Why is the UK government prone to IT disasters?
Back in March, at the height of the nationally imposed lockdown, Health Secretary Matt Hancock promised a solution in the form of a coronavirus tracing app that would see us all out of lockdown safely. Although the much-touted NHSX app was said to be at the heart of the strategy to contain the spread of Covid-19, months later, it was ditched due to security concerns, forcing the Government to change tack to work with tech giants Apple and Google on a new app, shifting its strategy to work with human tracers instead.
With measures easing and life now the most 'normal' it has been for quite some time, the newest iteration of the app is still yet to be released. It is clear that even in the midst of an international health crisis, the public sector has defaulted to looking only to big vendors to provide technical solutions -- and to its own detriment.
A quarter of UK office workers use unauthorized devices to work from home
A new study from cybersecurity and data analytics firm, CybSafe shows that one in fours UK office workers are relying on unauthorized personal devices to work from home.
The study of 600 workers also shows that one in 10 share their work devices with others in their household, and that 65 percent of workers have not received any remote working security training in the last 6 months.
UK consumers look for higher broadband speeds
We reported yesterday on how lockdown has impacted broadband speeds around the world, although the UK has been less affected than some, new research from NTT DATA UK shows that connectivity is still an issue for many people.
The survey of 2,000 UK consumers shows that 49 percent have struggled with the speed of their broadband during lockdown and 31 percent have struggled to find reliable mobile phone signals.
Lockdown highlights UK broadband problems
While many people are happily working from home during the pandemic, for others a switch to remote working has thrown the deficiencies of their home internet connections into perspective.
UK comparison site Uswitch has found that people have been performing 44,000 searches per month in the hope of fixing their broadband issues. The top 10 searches are all related to technical issues and two thirds (62 percent) of all searches are related to speed.
Security professionals warn UK government over outdated cybercrime legislation
The UK's Computer Misuse Act came into effect 30 years ago, but security professionals are warning that it is no longer fit for purpose and may even be hindering their efforts.
A coalition of businesses, trade bodies, lawyers and think tanks from across the cybersecurity industry have today taken the unprecedented step of uniting to write a letter to the prime minister urging him to reform the law.
Is Twitter losing the right?
If you've been using Twitter over the past week or so -- especially if you're in the UK -- you may have noticed the hashtag #Twexit trending.
This is being used to signal users' intention to abandon Twitter and decamp to upstart rival Parler. So what’s going on here and why?
UK government invests in security by design
The UK government is announcing that it will provide £10 million ($12.5 million) over four years to develop groundbreaking cyber security technologies.
Nine grant winners have been revealed as the recipients in the government's Digital Security by Design program, which aims to help the tech infrastructure of UK organizations and digital devices be more resilient to cyber attacks.
UK government launches fund to boost smart device security
It's estimated that there could be as many as 75 billion connected devices worldwide by 2025, but the increased popularity of 'smart' equipment comes with risk as many products currently on sale lack basic cybersecurity.
In response to this threat the UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is launching a £400,000 ($490,000) fund for innovators to design schemes to boost the security of internet-connected products.
London insurance market turns to tech to maintain its world-leader status
A survey, by IT services provider NTT DATA, of senior leaders in the London insurance market shows a major appetite for technological change within the industry.
It finds that 70 percent of insurance leaders are looking to invest in robotic process automation (RPA) in the future, while 51 percent are focusing their budget on AI and machine learning, exploring use cases like using AI in underwriting to recognize patterns in large data sets and inform human decision making.
UK SMEs see their future in the cloud
Cloud computing features strongly in the plans of SMEs for the coming year, with 57 percent planning increased adoption, according to a new report.
The study from UK IT services provider OGL Computer shows that 59 percent plan on increasing the use of applications such as Microsoft Office 365, Teams and SharePoint.
Phishing dominates the UK threat landscape
Using analysis of the last three year's worth of data breach information from the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), cyber security awareness platform CybSafe has revealed that phishing breaches have jumped significantly.
In 2019, UK organizations reported more cyber security breaches to the ICO than ever before. A total of 2,376 reports were sent to the public body last year, up from 540 in 2017, and 1,854 reports in 2018.
Will Brexit cause UK tech ambitions to decline?
Throughout the 2010s, the UK has faced a thick fog of uncertainty. The decade has seen four general elections take place, as well as the momentous 2016 EU Referendum; such events have caused even the most experienced business leaders to feel less than confident.
However, the results of the December 2019 general election suggest that stability could be on the horizon. Regardless of one’s political leanings, many will view the Conservative Party’s overwhelming majority as a welcome break in Westminster’s political deadlock. Indeed, we are already seeing breaks in the deadlock, with the Brexit Bill finally being passed through the House of Commons on 9th January 2020. Whilst we now wait for the bill to be passed by the House of Lords, the fact it swiftly made its way through the Commons has already increased the likelihood of the UK leaving the EU by January 31st 2020. Such activities have enabled businesses to plan future activities with greater confidence. However, despite greater certainty, one industry in particular remains concerned about the impact of Brexit on its future growth; the tech industry. So, it is vital that we get to the bottom of its concerns.
Weak passwords leave UK businesses at risk of cyberattack
Millions of people and hundreds of thousands of businesses in the UK are using cracked or weak passwords for their online accounts according to new research.
Cybersecurity and data analytics CybSafe has conducted a blind-analysis of the passwords used by over 21,000 staff at a sample group of 250 UK businesses, and finds that three quarters are employing staff with vulnerable password combinations -- either passwords which are too simple, or which have been compromised in previous data breaches.
Tech startups set to shake the traditional insurance market
The insurance industry has been around for over 300 years, but the rise of small, agile businesses employing new technology like AI is disrupting life for more established players.
A study from IT and consulting firm NTT DATA shows 'insurtech' startups have globally raised more than $11bn in the last three years, more than double previous years.
A quarter of UK smaller businesses don't have an IT disaster plan
Almost one in four of UK SMEs -- around 1.4 million businesses -- don't have an IT disaster recovery plan in place. Yet, 80 percent of businesses who suffered a major incident ended up failing within within 18 months, according to the Association of British Insurers.
A survey of over 1,100 IT workers by technology services provider Probrand also finds 54 percent reveal that their disaster plan isn't regularly tested to identify and fix any potential flaws in their DR process.
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