IT news in your industry sector

Online sales now account for 34.4% of M&S clothing and home goods

Ongoing digital transformation sees online sales grow for M&S as pandemic consumer habits continue Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Cambridge Quantum tackles rail optimisation for German operator

Among the promises of quantum computing is to run combinational optimisation for tasks such as complex train scheduling to minimise disruption Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Finance ombudsman overturns more than three-quarters of bank decisions on APP fraud

The financial services ombudsman is siding with customers in over 75% of complaints against banks that refuse to repay losses to authorised push payment fraud Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CW Benelux: Dutch IT company rips up the HR rule book for better work-life balance

One Dutch tech firm has used learnings from the pandemic to rip up its HR rule book and implement an official work-from-home policy. In fact, Infolearn has gone further than hybrid working, with a personal mobility budget for staff and a four-day working week, all with retention of full-time salary. Also in this issue, read how Dutch education administrators appear to be underestimating the threat of cyber crime. Continue Reading

Bank of England loses 161 computing devices in three years

Bank cannot account for phones, laptops and tablets that have gone missing over the past three years Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lloyd v Google Supreme Court verdict brings end to privacy class actions against big tech in UK

A ruling by the Supreme Court has left it financially unviable for individuals to bring class actions in the UK against big tech companies for privacy breaches Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Financial Conduct Authority chooses Aiimi for improved information discovery

The Financial Conduct Authority has awarded a three-year contract to UK enterprise search firm Aiimi to enable the regulator’s staff to find documents more easily and collaborate better Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Vast Data: Big shifts promised for an AI future

Purveyor of Universal Storage says AI and GPU-based compute will dominate, and is set to benefit with its (relatively) cheap, deep and quick QLC-plus-Optane offer Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Traditional banks could get revenue boost if they copy digital challengers

Traditional banks could see huge sales increases if they adopted the business models of their digital challengers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

EU artificial intelligence regulation risks undermining social safety net

Europe’s proposed artificial intelligence regulation will not adequately protect people from European governments' increasing use of the technology in social security decisions and resource allocation, says Human Rights Watch Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

CIO interview: Graeme Hackland, CIO, Williams F1

The Formula One CIO has made big changes to IT over the last few years, helping the F1 team to move forward through cloud-driven business transformation Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

What Norwegians are learning as they pioneer autonomous ships

Norway is leading the world in developing autonomous ship technology – and the world should pay attention to its latest developments Continue Reading

By

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

Digital surveillance of remote workers may increase enterprise risk

From productivity tools to security threats, we explore how digital surveillance is forcing remote workers towards shadow IT Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

How to manage endpoint security in a hybrid work environment

The future of the workplace is clearly hybrid, but this has untold implications around endpoint security. How can businesses overcome these? Continue Reading

By

• Nicholas Fearn

Yoti develops age estimation algorithm for under-13s

Age estimation technology developed by Yoti is being pitched as a way of helping social media platforms and other online businesses protect younger internet users from harm Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

NHS gets £250m boost to accelerate digital diagnostics plan

NHS funding aimed at enabling faster detection of health conditions and reducing waiting times Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

What’s up with Wotsits, Quavers and Monster Munch?

IT failure leads to shortages of popular UK crisps on supermarket shelves resulting in extraordinary price hikes on eBay Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Standard Chartered picks Starling Bank tech for product launch

Standard Chartered able to quickly launch new product through fintech platform Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Vienna’s tech startup ecosystem gathers momentum

After a sustained period of inactivity, Vienna’s startup environment is finally on the rise again Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Blockchain technology will help banks will cut cross-border payment costs by $10bn in 2030

The use of blockchain technology in cross-border payments will save global banks $10bn in 2030, according to research Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Singapore ups ante in AI with sectoral programmes

Singapore launches two national AI programmes to bolster adoption of AI by financial institutions and the public sector Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

How a cloud-first strategy helped save animals in the pandemic

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to the RSPCA about how its cloud-first strategy helped to save animals throughout the pandemic. Data warehouses have been part of the IT landscape for 30 years – but are they now old technology, and what’s next? And we assess how Brexit has affected risk and resilience in the datacentre. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Government and Post Office should stop discussing Horizon victim compensation and pay it

The first hearing in the Post Office Horizon scandal public inquiry hears why victims should be paid compensation immediately Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Gig economy workforce nearly trebles over five years

Over four million people in England and Wales now work for gig economy platforms at least once a week, marking a nearly threefold increase since 2016 Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

NHSX chief information officer outlines role of tech in achieving net zero targets

The digital delivery unit will publish an update of its digital change framework to encompass sustainability, tackling areas such as artificial intelligence and data hosting Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

