Discovering Great Ideas
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Home News Did government allow 15-21 JUNE 2021 Post Office to sack forensic accountants to cover up scandal? How Discovery Inc spots great ideas How Rightmove is moving ahead with digital transformation Editor’s comment Discovering Buyer’s guide to managing great ideas paper processes How GCHQ proposes to implement and use ethical AI Will the incoming How collaborative software National Security and helped the owner of the Investment Act dampen datacentre growth? Discovery Channel create a culture of innovation Downtime WAGNER_MD/ADOBE COMPUTERWEEKLY.COM COMPUTERWEEKLY.COM 15-21 JUNE 2021 1 NEWS IN BRIEF Home News EU privacy chief investigates NHS Digital delays data use of US cloud services collection plans until September Did government allow The European Union’s (EU’s) NHS Digital has postponed its Post Office to sack forensic accountants privacy watchdog has opened two proposed collection of GP data for to cover up scandal? investigations into the use of US-based two months, to allow more time for cloud services by European public the public to understand the process How Discovery Inc sector organisations to see whether and opt out if wanted. The delay to spots great ideas they are protecting citizens’ personal the controversial and highly criticised data effectively. The European Data programme was announced by Jo How Rightmove is moving ahead with Protection Supervisor will look at the Churchill, minister for public health, digital transformation use of cloud services provided by primary care and prevention. “Patient Amazon Web Services and Microsoft data is owned by the patient and we NITO/ADOBE Editor’s comment across the bloc’s public sector bodies are determined to take people with and agencies under Cloud II contracts. us on this journey,” she said. We Open Tech supports Buyer’s guide to managing non-binary and paper processes Triggered dormant bug sees BEIS confirms rogue umbrellas Fastly CDN cut to the quick will be covered in clampdown trans security pros How GCHQ proposes Content delivery network (CDN) The Department for Business, A cyber community designed for people to implement and use ethical AI provider Fastly boasts that some of Energy and Industrial Strategy of marginalised genders, including the world’s leading companies count (BEIS) has clarified that its plans to non-binary people, trans and cis women, Will the incoming on its services, but those businesses create a single enforcement body and trans men, has been set up to support National Security and were left reeling last week by an tasked with protecting workers from the careers of security professionals Investment Act dampen datacentre growth? internet outage caused by a hitherto rogue employers and workplace and aspiring future cyber talent of undiscovered software bug. These malpractice will provide support systematically oppressed genders. The Downtime included the sites of a number of for umbrella company contractors. We Open Tech initiative aims to provide the world’s leading firms, such as It plans to create a “powerful” mentoring, professional development, Amazon, Reddit, The Guardian and watchdog that will see HMRC career opportunities and support. the UK government’s Gov.uk website. tackle workers’ rights violations. ❯Catch up with the latest IT news online. COMPUTERWEEKLY.COM 15-21 JUNE 2021 2 NEWS IN BRIEF Home News Oracle and CCS renew Google plots a course to memorandum of understanding address AI in manufacturing Ministry of Defence Did government allow Oracle and the UK government’s A survey conducted by Harris Poll Post Office to sack launches digital strategy forensic accountants Crown Commercial Service (CCS) on behalf of Google Cloud found the to cover up scandal? have renewed a memorandum of pandemic was driving up adoption of The Ministry of Defence has launched understanding such that the supplier artificial intelligence (AI). The global a 10-year digital strategy, focusing How Discovery Inc will facilitate access to its cloud survey of 1,154 senior manufacturing on creating a digital backbone and spots great ideas infrastructure as well as its suite of executives found that 66% of enabling the department to exploit data cloud-delivered applications. manufacturers used AI on a daily basis. and innovation. The strategy includes How Rightmove is moving ahead with plans to establish a “digital foundry”, digital transformation QTS Realty Trust acquired NCSC updates ransomware a federated ecosystem of digital in $10bn datacentre deal guidance for schools amid surge innovators and developers. Editor’s comment Datacentre operator QTS Realty Trust A renewed surge in ransomware has been sold to investment firm attacks against schools, colleges Buyer’s guide Blackstone in a deal valued at about and universities across the UK has to managing paper processes $10bn. Blackstone said it would provide prompted the National Cyber Security resources and consistent access to Centre (NCSC) to update existing MARTIN/ADOBE How GCHQ proposes capital to support the growth of QTS. security guidance offered to the sector. to implement and use ethical AI BT claims £2m in savings Unit 42 warns of emergent Will the incoming with Qlik data analytics Prometheus ransomware National Security and BT has secured £2m in cost savings A ransomware operation called Investment Act dampen datacentre growth? by putting Qlik data analytics in the Prometheus is making waves among ❯ Lack of communication over NHS GPDPR ‘astonishing’. hands of 1,200 BT Consumer workers. organisations in the government, ❯ Microsoft fixes seven zero-days for Patch Tuesday. Downtime The telecoms supplier said it had been financial services and manufacturing, ❯ EC launches digital identity framework. relying on Excel for data analysis, and has claimed victims on a global ❯ Klarna takes on credit card providers with app feature. using just 5% of the data from its basis, according to research by Palo 30 million customers. Alto Networks’ Unit 42 team. n ❯Catch up with the latest IT news online. COMPUTERWEEKLY.COM 15-21 JUNE 2021 3 ANALYSIS Home News Did government allow Post Office to sack Did government allow Post Office to sack forensic accountants forensic accountants to cover up scandal? to cover up scandal? How Discovery Inc Whatever the Post Office told the government about its decision to sack investigators examining subpostmaster spots great ideas prosecutions for theft could identify whether the government was part of a cover-up. Karl Flinders reports How Rightmove is moving ahead with digital transformation lawyer has questioned the government’s role in It is described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK modern attempts to cover up the Post Office scandal, which saw history and it ruined the lives of hundreds of families. Editor’s comment Asubpostmasters’ lives destroyed after they were wrongly A multimillion-pound High Court group litigation, brought by blamed and punished for branch account shortfalls. 555 former subpostmasters against the Post Office, found in Buyer’s guide Barrister Paul Marshall of Cornerstone Barristers, who December 2019 that the subpostmasters were right in their claims to managing paper processes represented subpostmasters appealing against wrongful that the computer system contained errors that could cause the convictions, said what the Post Office told the government about losses. Since December 2020, 47 former subpostmasters have How GCHQ proposes its decision to sack investigators examining subpostmaster had their criminal prosecutions, which were based on evidence to implement and use ethical AI prosecutions would shed light on its role in delaying justice. from the Horizon system, overturned and hundreds more are The Post Office scandal saw hundreds of subpostmasters expected to appeal. Will the incoming prosecuted for financial crimes due to unexplained accounting But the truth could have been found much earlier. In 2012, as National Security and shortfalls caused by errors in the Horizon retail and accounting part of an external review triggered by pressure from MPs, forensic Investment Act dampen datacentre growth? computer system used in branches. accountancy company Second Sight was hired by the Post Office A total of 736 subpostmasters were convicted of financial crimes to look into allegations that errors in the Horizon system were Downtime such as theft over a 15-year period after the Horizon system was causing unexplained shortfalls. introduced in 2000. Some were sent to prison or served non- Over a three-year period, Second Sight investigated about 140 custodial sentences, while others who were not prosecuted had individual cases of subpostmasters who had suffered unexplained to make up cash shortfalls, leading to bankruptcy for many. losses. It examined thousands of documents and created a COMPUTERWEEKLY.COM 15-21 JUNE 2021 4 How much did the government know about the Post Office’s decision to sack Second Sight? ANALYSIS Home News Did government allow Post Office to sack forensic accountants to cover up scandal? How Discovery Inc spots great ideas How Rightmove is MISTERVLAD/ADOBE moving ahead with digital transformation Editor’s comment structured, evidential database of more than 34,000 individual saved millions of pounds in legal costs to taxpayers and former documents. It identified 19 thematic issues that were common to subpostmasters, who would have been vindicated years earlier. Buyer’s guide many of the cases and cross-referenced each case to others with In a webinar discussing the legal ramifications of the Horizon to managing paper processes similar characteristics. scandal, Marshall raised the question of what the government Second Sight said the Post Office had not properly investigated knew about the Post Office’s decision to sack Second Sight. How GCHQ proposes the causes of the shortfalls and had ruled out Horizon errors from The Post Office is wholly owned by the government. It falls to implement and use ethical AI the start. It also said there was inadequate evidence to prosecute within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial subpostmasters for theft. Strategy (BEIS) and a government representative sits on its board.