IT news in your industry sector

Mastercard: Looks like a tech firm, acts like a tech firm, is a tech firm

Financial services giant finds itself in a prominent position as the volume of digital transactions increases Continue Reading

How Mastercard is taking digital payments into a new era

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to Mastercard about how the credit card giant is using new technologies to take digital payments into a new era. After months of unprecedented uncertainty, we ask CIOs how they are planning for the next 12 months. And we examine how the growth in remote working will affect IT salaries. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Privacy advocates call for European probe into Palantir

Dutch group SOMI is trying to raise awareness of Palantir’s data privacy practices and how it works with European government agencies Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Resident Evil studio Capcom confirms scale of Ragnar Locker breach

Videogame studio says the data of up to 350,000 people was likely to have been compromised in a Ragnar Locker ransomware attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NHS completes transition to HSCN

All 950 NHS, social care, private sector and local authority organisations have migrated from the legacy N3 network to the Health and Social Care Network Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Human error blamed in Welsh Covid-19 patient data leak

Public Health Wales accepts recommendations of independent probe into data breach that saw PII on 18,105 coronavirus patients leaked Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Hackney systems could be unavailable for months, says council

A month after a highly disruptive cyber attack on its systems, Hackney Council is still struggling to get back up and running Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government issues guidance on post-Brexit procurement

From 1 January 2021, procurement notices will have to be published through the Find a Tender e-notification service Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Post Office explanation of IT system outage so vague it is ‘pointless’

Post Office criticised over vagueness of its explanation of the cause of a UK-wide IT failure that saw subpostmasters unable to do business Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Covid-19: How retailers are using technology to respond to changing shopping habits

As the coronavirus outbreak accelerates the shift in consumer behaviour, how are retailers using technology to keep customers engaged? Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

IT Priorities 2020: European IT budget share reflects home-working challenges brought by Covid

European organisations are being forced to redivert more limited budgets during the pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Ticketmaster fined £1.25m by ICO for failing to protect customer data

Ticket website’s customer data was exposed through an attack on a third-party chatbot Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Covid-19 pandemic has increased speed of tech deployments across the NHS

The pandemic has increased use of technology across the NHS, but how has it been received by clinicians, and how has it impacted daily life for NHS organisations? Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UK government makes inroads in maritime autonomy

The Maritime Future Technologies team has been formed to facilitate trials of innovative approaches and support regulatory updates Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Humanitarian data collection practices put migrants at risk

United Nations report on smart borders warns that data collection about migrants and refugees by humanitarian organisations risks excluding them from essential basic services like access to food Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Public sector IT leaders struggle with data infrastructure legacy

The impact caused by the pandemic means government tech executives in Europe are looking for ways to quickly modernise their estates, research says Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Police open criminal investigation into potential perjury by Fujitsu staff in Post Office IT trials

Current and former Fujitsu staff could face prosecution for giving false evidence in the trials of subpostmasters accused of theft and false accounting Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UKtech50 2021: Help us find the most influential people in UK IT

Computer Weekly’s annual search for the 50 most influential people in UK IT is on – let us know who you would like to nominate for this year’s list Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Online kids’ game Animal Jam confirms large breach

Cyber criminals have stolen data on 46 million Animal Jam player accounts via a third-party attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Financial Stability Board says it’s time to talk about IT outsourcing risks

International organisation that monitors the finance sector asks for the industry to discuss the risks that IT outsourcing brings to the sector Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

DCMS opens talks with private sector on future of digital identity market

Department has met with suppliers to discuss plans for a trust framework to show ‘what good looks like’ as it ploughs ahead with digital identity plans Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

The new way of planning in retail

GUEST BLOG: In this contributed post, Laurent Homeyer, retail and hospitality industry advisor in EMEA & APJ, Workday, explains how retailers can properly plan their strategies during the ... Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Company accused of spying on Assange acted for Ecuadorian Intelligence, says ex UC Global manager

Former operations chief of UC Global told Spanish Court the company accused of spying on Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London was acting on the orders of Ecuadorian Intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
• Ter García

CW Benelux: Dutch Alzheimer’s app helps dementia patients

An app aimed at helping dementia patients and their families has been developed by the Alzheimer Society in the Netherlands. Also in this issue, read about a Belgian startup's app based on blockchain technology to help container handling at ports, and why Rabobank ditched its legacy backup. Continue Reading

Benelux ports use blockchain in major efficiency drive

 Continue Reading

TCS acquires Prudential Financial tech operation unit for free

Hot on the heels of its €1 acquisition of Deutsche Bank’s Postbank Systems IT unit, TCS has taken on 1,500 people from the insurance giant’s Ireland-based IT unit Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

A dopey Photoshop

We’re not ashamed to admit we don’t understand how the graphic tweeted by Boris Johnson to congratulate president-elect Joe Biden came to faintly display “Trump” in the background. Downing Street’s ... Continue Reading

By

• Ryan Priest

Tim Berners-Lee startup releases decentralisation tech to enterprises

Roll-out of Inrupt’s decentralised privacy technology to four large organisations is helping the startup to develop explicit use cases, which it hopes will prove the tech and lead to faster adoption Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Norway has lowest physical cash use in the world, says report

Norway claims to use less cash as a proportion of total spending than any other country across the globe, according to a study by its central bank Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Amazon charged with breaching EU antitrust rules

Tech giant accused of using data it collects on smaller retailers to benefit its own e-commerce business Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Lack of openness on Horizon errors remains as Fujitsu refuses to explain latest outage

Subpostmasters are being kept in the dark about errors in the branch computer system they use, despite the Post Office and Fujitsu being slammed in court over their lack of openness Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

EU aid funds used to train ‘unaccountable intelligence agencies’ in high-tech surveillance

Hundreds of documents obtained by campaign group Privacy International show how the EU is supporting surveillance programmes in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

DCMS’s Whittingdale: National data strategy not tied to EU trade deal

Minister tells ODI Summit that national data strategy is nearly finished and will fuel UK economic growth post-Brexit and post-pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Border technologies largely fail to respect human rights

AI-powered border technologies used to ‘manage’ migration frequently make the process more arbitrary, discriminatory and unjust, says human rights group Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Intel Optane Persistent Memory aims to fill the gap DRAM can’t

We look at Optane and its PMem product that Intel believes will fill a big gap between memory and storage that DRAM technology just cannot deal with Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Industry tells House of Lords committee it has ‘grave reservations’ about CDS

The Customs Declaration Service is untested, unproven and not ready, and HMRC is taking a “cloak and dagger approach” to working with the industry, hears a Lords committee – but HMRC says delivery of Brexit IT is on track Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Deutsche Bank to sell retail banking IT unit to TCS for €1

Deutsche Bank has agreed to sell its retail banking IT operation to one of its main IT suppliers for a token €1 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Better data sharing needed to help children during pandemic

Closing gaps in data infrastructure will help the education sector respond better to children’s needs during the Covid-19 pandemic, says Open Data Institute Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Canada ad firm subtracts 44U with HPE and Ctera hyper-converged

Glenn Davis Group slashed its hardware estate from 48U of rack space to 4U when it ditched its SAN and tape legacy kit for flash-based Ctera X Series and cloud backup Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Using digital twins to cut costs and improve safety at Shell

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at Shell’s digital twin strategy, which combines AI, internet of things and big data to improve safety and cut costs. Our latest buyer’s guide examines the best practices and technologies in business process automation. And we find out why securing DNS is critical to fighting cyber crime. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Quantum’s ATFS aims to classify and manage unstructured data

Quantum triumvirate now comprises ATFS for file system classification and management, StorNext for high performance with large files and ActiveScale object storage as a bulk store Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Essential Guide: Digital transformation in the public sector

Digital technologies and best practices are transforming the public sector across Europe - we look at some of the examples and the lessons being learned Continue Reading

Spinning disk hard drives: Good value for many use cases

When it comes to storage media, all talk is of flash, but there are plenty of use cases where – far less costly – spinning disk can do a perfectly adequate job in the enterprise Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

EU moves closer to encryption ban after Austria, France attacks

Draft resolution document setting up an EU-wide ban on end-to-end encryption is set to be waved through this week Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Tampere’s perfect storm triggers a startup revolution

Previously a hub for Nokia and Microsoft, Finland’s second-largest city is capitalising on a wealth of technical knowhow to become the dark horse of the Nordic startup scene Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Overhaul business support with a focus on tech to help SMEs weather the Covid crisis

The more digitally capable businesses have come through the pandemic in better shape - government needs to ensure that UK SMEs have the support in place to use tech to survive Covid-19 Continue Reading

By

• Julian David, TechUK

MPs unconvinced NHS has learned lessons from failed IT programmes

None of the components needed to deliver NHS digital ambitions are in place, says Public Accounts Committee, as MPs call for the Department of Health and Social care to set ‘realistic targets’ Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

NHS warned over Ryuk spreading through Trickbot replacements

NHS Digital tells healthcare organisations to be mindful of a marked rise in usage of the Bazar and Buer loaders Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected HMRC’s operations, says NAO

NAO’s insight into HMRC’s annual report and accounts finds that the pandemic has created challenges for the department’s transformation programmes, including Universal Credit and the end of the Brexit transition period Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Finger pointed at Fujitsu as Post Office Horizon system crashes nationally

Post Office branches offline during busy business hours after suffering an IT error that the Post Office said related to IT from supplier Fujitsu Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HMRC shuns Gov.uk Notify and seeks supplier to unify notifications

Tax collection agency HMRC will spend up to £9.75m to streamline notifications through text, voice and email Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Risk of ‘widespread disruption’ at UK border after Brexit transition period, NAO warns

National Audit Office report highlights concerns over UK’s readiness when Brexit transition period ends, including several IT systems at risk of not being ready in time Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Consumer rights organisation warns of computer takeover scams

Consumers warned to be on guard against criminals pretending to be IT support staff to gain access to personal banking information Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Royal Navy tests new tech in Cyprus

Navy has been trialling drones, autonomous systems and new communication systems under plans to evolve the Royal Marines into a ‘hi-tech raiding and strike force’ Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Slot of the Antarctic: Tape the best option for polar survey backup

Tape deemed the best medium for backup on board the Antarctic research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough, with Quantum’s Scalar i3 chosen in a fully redundant deployment Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

BBVA creates market information infrastructure on AWS cloud

Spanish bank BBVA is using Amazon Web Services to give its traders better access to market data following a project which also involved data provider Bloomberg Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Mastercard: Looks like a tech firm, acts like a tech firm, is a tech firm

Financial services giant finds itself in a prominent position as the volume of digital transactions increases Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Asda recruits new IT chief to handle transition

Former Morrisons CTO Anna Barsby will lead retailer’s tech agenda as part of its acquisition by the Issa brothers Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Nordic countries to develop common digital system

Common digital platform will help small and medium-sized enterprises across the Nordic region with data sharing Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Contractors claim IR35 reforms pose ‘bigger threat’ to their livelihoods than Covid-19 or Brexit

Latest poll by contractor tax consultancy Qdos suggests freelancers are less concerned about the threat the coronavirus and Brexit pose to their businesses than the havoc the IR35 private sector reforms might cause Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Mixed blessings for robots in retail

Ocado has acquired two US firms to boost its robotics expertise, while Walmart has reverted to using staff for shelf inventory checks Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Government sets out plans for security vetting IT platform

A three-year programme to transform the security vetting process for civil servants includes a technology platform due to be rolled out in summer 2021 Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

NHSX launches second round of NHS AI competition

NHS is looking for artificial intelligence products to help with triage, screening, imaging and intelligent operational automation Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Robot lawyer gets Sberbank role

Russia's largest state-owned bank creates a robot lawyer to reduce the time taken to process documents and make decisions based on them Continue Reading

By

• Vladimir Kozlov

Subpostmasters’ complaint about government begins its journey to Parliamentary Ombudsman

Government faces scrutiny of its handling of the Post Office IT scandal that destroyed subpostmasters’ lives and livelihoods Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

The UK government’s ‘flawed and misleading’ Covid-19 data

In this week’s Computer Weekly, the coronavirus data relied upon by the UK government is ‘flawed and misleading’ say experts – we examine the implications. Ikea talks about how it turned to the cloud to deal with the impact of the pandemic. And we look at the digital transformation underway at credit card giant Capital One. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

NHS weathers cyber crime storm during pandemic, says NCSC

The NCSC dealt with over 700 incidents in the 12 months to August 2020, with over 200 specifically related to Covid-19, and the NHS a critical area of focus Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Finnish government rolls out digital projects to support SMEs

Finland is set to create network of technology hubs that will support SMEs in the country, as well as create links across the EU Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Government seeks Council of Science and Technology co-chair

Co-chair will be part of the council that advises the prime minister on science and technology policy issues, including sustainable development, innovation and the UK’s research and science capability Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

ICO slashes Marriott breach fine to £18.4m

Reduced fine reflects both improvements made to hotel group’s cyber security and impact of coronavirus on the travel and hospitality sector Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government invests £200,000 to boost Scottish geospatial sector

The new Scottish Geospatial Network Integrator will work on developing opportunities in the geospatial services industry Continue Reading

CCS out to tender for technology services framework worth up to £2bn

Third iteration of Crown Commercial Service’s technology services framework includes technical management, transformation programmes and integration and management Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Amazon posts 'better than expected' Q3 results as Covid-19 pandemic continues to drive sales up

Online retail giant Amazon has enjoyed a bumper third quarter, as demand for its goods and services continues to soar as the pandemic forces people to stay home Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Most further education colleges have skills shortages in IT teams, says Jisc

A report from member organisation Jisc has found that a larger number of further education colleges have a skills shortage in IT teams Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Victims contest technology firms’ attempt to dismiss cobalt mining deaths case

Technology companies say they cannot be held responsible for the deaths of children mining for the cobalt used in their products Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

UK Hydrographic Office launches innovation programme

The programme aims to help startups and innovators use marine geospatial data to develop products and systems to “support safe, secure and thriving oceans” Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Royal Navy and US Navy evolve joint AI and ML work

The teams are working on improving interoperability and interchangeability of technology between the US and UK Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Welcome to the A. List

We recently noticed a feature on the BBC’s website titled The man who taught Uber how to say sorry. After a frantic scan of the article, we learned the name of this man, and can therefore sadly ... Continue Reading

By

• Ryan Priest

NetApp boosts NVMe, QLC and container hybrid cloud offer

Storage giant NetApp unveils new AFF, FAS and E-series arrays with NVMe and QLC flash capability, plus object storage in Ontap and Spot cloud container resource management in Cloud Manager Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Finnish therapy centre accused of covering up cyber attack

Private therapy practice Vastaamo faces questions over its security and business practices in the months leading up to one of the biggest data breaches in Finland’s history Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Privacy and online safety are focus of new UKRI research funding

Online safety research centre of excellence will look into technology to boost privacy and tackle disinformation, fake news, conspiracies and other online harms Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Commvault launches Metallic backup service in Europe

Backup giant adds backup as a service, with cloud-to-cloud backup and e-discovery functionality that can work across on-site datacentres and the AWS and Azure clouds Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Ikea on how Google Cloud has helped it cope with Covid-induced shifts in customer demand

Ikea Retail CDO Barbara Martin Coppola tells us how cloud technologies have helped the company adapt to the rapid changes in consumer behaviour brought about by the pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

ICO slams Experian over ‘invisible’ data processing

Data processing practices used by Experian broke data protection law, says Information Commissioner’s Office Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK ‘impact startups’ see investment surge

‘Impact startups’ continue to raise funding during the pandemic despite difficulties faced by the wider tech startup sector Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Not enough time to get software ready for end of Brexit transition period, warns industry

Software suppliers are concerned they don't have enough time or information to help businesses be ready on time for the end of the Brexit transition period Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Calls for clarity over Amazon insider breach

Security experts call for more clarity from Amazon over an apparent leak of customer data Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Covid crisis proves tech can replace office space and support cost-cutting at Barclays

Bank says it will continue to look at its use of office space as it targets further cost-cutting measures Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

King’s College Hospital launches tech ecosystem project to transform outpatient care

Executive director Jonathan Lofthouse reveals plans to create an ecosystem of tech providers to improve care across the trust Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Sopra Steria hit by new version of Ryuk ransomware

IT services company Sopra Steria says it has contained the ransomware virus, but systems will take a few weeks to be fully operational Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Death of tech startups in pandemic. Bolstering diversity – Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

In this episode of the Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast, Caroline Donnelly, Clare McDonald and Brian McKenna discuss the collapse of UK tech startups in the wake of the pandemic, driving diversity, and SAP’s ‘5 & 5 by 25’ procurement pledge Continue Reading

By

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

Pet project: How Pets at Home cares for customers with data analytics

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to the chief data officer of Pets at Home, about using data analytics to care for customers. British Airways had its GDPR fine reduced to just £20m – we ask what this means for data protection regulation. And we look at GPT3, the language prediction tool that could revolutionise AI. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Policy Exchange calls on government to publish digital ID strategy

The lack of reliable digital ID services in the UK is limiting the country’s digital infrastructure potential, according to a report on digital identity, which also recommends the government to clarify the future of Gov.uk Verify Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Dutch government ‘unambitious’ in digital

The Netherlands has been working at home as much as possible since the outbreak of Covid-19, but its dependence on technology and connectivity does not seem to be reflected by the government’s approach to digitisation Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

Cooperation between Norway’s security agencies planned following cyber attack on parliament

Government seeks to develop enhanced national IT infrastructure with an embedded early warning system and defence shield to protect the IT systems of public and private organisations Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Digital public services fail UK citizens on multiple fronts

Commission for Smart Government publishes paper on obstacles facing the UK’s digital government, setting out principles for digital government initiatives to follow Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Deutsche Bank in talks over sale of IT unit to TCS

German bank is said to be in negotiations to sell its retail banking IT operation to Indian IT giant Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber attack on Hackney Council is ‘morally repugnant’, says mayor

Mayor of Hackney is ‘incredibly angry’ at the cyber criminals behind the attack, which will continue to disrupt key council services for some time Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Nesta launches report on collective intelligence

Report sets out how to combine machine and human intelligence to drive innovation that could solve social challenges Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Unified file and object storage: The best of both worlds?

Unified file and object storage tackles growing volumes of unstructured data in a way that’s compatible with traditional and cloud-era applications, and friendlier to analytics Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard