Sunday 31 July 2016

DWP director Kevin Cunnington set to take over as new head of Government Digital Service

Kevin Cunnington, currently director general for business transformation at DWP, is taking over as the new head of the Government Digital Service

Saturday 30 July 2016

CIO interview: Gary Steen, chief technology officer, TalkTalk

TalkTalk has overhauled security since its controversial data breach in 2015, according to CTO Gary Steen, and is investing in technology to beat its rivals on customer service

Researcher uncovers UK government threat to privacy

Despite concerns about the draft Investigatory Powers Bill, a legal researcher has highlighted that existing legislation is a much bigger threat to privacy than most UK citizens realise

Friday 29 July 2016

Six essential processes for keeping data secure

Data security is increasingly vital for organisations as the countdown begins for compliance with new rules imposed by the EU’s general data protection regulation

Consumer identity management is the core of real CRM

IAM + CRM is much more than simply IAM for external users, says Ivan Niccolai

Nordic CIO interview: Vesa Erolainen, Pöyry

Doubts were raised when Vesa Erolainen, CIO at Finnish engineering and consulting company Pöyry, outlined his IT transformation plan, but he ended up winning an award for it

German digital bank Fidor acquired by French banking giant

Fidor CEO says merger with BPCE will allow challenger to continue its international expansion

Universities give free cloud services to UK medical researchers

The Universities of Bath, Birmingham, Cardiff, Swansea and Warwick are giving researchers free access to cloud-based compute resources to speed up scientific discovery process

A quarter of UK developers are self-taught

As the skills gap leaves firms scrambling for tech talent, self-taught developers are taking advantage of the need for skilled workers

Mobile and video pay off for Google’s parent company Alphabet

Alphabet ascribes strong second quarter financial results to long-term investments in mobile and video as demand for advertising through these channels increases

Windows Mobile shrinks as Microsoft prioritises productivity and platforms

Microsoft prepares to axe 2,850 jobs as it culls smartphone business and majors on productivity and platforms

AWS vs Google vs Microsoft: How the enterprise cloud war is hotting up

With Amazon, Google and Microsoft all reporting strong growth on the back of cloud, we take a closer look at how they have achieved it

Amazon rides high on sales growth, especially in cloud services

Amazon's share price climbed 2% on news of strong second-quarter sales growth boosted by a 58% year-on-year rise in sales of cloud services

Thursday 28 July 2016

Facebook’s revenue rockets on strong growth

Facebook has reported a 186% year-on-year increase in second-quarter profits driven by a 63% rise in advertising revenue boosted by demand for video ads

UK’s top security judges struggle to assess privacy threats

Technological advancements make it difficult for the Investigatory Powers Tribunal to assess privacy threats, say the tribunal’s own judges

Interview: Google cloud chief Diane Greene talks enterprise strategy and taking on AWS

Computer Weekly talks to Google cloud chief Diane Greene about how it intends to win over the enterprise market and give AWS a run for its money

Using a #hashtag to take diversity awareness global

Recruiter Structur3dpeople utilises the power of social media to spread the word about women in the technology industry

Smartphone sales boost Samsung’s second quarter

Samsung has reported a 27% rise in operating profit for its mobile division in the second quarter, driven by strong demand for Galaxy smartphones, which the company expects to continue

Al Murooj Rotana increases guest satisfaction with updated Wi-Fi network

Dubai-based Rotana Hotels sees guest satisfaction rates rise on back of 802.11ac wireless roll-out at its Al Murooj Rotana property

BT sales increase 35% in 2016 Q2 with EE and broadband boosts

BT Group reported a 35% increase in revenue as it benefits from its EE acquisition and a large share of the broadband market

Most cloud applications not GDPR-ready, report reveals

Just 2% of more than 15,000 enterprise cloud application analysed are GDPR-ready, according to a cloud risk report

MI5 accused of compromising security court

Judges at the UK's most secret court were persuaded not to disclose the existence of secret intrusive data on the population after briefings and lunch with MI5's deputy director general

Almost 60% of millennials search for jobs through company websites

Research by Monster finds the younger generation react strongly to what they find on an employer’s website when looking for work

Revealed: The battle for GDS – how Whitehall mandarins are trying to carve up digital strategy

Insiders say senior civil servants want to break up the Government Digital Service and return IT to its previous departmental model

Oracle buys NetSuite, but vows to respect independence

Oracle has agreed to buy NetSuite but the acquired company will retain autonomy says Oracle

Wednesday 27 July 2016

UK government paves way for Amazon Prime Air trials

Amazon is working with regulator CAA to enable trials of Amazon’s Prime Air drone to take off in the UK

Business unprepared for future ransomware, says Cisco report

Next wave of ransomware expected to be more pervasive, resilient and capable of spreading quickly and effectively throughout networks by capitalising on vulnerabilities

Gov.uk Notify notifications system starts to be used for live digital services

Status updates system is latest part of the government-as-a-platform strategy from the Government Digital Service

Apple highlights services revenue and future bets as iPhone sales decline

Apple share price up on strong performance in services and investments in augmented reality and artificial intelligence, despite 27% year-on-year decline in quarterly profit

UK firms miss out on lucrative data science exploitation

The Economist Intelligence Unit finds UK companies struggling to cash in on data exploitation, in a SAS-sponsored research study

European scientific community seeks support for €5.3m hybrid cloud build

Research organisations from across Europe want to build a hybrid cloud platform to support their HPC and big data projects

Warwickshire and West Mercia police select Saab to update shared control room

Warwickshire and West Mercia combine emergency and contact centre systems using Saab Group’s Safe unified control room system

Broadband providers urge UK firms to have their say on Ofcom’s BT-Openreach proposals

Nationwide campaign seeks to enable UK businesses to make their views known as regulator considers the future of BT-Openreach

Privacy Shield good to go for at least a year, say EU regulators

Transatlantic data transfer framework approved, but will need more fine-tuning in the first joint review in a year’s time

Accenture to move HMRC tax system to private cloud

HMRC has awarded Accenture a contract that will run until 2020 to digitise the UK tax system

Tuesday 26 July 2016

Women in IT 2016: Panel session – recruiting a diverse workforce

In this video Sinead Bunting from Monster, Heather Picov from Apps for Good, Emma Chalwin of Salesforce and Melinda Roylett from PayPal discuss how to recruit diverse talent in the IT industry.

Yahoo confirms nearly $5bn sale deal with Verizon

Verizon Communications to boost its advertising business by acquiring Yahoo's client database in a $4.83bn deal

Australia’s security software spending sees growth spurt

Australian enterprises are increasingly investing in security software as the threats to data continue to multiply

Skills shortage and poor IT infrastructure hinder tech adoption by Asean governments

EIU report highlights governments’ desire for better use of data, including cloud access

Government tests use of social media accounts for verifying online user identity

Online public service users may be asked to allow access to their Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter accounts to help prove they are who they say they are

O2 denies data breach

Cyber criminals have accessed some O2 customer accounts to steal personal details and offer them for sale, but O2 says it was not breached and password re-use is to blame

Ofcom and BT set out separate plans to increase Openreach independence

BT Group’s plans to give Openreach greater independence share some common ground with Ofcom’s recommendations, but will this be enough to ease its rivals’ anti-competitive concerns?

Monday 25 July 2016

Industrial digitalisation

We explore how back-office IT is being applied to industrial machines

Estonia seeks UK datacentre to protect citizens' personal data from hackers - report

The Baltic state is reportedly in early stage talks with the UK and Luxembourg governments about setting up a backup site in either country to protect citizens’ data from risk of hackers

BT says it's "absolutely willing" to create independent board to run Openreach

BT Group chairman Michael Rake says the organisation is willing to let an independent board oversee Openreach’s spending and strategy decisions

Saturday 23 July 2016

Women in IT 2016: Panel session – what young women want from IT careers

In this video Sophie Deen of Bright Little Labs, Annabel Sunnucks from CA Technologies, and Elissa Morris from the Isle of Man Department of Economic Development, discussed their journey into the IT industry.

Tech firms tackle IoT security with management protocol

A group of tech firms have joined forces to develop a management protocol for IoT devices that could pave the way to an open, interoperable standard to address security and privacy risks

Insurance firm frees itself from legacy shackles

Insurance intermediary is moving its IT infrastructure into the cloud in a 12-month project that also sees it update its end-user computing technologies

Benelux CIO interview: Paul Elich, CIO at KLM

Paul Elich, CIO at Dutch airline KLM, tells Computer Weekly about building innovation into IT departments and the ongoing de-duplication of internal systems since its merger with Air France

SAP Q2 2016: cloud revenue edges forward, 3,700 S/4 Hana customers

Second-quarter results show 3% growth in cloud revenue to reach 14% of the €5.2bn revenue total, as operating profit jumps 10%

What CIOs should know about the Brexit

CIOs should start talking with other executives and their teams and beginning planning now for potential changes

How Salesforce is encouraging people into coding

Trailhead initiative is targeting people of diverse ages and backgrounds to take up coding

Carbon Black bets on next-generation antivirus

Carbon Black is betting on next-generation antivirus technology by acquiring Confer to extend the capability and appeal of its endpoint protection offerings

Friday 22 July 2016

MasterCard acquires VocaLink from UK banks

Acquisition of payment systems company for £700m could increase innovation in the UK payments sector

Gartner offers insights into how cloud is disrupting traditional IT spending habits

Market watcher shines a light on how the adoption of off-premise technologies is shaking up enterprise IT spending trends

Security industry welcomes cyber crime’s inclusion in official stats

The security industry welcomes the inclusion of cyber crime statistic in official crime reports to highlight the size and nature of the threat

Banking via websites in decline as mobile apps take over

The use of mobile apps to bank is growing fast and fewer people use the internet to handle their financial affairs

Facebook completes first flight of UK internet drone

Facebook has completed the first test flight in a year-long programme for its UK-developed Aquila drone designed to enable internet connections in remote areas, using high-speed laser communications

UK government needs 2,800 extra digital staff to deliver current plans

Head of the National Audit Office highlights risks from a 'digital capability' gap across Whitehall

Privacy Shield gets green light – for now

Privacy Shield faces inevitable legal challenges, so organisations should prepare by considering legal and practical alternatives

Jihadists’ digital tools revealed

A report by dark web intelligence firm Flashpoint reveals how jihadist groups use common security and other tools to hide their digital communications from national security forces

Thursday 21 July 2016

Aster Group to implement ServiceNow

Housing developer to use cloud-based service across multiple business functions following succesful implementation for IT service desk

DWP blames policy changes for a further shift in Universal Credit rollout

A Public Accounts Committee hearing coincided with news that the DWP is delaying the rollout of Universal Credit

BBC+ app tailors content to individuals

Users of BBC app can shape their experience based on the content they want to consume

Reinventing Bahrain’s Kanoo Group through digital technology

Kanoo Group IT director explains the company's IT transformation, including why implementing Office 365 across the business was his biggest career challenge

Intel’s cloud and IoT-focused businesses deliver disappointing growth

Intel says its transformation to focus on cloud and IoT is on track, but these key business areas fail to deliver as much growth as expected

BT broadband users hit by second UK-wide outage in two days

Power supply issues at Docklands datacentre could be behind loss of internet access for more than 5,500 BT broadband users

Brexit offers chance for UK to become a ‘data haven’

Could the UK become a a safe place for both cloud and big data after it leaves the EU?

Mobile payments get Isaca’s security approval

Mobile contactless payments enable three key security controls that make them more secure than physical and e-commerce payments, according to a report by Isaca

Almost half of UK's largest councils lack cloud strategy, Eduserv FOI study reveals

Eduserv study into cloud take-up inside local authorities suggests council CIOs are still over-invested in on-premise technology

Wednesday 20 July 2016

Australian prime minister appoints new tech leads

Malcolm Turnbull has made key tech appointments following his narrow victory in the Australian election

Women in IT 2016: Dr Pirita Paajanen, Erlham Institute

In this video, Pirita Paajanen from the Erlham Institute discusses diversity in the bioinformatics space.

Women in IT 2016: Lisa Neale, BT Openreach

In this video Lisa Neale from BT Openreach discusses role of industry leaders in encouraging people into tech.

Women in IT 2016: Diana Kennedy, BP

In this video Diana Kennedy from BP, talks about BP’s collaboration with Everywoman to promote science, technology, engineering and maths careers for girls.

Women in IT 2016: Toby Mildon, BBC

In this video, Toby Mildon from the BBC, talks about the difference between diversity awareness and inclusion practices.

Home Office merges IT units

The Home Office is merging its IT units to create Home Office Digital, Data and Technology and has appointed CTO Sarah Wilkinson to lead it

Mobile data freebies spark controversy in Sweden

Telia’s offer of data freebies to customers has brought criticism from some that believe it breaches net neutrality rules

Tech is trendy now but hasn’t always been, says Techmums founder

Sue Black thinks the technology industry is gradually becoming more accessible, but the journey is still slow

Microsoft reports strong quarter driven by cloud

Microsoft reports quarterly profits of $3.12bn, largely driven by the success of its focus on cloud services

Williams F1 teams up with Thales cyber security

Williams Group seals technical partnership to protect its confidential high-value data in the competitive world of F1 racing

BT broadband users hit by UK-wide outage

Telecommunications giant incurs the wrath of BT broadband users after thousands struggle to get online, following power outage at third-party datacentre provider

Tuesday 19 July 2016

BT accused of under-investing in Openreach, prompting renewed calls for business split

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee calls for operation and investment overhaul for Openreach, and claims failure to deliver on this should prompt Ofcom to order breakaway from BT

Nominet Trust launches £500,000 fund for digital inclusion programme

Nominet Trust and the Baring Foundation launch a fund for tech innovations designed to engage older people in creative arts

The Green Grid rolls out datacentre efficiency metric to clampdown on PUE misuse

Datacentre efficiency consortium The Green Grid plans to introduce a metric to drive up the accuracy of facility performance measurements during downtime and normal operating conditions

Private data should only be kept for ‘serious crime’, says European Court

European Court of Justice opinion lays down the limits of data retention following legal challenge brought by two UK MPs, and David Davis withdraws his name from legal action after assuming a post in Theresa May’s cabinet

DDoS attack size up 73% from 2015

Distributed denial of service attacks continue to be popular with attackers, increasing in size, complexity and frequency in the first half of 2016, according to the latest global report by Arbor Networks

Monday 18 July 2016

British Gas launches women in tech network

Energy services provider announces the launch of its women in tech network to provide a community for female tech employees

Manage expenses to boost the bottom line

Expense management is one area of business where the application of IT can bring about double-digit cost reductions

MPs call on government to address Brexit risks to digital economy

Digital skills, tech startups and the UK’s digital economy success stories have all been put at risk by the decision to leave the EU, says a committee of MPs

Digital transformation gives CIOs chance to be agents of change

Whether it’s the IoT, cloud, mobility, big data or analytics, there is always something new to grapple with. At Cisco Live in Las Vegas attendees found out how to keep up

O2 boss Ronan Dunne steps down

Telefónica UK CEO Ronan Dunne is to leave the business in August, and will be replaced with current CFO Mark Evans

Chef bangs the drum for greater diversity in DevOps teams

More diversity in DevOps teams could expand the total addressable market for the products and services they create, says Chef

Collaboration is essential in dispelling “deeply ingrained” gender career stereotypes

O2’s HR director Ann Pickering urges collaboration between government, schools and business to break down tech industry barriers

What does Brexit mean for the digital economy?

It has become increasingly clear that there is no plan beyond the Brexit, so what do we do now, asks Chi Onwurah, the shadow minister for business

Oracle targets cloud sales at Asia Pacific’s mid-sized firms

Software giant aims to hire 1,000 professionals to drive mid-market growth in Apac region

Japanese tech firm to acquire UK chipmaker ARM

Japanese technology firm SoftBank Group is to acquire Cambridge-based ARM Holdings to capitalise on the UK firm's IP in chipsets for smartphones and IoT devices

Prime minister Theresa May shakes up responsibility for digital policy in ministerial reshuffle

Former Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock replaces Ed Vaizey as digital economy minister in the highest-profile change among digital roles

French public sector’s never-ending struggle with the cloud

The French government has more hurdles to overcome than many of its European neighbours when it comes to adopting cloud computing services

Most ransomware gangs open to negotiation, says F-Secure

Businesses can take several precautions to avoid being victims of ransomware, but if all else fails, they should negotiate with their attackers, according to a report by F-Secure

Friday 15 July 2016

Nordic CIO interview: Roland Grunéus, Intrum Justitia

Roland Grunéus, the CIO of Swedish-founded Intrum Justitia, reveals the credit management services group’s efforts to make better use of data

Challenger bank Starling gets UK banking licence

Starling Bank, which will offer smartphone-based current accounts, has been given a UK banking licence

Trio of English universities pilot data analytics course

Cranfield University, the University of Central Lancashire and the University of Leeds trial one-day course with support from Tableau

Internet of things increases demand for tech skills

Demand for employees with tech skills such as data visualisation is on the rise as internet of things adoption becomes more widespread

US jails Chinese businessman in military hacking case

Two years after his arrest in Canada for cyber spying on US military aircraft, a Chinese businessman has been jailed by a US court for nearly four years

Internet of things accounts for a quarter of IT budgets, claims Vodafone

The latest edition of Vodafone’s annual Internet of Things Barometer suggests that the IoT commands as much attention as cloud or data analytics

Chef CTO urges action to prevent DevOps staff burnout

Chef CTO Adam Jacob has called on enterprises to cultivate a supportive working culture to protect DevOps staff from burnout

Australia’s new government under pressure to hit broadband targets

Newly elected conservative coalition government will see Australia’s National Broadband Network plan become a higher priority

Netherlands needs ‘bottom up’ approach to create smart cities

Dutch municipalities see the need to make their cities smarter, but often lack the necessary knowledge and do not know where to begin

Tech industry welcomes Microsoft victory in data access case

Tech firms, civil liberties groups and trade bodies welcome what could be a landmark ruling by a US court in protecting the privacy of cloud services

Elizabeth Denham to start as UK information commissioner on 18 July 2016

Canadian Elizabeth Denham is to begin work as the UK’s information commissioner after a three-week delay

Thursday 14 July 2016

Investigatory Powers Bill: rushed through under cover of Brexit

The government should delay the Investigatory Powers Bill to allow time for proper scrutiny following the political chaos that has engulfed Britain after the Brexit vote

IT professionals urged to dial-down tech talk to win CIO approval for DevOps projects

Chef CEO Barry Crist claims senior management are not interested in the tech side of DevOps, so IT professionals should lead on the business benefits

DevOps a black hole for security

Venafi extends its security platform to help security teams support DevOps in using secure TLS keys and certificates quickly and easily

CIO Interview: Graeme Hackland, Williams Martini Racing

Williams Martini Racing CIO Graeme Hackland discusses network infrastructure, data analytics and the future for wearable tech and augmented reality in Formula 1 motor racing

Biometrics on payments devices safe, say three-quarters of consumers

Most consumers think biometric authentication is the best way to secure payments via mobile devices, Visa survey finds

EC gives Google six-week extension in Android case

The European Commission has delayed Google’s fine for anti-competitive practices by six weeks to give the company more time to review Android charges

DevOps skills shortages hit enterprise digital transformation efforts

Enterprises face challenges when recruiting and retaining experienced DevOps practitioners as demand for agile experts soars

UK business unlikely to dodge EU cyber security rules post-Brexit

The UK’s Brexit vote has thrown many businesses into uncertainty and doubt about whether they will have comply with the cyber security rules coming out of the EU

Tesla won’t shut off autopilot after second accident

Elon Musk doubles down on autonomous vehicle technology as more questions are raised over the public beta of Tesla’s autopilot feature

Cyber attacks cost UK business more than £34bn a year, study shows

Nearly half of UK firms lack advanced cyber defences, despite the high level of concern about cyber attacks and associated costs

Siem fastest growing security market segment, reveals Gartner

IBM was the only top security supplier to show growth in 2015, bouyed by the rapid growth in the Siem market, says Gartner

Wednesday 13 July 2016

Was that it? Business as usual for fintechs after Brexit vote

Following the Brext vote, Fintech Times editor Bird Lovegod describes how financial services IT startups are getting on with business as usual

How can telcos respond to the strategic questions they face?

Traditional telcos are under tremendous pressure to reinvent themselves to remain competitive and relevant. BDO’s Christian Goetz looks at the options

Skills gap leaves firms at risk from cyber attacks

A technology security skills shortage is leaving firms at increasing risk of cyber security attacks

Hyper-converged infrastructure product survey: The big names

In the concluding part of a two-part survey, Computer Weekly looks at the offerings of the big players – Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu, HPE, VMware – in the hyper-converged infrastructure market

Gulf-based Rotana Hotels centralises IT security

Hotel group implements centralised security management to proactively protect endpoints and achieve accurate security information

Singapore bank moves closer to the cloud with Office 365 adoption

DBS says Microsoft productivity tools will help its staff become more responsive to customer needs

IBM sets up security centre in Canberra

IBM leads the charge as large private businesses invest heavily in security resources across Australia in an attempt to close the security gap

Panera transforms digital infrastructure with Cisco

At Cisco Live in Las Vegas, Blaine Hurst from café chain Panera explained how he transformed the company’s infrastructure based on Cisco and Apple devices

Cubic Transportation licenses TfL’s contactless payment system

Cubic Transportation plans to use London's payments system to develop contactless solutions for transport around the world

Business lacks certainty despite official adoption of EU-US Privacy Shield

The European Commission has adopted the EU-US Privacy Shield framework, but businesses still lack clarity and assurance on transatlantic personal data transfers

UK retail banks could get Google-like legacy IT replacement

Former Google engineers apply their experience to solving the huge handicap that core legacy systems place on the banking industry

ISP calls on Theresa May to eject Ed Vaizey from broadband role

Wholesale internet service provider Entanet calls on Theresa May to replace digital economy minister Ed Vaizey at the helm of the UK’s broadband roll-out

Tuesday 12 July 2016

Outdated IT limits retail gains from customer data

Legacy IT systems are making it more difficult for retailers to collect and use customer data to improve services

Microsoft unveils cloud platform to power business apps

AppSource exposes Microsoft Graph data from Office 365 and Dynamics 365 to create business insights

Government to reform rules of the road for autonomous cars

The UK government has proposed amendments to insurance legislation and the Highway Code as it seeks to drive the development of autonomous vehicle technology

Visa’s Dubai innovation centre to focus on digital payments

Visa has opened a technology innovation centre in Dubai to focus on cashless payments

Cisco wants to be the foundation for digital transformation

At Cisco Live in Las Vegas, CEO Chuck Robbins sets out his vision for the future and moves to position the supplier at the heart of enterprise digitisation

UK cloud firm majors on Tintri hybrid flash for virtualisation

Wokingham-based We Are Cloud rejects EMC and hyper-converged options as it deploys Tintri VM-native hybrid flash storage to support rollout of cloud services

Standard Chartered takes global delivery network to next level

Bank to invest $3bn in global delivery network, with particular focus on scaling up Malaysian centre

Cyber security must top UK agenda, say leading scientists

Royal Society report calls for greater sharing of breach and threat information, and more support for research and international collaboration

Private equity pushes Mitel out of Polycom deal

Merger called off after private equity group Siris Capital offered more money for the video-conferencing services supplier

Inforum 2016: Travis Perkins commits to Infor for cloud transformation

Construction industry company Travis Perkins strikes a deal with Infor to use its CloudSuite enterprise software to build better customer relationships and improve employee productivity

Google boasts of security as Pokémon Go invades Google accounts

Google claims it is notifying customers of the 4,000 state-sponsored cyber attacks a month amid security concerns about Pokémon Go, developed by Google spinoff Niantic

Monday 11 July 2016

Datadog calls for password reset after cyber breach

Monitoring and analytics firm detected unauthorised activity associated with production servers and database of user credentials

Broadband certification attracts business tenants to Old Street offices

Property developer Derwent London pre-lets over 100,000 sq ft of office space after securing highest level of broadband connectivity accreditation from rating body WiredScore

Make fictional expense claims a thing of the past

Some executives think that travel and entertainment (T&E) expense claims are a licence to practise their creative fiction skills

Saturday 9 July 2016

Security industry largely welcomes NCA cyber crime report

Most information security professionals support the National Crime Agency's call for help from businesses in pursuing cyber criminals

Women in IT 2016: Harriet Green, IBM

In this video, Harriet Green from IBM discusses how introducing diversity in an organisation will increase innovation across a business.

Amazon.com CTO cautions enterprises against underestimating value of test and development

Speaking at the AWS Summit in London, Amazon.com CTO hits out at legacy suppliers and urges enterprises to get experimental to protect themselves against competitive threats

Pure Storage drips out more of its all-flash analytics FlashBlade

Pure lets more customers use its flash-based analytics platform FlashBlade, before the product aimed at high-throughput unstructured data is made generally available later in 2016

A tale of two Israeli technology incubators

Computer Weekly looks at two very different technology incubators in Israel

Brexit: AWS reinforces commitment to UK datacentre builds

Cloud services giant claims outcome of EU referendum vote has no bearing on its willingness to invest in the UK or Europe

The challenges facing social tech and what will tackle them

As part of the Cast launch event, government, corporate and social tech representatives discussed some of the challenges facing social tech and how we can grow tech for good initiatives

Women in IT 2016: Elaine Baker, BAE Systems

In this video, Elaine Baker from BAE Systems talks about the responsibility companies should have over ensuring they are promoting a diverse workforce.

Wendy’s hackers used third-party credentials to steal credit card data

Wendy's fast-food chain has confirmed hackers used third party credentials to plant malware to steal credit card details and reveals that three times as many stores were affected than initially thought

Anglian Water picks Arqiva to run smartmeter network

Network supplier Arqiva is to build a fixed network in Newmarket to showcase a trial smartmeter project

EU-US Privacy Shield wins EU backing to proceed

The US data-transfer agreement wins the backing of the European Union, paving the way for it to come into force

Irish data challenge could cost businesses billions, claims Facebook

Facebook and Irish business groups say a legal challege to Standard Contractual Clauses, used to permit data transfers between Europe and the UK, could cut 1% from Europe's GDP if it succeeds

Amazon launches bursary to encourage women to study tech

During the AWS Summit in London, Amazon held an invite-only session to showcase its UK research and development

Government announces technical education overhaul

Skills minister Nick Boles has announced an overhaul of the delivery of technical education in the UK, including introducing new courses and a focus on creating skilled workers

Vodafone launches mobile scheme for community hubs

Vodafone’s Community Indoor Sure Signal scheme builds on its Rural Open Sure Signal programme to provide indoor mobile coverage in community hubs

Friday 8 July 2016

Datacentre cooling upgrades: Helping operators decide where best to invest

Upgrading a datacentre cooling system is an expensive undertaking, but should operators stick with what they've always done or try something new?

McLaren-Honda rebuilds network platform on NTT foundations

McLaren-Honda Formula 1 team embarks on three-year technology partnership with NTT Communications

Cisco UK and Ireland CEO Phil Smith steps down after 22 years

Phil Smith announces he is stepping down from the day-to-day running of Cisco’s UK and Ireland business to take up the role of chairman

Thursday 7 July 2016

Business has critical role in fighting cyber crime, says report

The National Crime Agency is calling for a stronger collaboration between business and law enforcement to fight cyber crime in the light of a report produced with private sector partners

The problem of passwords and how to deal with it

Security experts have long recognised passwords as inadequate, but finally technology is offering some viable alternative authentication methods that businesses can explore to keep their data safe

Saudi Telecom Company leads nation’s transformation agenda

Saudi Telecom Company and its technology partners support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s drive into digital public services

Wednesday 6 July 2016

Is Singapore ready for a Paym-style platform?

City state is considering developing a payments system similar to the UK’s Paym, which allows people to send money using just a mobile number

Public sector data sharing to transform service delivery, says government

The government sets out to transform how data is shared across public sector bodies as part of a commitment to improve public services

Lufthansa IT services arm transforms to meet customer demands

IT supplier Lufthansa Systems is changing its business model as its airline customers invest in digital technologies

HummingBad Android malware highlights worrying trend, say researchers

Security researchers uncover a cyber crime operating model that provides financial self-sufficiency, which they fear will enable larger and more sophisticated campaigns in the future

Case study: Inside JP Morgan's Glasgow developer centre

JP Morgan chief development officer Stephen Flaherty heads a team of developers in Glasgow, one of the bank's strategic hubs

IDC predicts slowdown in public cloud infrastructure spend will be short-lived

IDC claims prospect of overseas datacentre builds and growing enterprise demand for off-premise services should ensure sales of IT infrastructure increase through 2016

UK's Darktrace aims to lead the way to automatic cyber security

Darktrace hopes to be a leader in the move to automated cyber security to free up security professionals to focus on business risk and innovation

Iceland tops list of low-risk datacentre locations

Europe nabs six out of the top 10 spots in Cushman & Wakefield's list of low-risk locations to build or buy up datacentre capacity

Openreach starts duct and pole sharing trials for broadband delivery

Openreach enlists five broadband services providers to take part in a trial of processes for sharing access to its duct and pole infrastructure

Tuesday 5 July 2016

CityFibre and Gigaclear partner to close rural broadband gap

Backhaul supplier and ultrafast ISP form strategic partnership to boost broadband speeds in rural areas

What do Asean region cities want from tech startups?

Malaysia and Singapore seek to connect UK tech startups to their smart city plans

Thailand’s TMB Bank modernises IT through the cloud

Bank used a move to Office 365 as a starting point for its transformation into a cloud-first organisation

Australian tech startups mourn loss of political voice after election

Australian tech startup community loses a strong political voice as innovation minister loses seat in general election

CW@50: The story of the internet, and how it changed the world

Computer Weekly’s journey through 50 years of innovation in technology continues with a look back at the history of the internet and the huge changes it has brought to society

Industrialised cyber crime disrupting business, report reveals

A majority of businesses do not comprehend the methods and motivations of cyber attackers or fully understand the scale of the threat, a BT-KPMG report reveals

More than 2,000 police data breaches in 4.5 years, report reveals

Big Brother Watch calls for new policies to ensure police forces keep personal data safe after FOI requests show an average of 10 data breaches a week

Nordic CIO interview: Tore Burheim, University of Bergen

IT director of Norwegian university tells Computer Weekly about digitising education and creating co-operative clusters

Overcoming the scale-up challenge of enterprise DevOps adoption

CIOs and IT leaders share their advice on what enterprises can do to accelerate the spread of DevOps within their organisations

Virtual reality finds fans at Reading University

Professors at Reading University see virtual reality as an increasingly important research and teaching tool in science and arts subjects

Digital Economy Bill enshrines right to broadband into UK law

Legislation introduced to parliament will place the right to broadband into law alongside measures to improve data sharing and online protection

Monday 4 July 2016

Evolving Glasgow’s Future City

It has been two years since Glasgow was awarded £24m under the Future City demonstrator programme. We find out how it has evolved

Huge uptick in Zepto ransomware spam, warn researchers

Security researchers have raised concerns that attackers are gearing up for a massive Locky-related ransomware campaign

Facilities firm ISS picks IBM Watson IoT to manage client sites

Danish outsourcing and services firm signs new deal with IBM to use Watson’s internet of things capabilities to better manage its clients’ properties

European omni-channels: Hype or reality?

Organisations in Europe are adapting to demands for omni-channel services from consumers across the continent

Security Think Tank: Use biometric security at the right time and place

How can organisations move to biometric authentication of users without running the risk of exposing sensitive biometric information?

A second US man pleads guilty to hacking celebrity accounts

A second US hacker faces five years in jail after a guilty plea for hacking into celebrity accounts and stealing private images that were leaked online in 2014

Sunday 3 July 2016

Brexit: Information security professionals not too concerned

Brexit will present some cyber security challenges – but it will be largely business as usual, say information security professionals

Brexit: CIO strategy following currency and market turmoil

Industry watchers expect the sterling’s position to remain weak against the US dollar, prompting speculation that US IT suppliers may increase prices

Security Think Tank: Proceed with caution on biometric authentication

How can organisations move to biometric authentication of users without running the risk of exposing sensitive biometric information?

Facebook data case raises US national security issues

Dublin court case on the legality of Facebook’s data transfers to the US raises issues that affect US national security, claims US Department of Justice

Saturday 2 July 2016

The strange case of the UK’s missing information commissioner

The post of information commissioner for the UK remains vacant, with new appointee, Elizabeth Denham, still in Canada awaiting a Crown warrant of appointment

SMEs move into cyber criminals’ crosshairs

The consequences of data breaches for small businesses are greater than ever, with data protection law becoming tougher just as SMEs are turning into a top target for cyber attackers

Lloyds Banking Group wields axe to IT staff

Lloyds Banking Group announces it is cutting IT jobs as part of a cost-cutting plan, which also sees 23 branches close

UK top for mobile broadband speed, says Akamai

Akamai’s latest State of the Internet report says the average mobile broadband user in the UK can expect to get a service speed close to 30Mbps

Brexit: Cloud community mulls over implications for data protection regulation reform

TechUK fears Brexit could see the UK lose its power to influence cloud regulations, while others say it could free the market from having to toe the EU line so closely

Five retail-based startups head for 2016 Jlab incubator

Five of the 23 startups that pitched for a place on John Lewis’s 2016 startup programme will be spending the summer in the retailer’s Jlab accelerator

Friday 1 July 2016

Most influential woman in UK IT 2016: Maggie Philbin speech

Maggie Philbin, discusses how many people accidentally find themselves in technology careers and the importance of embracing tech talent.

HPE wins $3bn in damages from Oracle

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has won $3bn in damages after a five-year legal battle with Oracle over its decision to stop supporting its database on Itanium-based servers

First fatality for self-drive cars as Tesla driver killed in crash

US authorities have launched an investigation after the driver of a Tesla Model S was killed in what is believed to be the first fatality involving an self-drive vehicle

Security Think Tank: Biometrics have key role in multi-factor security

How can organisations move to biometric authentication of users without running the risk of exposing sensitive biometric information?

China-based Android Trojan netting $500,000 a day

Security researchers say fast-spreading Hummer Android malware could be netting cyber criminals around $500,000 a day for installing porn and other apps on mobile phones

The Services Family bank outsources IT to Sopra Steria

The Services Family, a bank set up to serve military personnel, has outsourced technology services to Sopra Steria

Brexit: Datacentre investments set to slow as economic stability concerns hit CIOs

As the economic uncertainty around Brexit continues, CIOs may put new datacentre investments on hiatus, warns analyst

Tech Talent Charter finalises launch as part of London Technology Week

Technology company “collective”, the Tech Talent Charter launches to tackle lack of diversity in the tech sector

Single market and skills top TechUK's post-Brexit action plan

The tech industry group TechUK has set out a five-point plan, urging government to work with the IT sector in a post-Brexit UK

Most cyber security strategies ignore the way attackers really work

Cyber attackers use more legitimate software than malware, which means most organisations are incapable of detecting much of the malicious activity in their networks, a report reveals