IT news in your industry sector

Information Commissioner's Office calls for transparent public sector outsourcing

For greater transparency, public sector buyers and suppliers should be open about their dealings before signing contracts, says ICO Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

BIS sets out to assist development of digital sharing economy

The government has set out a number of proposals to assist in the development of the £9bn trade body Sharing Economy UK Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Holland & Barrett outsources data handling to ITC Infotech

IT services firm ITC Infotech manages customer data for health food business to help it glean business value from the information Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Ofcom finalises BT wholesale broadband pricing rules

Ofcom finalises plans to introduce wholesale broadband pricing rules to promote competition and investment in superfast broadband Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government creates Crown Hosting venture with Ark Data Centres

Cabinet Office signs seven-year joint venture agreement with Ark Data Centres to create Crown Hosting Service Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Target agrees to $10m breach compensation

US retailer Target has agreed to a $10m compensation package for victims of its 2013 data breach Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Current account comparison from Gocompare announced in Budget 2015

The government used the Budget to announce changes in the banking sector that will increase consumer and business choice Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Internet of things and 5G network research priority in 2015 Budget

Research into the internet of things and the 5G networks to support it figured highly in chancellor George Osborne’s 2015 Budget Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Satya Nadella: Every business will be a software business

Digitisation may the buzzword business leaders are trying to grasp, but Microsoft has begun its journey to build a digitisation product portfolio Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Premera hack exposes 11 million financial and medical records

US health insurance firm Premera Blue Cross reveals an IT systems breach, exposing financial and medical records of 11 million customers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Businesses need to equip staff with the tools to do the job

Workforces will become frustrated if they do not have the technology they need to deliver what their organisation wants Continue Reading

By

• David Johnson

Microsoft warns of fake SSL certificate for Windows Live

Microsoft has warned that a fake security certificate has been issued for the Windows Live domain that could be abused by attackers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Wi-Fi in the sky: The good, the bad and the ugly

With in-flight internet options spreading around the world, which services should discerning business travellers try, and which should they avoid? Continue Reading

By

• John Walton

Lookout bets on big data analytics to secure enterprise mobiles

Mobile security SaaS provider Lookout is betting on its cloud-based big data analytics capability to attract enterprise customers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

IBM could create blockchain-based digital payments infrastructure for central banks

IBM has held informal talks with some central banks about building an infrastructure that can provide them with bitcoin-like digital payments systems Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How building information modelling is changing the construction industry

The Cabinet Office says that by 2016, “collaborative 3D building information modelling will be required on all government projects” Continue Reading

By

• Peter Ray Allison

Japan recruits hackers for cyber security force

The Japanese government plans to recruit hackers to identify and protect against cyber security threats Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

CIO interview: Ivor Nicholson, Nottinghamshire County Council

Nottinghamshire County Council is facing £77m in cuts by 2018 and by rolling out new services, it plans to save £8m through technology alone Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Microsoft Azure brings success for McDonald's Sweden

McDonald's Sweden's Microsoft Azure system is named best-in-class across the fast food organisation's global operation Continue Reading

By

• David Nikel

Why IAM is topping security investments in 2015

It is not surprising identity and access management (IAM) is set to move to the fore in 2015 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Post Office ends working group for IT system investigation day before potentially damaging report

The Post Office closed a working group involved in an investigation into claims against allegedly faulty accounting software used by subpostmasters Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Tieto’s Taneli Tikka brings startup drive to industrial internet business

Taneli Tikka has an unusual job description as the head of industrial internet at Tieto Corporation Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo

Prepare for two modes of business intelligence, says Gartner

IT needs to open up business intelligence to the broader business to support its consumerisation Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

HSBC names replacement CIO for investment bank

HSBC has named the replacement for the departing CIO of its global banking and markets division, with an internal promotion filling the gap Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

US cyber crime indictment prompts calls for zero tolerance

A newly-revealed US indictment of three suspected cyber criminals has prompted a call for zero tolerance for cyber intrusions Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Smart meter project in danger of outright failure, government warned

A report from the Energy and Climate Change Committee has warned that plans to install smart meters across the UK by 2020 are veering off-track Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Group claiming links to Isis hacks small business websites

The FBI is investigating the hacking of a number of SME websites in the US and Europe by people claiming affiliation with Islamic State Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

How to ensure your hot-desking colleagues keep their data secure

Once hot-desking is implemented, data security suddenly demands greater attention Continue Reading

By

• Christian Cawley

Sharing Economy UK launched to champion digital businesses

New trade body brings together digital businesses that encourage consumer and business asset-sharing, such as Airbnb and ZipCar Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Procurement guidelines saved government £91m in 2014, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude

The government made £91m savings in 2014 with “militant” guidelines around procurement, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

HSBC seeks new investment banking CIO as Sumeet Chabria leaves

HSBC is looking for a new IT head in its investment banking arm after Sumeet Chabria decided to leave after 21 years at the bank Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

China and US cross swords over software backdoors

Barack Obama criticises Chinese plans to force tech firms trading in China to share encryption keys and put backdoors in software Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Case study: How National Grid uses analytics to keeps the lights on

National Grid has started a project to supplement its existing asset maintenance system with predictive analytics Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

CIO interview: Connected cars set CIO agenda at Volvo

IT has always tried to align with the business, but for Klas Bendrik, group CIO at Volvo Cars, it seems business has aligned with IT Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Strong future for enterprise IT in Nordic countries

From attracting the world to its ice-cool datacentres to the digitisation of the public sector, there is plenty going on in the Nordic region Continue Reading

By

• David Nikel

Latest new UK bank launches virtually

Challenger financial services firm Charter Savings Bank has been launched, taking advantage of the lower cost of a virtual presence Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber crime: What every business needs to know

Computer Weekly gets the low-down on cyber crime from law enforcement officers and investigators Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Food giant acts fast on lean IT

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to the CIO from food giant Iglo – owner of Birds Eye – about how to work with outsourcers to keep IT lean and agile. We examine microservices, an important emerging trend in systems architecture. And we look into the issues around hybrid cloud storage. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Google to launch Android Pay

Google is expected to launch a payments application programming interface at its I/O conference in May Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Microsoft to cut 9,000 jobs at Nokia plants in China

Microsoft plans to shut down two former Nokia manufacturing plants in China, which means 9,000 jobs will be lost in the latest round of cuts Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Bank of England considers issuing digital currency

The Bank of England could issue its own digital currency in the future, in the same way that it does with bank notes Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cloud security still needs a lot more work, say European experts

Security and privacy remain a stumbling block for cloud computing, according to information experts at the Trust in the Digital World conference Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Austin, San Francisco and Tel Aviv revealed as top tech cities

Austin, San Francisco and Tel Aviv have been ranked as top cities for tech companies, Savills report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Kayleigh Bateman, Computer Weekly

SMEs seek legal advice over controversial Capita contracts with government

SMEs that claim to have lost significant revenue through two government contracts are seeking legal advice over alleged breaches of competition law Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

£700m spent on Universal Credit yet to deliver value for money, say MPs

The Department for Work and Pensions has spent £700m on Universal Credit so far, but has yet to convince MPs it is value for money Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

UK consumers lack confidence in data protection, study finds

UK consumers do not believe businesses or governments do enough to protect their data, according to to Symantec’s State of Privacy report Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

London’s Air Ambulance swaps A-Z maps for mobile apps

London’s Air Ambulance has halved emergency dispatch times through an incident information and routing app from Mubaloo Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

PrivDog SSL compromise potentially worse than Superfish

Some versions of PrivDog software designed to block online ads compromise internet security in a similar way to Superfish Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Apple invests in European datacentres as EU investigates tax break

Apple is investing €1.7bn in two European datacentres to support iTunes, the App Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Banks take the fight to the web giants

In this week's Computer Weekly, with internet giants like Google, Apple and Facebook offering banking services, Santander is leading the fightback by launching a cloud storage service; but can it win? Our latest buyer's guide looks at cloud-optimised IT. And we examine how the economic trends will affect CIOs this year. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Security fears stop small firms using cloud computing

Although 60% of small businesses are using cloud computing services, the remaining 40% are put off by security fears Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CIO interview: Paul Coby, IT director, John Lewis Partnership

Technology is an essential ingredient to the success of John Lewis, and the retailer is ploughing £100m into IT initiatives in 2015 Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Intel Security warns of six social engineering techniques targeting businesses

An Intel Security report encourages businesses to address and educate employees on “six levers of influence” used by hackers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Five ways to prepare a company board for a cyber breach

Five key things that boards need to do to stop their businesses leaking like sieves and potentially going to the wall Continue Reading

By

• Neil Hare-Brown

Home Office wins appeal against £224m Raytheon payment over e-Borders cancellation

The Home Office has won an appeal against a tribunal decision to award £224m to supplier Raytheon over the cancellation of its e-Borders contract Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

IBM and Oracle named as potential Monitise buyers

IBM and Oracle have emerged as potential candidates to take over British mobile software company Monitise Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

International spyware operation linked to NSA

The US National Security Agency has reportedly hidden surveillance software in the hard drives of several top computer makers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

DWP starts national Universal Credit IT rollout

The next phase of the national IT rollout for the controversial Universal Credit programme has started Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Infosys acquires Panaya for automation

Infosys continues its move to non-linear business models through the acquisition of US automation software maker Panaya for $200m Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

MasterCard to pilot facial, voice and fingerprint authentication

MasterCard will pilot a biometric authentication and verification tool this year as part of cyber security technology investment Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

$1bn cyber heist underlines need for detection, say security experts

The theft of up to $1bn from financial institutions in a daring cyber crime operation underlines the need for monitoring, say security experts Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Who will get your digital vote?

In this week's Computer Weekly, we hear from the UK's three main political parties as they debate their digital policies ahead of the general election. Is the rise of the CDO a threat to the CIO's position? We find out what IT leaders have to say. Continue Reading

Lloyds Bank launches smartwatch service

Lloyds Bank will send offers to its mobile banking customers direct to their smartwatches Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Damballa report highlights the limitations of prevention-centric security

Anti-virus (AV) suppliers can take more than six months to create signatures for malware, according to a report from security firm Damballa Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Airwave's Tetra emergency services radio "costly and inflexible"

Incumbent Airwave failed to advance to the next stage of the Emergency Services Network procurement because its Tetra radio technology was too inflexible for current needs, according to reports Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Baidu Chinese search engine share price falls on disappointing results

China’s Baidu search engine share price fell by more than 8% in after-hours trade after quarterly revenue came in $11m below expectations Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

General election 2015: Major parties focus on tech agenda

With advancements around data protection and state surveillance of internet traffic, the UK is heading into its first tech-aware general election Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

What is government as a platform and how do we achieve it?

There are lots of discussion going on at the moment about digital “platforms”, and the impact they might have on UK public services Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson, Exeter Business School and DIGITLab

Lloyds Bank accepts ID documents uploaded on social media

Lloyds Bank group customers can upload identification documents on technology used in social media, reducing the need to visit a branch Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Why peer-to-peer lending is such a threat to banks

Consumer trust for finance firms has never been high, and since the financial turmoil at the end of the previous decade it has reached rock bottom Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

The more IT changes, the more technology issues remain the same

In the early 2000s Nigel Beighton was CTO at Lastminute.com. Yet, 15 years on, he says the technology issues he faced then have changed little Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Universal Credit costs will not be revealed until after general election

The government will not reveal the full cost of its troubled Universal Credit system until after the general election in May 2015 Continue Reading

Former Lloyds bank and Barclays CIO Darryl West joins HSBC

HSBC has appointed Darryl West, who left Barclays in December, as CIO Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Symantec continues cloud investment in spite of poor Q3 results

Symantec has reported third quarter 2015 revenue of $1.64bn, a drop of 4% compared with $1.70bn over the same period in 2014 Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

National Police ICT Company finally set to start operations

A national Police ICT Company is set to begin operations after finally being approved by the UK’s police and crime commissioners Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Sony data breach claims first scalp as co-chair steps down

Amy Pascal, co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment, steps down in wake of data breach that exposed "inappropriate" comments in emails Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Sweeping trend towards digital banking forces RBS branch closures

Royal Bank of Scotland "taken aback" by ever-increasing take-up of digital banking and announces additional branch closures across UK Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Kellogg's outsources digital marketing to Indian supplier

Food giant Kellogg's outsources the management of its digital marketing platform to Indian IT services firm Mindtree Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

FCC’s Tom Wheeler offers up net neutrality plan

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may rule in favour of a strong regulatory environment to preserve the open internet Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Experiment proves banks cannot take digital first for granted

Experiment finds majority of banking customers do not fully understand online statements Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Newport to get resilient fibre ring for community safety projects

As part of a wide-reaching regeneration plan, Newport City Council deploys resilient fibre optic network to support community safety Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Ross Ulbricht faces life for Silk Road dark market conviction

Ross Ulbricht faces life in jail after being convicted of seven charges related to the Silk Road online illegal drugs dark market Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

IoT could be key to farming, says Beecham Research

The internet of things could be key to the farming industry meeting the challenge of increasing food production by 70% by 2050, says report Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

National Grid uses IBM to add predictive maintenance capabilities

National Grid is using cloud-based analytics powered by IBM SoftLayer to provide preventative maintenance Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Tesco Bank suffers computer problems

Tesco Bank customers are the latest to suffer as a result of IT problems Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Sony says cyber attack will cost $15m

Sony expects the investigation and remediation costs of the November 2014 cyber attack on its movie subsidiary will amount to $15m Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Offshoring data is biggest barrier to government in the cloud

Offshoring data is the biggest obstacle to putting government services in the cloud, according to a survey of MPs and peers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Post Office CIO would talk to any subpostmaster about IT problems, promises CEO

The CEO of the Post Office defended the organisation’s support for users of its accounting system in a select committee inquiry into alleged problems Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

EC3 announces industry partnership in fight against cyber crime

Europol's European Cybercrime Centre has partnered with security firm AnubisNetworks to help fight the global threat of cyber crime Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

How to implement risk-based security

Implement a simple process to identify, analyse and prioritise risk without significant investment in time or money Continue Reading

By

• Peter Wood, First Base Technologies LLP

Five questions every board should ask after Sony Pictures breach

What can the board do to avoid having to answer embarrassing questions at the next shareholder meeting? Continue Reading

By

• Sarb Sembhi

Gov dodged scrutiny of Universal Credit

Damage coalition cuts and bodge have done to Universal Credit was omitted from the National Audit Office assessment of the scheme in November.The full story emerged a week after the auditor ... Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

Government and Labour trade accusations and insults over Universal Credit progress

The political battle over the future of Universal Credit is heating up, as shown in an extraordinary exchange of letters last month Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Cyber crime is a threat to global economy, says researcher

Halting cyber crime could have a positive impact on the global economy, says Intel Security Europe security researcher and CTO Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Gandalf to become the Speaking Clock

BT reveals it has engaged the services of actor Ian McKellen to be the voice of the Speaking Clock for Comic Relief Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Windows 10 in the enterprise

In this week's Computer Weekly, Microsoft has released more details of the forthcoming Windows 10 release – we look at what it means for enterprise IT. The UK government has set out its vision for an EU digital economy – we examine the issues. And our latest buyer's guide covers data science. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Darknet technologies have legitimate security uses, says researcher

Darket technologies have legitimate security applications for business, says security investigator Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Former Capital One data analysts charged with mining customer data

US financial services regulator SEC charges two former employees of financial services firm Capital One with insider trading Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Health trust proposed offshoring mental care through Skype

Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust considered cutting costs by using Skype and low-cost staff to treat patients with depression Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Media industry operates on a shoestring IT budget, says BT

The media industry struggles to invest in technology, because investors are concerned with making new television and film content Continue Reading