UK government announces new plans to protect data centers
Data centers powering the UK economy will be designated as Critical National Infrastructure alongside energy and water systems under new government plans.
This is the first Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) designation in almost a decade, since the space and defense sectors gained the same status in 2015.
UK public worried about over reliance on IT following CrowdStrike problems
Following the July 2024 CrowdStrike IT outages, over 78 percent of people in the UK now worry about the heavy reliance of global organizations on IT systems and software providers.
A new survey of 2,000 UK adults by One Poll for Nineteen Group, organizers of the International Cyber Expo shows that 44 percent of respondents were in some way impacted by the outages. 18 percent were affected themselves and 26 percent knew someone who was.
A lack of resources and talent leaves UK SMEs dangerously exposed
In the last few years, we have witnessed some of the most seismic changes to the IT security landscape -- from global pandemics and geopolitical issues to a global energy crisis, growing cybersecurity threats, multiple country elections, and subdued economic conditions. But regardless of stretched IT and cybersecurity budgets, and a significant IT skills shortage, threat actors continue to innovate as cyber threats evolve at breakneck speed. Organizations have no choice but to defend themselves.
Today, cyberattacks are increasingly targeting small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to JumpCloud’s latest Q3 2024 SME IT Trends Report. Forty-four percent of UK SMEs have been victims of cybersecurity attacks. Nearly two-thirds (60 percent) report multiple attacks in 2024. Smaller organizations often lack the manpower of larger corporations, with nearly half (48 percent) of UK survey respondents claiming that despite their best efforts, they lack the resources and staff to secure their organization against cybersecurity threats. This is compounded by a lack of access to skilled cybersecurity professionals, with many SMEs having IT teams consisting of only one or two people.
Switching broadband in the UK is about to get easier
Changing your broadband service provider has always been a hassle. Usually it takes around 10 days, not to mention that you have to put up with phone calls and emails from your old supplier offering you better deals and pleading with you not to go.
For people in the UK, however, things are about to get a whole lot simpler. The One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo) is a non-profit organization that has set up a messaging platform called the TOTSCo Hub.
UK government wants the AI to eat your homework
The UK government has announced the launch of a new scheme that will encourage the building of new generative AI tools to help teachers when they’re planning lessons or marking homework.
This will involve the creation of a 'data store' for education data including the national curriculum, guidance for teachers, lesson plans and more. The £3m ($3.96m) data store will help tech companies build AI tools that teachers can trust to help in their work by making this data machine readable.
Embracing the digital workplace: IT's new role in driving productivity
Britain is plagued by sluggish productivity, with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reporting UK productivity growth as 'anaemic' for the past 15 years. And things are getting worse, not better.
In London -- the country's largest and richest regional economy -- output per hour worked has fallen by 2.7 percent between 2019 and 2022. But what is the root cause of this underwhelming growth?
MSP market turns to providing security solutions
New research suggests that managed service providers (MSPs), which have historically expected to manage IT infrastructure for their customers, are increasingly expected to protect this infrastructure too.
The study from CyberSmart of 250 senior leaders at UK-based MSPs, finds that 65 percent of MSP customers now expect their provider to manage either their cybersecurity infrastructure or both their cybersecurity and IT infrastructure.
Cracked screens, damaged sockets and delinquent dogs -- how Brits damage their tech
As we've become more reliant on tech devices we use them in more places that ever before, which in turn means more opportunities for them to suffer mishaps.
A new report from Secure Data Recovery UK looks at the common ways that people damage or lose their tech and at some of the weirder ones too.
UK tech execs not convinced about return on investment from AI
A new study from IT consultancy Zartis shows that UK tech executives are confident about the level of AI skills within their organizations, but aren't convinced about the return on investment from AI.
The report shows 85 percent rate their existing workforce's combined AI knowledge and expertise as 'skilled' while 51 percent rate it as 'highly skilled'. Despite this confidence, many of these executives have concerns about barriers that might prevent further AI adoption.
Land of hope, glory and e-waste: Brits are set to become the biggest contributors to electronic waste this year, but why?
As technology evolves and becomes more accessible, providing new and exciting ways to make our lives easier, it’s easy to ignore the elephant in the room -- the huge amount of e-waste our appetite for consumption is causing. Ignorance has been bliss, but with research suggesting this year the UK could become the world’s biggest contributor to e-waste per head, transformative action is long overdue.
While our drive to have the latest technology is natural, we need to consider what happens to old devices when we upgrade.
UK companies plan to increase AI spending
According to a new report, UK companies are prioritizing AI, with larger expected budget increases than in the US and Germany, and 90 percent considering AI a critical topic.
The report, from analytics database company Exasol, finds UK organizations expect to prioritize AI implementation through larger data and analytics budget increases over the next two to three years in the retail (+48 percent) and healthcare sectors (+100 percent).
Network security threats increase along with complexity
New research from Daisy Corporate Services in the UK shows that 69 percent of organizations have seen an uptick in network security threats over the last 18 months.
The survey, of 250 UK IT decision-makers, highlights that growing network complexity is making it more difficult and costly for organizations to secure and manage their networks.
Lack of automation leaves businesses open to invoice fraud
New research from Ivalua finds that 31 percent of UK businesses have been the victim of invoice fraud in the past 12 months.
Of these, just 39 percent managed to stop the fraudulent transactions before the money was paid out.
UK tech execs want more government oversight of AI
Research from IT consultancy Zartis shows 72 percent of UK tech executives want more AI regulation, and almost a third (29 percent) want 'a lot more'.
The study, carried out by Censuswide, surveyed 100 senior technology executives in the UK and finds around 80 percent claim global government coordination of AI regulation is important to their company and 41 percent say it’s very important.
Account takeover attacks are among top security concerns
A new study reveals that 60 percent of security leaders in the UK cite account takeover attacks as one of the top four most concerning cyber threats.
The survey from Abnormal Security shows 75 percent of UK survey participants report that their organization has been impacted by an account takeover attack at least once over the past year.
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