CME Group signs 10-year cloud and product innovation deal with Google

CME Group, one of the world’s largest financial derivatives exchange operators, has signed a multi-year infrastructure migration deal with Google Cloud Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

How cosmetics retailer Lush made over its approach to authentication

Evolving approaches to IT at cosmetics retailer Lush meant the organisation’s previous approach to authentication was no longer up to scratch. Find out how it overcame this hurdle Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Belfast City Airport: Most apps in the cloud by 2031

George Best Belfast City Airport has already achieved 50/50 cloud and on-premise working, with 80% of workloads expected to be cloud-based in the next decade. We look at what hybrid cloud means in practice Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Technology spending reaches record levels, fuelling jobs boom

Spending on IT has reached its highest levels for a decade but a shortage of skilled IT professionals could dampen growth Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Mining deaths lawsuit against major tech companies dismissed

A legal case against five major US technology companies accused of knowingly benefiting from human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been dismissed, but victims plan to appeal Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Immutable snapshots aim to neutralise ransomware

Snapshots – usually immutable anyway – get functionality to stop ransomware intruders moving or deleting snapshots, so customers know they have clean copies of data to restore from Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Digital secretary calls for permanent online safety committee

Digital secretary commits to establishing ongoing oversight of the Online Safety Bill and its implementation, and suggests the grace period on criminal liability for tech company execs should be shortened from two years to a maximum of six months once it’s enacted Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

HMRC IT transformation plans under strain, says NAO report

The EU transition and higher-than-expected customer demand, as well as technical debt, are among the factors that could affect HMRC’s modernisation ambitions Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Number of subpostmasters appealing convictions reaches 137 at one legal firm

Former subpostmasters convicted of crimes based on data from error-prone Post Office computer system continue to embark on appeals Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

COP26: IT and climate change – Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

In this episode, Clare McDonald and Brian McKenna are joined by Ryan Priest to discuss IT’s role in combating climate change, on the eve of COP26, as well as YouTube’s temporary expulsion of Novara Media from its platform Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor
• Ryan Priest
• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Police interview former Fujitsu staff for second time in potential perjury investigation

Former Fujitsu staff who gave evidence in subpostmaster trials have been questioned by police for a second time Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Inside Krungsri Bank’s open API journey

Thailand’s Krungsri Bank has been harnessing open application programming interfaces to enable its partners to build new services in a strategy that has won over customers from rival banks Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

UK and US governments agree joint quantum collaboration

Representatives from the two governments issue a joint statement on quantum information science and technology (Qist) Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

NAO raises concerns over systems preparedness for import controls

Delivery of enhancements and funding issues for the second phase of the Customs Declaration Service are among the points highlighted in latest report Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Women grossly underrepresented in global fintech

Women are CEOs at less than 6% of global financial technology firms and even fewer hold top tech jobs Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How in-store technology is supporting retail’s sustainability agenda

Boots, Costa Coffee and the major grocers’ in-store technology focus is switching towards systems supporting sustainability goals Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

Fujitsu escaped huge lawsuit because Post Office behaved so badly in Horizon scandal

How Fujitsu has so far avoided a huge lawsuit in relation to its role in the Horizon scandal Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Facebook self-imposes facial recognition moratorium

Facebook and Meta have committed to halting their use of facial recognition technology and deleting the biometric data of more than a billion people by the end of 2021, but will retain the underlying algorithms and software for potential use in future products Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

UK’s Labour Party hit by third-party data breach

Data on Labour Party members was recently compromised in an apparent cyber attack on a third-party data processor Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: SASE – marketing buzz or the future of security?

SASE architectures promise to prevent multiple types of cyber attacks, but deciding whether SASE is right for your organisation will require understanding whether SASE is a fit for your use cases in IT Continue Reading

By

• Martin Kuppinger, KuppingerCole

Quarter of people don’t plan to visit a bank branch again

A quarter of people have no intention of visiting a bank branch again after experiencing the benefits of digital banking when branches were closed during Covid-19 lockdowns Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

ODI Summit 2021: ‘Social prescribing’ for mental health lacks data infrastructure

A report published at the Open Data Institute’s annual summit finds social prescribing activities geared towards improving mental and physical health lack sufficient data infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Adelaide healthcare network digitises manual processes

The Central Adelaide Local Health Network has digitised manual processes in more than 20 speciality areas to improve patient experience and alleviate the workloads of frontline staff Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Electronic waste excluded from COP26 agenda

Data sanitation industry group calls on UK government to add electronic waste to the climate summit’s agenda Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Minister refuses to rule out fully autonomous lethal weapons

Lords debate the UK’s stance on drones and artificial intelligence in conflict Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

iXsystems entry-level NAS goes hyper-converged with TrueNAS Scale

iXsystems TrueNAS can be a fraction of the cost of competitors and with a revamped operating system it can be built into clusters that can run virtual machines and containers Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

HSBC standardises on DevOps platform

HSBC to standardise and automate software development through CloudBees platform Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Budget: Cloud and data added to R&D tax credits, tech skills and digital boost for departments

Rishi Sunak announces plans to incentivise private sector investment in research and development, attract global talent and boost the UK’s skills base Continue Reading

What the Budget means for UK technology

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look through the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget and Spending Review to find what it means for the UK tech sector. As COP26 starts, we assess the green credentials of the IT industry. And we hear one CTO’s experiences of learning the privacy lessons of GDPR. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Government investigates the future of drones in the UK

Regulatory Horizons Council research explores the opportunities and regulatory challenges around unlocking the domestic drone market Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

No cloud storage for Belfast City Airport in Nutanix hyper-converged switch

George Best Belfast City Airport ditches ageing Dell iSCSI SAN for Nutanix HCI for half the price of nearest contender, and gets DR site into the bargain. Cloud storage was a no-go for cost reasons Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Covid pass deal to enable UK vaccine verification by EU countries

Under the agreement, vaccination status of UK citizens will be digitally verified via the EU digital Covid certificate gateway Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

MPs and Lords grill Facebook over online safety efforts

Facebook answers British lawmakers’ questions about the social media giant’s efforts to ensure the safety of its users, as part of legislative security of the government's proposed online safety bill Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Payments through open banking could end card dominance

Payments made through open banking will eat into those made using cards as the next five years sees an acceleration in adoption Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

GDS secures up to £400m funding for One Login digital identity project

HM Treasury agrees to spending review bid from Cabinet Office to create the new single sign-on system for government over the next three years Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Facebook rebrands to Meta amid continuing controversies

Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta to support its work on the next generation of “social technologies”, but concerns around trust and privacy persist Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Five ways the hyper-converged infrastructure market is changing

We look at changes in the hyper-converged infrastructure market as suppliers go cool, go soft, disaggregate HCI nodes, provide as-a-service options and look to containers Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

UK government launches consultation on AI in patents and copyright

Evidence and views will be sought by UK government on how inventions and creative work made by AI should be protected Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

CIA sought revenge against Julian Assange over hacking tool leaks, court hears

The CIA discussed kidnapping Julian Assange after WikiLeaks published thousands of documents revealing its arsenal of hacking tools, defence lawyers tell a London court Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Illegal state surveillance in Africa ‘carried out with impunity’

Analysis of surveillance laws and practices in six African countries finds that existing privacy laws are failing to protect citizens from illegal digital surveillance, which is being facilitated and enabled by global tech companies Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Benioffs and Salesforce put $300m into combating climate change on eve of COP26

$200m committed to reforestation and restoration efforts, and $100m for non-profits over the next 10 years Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

How software can help clean up emission-intensive industries

The potential to reduce emissions by making heavy industries and commercial buildings more efficient using software is immense. We explore the field Continue Reading

By

• SA Mathieson

‘No-one extradited from UK to US has committed suicide,’ US tells court in Assange appeal

US government claims that a district judge has given WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a ‘trump card’ to avoid extradition   Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Budget: Cloud and data added to R&D tax credits, tech skills and digital boost for departments

Rishi Sunak announces plans to incentivise private sector investment in research and development, attract global talent and boost the UK’s skills base Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Government commits millions to security investment

Spending Review adds more than £750m of funding to improve cyber security resilience across government Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

TechUK slams government gift to big banks that will disadvantage fintechs

The government will put challenger banks at a disadvantage through its reduction in the bank profit surcharge, says TechUK Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

TSB opens 100-seat tech centre in Scottish capital

TSB has opened its latest tech centre in Scotland while IT services provider CGI announces the creation of hundreds of UK tech jobs Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

PAC report slams reliance on consulting at NHS Test and Trace

Consultants recruited to fill technical skills gaps on the NHS Test and Trace programme are expected to cost £300m amid concerns spend has gotten “out of hand” Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Retail tech community reacts to BNPL regulatory proposals

Regulation is coming to the buy now, pay later market, but what does it mean for a retail tech community increasingly embracing these solutions? Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

Building better data foundations to make the most of AI

The UK government's national artificial intelligence strategy relies on businesses putting in place the foundations for better use of data – EY research highlights the challenges ahead Continue Reading

By

• Harvey Lewis, EY

Thought Machine: Google-inspired banking fintech to unicorn and beyond

UK fintech unicorn Thought Machine is transforming the IT of large traditional banks, while working with fledgling digital-only challengers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CIO interview: Dal Virdi, IT director, Shakespeare Martineau

The law firm is increasingly digitising its business and readying its infrastructure for future merger and acquisition activity Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Government selects network analytics tech to combat Covid-19 loan fraud

The UK government has awarded a contract to network analytics software provider Quantexa as part of its efforts to fight fraud, especially that connected with Covid-19 business support schemes Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Interview: Identifying talent at Nasa using data science

David Meza, senior data scientist at Nasa, explains how the space agency is using data analytics and graph database technology to find, recruit and train the skilled people it needs Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

The future is digital, so why is Britain’s national strategy waterfall?

UK government policy is dominated by old, traditional attitudes – rather like the waterfall approach to IT projects. Unless policymaking adopts digital-style approaches, the UK is doomed to long-term decline Continue Reading

By

• Cassian Young

Six strategic plays for UK government IT initiatives and their implications for policy

The UK government needs to decide what being digital means – and there are a number of options to consider. Policymakers have to choose, if the benefits of transformation are to be achieved Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson, Exeter Business School and DIGITLab
• Will Venters, London School of Economics and Political Science

Managing cyber risk by integrating supply chains

In this week’s Computer Weekly, our latest Buyer’s Guide examines the security and IT integration challenges of modern supply chains, especially post-pandemic – while we also talk to the CEO of software provider SolarWinds about how the company overcame its huge supply chain attack. And we look at how a small town in Lancashire was chosen as the HQ for the UK’s new National Cyber Force. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Capita migrates systems to the cloud for TfL low emission zone expansion

Capita has expanded its team and moved systems to the cloud to support Transport for London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Tech firms launch digital identity scheme for real estate

Five companies joined the digital identity programme aimed at enabling buyers of real estate, and more providers are expected to join a pilot starting this month Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Chancellor sets aside £2.1bn to fund NHS IT modernisation

Improving efficiency, reducing waiting times and expanding tests and scans are among the key targets for £5.9bn of extra NHS funding Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Tech must be core to a high-wage UK economy, says TechUK

Trade association TechUK calls on government to prioritise tech-led growth on Budget and Spending Review Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

At last, the UK has a mass-market digital identity system - now let's use it

Great news for all those who have followed the troubles and travails of digital identity in the UK for the past couple of decades. Finally, we have a digital ID system, developed in the public ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Attempted hack causes Tesco website outage

Retailer’s website and app back after attempted hack caused problems over the weekend Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Singapore-developed chatbot to provide genetic counselling

National University Cancer Institute, Singapore’s chatbot will kickstart the counselling process for patients who have a higher risk of contracting hereditary breast and ovarian cancer Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Digital healthcare in use by nearly half of UK’s adult population

Some 28 million citizens have access to the NHS login, according to new data Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Multi-government operation targets REvil ransomware group

REvil has been forced offline by a multi-government hacking operation, marking the second time in 2021 that the group has gone dark Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

MEPs vote to expand Europol data mandate

The European Parliament has voted in favour of expanding Europol’s mandate to process data and develop AI tools, but critics claim it contradicts a previous vote which opposed using new technologies to predict crime Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Government seeks supplier for UK digital identity project

Work on the UK digital identity project will be centred around the Gov.uk app, which is expected to be the new common check for citizen services Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Post Office board ‘appalling’ and ‘short-sighted’, said minister researching Horizon project in 2000

A government minister investigating the controversial Horizon IT project in 2000 described the Post Office board of directors as ‘appalling, short-sighted and partisan’ Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Airport operator MAG boosts threat visibility with hybrid SOC

With budget concerns weighing heavy during the pandemic, Manchester Airports Group ditched an impending capex-heavy cyber investment in favour of a hybrid managed/in-house approach. Learn more about its experience Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Depop launches programme to help charities sell online

Online marketplace Depop has launched a programme to make it easier for charities to set up shops and sell goods online through its platform Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

German regulator imposes limit on number of new customers digital bank can sign each month

BaFin limits the number of new customers that digital bank N26 can enrol until it is reassured on issues it has raised about the company Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

NetApp Insight frames moves to public cloud and cloud native

Storage player highlights partnerships with cloud hyperscalers and development of Spot portfolio aimed at cloud-native applications, DevOps, FinOps and SecOps Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Vast boosts QLC flash offer with ransomware-proof snapshots

Vast majors on QLC flash bulk storage with 3D Xpoint cache to smooth out traffic into sequential flows Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

UK government launches information assurance unit for defence

The Military Systems Information Assurance is aimed at developing alternatives to cryptology Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari