course in time with Data Summit

Course focuses on the leadership skills needed to design, resource and implement a data strategy that will enable organisational change Continue Reading

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• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Security Think Tank: Ransomware and CISOs’ balancing act

Ransomware has the potential to cause irreversible business damage, so CISOs should consider not only protection but also response and recovery Continue Reading

By

• Arina Palchik and Charles Moorey

Microsoft pledges $100m in new IT support for Ukraine

Microsoft will continue to offer free-of-charge technology support to Ukraine for the foreseeable future Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

All NHS staff should have basic AI training, says report

A report by the NHS AI Lab and Health Education England calls for all health and care staff to receive training in artificial intelligence as the technology will be increasingly adopted in healthcare practice Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad