IT for government and public sector

Insider threat: Balancing security with privacy

How can organisations increase security without affecting productivity or encroaching on employees’ right to privacy? Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UK to block online porn by default

The UK is to block online pornography by default to all new internet users, David Cameron is to announce Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

How to assess the security of a cloud service provider

As businesses continue to put more information online, understanding cloud suppliers and agreements has never been more important Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Fitzmaurice

Google competition proposals not good enough, says EC

Competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia wants Google to readdress fears that it is abusing its market domination for its own gain Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

GDS tracks 'digital by default' progress of top 25 government services

Government Digital Service (GDS) launches website to track progress of the 25 services targeted as the first to go online under the digital strategy Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Tech firms target piracy profiting websites

Tech firms including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft join an initiative targeting websites that profit from piracy by cutting off advert revenue Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

More than one-fifth of UK firms hit by DDoS attacks in 2012

More than a fifth of UK firms experienced a disruptive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in 2012 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Black market for software security flaws reaches new highs

The black market in previously undiscovered vulnerabilities in commercial software is so established that the average flaw sells for up to $160,000 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

National broadband projects key to UN goals

The Broadband Commission claims national projects are the best way to ensure the benefits of the internet are enjoyed by all Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Mark Hall may quit Whitehall after being snubbed for HMRC CIO role

Mark Hall, the acting CIO at HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), has not been given the job full-time and may quit government Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

OpenCorporates makes company data public

Company data is being made available as part of an initiative to place more government data in the public domain Continue Reading

Yahoo wants Fisa objections revealed

Yahoo is the latest company implicated in the Prism internet surveillance programme to call for more transparency around its involvement Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Protecting against modern password cracking

This article in our Royal Holloway Security Thesis series explains just how insecure passwords are and offers advice on alternative methods of security. Continue Reading

Smart cards: security risks

This article in our Royal Holloway Information Security Thesis series assess the new features introduced in Java Card 3 Connected Edition smart card specification and their associated security risks. Continue Reading

Security visualisation

This article in our Royal Holloway Information Security Thesis series shows how to generate a visual representation of a dataset and use visualisation in the evaluation of known security vulnerabilities. Continue Reading

Head of Universal Credit denies IT problems

Howard Shiplee tells the work and pensions select committee all is well, denying reports of the failing IT system behind Universal Credit Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Microsoft notches up over 3,000 copyright cases

In its battle against piracy, Microsoft says it has settled 3,265 copyright cases in the past year and warns of links to malware distribution Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Will cloud services follow the evolution of the banking industry?

Cloud service providers say security will become the very reason companies choose cloud services in future Continue Reading

Post Office Horizon system investigation reveals concerns

Investigation into the allegedly faulty accounting system used by sub-postmasters has revealed serious concerns Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK takes cyber threats to infrastructure seriously

The UK is taking seriously potential cyber threats to critical national infrastructure, according to GCHQ head Iain Lobban Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Tougher EU penalties for cyber crime not enough, say security experts

The European Parliament has adopted a draft directive to toughen up EU penalties for cyber crime, but security experts say this is not enough on its own Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Security Think Tank: Prism unlikely to change much

Does the data collected by Prism put the US Government at risk from other state or non-state sponsored activists? Continue Reading

By

• Petra Wenham

UK joins EU demands for Google to rewrite privacy policy

The UK’s privacy watchdog has joined data protection authorities in France, Spain, Germany and Italy in demanding changes to Google’s privacy policy Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

NSA Prism scandal could hit US cloud providers, says EC vice-president

EC vice-president Neelie Kroes says US cloud services providers could lose business because of fears over US Prism surveillance programme Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

DCMS to force BT’s hand on rural broadband gaps

Maria Miller sets up a meeting to answer calls from local broadband providers and try to make BT identify where they will be needed to connect the final 10% of the UK to superfast fibre Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

FBI warns of increased spear phishing attacks

The FBI has issued a warning about an increase in spear-phishing attacks targeting multiple industry sectors Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

NHS IT to embrace open source

A new report from NHS England promises open source will be at the heart of the plans to digitise the health service Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Security Think Tank: Prism – Sitting duck or elaborate honeypot?

Does the data collected by Prism put the US Government at risk from other state or non-state sponsored activists? Continue Reading

By

• Robert Newby

Senior MPs flout EU cookie law

Two years after the EU cookie regulation and UK law came into force, not all UK websites are compliant, including the sites of 13 senior MPs Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Stuxnet leak investigation leads to project originator

The US government investigation into Stuxnet leak of classified information leads to retired general in the Marines, James Cartwright Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

The Washington Post reveals more details of NSA Prism programme

The Washington Post has published new slides detailing processes in the US Prism online surveillance system Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Encrypting enterprises miss out on cloud benefits

Enterprises sending encrypted data to the cloud are missing out on some of the greatest benefits of cloud computing, says Thales e-Security Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Identity management key to browser-based IT strategy

A cloud-based identity management system is key to enabling a browser-based IT strategy at online recruitment firm Reed.co.uk Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Most firms underestimate volume of malware, study shows

Most companies greatly underestimate the number of malicious programs appearing daily, a global survey of more than 2,000 IT professionals has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UK businesses failing to secure virtual environments, study finds

Most UK businesses are failing to secure data in virtual environments, a survey of IT decision makers has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Government launches cyber awareness campaign

UK government debuts the first stage of a £4m cyber awareness campaign as part of the National Cyber Security Programme Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Camden Council goes BYOD with Accellion

Camden adopts a bring your own device (BYOD) strategy to save money, improve security and bring their IT systems into the modern era Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Met Police needs significant tech investment to overhaul creaking legacy systems

The Metropolitan Police needs significant capital investment in technology if it is to overhaul its legacy IT infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

BBC's DMI project failure is a warning to all organisations

The decision to cancel the BBC’s Digital Media Initiative (DMI) with nothing to show for the almost £100m spent on it should be a warning to other organisations about the risks involved in large-scale IT projects Continue Reading

By

• Elizabeth Daniel & John Ward

Investigation into Post Office accounting system to drill down on strongest cases

The investigation into the Post Office’s allegedly faulty accounting system will focus on a select few of the 47 claims Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Denise McDonagh awarded CBE for services to IT

Former G-Cloud head Denise McDonagh has been awarded a CBE for services to IT in the Queen’s birthday honours list 2013 Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

NPfIT legacy: NHS yet to spend £600m on CSC Lorenzo patient records

The NHS has still to spend £600m on CSC's Lorenzo patient record system as a legacy of the defunct National Programme for IT (NPfIT) Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Senior judge hears Barnet Council outsourcing challenge

The second most senior judge in England and Wales will hear a legal challenge against Barnet Council’s outsourcing programme Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Frimley Park NHS deploys VDI for efficiency and BYOD

When the NHS trust came under pressure to make its IT budget go further, it opted to deploy VDI in its A&E department Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

UK links to US internet surveillance remain unclear

The government insists that UK spy agencies operate within the law, but questions remain Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

NHS numbers to be mandated by 2014

NHS providers must use an NHS number to identify all patient data, Tim Kelsey, director for patients and information at NHS England announces Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

PM urged to criminalise internet rape porn

Campaigners are calling for the criminalisation of possessing internet pornography depicting rape Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

ICO fines Glasgow City Council for loss of unencrypted laptops

Glasgow City Council has been fined £150,000 for losing two laptops which held personal details of more than 20,000 people Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Costs of NPfIT significantly greater than benefits, says Department of Health

The defunct NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) realised £3.7bn of benefits but cost £7.3bn, says the Department of Health Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Human error causes most data breaches, Ponemon study finds

Human errors and system problems caused two-thirds of data breaches in 2012, according to a study from Symantec and the Ponemon Institute Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Whitehall should use Twitter to engage public in open policy-making, say MPs

Government should use Twitter for an ‘open policy’ approach, says the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Universal Credit will cost taxpayers £12.8bn

The government’s review of major projects revealed the flagship Universal Credit programme will cost nearly six times more than previously billed Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

CERN uses ITIL to rethink facilities management

CERN, the particle physics laboratory, is using IT service management to support operations outside the IT function Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Stratfor hacker pleads guilty

US hacktivist Jeremy Hammond pleads guilty to accessing computers of law enforcement agencies and government contractors illegally Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Syrian hackers deface Sky Android apps

Syrian hackers have defaced several of Sky’s Android apps, forcing the broadcaster to remove them temporarily from the Google Play store Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Bolton and Wigan get PSN in £47m outsourcing deal

Bolton and Wigan councils have signed a seven-year £47m outsourcing contract, which will deliver a ‘PSN ready’ network to the region. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

BT and Intel invest in lab to research into future cities and telecoms technologies

A research laboratory has been launched by BT and Intel to develop networking technologies and smart city capabilities. Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Interview: Government CTO Liam Maxwell

Government CTO Liam Maxwell has driven Whitehall’s IT agenda for years, previously as deputy government CIO and director of ICT futures Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

UCL turns to private cloud to solve its data storage woes

University College London is building a storage infrastructure in the cloud that will scale up to 100PB Continue Reading

UK ISPs block access to pirate sites

UK internet service providers have begun blocking access to two sites accused of breaking copyright laws Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Microsoft and Janet deal brings cloud to millions of academics

Microsoft and the UK’s research and education network deal gives academic institutions access to Office 365 and millions of students fast and secure access to Windows Azure cloud Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Privileged accounts key to most APT attacks, says Cyber-Ark

The theft, misuse and exploitation of privileged accounts is becoming an increasingly key tactic in advanced persistent threat attacks Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Most IT environments immature, Microsoft reveals

Most business IT environments are immature, analysis of data from Microsoft’s Cloud Security Readiness Tool has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Microsoft declares conformance with ISO 27034-1

Microsoft has declared conformance with ISO 27034-1, the first part of an international standard for secure software development Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Cyber criminals hack Washington court system

Hackers gain access to the personal data of 160,000 US citizens after compromising Washington State court service servers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Case Study: Brent Council cuts costs with mobile tech

Brent Council implements mobile technology to cut costs and involve more staff in the future running of the organisation Continue Reading

Adobe moves to cloud-based subscription model

Adobe has announced that it is to introduce a cloud-based subscription model for popular applications, including Photoshop Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Symantec helps NHS trust cut security costs by a quarter

The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust cut security costs by 25% in its partnership with security supplier Symantec Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

SME Arcus brings AWS IaaS and PaaS to public sector with G-Cloud

UK SME Arcus Global has become the first certified Amazon Web Services reseller on the government’s third G-Cloud framework Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Windows 8 passes 100 million in sales

Microsoft says Windows 8 OS has sold more than 100 million copies, roughly matching Windows 7 in the six months after launch Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

95% of local councils share services

Hundreds of local councils are sharing services as government cuts force them to fund new ways of providing services Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Netherlands considers hacking powers for police

The Netherlands government considers legislation to give police powers to hack into computers, install spyware and read emails Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Report into Post Office Horizon system expected in July

The findings of an independent investigation into the Post Office's Horizon accounting system are expected to be published in July Continue Reading

What’s to be done about data breach discovery?

The time from first contact by cyber attackers to the victim learning of it is still measured in months and years, not hours and days Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

The Great Deverticalisation – part 5: Mind the GaaP

Politicians and government have the opportunity, through the power of open platforms, to take the lead in creating modern public services Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson, Jerry Fishenden & Alan Brown

Case study: The DANTE link for Euro academics

The best technology innovation winners of Computer Weekly’s European User Awards for Networking on how DANTE brings together researchers from far and wide with Infinera solutions Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Case study: How SAP runs Cape Town

For the past 10 years, SAP has been running the city of Cape Town, South Africa Continue Reading

Infosec 2013: Cyber crime challenges law enforcement

Cyber crime is forcing police and law enforcement agencies to re-think basic skills needed, according to experts at Infosecurity Europe 2013 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Lib Dems will block Snoopers’ Charter, says Nick Clegg

The draft Communications Data Bill will not go ahead while the Lib Dems are in government, says deputy prime minister Nick Clegg Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Infosec 2013: University research challenges reliability of IPS

Research shows intrusion prevention systems (IPS) are not as effective at detecting malicious activity as some might think Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Security spend misaligned with threats, says security veteran

Security budget allocations have remained the same for the past 15 years, but threats have changed, says Shlomo Kramer, chief executive at security firm Imperva Continue Reading

US jails LulzSec hacker Cody Kretsinger

The US has jailed a member of hacktivist group LulzSec for a year for his role in breaching computer systems at Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2011 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Conficker makes way for web-based attacks, says Microsoft

Web attacks emerge as top threat as businesses finally begin to win the battle against Conficker and other worms, says Microsoft Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Open data leaders slam government over postcode privatisation

The Open Data Institute has hit out at Whitehall plans to allow details of UK postcodes to continue to be sold for profit Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Microsoft reports strong quarterly results for all divisions

Microsoft reported profit of $6bn for the past quarter, up 17% from a year ago, despite a mixed response to Windows 8 and a decline in PC sales Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

World’s fastest supercomputer gets 40PB of DDN storage

The US Oak Ridge lab builds home-grown HPC NAS for 40PB DataDirect Networks with 1TBps of throughput as a SAN to back-end Spider II file system on Titan supercomputer Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

How to create a good information security policy

Information security policies provide vital support to security professionals, yet few organisations take the time to create decent policies Continue Reading

By

• Andi Scott

One man’s mission to uncover a WWII decryption machine

How Brian Randell unlocked the secrets of Colossus, the world’s first programmable computer. Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Case study: London's Olympic network from BT

After receiving an honourable mention in the European user awards for networking, Computer Weekly looks at the challenge of rolling out the network for the London Olympic Games in 2012 Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Anonymous hacks North Korean websites for a second time

Members of the Anonymous hacktivist collective claim to have again hacked several prominent North Korean websites Continue Reading

Google reaches deal with EU competition authorities

Google has reportedly reached a deal with European Union (EU) competition authorities over concerns about its business practices Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Google has another go at allaying EU competition concerns

Google has submitted a fresh set of proposals to address European concerns about its business practices and avoid punitive action Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Bots and web apps among top threats to data security, says Check Point

Bots, viruses, breaches and attacks are a constant and real threat to the information security of organisations Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Porn websites pose malware risk, says researcher

Browsing popular pornography internet sites pose a growing risk of malware infection, according to a security researcher Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

South Korea accuses North Korea of launching cyber attacks

South Korea blames North Korea for the cyber attacks that shut down thousands of computers at broadcasters and banks two weeks ago Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UK financial regulator FCA probes RBS IT failure

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) probes an IT failure at Royal Bank of Scotland that also affected NatWest and Ulster Bank customers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

British Library archives the web

The British Library is to archive 4.8 million UK websites and one billion web pages, following statutory changes to copyright legislation Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

The Great Deverticalisation - part 4: The role of the private sector

Why do we persist in running vertically integrated organisations when standardising many of these processes would free us up to do things so much better, and more cheaply? Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson & Jerry Fishenden

Case Study: 192business switches to tokenisation to speed up business processes

Online payment card verification firm 192business uses tokenisation to speed up its processes and protect credit card details from fraud Continue Reading

US Army practises poor data security on mobile devices

Pentagon inspector general finds smartphones and tablets the US Army buys are not configured to protect sensitive data and allow remote wipe Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst