IT news in your industry sector

Police cloud project raises data protection concerns despite legal reforms

Ongoing data protection issues with the use of hyperscale public cloud infrastructure by UK police could complicate the ambitions of nine forces to move their common records management system into the cloud Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How quantum computing could reshape financial services

Experts at the Singapore FinTech Festival predict quantum computing will improve risk management, investment strategies and fraud detection in the financial sector, while also posing new challenges for data security Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Innovating with weather data at the Met Office

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how the Met Office is using its vast stores of weather data to create innovative new products. Our latest buyer’s guide looks into identity and access management systems. And we examine the geopolitical threats that could curb the openness of open source. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Post Office scandal not caused by software errors, says combative Fujitsu boss

During a sometimes heated appearance at the public inquiry, Fujitsu’s European boss Paul Patterson said the inquiry has shed light on who is to blame for the scandal Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK Bolt drivers win legal claim to be classed as workers

Employment Tribunal ruling says Bolt must classify its drivers as workers rather than self-employed, putting drivers in line to receive thousands of pounds in compensation from the ride-hailing and delivery app Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Fresh concerns over NHS England registries procurement

Clinicians and technologists behind a number of medical devices registries being brought together by NHS England on a new common platform have accused the health service of flouting public sector procurement regulations Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NetApp boosts AFF, StorageGrid and E-series hardware with 60TB drives

Bigger drives, new CPUs and controller hardware add to upgrades to NetApp arrays that started in September, while the supplier undergoes transition to data management as a key focus Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Government announces Green Paper on future of scandal-ridden Post Office

Consultation process will enable a wide range of people to air their views on the future of the scandal-hit Post Office Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Beyond VPNs: The future of secure remote connectivity

As more companies adopt cloud services and remote work, the limitations of VPNs are becoming obvious. We explore what’s next for secure remote connectivity Continue Reading

By

• Isla Sibanda

What are the security risks of bring your own AI?

The rise of generative AI has led to a plethora of publicly accessible artificial intelligence tools, but what are the risks when external AI tools are used with corporate data? Continue Reading

By

• Peter Ray Allison

Storage explained: Consumption models of storage procurement

We look at consumption models of storage purchasing and how cloud operating models have made them mainstream and supplanted the traditional three-year lift-and-shift datacentre refresh Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Post Office wrongly used public funds to pay for legal battle

Senior civil servant’s appearance at public inquiry reveals Post Office broke spending rules when it diverted money to legal battle Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Trump has won - but he cannot defeat the inevitability of digital change

After Donald Trump’s first presidential election victory in 2016, I wrote about how the technology sector had contributed to and enabled the controversial reality TV star’s political ascent – you ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Google Cloud MFA enforcement meets with approval

Latest Google Cloud policy to enforce multifactor authentication across its user base is welcomed by security professionals Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

AI a force multiplier for the bad guys, say cyber pros

CIISec’s annual report on the security profession finds evidence of growing concern that artificial intelligence will ultimately prove more useful to threat actors than defenders Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Post Office appointing third-party reviewer of current Horizon system

According to government representative on the Post Office board, an independent reviewer of Horizon is being appointed Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government presses pause on Single Trade Window project

The project to create a UK Single Trade Window, a digital gateway for traders, has been put on hold for the 2025/26 financial year as mounting costs cause concerns Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Interview: Petra Molnar, author of ‘The walls have eyes’

Refugee lawyer and author Petra Molnar speaks to Computer Weekly about the extreme violence people on the move face at borders across the world, and how increasingly hostile anti-immigrant politics is being enabled and reinforced by a ‘lucrative panopticon’ of surveillance technologies Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

UK government launches AI assurance platform for enterprises

The platform is designed to drive demand for the UK’s artificial intelligence assurance sector and help build greater trust in the technology by helping businesses identify and mitigate a range of AI-related risks Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Lords shoplifting inquiry calls for facial recognition laws

A Lords committee has expressed concern about the use of facial recognition technology by retailers to combat shoplifting, and is calling on the government to introduce new laws to ensure there are minimum standards for their deployments Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Post Office was reluctant to cut costs despite 143 central staff earning more than £100k

Former Post Office minister told public inquiry that Post Office boss did not want to cut central costs, despite how many staff were earning more than £100k Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Starmer announces tech-enabled crackdown on people smuggling

The UK government has announced a further £75m of funding for its Border Security Command, meaning it will now have £150m over two years to spend on new technologies and staff Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How enterprises can ride the AI coding wave

GovTech leader urges developers to prioritise value, security and compliance when implementing AI coding tools in enterprise environments Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Post Office data breach caused by botched website upgrade

Data breach exposed personal details of the hundreds of former subpostmasters who had defeated the Post Office in the High Court Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

User-centric security should be core to cloud IAM practice

The Security Think Tank considers best practices in identity and access management and how can they be deployed to enable IT departments to combat cyber-attacks, phishing attacks and ransomware Continue Reading

By

• Mike Gillespie

Nakivo aims at VMware refugees tempted by Proxmox

Version 11 of Nakivo has added Microsoft 365 cloud-to-cloud backups, support for Proxmox virtualisation backups – following Veeam – and NAS file data backups to cloud targets Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Data bill aims to boost police and NHS productivity

In this week’s Computer Weekly, the government’s new data bill promises to improve productivity and efficiency for the NHS and police, but will it ensure privacy as well? We talk to Dell’s global CTO about how the IT giant sees the AI boom playing out. And we examine which industries stand to benefit most from the collaboration opportunities of virtual reality. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Government’s £600,000 offer to Horizon scandal victims was 'political'

The Post Office was blindsided by the previous government’s decision to offer £600,000 to all subpostmasters wrongly convicted of financial crimes as a result of Horizon failures Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government to roll out Gov.uk Forms across its websites

The tool, which is already in use, aims to transform how the public fill out applications and information online, making it easier and more intuitive Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Financiers isolate Middle East over sanctions-evading paytech

Cross-border payment system loses support of association of global central banks Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

CISA looks to global collaboration as fraught US election begins

The US' CISA cyber agency has unveiled a two-year International Strategic Plan to advance collaboration and improve resilience against shared risks and threats Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Outside IR35: What the Autumn Budget’s Employers’ NI changes mean for IT contractors

The UK government used the Autumn Budget to announce an increase to the amount of Employers’ National Insurance Contributions companies will have to pay, which could have big implications for IT contractors Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Bank of England warns against AI ‘complacency’

UK financial services regulator wants to increase understanding of AI’s benefits and how firms are managing the risks it poses, as take-up grows and use cases increase Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Post Office scandal affected relationships of two-thirds of victims

The Post Office scandal, regarded as the UK’s widest miscarriage of justice, destroyed the financial wellbeing of former subpostmasters, took away their liberty and inflicted grief on their relationships Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

DWP appoints Helen Wylie as its new chief digital and information officer

Wylie steps up from chief technology officer to replace her departing boss, Rich Corbridge, to take over one of the largest IT estates in Europe Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Interview: Niall Robinson, head of product innovation, Met Office

Weather and climate data is hugely valuable to government and businesses – and the Met Office is finding ways to innovate with data to deliver improved products and services Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Fujitsu boss to face tough reappearance at Post Office inquiry, following inaction and sidestepping

Fujitsu’s European boss will have to justify why promises made at the public inquiry months ago have not been followed through Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Autumn Budget: Employment agencies to take on PAYE processing from umbrella firms from April 2026

The government has pledged legislation to make employment agencies and end-hirers responsible for making sure contractors pay the right amount of tax, in a clampdown on non-compliant umbrella companies Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Autumn Budget 2024: Chancellor emphasises importance of tech for UK growth

In her first budget, Rachel Reeves reiterated the vital role of technology in delivering economic growth and improving productivity and efficiency in public services Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Interview: Rahul Todkar, head of data and AI, Tripadvisor

The travel website generates huge amounts of data – as a result, artificial intelligence offers equally huge opportunities for the business and its customers Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Interview: James Fleming, CIO, Francis Crick Institute

Helping to cure cancer with computers puts digital leadership on another level – and the world-leading research institute is turning to data science and artificial intelligence to achieve its groundbreaking goals Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

RedLine, Meta malwares meet their demise at hands of Dutch cops

A multinational action led by authorities in the Netherlands has resulted in the takedown of the notorious RedLine and Meta infostealer malwares Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Alphabet results reveal extent of AI-powered programming

The parent company of Google is using its Gemini generative artificial intelligence tool to code a quarter of new software development initiatives Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

IAM best practices for cloud environments to combat cyber attacks

The Security Think Tank considers best practices in identity and access management and how can they be deployed to enable IT departments to combat cyber-attacks, phishing attacks and ransomware Continue Reading

By

• Varun Prasad, ISACA

Scality Ring XP to offer object storage at scale with rapid access

Lightweight S3 API trades storage features for microsecond access. Scality pairs it with all-NVMe flash in Ring XP, aimed at AI use cases for small object data in PB-scale datasets Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

No simple replacement for digital evidence rules, says Post Office Horizon trial judge

Judge in Post Office Horizon trial says a more flexible approach to how digital evidence is used in court cases may be required as IT complexity increases Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

EMEA businesses siphoning budgets to hit NIS2 goals

With NIS2 now in effect, European business leaders are having to divert budget from elsewhere to achieve compliance Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government urged to introduce 10-year visas for overseas tech graduates

Labour-linked think tank calls for government to introduce low-cost schemes to boost innovation Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Tata Consultancy Services to deliver Irish pension scheme

Indian IT services giant adds to its growing customer base in the pensions sector with Irish contract win Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Rewiring Whitehall: The next steps in digital government

There’s a new government in place with fresh impetus to accelerate the digital transformation of public services – but what’s going to be different, better and more successful this time around? Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Who is the subject of the Post Office’s Project Tiger investigation?

The Post Office is listening to a campaigner’s complaints almost a decade after ignoring his more serious accusations and warnings Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK launches cyber guidance package for tech startups

The NCSC and NPSA, alongside agencies from the Five Eyes alliance, have issued guidance for startups on how to secure themselves against common cyber threats and targeted industrial espionage Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Western Digital boosts HDD capacity with 32TB shingled drives

An 11th platter gives extra capacity, while shingled (overlapped) writes – best suited to sequential recording use cases – allow for greater density and big gains in thoughput Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

How Manulife is empowering sales and call centre agents with AI

Canadian insurance giant is leveraging generative AI to personalise customer experiences, transform contact centre workflows and automate underwriting processes Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Lords committee warns about risks of the UK losing its EU data adequacy

The UK government must work with the European Commission (EC) to secure a renewal of UK’s two data adequacy statuses, says cross-party Lords committee, in stark warning about impacts of losing the ability to seamlessly exchange citizens’ personal data Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Government ‘urged’ to overturn all convictions based on Post Office Capture

Influential group has written to the government calling for legislation to overturn the criminal convictions of former subpostmasters that were based on Capture system data Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Data bill will boost NHS and police access to data, says government

The Data Use and Access Bill will pave the way for sharing medical records across the NHS and give police the ability to access databases without having to manually log the reasons for their use Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Prudential taps AI to improve health insurance experience

Insurance giant Prudential teams up with Google Cloud to streamline claims processing, personalise healthcare journeys and improve health outcomes Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Warning shots fired as former subpostmasters have ‘useful’ meeting with Post Office CEO

Acting CEO meets two campaigning former subpostmasters emphasising need for their input into the Post Office’s future direction, including its branch system development Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Kenyan workers win High Court appeal to take Meta to trial

Despite the company arguing that Kenyan courts have no jurisdiction over an American company, the Nairobi High Court has ruled that Meta must face more than 180 content moderators and data labellers in court over allegedly poor working conditions, negative mental health impacts, and loss of pay Continue Reading

By

• Adele Zeynep Walton

Federation requests government investigation into third Post Office branch system

Following public anger over the Horizon scandal and the subsequent unravelling of the controversial Capture system, subpostmaster federation wants third branch IT system to be reviewed Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Democracy campaigner to sue Saudi Arabia over Pegasus and QuaDream spyware in UK court

Pro-democracy campaigner Yahya Assiri given permission to file legal action in London court against Saudi Arabia over its use of Israeli spyware Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Government ‘resets’ pension dashboard programme

Following a National Audit Office report highlighting failings in the project, the government has set out a revised plan Continue Reading

Change to rules on computer evidence will be an ‘outcome’ of Post Office scandal

The executive currently heading up the Post Office’s investigations department has told public inquiry that rules on computer evidence have to change Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Danish government reboots cyber security council amid AI expansion

Denmark’s government relaunches digital security initiative to protect business sectors and society at large Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Labour’s 10-year health service plan will open up data sharing

To save the health service, Labour is focusing on bolstering the NHS app and enabling greater sharing of patient records in England Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Former Post Office IT boss alleged to have misrepresented alternative to in-house build

Internal Post Office document reveals allegations that former transformation boss misrepresented off-the-shelf option to replace Horizon Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Delivering Olympic IT

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we speak to a former Olympian and CIO of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games about continuous improvement. We also look at new enterprise AI services from major IT providers and assess the unified communications as a service market. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Labour signs up to five years of Microsoft AI

The UK government has signed a deal with Microsoft to reduce the cost of running public sector services using the supplier’s cloud and artificial intelligence technologies Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Post Office worker who allegedly told staff to destroy evidence could return, as police investigate

Post Office to allow employee, who allegedly told staff to destroy evidence of possible interest to public inquiry, to return to work during police investigation Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Techcombank’s tech investments set to fuel record profit

The Vietnam bank is targeting $1bn in profit in 2024 while maintaining a flat headcount and reducing physical branches, thanks to its investments in artificial intelligence and a data engine Continue Reading

By

• Ai Lei Tao

Synology takes aim at enterprise customers and flash storage

Best known as an SME and consumer brand, Synology claims multiple enterprise customers especially in backup and storage of infrequently accessed data, but has plans for flash, too Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

Review of late evidence doesn’t change Post Office Capture system report

Conclusions reached in government-commissioned report into pre-Horizon software are unchanged after late evidence reviewed Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK broadband is failing

Getting married and moving home are said to be among the most stressful things people experience. There are plenty more, but a particularly frustrating experience not on that list is attempting to ... Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Met Police investigating senior Post Office worker over evidence destruction allegation

Public inquiry evidence confirms that the Metropolitan Police are investigating a senior Post Office staff member regarding instructions to destroy evidence Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

What are tensor processing units and what is their role in AI?

We look at Google’s TPUs – tensor processing units – and ask what makes them different to CPUs, GPUs and DPUs, as well as how you can take advantage of them in AI processing Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

NCSC chief warns of gap in cyber threats and defence capabilities

The UK and its allies must take collective action to improve their cyber resilience and repel the increasing volume of severe cyber attacks, says NCSC chief Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Sir Alan Bates tells Prime Minister to guarantee Post Office scandal victim redress by March 2025

Campaigner tells Keir Starmer to finalise full and final financial redress to victims of the Post Office scandal by March next year, or face legal action Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

EU cyber security bill NIS2 hits compliance deadline

The EU’s NIS2 bill will harmonise how companies and member states approach cyber security, but its success will depend on how well it is implemented and enforced Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Philippines leaps forward in e-government with cloud-first strategy

A common infrastructure and a ‘once-only’ principle have propelled the Philippines up the UN’s E-Government Development Index, streamlining services and bolstering data sovereignty Continue Reading

By

• Ai Lei Tao

Digitisation forum launched ahead of Norway’s digital strategy

Norway's government is preparing itself for the future by establishing an advisory hub to support its digital strategies Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Former police officer heading Post Office operations did nothing to help innocent subpostmasters

Former chief operating officer did nothing when action could have put a stop to the Post Office wrongful prosecutions Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Tech and digital skills key to improving police productivity

The Policing Productivity Review sees data and technology as a way of improving productivity and outcomes, as well as a potential means of restoring diminishing legitimacy, but warns there needs to be a revamp in digital skills, investment and coordination to harness the full range of benefits Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

UK government unveils AI safety research funding details

Through its AI Safety Institute, the UK government has committed an initial pot of £4m to fund research into various risks associated with AI technologies, which will increase to £8.5m as the scheme progresses Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Hillingdon Council commits £9m to tech revamp in digital strategy

Hillingdon’s three-year digital strategy will see the council fund attempts to modernise its systems and infrastructure, change how residents interact with the local authority and make better use of data Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

NCSC expands school cyber service to academies and private schools

The National Cyber Security Centre is expanding its PDNS for Schools service to encompass a wider variety of institutions up and down the UK Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK sees over £6bn boost in datacentre investments

Following moves to classify datacentres as critical national infrastructure, a number of US tech providers have announced new UK investments Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Google launches Parallelstore file storage at cloud AI training

Originally driven by Intel’s now-defunct Optane storage class memory, Parallelstore offers massive parallel file storage targeted at artificial intelligence training use cases on Google Cloud Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Robust cloud IAM should align to zero-trust principles

The Security Think Tank considers best practices in identity and access management and how can they be deployed to enable IT departments to combat cyber-attacks, phishing attacks and ransomware. Continue Reading

By

• Ricky Simpson, Quorum Cyber

Post Office believes it took £36m from subpostmasters with unexplained losses

The Post Office wrongly blamed subpostmasters for unexplained account shortfalls and made them cover losses out of their own pockets - then banked the money itself Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Azure storage: Key options in Microsoft cloud storage

We survey the key cloud storage options available from Microsoft Azure, which include Files, Blob, Elastic SAN, Managed Disk and NetApp files, for a range of use cases Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Post Office set to axe in-house-developed New Branch IT software

Troubled business may ditch its plan to build a new core branch system in-house and buy an off-the-shelf alternative Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Gartner: AI can be catalyst for new business models

Gartner expert Nicholle Lindner explains how companies like Klarna are leveraging AI to drive new revenue, and what businesses need to consider when embracing the technology Continue Reading

By

• Ai Lei Tao

Government launches cyber standard for local authorities

Local government bodies are being invited to take advantage of a new NCSC-derived Cyber Assessment Framework to help enhance their resilience and ward off cyber attacks Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

How Recorded Future finds ransomware victims before they get hit

Threat intel specialists at Recorded Future have shared details of newly developed techniques they are using to disrupt Rhysida ransomware attacks before the gang even has a chance to execute them Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Internet Archive web historians target of hacktivist cyber attack

The Internet Archive nonprofit digital library and Wayback Machine operator has been attacked by pro-Palestinian hacktivists Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK and US pledge closer working on children’s online safety

In their first agreement on the subject of children’s online safety, the UK and US governments have said they will create a new working group to boost cooperation Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Interview: Bruno Marie-Rose, CIO, Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games

The technology chief reflects on a successful Olympic and Paralympic Games – and how what he learned as a former Olympic medallist helped him be a better IT leader Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Post Office dragging its feet getting rid of tainted staff, despite government ‘green light’

Former minister gave Post Office ‘green light’ to take robust action against existing staff with links to Post Office scandal wrongdoing Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Under-fire Nick Read was unprepared for Post Office challenge

Post Office boss Nick Read was not prepared for the task ahead of him when he joined the organisation as CEO in 2019 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA