IT news in your industry sector

TSB Bank digitises banking forms in response to coronavirus lockdown

As part of its 2022 digital strategy, TSB has begun rolling out electronic forms designed in Adobe XD and processed using Adobe Sign Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

UK government seeks innovations to tackle space debris

Organisations developing solutions in space surveillance and tracking will be able to bid for a share of a £1m funding pot Continue Reading

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• Angelica Mari

BCS calls for computer coding in scientific research to be more professional

BCS position paper finds the software coding practices of non-computer-science scientists to be insufficiently professional Continue Reading

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• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Revealed: Surveillance camera network that covered Dominic Cummings’ lockdown travel

A network of automatic number plate recognition and local authority traffic cameras could help police track Downing Street chief of staff Dominic Cummings’ journeys to Durham and Barnard Castle during the Covid-19 lockdown Continue Reading

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• Duncan Campbell , 2QQ Ltd, Sussex University

Subpostmasters crowdfund for justice in IT scandal

Campaign group calls for public support to help potential victims of Post Office Horizon IT scandal Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Hospital uses robots to manage air supply to patients

Northampton General Hospital deploys automation to ensure oxygen is always available as demand increases amid Covid-19 crisis Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

London Data Commission: Sharing data to help support London’s response to Covid-19

London First’s director of connectivity and competitiveness, David Lutton, talks about establishing the London Data Commission, and its contribution to coping with the coronavirus crisis Continue Reading

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• David Lutton

Max Schrems accuses Ireland of ‘Kafkaesque’ delay in Facebook GDPR investigation

Privacy campaigner Max Schrems has urged the European Commission to intervene after the Irish Data Protection Commission allegedly used ‘Kafkaesque’ tactics to delay investigations into Facebook’s compliance with GDPR Continue Reading

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• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

One-third of all bank jobs are now tech-related

The proportion of jobs in banks that are technology-related is growing quickly, accelerated further by the Covid-19 pandemic Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

900 more criminal prosecutions of subpostmasters could be unsafe because of IT failures

Post Office re-examines hundreds of prosecutions that could have resulted from faults in Horizon IT system Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Can Lady Gaga and Madonna get people to take IT security seriously?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, after hackers threatened to release data from a US law firm’s celebrity clients, will people finally take cyber security seriously? Designing software for older users makes systems better for all – we examine how. And the IT chief at TSB explains how the bank recovered from its 2018 IT disaster. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

EasyJet to be sued over customer data breach

If successful, airline’s potential liability for the loss of millions of customer records could be as high as £18bn Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Nordic fintechs urge financial literacy to be taken seriously before it’s too late

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Swedbank to rebuild anti-money laundering systems after damning report

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CW Nordics: Startups face tough decisions as coronavirus hits

Tech startups based in the Nordic region face difficult decisions as the Covid-19 pandemic leads to falling sales and investment. Also read why Swedbank is rebuilding its anti-money laundering systems, and how Nordic fintechs are developing apps to prevent more adults getting into financial difficulty. Continue Reading

Cyber security magnate Kaspersky launches travel accelerator

With travel and tourism devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic, cyber security entrepreneur Eugene Kaspersky is funneling resources into an accelerator to help the beleaguered industry Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Mainframe storage: Three players in a market that’s here to stay

Far from disappearing, the mainframe market and the storage it needs is here to stay for some time. The three key array makers compete with high-end flash-equipped products Continue Reading

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• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Infinidat sees containers and S3 as key to join storage big guns

But that’s not all. The array maker – that brings flash performance with massive amounts of HDD plus cache – plans for NVMe-over-fabric and use of 20TB hard drives too Continue Reading

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• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

UK government spent over £50m on digital response to Covid-19 pandemic

NAO report outlines public spending on responding to the coronavirus crisis, which also includes a £1.2bn hit from delaying controversial IR35 tax reforms Continue Reading

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• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Cheshire deploys digital child health system during lockdown

Commissioning support unit joins up records of children across county into one integrated digital system, despite pandemic challenges Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Facial-recognition suppliers race to identify hidden faces

The number of companies claiming to have developed facial-recognition tools that can identify masked faces has skyrocketed since the start of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Coronavirus: Dutch work on XR technology shows promise in pandemic scenario

Netherlands leads the way in the development of extended reality technology, which could prove its value in a crisis such as Covid-19 Continue Reading

Coronavirus: Pandemic spurs QR code app upgrade at PayPal

PayPal introduces QR code payment functionality to its mobile app to support social distancing Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government eyes virtual reality projects with new funding

Investment increases in competition aimed at fast-tracking development of innovations arising from the coronavirus crisis Continue Reading

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• Angelica Mari

Coronavirus: NHSX enlists military innovation hub for Covid-19 app project

Organisations will work together to gather and share coronavirus symptom data from third-party tracker apps Continue Reading

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• Angelica Mari

Gov. U OK?

These times of ours, you might have heard, are being described as both “strange” and “unprecedented”. There’s also been some talk of a “new normal”, although while for some that means extra-long ... Continue Reading

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• Ryan Priest

Coronavirus: Bahrain sees fintech take-up surge amid Covid-19 crisis

Covid-19 has spurred the use of financial technology in Bahrain, which could boost the industry in the country and wider Gulf region Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Serco exposes contact tracers’ data in email error

Error saw almost 300 coronavirus contact tracers’ email addresses made visible to other recipients of the message Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Portworx to add application profiles to persistent container storage

Kubernetes persistent container storage that runs from inside the cluster will add application storage profiles for applications such as Apache Kafka, Elasticsearch and Postgres Continue Reading

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• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Covid-19 contact-tracing apps under review – The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

In this week’s episode of the Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast, Caroline Donnelly and Brian McKenna are joined by networking editor Joe O’Halloran to discuss the government’s Covid-19 contact-tracing app. They also discuss the design of software for older people Continue Reading

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• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications
• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly
• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Post Office executive who tried to mislead judge in Horizon trial leaves via back door

Angela van den Bogerd leaves position as Post Office director quietly, despite many years of service Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nine million EasyJet customer details lost in data breach

Cyber attack on EasyJet’s systems originated from a highly sophisticated source, says the airline Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Storj app builds QNAP NAS into its Uber-like cloud storage network

QNAP NAS users can use the Storj app to configure spare capacity as part of the Tardigrade S3 cloud, which offers storage at half the cost of the main providers Continue Reading

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• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Sodinokibi cyber criminals plot to ‘auction’ Madonna data

The cyber criminal gang behind a recent attack on a New York law firm is planning to auction off its client data, one person at a time Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Scotland calls on tech companies to help build a digital nation

Trade body launches challenge for tech firms to contribute ideas to create a “critical national digital infrastructure” for Scotland Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

NHS trusts sign up to automation app store

Healthcare trusts extend relationships with automation supplier through access to a cloud-based marketplace of pre-baked automation Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Innovate UK seeks ways to transform aviation with technology

Projects to develop new forms of air transportation can get a share of up to £30m in funding from Innovate UK Continue Reading

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• Angelica Mari

Ocado makes the friendly workplace robot a reality

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how Ocado is making robot-human collaboration a reality with its Armar-6 smart robot. Unified communications has become a must-have lockdown capability – we assess the key technologies. And as contact-tracing apps emerge to help deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, we examine the data privacy challenges. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Privacy advocates demand clarity over Covid-19 datastore

Government and NHS face questions about the involvement of private technology companies with coronavirus datastore Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Flagship digital investment at Abu Dhabi’s Adnoc pays off

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company sees flagship digital project in high demand after proving its value in responding to the Covid-19 crisis Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

NHS Scotland begins contact-tracing tech pilot

Three Scottish health boards are trialling coronavirus contact-tracing software which will be rolled out across the country at the end of this month Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

NHS looks for remote monitoring tech

NHSX is seeking suppliers to help scale up remote monitoring across the health service in England, particularly for Covid-19 patients, and will go out to tender shortly Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

CIO interview: Simon Liste, chief information technology officer, Pension Protection Fund

Experience of delivering digital change in the private sector means the PPF’s IT chief is well positioned to lead transformation in a critical public sector organisation Continue Reading

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• Mark Samuels

HMRC on the hunt for permanent CDIO

New chief digital and information officer will earn at least £200,000 a year and be responsible for a £1bn tech budget Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

Interview: Bev White, chief executive, Harvey Nash

The Harvey Nash executive talks about recruitment during the coronavirus crisis, a new wave of interest in outsourcing, and leadership skills and challenges Continue Reading

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• Angelica Mari

Coronavirus: Digital bank’s valuation falls as it seeks funds to ride Covid-19 storm

Monzo is seeking new investment to help it through the coronavirus pandemic Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Questions raised after UK’s electrical grid shrugs off cyber attack

Attack on Elexon was resolved within hours with no impact on the national electricity supply, but it could have been much worse Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Contact-tracing app tests on the Isle of Wight show that technology is not the solution

The NHSX contact-tracing app has been in live testing on the Isle of Wight for over a week now, and already we can make one important conclusion – a conclusion that was surely self-evident anyway. ... Continue Reading

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• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Royal Berkshire NHS Trust uses AI to speed up stroke treatment

Trust has deployed an artificial intelligence app to help read and interpret scans so that clinicians can treat stroke patients better and more quickly Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

Law firm hackers threaten to release dirt on Trump

A new ransom demand of $42m has been made against New York law firm Grubman, Shire, Meiselas and Sacks, and it may be the largest ever, say security experts Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government pushes towards digital to reignite housing market

Minister calls for more virtual viewings and greater use of online tools for planning as the UK prepares to get its housing and construction sector up and running again Continue Reading

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• Angelica Mari

NHS digital transformation ‘slower than expected’, says NAO

The digital transformation of the NHS has been plagued by insufficient funding, technical challenges and lack of clarity, according to the National Audit Office Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

Harman seeks to bring private member’s bill over contact tracing

Chair of Human Rights Committee aims to put the proposed Contact Tracing (Data Protection) Bill 2020 before parliament as a private member’s bill if necessary Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CW APAC: Trend Watch – business response to coronavirus

With countries the world over reeling from the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, which has meant sweeping changes both economically and socially, Computer Weekly looks at how firms in the Asia-Pacific region have adapted to what has so quickly become the new normal. Continue Reading

Coronavirus: Nearly £2bn of UK fintech investment lost so far

Investment into UK fintechs falls dramatically during Covid-19 pandemic as venture capitalists hold back Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Coronavirus: Asos launches See My Fit to replace model photoshoots

Online fashion brand’s augmented reality technology enables customers to see how an outfit might look on them Continue Reading

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• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Deutsche Bank’s planned tech spend unaffected by global crisis

Deutsche bank is driving on with its ambitious IT investment plans, with the Covid-19 pandemic, if anything, adding fuel to it Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

China targeting Covid-19 researchers through IT suppliers, claims US

The US CISA says it is seeing targeting and attempted network compromise of Covid-19 research centres by China Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Surveillance capitalism in the age of Covid-19

Could the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic further consolidate surveillance capitalist practices and enterprises? Author Shoshana Zuboff warns Computer Weekly it is possible Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Government tells social media companies they must go further to address disinformation

House of Lords committee hears about government collaboration with social media firms to combat pandemic-related disinformation and online harms Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Report reveals inadequate cyber security at Schiphol Airport

A report has revealed problems with critical security systems in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport Continue Reading

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• Kim Loohuis

Google-powered algorithm set to modernise insurance brokering

Algorithm, developed in conjunction with UCL, drives a Lloyd’s of London syndicate electronically Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Coronavirus: Why the public sector must pursue IT transformation

It is clear that the current coronavirus crisis has had a major impact on digital transformation efforts in the public sector Continue Reading

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• Chris Gledhill

Coronavirus: APAC organisations find scalability with cloud

Australia’s NSW Health and Indonesia’s HaloDoc are among a growing crop of Asia-Pacific organisations that are relying on cloud scalability to extend digital services to more users and customers Continue Reading

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• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Draft Covid-19 contact tracing legislation proposes formal oversight

Human Rights Committee chair Harriet Harman has outlined a proposed bill to guarantee the security and privacy of data generated by the UK’s Covid-19 contact tracing app Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

MPs take part in first live test of remote voting during Covid-19 debate

MPs will use phones and computers to vote from their homes in a House of Commons debate today in the biggest change in parliamentary procedure for 150 years Continue Reading

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• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Coronavirus: Retailers reach for tech to keep staff connected in the crisis

From fast-tracking home-working strategy, to conducting training and board meetings virtually, read about how retailers are keeping staff connected during the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

Coronavirus: Nationwide’s human expertise used to quickly build smart agent amid pandemic

Nationwide Building Society is the latest financial services company to quickly automate customer services related to Covid-19 Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Opportunity in times of crisis for Nordic tech startups

Nordic tech startups face some major challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic, but this could be the making of some of them Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Police failing to consult public on new technologies

A freedom of information campaign has revealed that UK police are largely failing to consult the public on their use of new technologies, with the potential to undermine the principle of policing by consent Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Cobots: From Robbie to Armar-6

In science fiction, robots work alongside people. Ocado Technology recently unveiled Armar-6, a robot that takes this concept a step closer to reality Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Smart thinking for modernised IT in the public sector

Far from lagging behind the private sector, many public sector organisations are embracing modern IT practices such as DevOps and agile methodologies Continue Reading

By

• Bola Rotibi

Government launches online portal to arrange coronavirus testing kits for care homes

UK care homes are now able to digitally arrange deliveries of Covid-19 test kits through the launch of an online portal Continue Reading

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• Angelica Mari

Banks failing to protect customers from coronavirus fraud

Just 13 of the 64 banks accredited for the government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme have implemented Dmarc protection Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Will the NHS’s Covid-19 contact-tracing app work?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we get the expert reaction to find out if the NHS contact-tracing app will work. Staying close to clients is crucial through lockdown – we look at the importance of customer experience management. And imagine implementing a digital transformation plan in two weeks – one CIO explains how he did it. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

DWP takes centre stage in future of Gov.uk Verify

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has published its first blog post on Gov.uk Verify since July 2019. Given the dearth of communications about the troubled digital identity system, it tells a ... Continue Reading

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• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Pitney Bowes hit by Maze in second ransomware attack in a year

Shipping services firm falls victim to Maze ransomware just seven months after a previous major attack Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Dell EMC launches PowerStore NVMe container-based storage array

PowerStore controller software is based on container modules for SAN and NAS storage, while the mid-range array is all-NVMe and aimed at performance-hungry use cases such as Splunk Continue Reading

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• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

How Sage scrambled software development team for Job Retention Scheme module

Small team of Sage developers, testers and payroll specialists in race against time to help customers facilitate HMRC’s furlough scheme Continue Reading

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• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Scottish government launches tech sector review

Review, to be led by former Skyscanner COO Mark Logan, will look at how tech sector can help Scotland’s economy recover from Covid-19 Continue Reading

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• Lis Evenstad

IT transformation steps pave the path to new ways to work

The CEO of Difrent discusses how her roles in local and central government have played a role in public sector IT transformation Continue Reading

By

• Rachel Murphy

Five pillars of public sector IT

Finding better ways for people to collaborate and share information digitally is the challenge government needs to embrace. We look at ways in which this can be achieved Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Who will fund Full-fibre roll out after Covid?

The time has come for Ofcom to regulate on price, quality of service (including the resilience required of a critical infrastructure utility) and behaviour and stop trying to predict costs and ... Continue Reading

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• Philip Virgo, Winsafe Ltd

Storage 101: Replication vs backup, and synchronous vs asynchronous

Storage 101: Can replication replace backup? What are the pros and cons of synchronous and asynchronous backup? What’s the best way to mix backup and replication? Continue Reading

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• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

HM Treasury tells GDS: No further online services can use Gov.uk Verify

The recent 18-month reprieve for Verify came with strict conditions – the digital identity scheme must not be added to any more services, and existing users must find alternatives Continue Reading

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• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

App launched to support social care workers through coronavirus

The Care Workforce tool will be rolled out to 1.5 million professionals as a hub for practical guidance and support Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Facebook announces oversight board members

New board will rule on freedom of expression issues and make policy recommendations to social media giant. Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

FBI search warrants reveal Trump aide’s messages to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

FBI search warrants reveal Trump campaigner Roger Stone sent private messages to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after the site published thousands of documents that damaged Hillary Clinton’s election campaign Continue Reading

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• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Digital skills for the future, today

The education sector’s response to the coronavirus crisis demonstrates how digital systems and skills will be essential to the future of learning Continue Reading

By

• Julian David, TechUK

Finland’s postal service targets new revenue streams through digitisation

Posti plans to use the new SisuID digital authentication method to accelerate business growth and opportunities Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

CW Benelux: IT budgets up in the air as Covid-19 disrupts business

Computer Weekly's annual IT priorities survey, which was carried out before the arrival of Covid-19 disrupted business plans, found that more than half of the IT leaders in the Benelux region expected budgets to be higher this year than last, and digital transformation would be the main recipient of budget increases. Also find out in this issue why fintechs are attracted to the Netherlands, and how Estonia emerged from Soviet rule to become a digital nation. Continue Reading

Pure Storage FlashBlade OS v3.0 brings protected snapshots

Pure also adds remote replication and aims at storage use cases for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence workloads in its all-flash NAS and object nodes Continue Reading

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• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

CIO interview: Andrew Lennon, CIO, Barings, on Covid-19, data science and mergers

Forget rogue traders, Barings is still going strong, and the investment bank's CIO is leading the way with data science and other enabling technologies Continue Reading

By

• Sooraj Shah

Criminal justice system is failing cyber crime victims

Victims of cyber crime face barriers to reporting, receiving support and achieving justice, says a Home Office-backed study Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Armar-6 shows how helper robots can work in Ocado warehouses

Collaborative robot is the result of the five-year SecondHands project with academia to develop a robot that can support human workers Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Re-purposing data and questionable effectiveness could undermine trust in NHS contact-tracing app

Experts call for greater clarity over how contact-tracing data will be used, while discussing the limitations of the coronavirus app Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Cash use to go below 5% of total spending in Middle East

Banks expect a rapid reduction of the use of cash in the region Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HMRC tackles almost 300 coronavirus phishing websites

Of 292 websites removed since lockdown began on 23 March, 237 were proactively identified by HMRC and 55 were flagged by the public Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

End-users failing to protect themselves online

Remote workers and stuck-at-home consumers are taking silly risks with their security during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Tech firms risk cashflow issues due to pandemic

Analyst Gartner warns that some tech firms may go bust because of inadequate coronavirus planning, and CIOs will need to reassess IT supplier viability Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor