IT for government and public sector
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News
14 Jun 2024
Post Office scandal victims in Scotland have convictions quashed
Scotland follows England, Wales and Northern Ireland in exonerating wrongfully convicted subpostmasters en masse Continue Reading
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News
13 Jun 2024
General election 2024: Labour promises to boost digital infrastructure
The Labour Party manifesto for the UK general election promises a new industrial strategy and an overhaul of planning rules to help support the digital and tech sector Continue Reading
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News
25 Nov 2022
Fujitsu put pressure on UK government to sign off troubled Horizon project, public inquiry hears
Telegram from British Embassy in Tokyo to UK government reveals pressure on ministers to sign off controversial contract Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Nov 2022
Indefinite storage: What it is and why you might need it
Indefinite storage addresses the issue that archived data may need to be kept well beyond the lifespan of the technology it was written for Continue Reading
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Opinion
24 Nov 2022
Your staff are the frontline in your ransomware fight
As part of a solid cyber defence plan, the CISO must make sure that the frontline within the organisation is prepared for an attack, says Theodore Wiggins of Airbus Protect Continue Reading
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News
23 Nov 2022
UK police arrest 120 in largest-ever cyber fraud crackdown
The administrator and more than 100 users of the iSpoof.cc cyber fraud website have been arrested in a major counter-fraud operation led by the Metropolitan Police Continue Reading
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News
23 Nov 2022
South Korea data adequacy pact brings £15m Brexit bonus
UK government finalises a data adequacy agreement with South Korea, saying it will unlock a post-Brexit business bonus of just under £15m Continue Reading
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News
23 Nov 2022
Netherlands wants watchdog to reduce bias in artificial intelligence
Dutch government will take swift action to prevent citizens getting into trouble due to the misuse of algorithms Continue Reading
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News
22 Nov 2022
Government launches AI-focused green innovation programme
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy claims the programme will not only help the UK achieve its net-zero goals, but may also help bring down energy costs Continue Reading
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News
22 Nov 2022
Ducktail spins new tales to hijack Facebook Business accounts
The increasingly active Ducktail cyber crime operation is refining its operations, seeking new methods to compromise its victims’ Facebook Business accounts Continue Reading
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News
22 Nov 2022
Killnet DDoS hacktivists target Royal Family and others
Russia-aligned hacktivists targeted multiple UK websites, including those of the Royal Family, in a new campaign of DDoS attacks Continue Reading
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News
22 Nov 2022
Businesses must embrace digital skills and innovate, says CBI president
Brian McBride, president of the Confederation of British Industry, says the UK is a ‘magnet for tech investment’ and calls on UK firms to step up and adapt, as tech adoption will help boost the economy Continue Reading
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News
22 Nov 2022
C-suite mystified by cyber security jargon
Malware, supply chain attack, zero-day, IoC, TTP and Mitre ATT&CK are just some of the everyday terms that security pros use that risk making the world of cyber incomprehensible to outsiders Continue Reading
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News
21 Nov 2022
Genome lab puts Vast Data’s rapid I/O to work on patient data
French government-backed SeqOIA ditched its Lustre-based storage after it reached performance limits and files got corrupted. That got fixed by a Vast Data QLC flash-based array Continue Reading
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News
21 Nov 2022
NHS federated data platform must avoid repeating Care.data mistakes, says national data guardian
UK’s national data guardian agrees with the ambitions of the platform, but warns that the programme must avoid ‘common pitfalls around trust and transparency’ Continue Reading
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News
18 Nov 2022
Is Elon Musk’s Twitter safe, and should you stop using it?
With a litany of security and compliance issues exposed and in many cases caused by Elon Musk’s takeover of social media platform Twitter, some may be asking if it’s still safe or appropriate to use Continue Reading
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News
18 Nov 2022
Post Office scandal inquiry’s expert IT witness ‘troubled’ by his findings
Controversial Post Office Horizon system lacked the integrity required to trust accounting data and contained ‘joke’ coding akin to an ‘overly engineered mousetrap’, inquiry told Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2022
Brexit deregulation will make UK next Silicon Valley, vows Hunt
Chancellor vows to revolutionise how the IT industry is regulated to spur competition, investment and innovation in a technological ‘Big Bang’ Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2022
Another Log4Shell warning after Iranian attack on US government
The breach of a US federal body by an Iranian threat actor exploiting the Adobe Log4j Log4Shell vulnerability has prompted a fresh flurry of patching Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2022
Scottish government to pilot digital identity platform in early 2023
Pilot of Scotland’s digital identity platform will be run in partnership with Disclosure Scotland, using secure sign-on and identity verification Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2022
NHS Digital confirms final settlement of £3.95m with HMRC following conclusion of IR35 investigation
The health service’s digital arm has paid HMRC £3.95m in unpaid tax to cover the cost of its IR35 compliance errors Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2022
HMRC will begin migration from Government Gateway to One Login in summer 2023
One Login for Government programme has the objective of simplifying access to central government, says HMRC chief technology and design officer Continue Reading
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News
16 Nov 2022
Team working on controversial Post Office Horizon EPOSS software was the ‘joke of the building’
Former members of the ICL team developing software for the Post Office Horizon EPOSS system were unqualified and engaged in poor software development practices, public inquiry told Continue Reading
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News
16 Nov 2022
Global network fragmentation a source of increasing risk
Risk consultancy’s report says the weaponisation of cyber space and geopolitical clashes herald a breakdown of global networks into distinct regional or national architectures Continue Reading
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Opinion
16 Nov 2022
Security Think Tank: Ransomware defences: An extended to-do list
Strategies to extend ransomware protection beyond backups and intrusion detection must centre dark web monitoring, among other things Continue Reading
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News
15 Nov 2022
Post Office changed view of Horizon problems before roll-out, because of a ‘sunk cost fallacy’
Insider tells public inquiry that the Post Office continued to roll out the controversial Horizon system despite a ‘considerable’ number of errors, because it was too committed Continue Reading
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News
15 Nov 2022
Commoditisation of NHS tech is a problem, says NHS Digital interim CEO
NHS Digital interim CEO Simon Bolton calls for a stronger mandate from the centre around the systems in use in the NHS, with no more than four to six electronic patient record systems used across the country Continue Reading
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News
15 Nov 2022
APP fraud volumes expected to double by 2026, says report
Losses to authorised push payment fraud in the UK are expected to climb to over $1.5bn in the next four years. Meanwhile, the NAO accuses the Home Office of lagging on progress to tackle the issue Continue Reading
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News
15 Nov 2022
NHS Scotland extends video consultation scheme
The Scottish Near Me video consultation platform can now be used in community settings such as libraries and health and care centres for GP appointments, hospital appointments, care homes, dietetics and mental health support Continue Reading
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News
15 Nov 2022
Inside Singapore’s public sector IT strategy
Adopting a platform approach with products that can scale across the board and building a strong engineering bench are some of the key aspects in Singapore’s public sector IT strategy Continue Reading
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News
15 Nov 2022
Met Police removes nearly two-thirds of people from gangs matrix
Legal action by human rights group Liberty forces Met Police to overhaul its gangs violence matrix database Continue Reading
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News
14 Nov 2022
Sadiq Khan launches Data for London Advisory Board
Board will look at how to join up and share data between public and private London organisations in an effort to build a stronger data economy and improve public services Continue Reading
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Opinion
14 Nov 2022
Security Think Tank: Let’s be transparent about ransomware
Greater transparency regarding ransomware attacks, including details about attack methods used and what kinds of assets were compromised, would likely help the community prevent future attacks Continue Reading
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Opinion
11 Nov 2022
Cyber insurance: The good, the bad and the ugly
Most cyber insurance contracts are innately flawed because they exclude losses arising from state-backed cyber attacks, and this will make proper attribution even more important in the future, says Cisco Talos’ Martin Lee Continue Reading
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News
11 Nov 2022
Volume of self-reported breaches to ICO jumps 30%
The number of self-reported breaches to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office soared by nearly 30% in the 12 months to 30 June 2022 Continue Reading
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Feature
11 Nov 2022
An encouraging new conversation around sustainable IT, says Nordic CIO
What started as a whisper a decade ago has become distinctly audible chatter among IT leaders sharing best practices on how to protect the environment Continue Reading
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News
11 Nov 2022
MoD recruits Immersive Labs to bolster cyber resilience
UK’s Ministry of Defence will run cyber drills and address its security talent gap with Immersive Labs’ CyberPro, Cyber Crisis Simulator and Application Security products Continue Reading
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News
11 Nov 2022
Defra confirms final settlement of £86.5m with HMRC over ‘historic’ IR35 status assessment errors
The conclusion of HMRC’s long-running enquiry into errors made by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when assessing the IR35 status of its contractors has seen it pay a final settlement of £86.5m to the tax collection agency Continue Reading
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Opinion
11 Nov 2022
Security Think Tank: To stop ransomware, preparation is the best medicine
You can’t ‘stop’ ransomware, but you can do a lot to keep yourself from becoming ensnared when it strikes Continue Reading
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News
10 Nov 2022
Scrutinising AI requires holistic, end-to-end system audits
Understanding the full impacts of artificial intelligence requires organisations to conduct end-to-end social and technical audits of their systems, but the process comes with a number of challenges Continue Reading
- 10 Nov 2022
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News
10 Nov 2022
ODI fuel poverty survey shows young adults most hard up
A fuel poverty data report and index from the Open Data Institute shows that young adults and people in multi-occupied accommodation are most at risk Continue Reading
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News
09 Nov 2022
Anything can happen so IT teams need to be ready, says Kyiv City Council CIO
Kyiv City Council’s IT team has experienced challenges faced by no other tech department and is determined to use what it has learnt to take Ukraine forward when the war is over Continue Reading
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News
09 Nov 2022
Microsoft serves smorgasbord of six zero-days
November’s Patch Tuesday fixes significantly fewer vulnerabilities of late, but includes six actively-exploited zero-days, three of them of critical severity Continue Reading
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News
09 Nov 2022
Fujitsu expert witness in subpostmaster trial ‘manoeuvred’ into role, public inquiry told
A former Fujitsu technology expert who defended the Horizon system’s robustness in court was unhappy after being ‘manoeuvred’ into acting as an expert witness, public inquiry hears Continue Reading
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Opinion
09 Nov 2022
Security Think Tank: Anti-ransomware strategies should be as easy as ABC
When developing and implementing ransomware protection strategies, the importance of paying thorough attention to security measures you might consider elementary cannot be understated Continue Reading
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Definition
08 Nov 2022
government to government (G2G)
Government to government (G2G) is a term used to describe interactions between governments, typically at the national level. Continue Reading
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News
08 Nov 2022
Six subpostmaster convictions referred for appeal in Scotland
Six former subpostmasters in Scotland will have appeals against criminal convictions heard after being referred by Scotland’s Criminal Cases Review Commission Continue Reading
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Opinion
07 Nov 2022
How government can capitalise on a revolution in data sharing
Alison Pritchard, deputy national statistician at the Office for National Statistics, says the new government Integrated Data Service enables tackling questions that we don’t yet know we need to answer Continue Reading
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News
07 Nov 2022
UK climate tech startup investment doubles in 2022
Climate technology investment has nearly doubled in the UK over the past year and is growing globally, but questions remain over how to scale capacity and whether the necessary change will occur in time to prevent climate catastrophe Continue Reading
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News
07 Nov 2022
Public sector IT projects need ethical data practices from start
Data ethics needs to be integrated into public sector IT projects from the very start, and considered throughout every stage of the process, to be effective Continue Reading
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News
07 Nov 2022
Department for Education escapes £10m fine over data misuse
Department entrusted data on 28 million children to a company called Trustopia, which turned out to be anything but trustworthy, but has escaped a £10m fine under new rules Continue Reading
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Opinion
07 Nov 2022
Data-driven decision making will fail – and here is why
Marc Warner, CEO at Faculty, contends that corporate organisations need to go through a cycle similar to the development of scientific thought – from divination, via data deluge to theoretical understanding Continue Reading
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Opinion
07 Nov 2022
To fight ransomware, we must treat digital infrastructure as critical
Ransomware defence is failing because we don’t view our digital infrastructure in the same way as our physical infrastructure, argues Elastic’s Mandy Andress Continue Reading
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News
04 Nov 2022
Microsoft: Nation-state cyber attacks became increasingly destructive in 2022
The willingness of nation-state actors to conduct destructive cyber attacks is a source of grave concern, as Microsoft’s latest annual Digital Defence Report lays bare Continue Reading
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News
04 Nov 2022
Crown Hosting Data Centres secures £250m government colocation deal
Cabinet Office joint venture with Ark Data Centres secures a second term providing colocation services to the government Continue Reading
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News
04 Nov 2022
Data Lab bolsters business execs data course in time with Data Summit
Course focuses on the leadership skills needed to design, resource and implement a data strategy that will enable organisational change Continue Reading
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Opinion
04 Nov 2022
Security Think Tank: Ransomware and CISOs’ balancing act
Ransomware has the potential to cause irreversible business damage, so CISOs should consider not only protection but also response and recovery Continue Reading
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News
03 Nov 2022
Microsoft pledges $100m in new IT support for Ukraine
Microsoft will continue to offer free-of-charge technology support to Ukraine for the foreseeable future Continue Reading
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News
03 Nov 2022
All NHS staff should have basic AI training, says report
A report by the NHS AI Lab and Health Education England calls for all health and care staff to receive training in artificial intelligence as the technology will be increasingly adopted in healthcare practice Continue Reading
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News
03 Nov 2022
UK and Japan join forces on digital government
Countries sign memorandum of cooperation to share ideas and strategies on digital government initiatives Continue Reading
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News
02 Nov 2022
Shadow digital secretary outlines Labour’s tech priorities
Labour’s digital and technology plans focus on reining in the power of the tech giants, boosting connectivity across the UK, and improving online safety Continue Reading
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News
02 Nov 2022
UK spent £6.4m on secret cyber package for Ukraine
Westminster has revealed for the first time the existence of a previously top-secret security programme that has been helping Ukraine fend off Russian cyber attacks Continue Reading
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Opinion
02 Nov 2022
Security Think Tank: Know your networks, know your suppliers
To combat the ransomware scourge, we must work harder to monitor and learn from the increasingly complex threat environment, keep a closer eye on supply chains, and share our insights Continue Reading
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News
02 Nov 2022
Game of ‘hardball’ in Horizon negotiations left subpostmasters exposed to tragedy
‘Hardball’ negotiations between the government, the Post Office and ICL meant subpostmasters were ignored and thrown into a tragedy that could have been averted Continue Reading
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News
01 Nov 2022
A third of UK cyber leaders want to quit, report says
Nearly a third of UK security leaders are considering leaving their current role, and more than half are struggling to keep on top of their workload Continue Reading
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News
01 Nov 2022
Scotland’s Data Lab CEO Brian Hills on its ambition to change lives
Brian Hills, chief executive of The Data Lab in Scotland, on why he thinks the organisation’s mission is less about data and more about changing lives by giving people career opportunities Continue Reading
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Feature
31 Oct 2022
AI experts question tech industry’s ethical commitments
The massive proliferation of ethical frameworks for artificial intelligence has done little to change how the technology is developed and deployed, with experts questioning the tech industry’s commitment to making it a positive social force Continue Reading
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News
31 Oct 2022
Prepare today for potentially high-impact OpenSSL bug
OpenSSL trailed a critical vulnerability patch last week, which will be only the second such flaw ever found in the open source encryption project. Unfortunately, the first was Heartbleed Continue Reading
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News
31 Oct 2022
Cyber crime officer says French legal challenges to EncroChat are ‘hype’
Matthieu Audibert, officer of the French Gendarmerie’s cyber space command, gets into a spat with defence lawyers on Twitter over the lawfulness of evidence from the hacked phone network EncroChat Continue Reading
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Opinion
31 Oct 2022
Security Think Tank: Container security: why so different?
Done well, container security can be a model for securing the enterprise, and businesses that focus their teams on solving it can help accelerate positive change in other areas Continue Reading
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News
28 Oct 2022
Post Office warned of Horizon software-induced ‘tragedy’ in 1999
Problems experienced during live trials of the Post Office Horizon system predicted the ‘tragedy’ that unfolded Continue Reading
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Podcast
28 Oct 2022
Top 50 women in UK tech, IR35 Truss fiasco – Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast
The team reflects on the announcement of the Most Influential Women in UK Technology 2022, the IR35 reforms being scrapped, then not, and Dreamforce & Oracle Cloud World in the US Continue Reading
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Opinion
28 Oct 2022
How has container security changed since 2020, and have we taken it too far?
While containers are now one of the most popular ways to deploy applications, it is fair to say that the adoption and implementation of security best practice to govern their use has not kept up Continue Reading
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News
27 Oct 2022
NCSC’s Levy steps down after 20-year intelligence career
NCSC technical director Ian Levy bids farewell, telling his successor: ‘Don’t panic’ Continue Reading
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News
27 Oct 2022
NHS to get new national CISO
The Department for Health and Social Care is seeking a new national CISO, who will be tasked with providing strategic cyber leadership, direction and expertise across DHSC and the wider NHS Continue Reading
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News
27 Oct 2022
Horizon system EPOSS code writers lacked basic programming skills, public inquiry hears
Horizon system code writers lacked basic programming skills, according to the task force set up to investigate reported problems with the controversial software Continue Reading
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News
27 Oct 2022
LinkedIn adds new features to safeguard user privacy, security
Social media platform is adding a number of features and systems designed to protect legitimate users from inauthentic profiles and activity Continue Reading
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News
26 Oct 2022
Reported Horizon errors should have been ‘show-stopper’, public inquiry told
Subpostmasters should have been given the benefit of the doubt over unexplained losses, but were hounded to pay money back, with lives ruined and innocent people prosecuted Continue Reading
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Opinion
26 Oct 2022
The Conservatives are laughing at cyber security pros
If causing a security breach is a resigning matter, then you shouldn’t expect to get your old job back a week later. Unless you’re a Conservative home secretary, apparently Continue Reading
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News
26 Oct 2022
Australia budget closes in on digital divide, cyber resilience
Australia’s latest budget is geared towards providing better broadband connectivity in regional and rural areas, shoring up the cyber security posture of its businesses and plugging tech talent shortages, among other areas Continue Reading
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News
26 Oct 2022
UKCloud in liquidation: Troubled public sector cloud provider hit with winding up order
Public sector sovereign cloud provider served with winding-up order nine months after an acquisition that was intended to address a £30m funding shortfall at the firm Continue Reading
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News
25 Oct 2022
Apple patches new iPhone zero-day
Apple’s latest patch fixes yet another zero-day, as security issues keep surfacing in its mobile products Continue Reading
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News
25 Oct 2022
UK needs stronger regional innovation clusters outside South East
Venture capital fund managers speak to Computer Weekly about the importance of innovation clusters to the UK tech ecosystem, and the need to develop further investment opportunities outside the South East Continue Reading
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News
25 Oct 2022
Germany: European Court of Justice asked to rule on legality of hacked EncroChat phone evidence
Berlin’s Regional Court has asked the European Court of Justice to answer questions about whether the use of hacked EncroChat phone evidence complies with European law Continue Reading
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News
24 Oct 2022
Government speeds up NHS Digital and NHS England merger
NHS bodies will now merge in early January 2023, aiming to create a single statutory body for NHS data and technology Continue Reading
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News
24 Oct 2022
Half of staff might quit after a cyber attack, report says
Findings from a survey of CISOs, IT leaders and staffers reveal how experiencing a cyber incident may take a larger-than-thought toll on employee retention Continue Reading
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News
21 Oct 2022
Ukrainian and UK IT sectors to deepen collaboration, partnerships
BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, and the IT Ukraine Association have signed an MoU to deepen collaboration between the UK and Ukrainian IT sectors, and champion new partnerships and growth opportunities Continue Reading
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News
21 Oct 2022
Did Truss authorise ‘war risk’ provocation over Black Sea?
A UK Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joint spy plane was ordered to approach Russian territory in a Cold-War-style provocation just days after Liz Truss’s mini-budget collapsed Continue Reading
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Feature
20 Oct 2022
What do the US’s new software security rules mean for UK organisations?
The White House announced recently that all software supplied to the US government and its agencies needs to be secure, so what does this mean for the UK and EU security sectors? Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2022
Manchester to launch digital strategy
Four-year strategy to focus on smarter use of technology and data to make Manchester a sustainable and resilient city Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2022
Parliamentary committee launches inquiry into AI governance
MPs will examine the impacts of artificial intelligence throughout the UK economy and how governance of the technology can be improved ahead of the government publishing its formal regulatory proposals Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2022
Cyber professional shortfall hits 3.4 million
Shortage of cyber security professionals continues to grow and shows no signs of abating, says report Continue Reading
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News
19 Oct 2022
Greenland investigates potential blockchain-based election system
Researchers have been funded to investigate blockchain-based online voting in Greenland Continue Reading
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News
19 Oct 2022
Treat cyber crime as a ‘strategic threat’, UK businesses told
The government’s new National Cyber Advisory Board aims to help elevate cyber discussion and spur action in the business community Continue Reading
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News
18 Oct 2022
MoD must have clear delivery plan for digital strategy, says NAO
While the Digital Strategy for Defence seems to be going well, the National Audit Office is concerned there is no overarching plan to implement it, or a clear way of measuring whether it is on track Continue Reading
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News
18 Oct 2022
Government introduces Electronic Trade Documents Bill
Digital trade documents will be legally recognised as part of plans to reduce paper documents and speed up processing times Continue Reading
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News
18 Oct 2022
Subpostmaster federation failed its members when they needed it most
A dereliction of duty saw subpostmaster federation ignore its members when IT problems hit and allowed the Post Office destroy their lives Continue Reading
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E-Zine
18 Oct 2022
How Russia hacked a former MI6 spy chief
In this week’s Computer Weekly, Russian hackers leaked emails and documents from British government, military, and intelligence officials – we examine the implications. New EU laws will govern online safety and the use of AI, but what do they mean for organisations? And we look at the growth in checkout-free shopping. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
17 Oct 2022
IR35 reforms repeal scrapped: Government labelled ‘spineless’ over u-turn
The contracting community has not taken kindly to the news that the government is rowing back its plans to repeal the IR35 reforms in the private and public sectors Continue Reading
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News
17 Oct 2022
Government u-turns on plans to scrap IR35 reforms in public and private sector from April 2023
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirms that the planned repeal of the IR35 reforms in the public and private sector is cancelled Continue Reading
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News
17 Oct 2022
Biden ramps up China chip sanctions
The war of words between China and the US has ramifications across the high-tech sector. We report on the latest developments Continue Reading
