Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency emerges with tech modernization mission
US Digital Service re-named and told to audit government tech and work on data-sharing
Public Sector21 Jan 2025 | 26
Public Sector
Your Public Sector Pulse: Where Policy Meets Tech Innovation
There’s so much happening at The Register in our coverage of government tech, we've created a dedicated section for the public sector, which offers you a front-row seat to the intersection of governance and technology. From e-governance initiatives and cybersecurity protocols to digital transformation in public services, however fast (or slow) it happens, we bring you analyses, updates, and insights that matter.
China ever-so slightly softens stance on possible US TikTok sale
Updated President Trump allows vid app to keep running for 75 days while he reviews security concerns and develops a policy
Public Sector21 Jan 2025 | 6
Hackers game out infowar against China with the US Navy
Taipei invites infosec bods to come and play on its home turf
Public Sector20 Jan 2025 | 5
How to leave the submarine cable cutters all at sea – go Swedish
Opinion Clear rules and guaranteed consequences concentrate the mind wonderfully. Just ask a Russian
Networks20 Jan 2025 | 35
Ransomware attack forces Brit high school to shut doors
Students have work to complete at home in the meantime
Cyber-crime20 Jan 2025 | 60
Donald Trump proposes US government acquire half of TikTok, which thanks him and restores service
Incoming president promises to allow ongoing operations for 90 days just as made-in-China app started to go dark
Public Sector20 Jan 2025 | 112
CISA: Wow, that election had a lot of foreign trolling. Trump's Homeland Sec pick: And that's none of your concern
Cyber agency too 'far off mission,' says incoming boss Kristi Noem
Public Sector18 Jan 2025 | 72
FCC to telcos: By law you must secure your networks from foreign spies. Get on it
Plus: Uncle Sam is cross with this one Chinese biz over Salt Typhoon mega-snooping
CSO17 Jan 2025 | 28
Biden signs sweeping cybersecurity order, just in time for Trump to gut it
Analysis Ransomware, AI, secure software, digital IDs – there's something for everyone in the presidential directive
Public Sector17 Jan 2025 | 37
Medusa ransomware group claims attack on UK's Gateshead Council
Pastes allegedly stolen documents on leak site with £600K demand
Cyber-crime17 Jan 2025 | 12
Brit government contractor CloudKubed enters administration
Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions supplier in hands of FRP Advisory
Public Sector17 Jan 2025 | 9
GoDaddy slapped with wet lettuce for years of lax security and 'several major breaches'
Watchdog alleged it had no SIEM or MFA, orders rapid adoption of basic infosec tools
CSO15 Jan 2025 | 12
Oh, Deere! FTC sues tractor maker, alleging decades of monopolized repairs
Updated Incoming Trump-picked watchdog boss dissents, calls suit 'hasty' and 'deeply imprudent,' so will it stick?
Public Sector15 Jan 2025 | 35
China's Salt Typhoon spies spotted on US govt networks before telcos, CISA boss says
We are only seeing 'the tip of the iceberg,' Easterly warns
Security15 Jan 2025 | 11
Four plead guilty in US government tech procurement fraud case
Scheme involving bribes, bid rigging and insider info may have cost US taxpayers $1.3M
Public Sector15 Jan 2025 | 7
The bell tolls for TikTok as lifelines to avoid January 19 US ban vanish
Comment SCOTUS unlikely to save it, no time to find a buyer. So, hi, Xiaohongshu!
Personal Tech14 Jan 2025 | 78
FBI wipes Chinese PlugX malware from thousands of Windows PCs in America
Hey, Xi: Zài jiàn!
Cyber-crime14 Jan 2025 | 30
Biden opens federal land to power-hungry AI datacenters
Watt's the problem? Not enough energy to win the arms race?
The Future of the Datacenter - 2025 and Beyond14 Jan 2025 | 6
It's not just Big Tech: The UK's Online Safety Act applies across the board
Analysis That niche forum running for 20 years – get ready, there's work to do
Security14 Jan 2025 | 148
Is it really the plan to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal? It's been a weird week
Opinion Meanwhile, tech titans are falling over themselves to help Trump
Public Sector11 Jan 2025 | 334
Popular
How to leave the submarine cable cutters all at sea – go Swedish
Opinion Clear rules and guaranteed consequences concentrate the mind wonderfully. Just ask a Russian
OpenAI's ChatGPT crawler can be tricked into DDoSing sites, answering your queries
The S in LLM stands for Security
Donald Trump proposes US government acquire half of TikTok, which thanks him and restores service
Incoming president promises to allow ongoing operations for 90 days just as made-in-China app started to go dark
Trump's freshly minted meme coin passes $10B market cap
Crypto critics unhappy as BTC hits all-time high and Melania launches her own currency
Sage Copilot grounded briefly to fix AI misbehavior
'Minor issue' with showing accounting customers 'unrelated business information' required repairs
AWS declares it's Iceberg all the way until customers say otherwise
Cloud giant explains its thinking behind support for Apache open table format
Developers feared large chaps carrying baseball bats could come to kneecap their ... test account?
Who, Me? A whole different kind of 'technical debt' turned into real-world trouble
Datacus extractus: Harry Potter publisher breached without resorting to magic
Infosec in brief PLUS: Allstate sued for allegedly tracking drivers; Dutch DDoS; More fake jobs from Pyongyang; and more
Ransomware attack forces Brit high school to shut doors
Students have work to complete at home in the meantime
Where does Microsoft's NPU obsession leave Nvidia's AI PC ambitions?
Comment While Microsoft pushes AI PC experiences, Nvidia is busy wooing developers
STORIES
Biden said to weigh global limits on AI exports in 11th-hour trade war blitz
updated China faces outright ban while others vie for Uncle Sam's favor
Public Sector09 Jan 2025 | 8
Trump China tariffs to 'overshadow' the 'progress' of AI PCs
Already inflated costs of NPU-based boxes set to jump on import tax
AI + ML09 Jan 2025 | 25
£3.8B later, old tech supplier flames still burning for HMRC
Deal supposed to end in 2017 continues to haunt tax collector procurement
Software09 Jan 2025 | 10
UK government pledges law against sexually explicit deepfakes
Not just making them, but sharing them too
Public Sector09 Jan 2025 | 29
Japanese police claim China ran five-year cyberattack campaign targeting local orgs
‘MirrorFace’ group found ways to run malware in the Windows sandbox, which may be worrying
Security09 Jan 2025 | 6
I tried hard, but didn't fix all of cybersecurity, admits outgoing US National Cyber Director
In colossal surprise, ONCD boss Harry Coker says more work is needed
CSO08 Jan 2025 | 12
Never mind those Chinese spies: US Air Force picks Verizon for 35 base network upgrades
Salt Typhoon? Unpatched network kit? Sorry, I think you're breaking up
Networks08 Jan 2025 | 6
UK digital markets watchdog expects to launch investigations within the month using new powers
Regulator will see a 'participative' approach before imposing fines
Public Sector08 Jan 2025 | 13
US watchdog sticks probe into 2.6M Teslas over so-called Smart Summon crash reports
If it's spelled like an A.S.S, acts like an ass, maybe it's just...
Software08 Jan 2025 | 34
Now Trump's import tariffs could raise the cost of a laptop for Americans by 68%
CES Make America irate again
Personal Tech07 Jan 2025 | 184
Many people are saying a luxury Dubai property developer will blow $20B on US datacenters
A successful real-estate billionaire and Donald Trump walk into a bar...
On-Prem07 Jan 2025 | 3
Tech titans hide in shadows awaiting Trump tariff threats
Being more diplomatic than the politicians makes sense amid fear of upsetting the next US President
Personal Tech03 Jan 2025 | 58
Accenture wins £35M more UK tax work without competition despite promise to 'disaggregate'
System which went live in 2009 cannot be supported by another supplier, tax collector says
Applications03 Jan 2025 | 8
Chinese cyber-spies reportedly targeted sanctions intel in US Treasury raid
OFAC, Office of the Treasury Secretary feared hit in data-snarfing swoop
CSO02 Jan 2025 | 3
FCC net neutrality rules dead again as appeals court sides with Big Telco
No more back-and-forth: Rosenworcel tells Congress the issue needs legislating
Networks02 Jan 2025 | 26
Trump's tariff threats could bump PC prices by almost half
Warning of planned hikes limit forecasts to just 2% shipment growth for US market in 2025
Personal Tech02 Jan 2025 | 79
US Treasury Department outs the blast radius of BeyondTrust's key leak
Data pilfered as miscreants roamed affected workstations
Cyber-crime31 Dec 2024 | 16
What do ransomware and Jesus have in common? A birth month and an unwillingness to die
Feature 35 years since AIDS first borked a PC and we're still no closer to a solution
Cyber-crime24 Dec 2024 | 23
US bipartisan group publishes laundry list of AI policy requests
Chair Jay Obernolte urges Congress to act – whether it will is another matter
AI + ML19 Dec 2024 | 9
US reportedly mulls TP-Link router ban over national security risk
updated It could end up like Huawei -Trump's gonna get ya, get ya, get ya
Security18 Dec 2024 | 55
We told Post Office about system problems at the highest level, Fujitsu tells Horizon Inquiry
State-owned retail company was not subordinate to Japanese multinational in technical matters, legal rep says
Software18 Dec 2024 | 125
Australia moves to drop some cryptography by 2030 – before quantum carves it up
The likes of SHA-256, RSA, ECDSA and ECDH won't be welcome in just five years
Security17 Dec 2024 | 52
Iran-linked crew used custom 'cyberweapon' in US critical infrastructure attacks
IOCONTROL targets IoT and OT devices from a ton of makers, apparently
Research13 Dec 2024 | 15
British Army zaps drones out of the sky with laser trucks
High-energy weapon proves its mettle in testing
Public Sector12 Dec 2024 | 145
Blocking Chinese spies from intercepting calls? There ought to be a law
Sen. Wyden blasts FCC's 'failure' amid Salt Typhoon hacks
Security11 Dec 2024 | 17
US Commerce Dept coughs up $6.1B Christmas present for Micron
Funding to support development of memory vendor's $125B fab expansion in New York and Idaho
Systems11 Dec 2024 | 9
US military grounds entire Osprey tiltrotor fleet over safety concerns
Boeing-Bell V-22 can't outfly its checkered past, it seems
Public Sector10 Dec 2024 | 89
Mystery border control outage causes misery at Malaysia/Singapore frontier
If this were a US scandal, we'd cal it 'Gategate'
On-Prem10 Dec 2024 | 2
How Chinese insiders are stealing data scooped up by President Xi's national surveillance system
Feature 'It's a double-edged sword,' security researchers tell The Reg
Public Sector08 Dec 2024 | 52
Elon Musk tops US political donor list with $270M+ for Team Trump
Plus, xAI scores another $6B to fuel Tesla tycoon's war on OpenAI
Public Sector07 Dec 2024 | 127
Facing sale or ban, TikTok tossed under national security bus by appeals court
Video slinger looks to Supremes for salvation, though anything could happen under Trump
Personal Tech06 Dec 2024 | 43
Europe's largest local authority settles on ERP budget 5x original estimate
Schools taken out of scope, but £108M plan still dwarfs initial £20M
Public Sector06 Dec 2024 | 46
Beijing wants Chinese outfits to seek alternatives to US silicon
And American components may be in short supply as Middle Kingdom bans rare earth exports
Public Sector05 Dec 2024 | 22
NATO tests aquatic drones to protect cables, coastlines
Floating the idea of a robot navy
Networks05 Dec 2024 | 10
Binance accused of tax evasion by India's finance department
Minister reveals 17 crypto players owe $100 million – with Binance the baddest of the bad
Personal Tech04 Dec 2024 | 7
Biden administration bars China from buying HBM chips critical for AI accelerators
Updated 140 Middle Kingdom firms added to US trade blacklist
Storage03 Dec 2024 | 7
Cryptocurrency policy under Trump: Lots of promises, few concrete plans
Analysis Pro-crypto lawmakers are in, but will that translate to action? Doubt it
Public Sector30 Nov 2024 | 64
Fine print in Intel's CHIPS Act deal includes requirement to keep control of its foundries
That will limit Chipzilla's ability to cash in and bail itself out
Public Sector29 Nov 2024 | 18
Australia passes law to keep under-16s off social media – good luck with that, mate
Also intros surveillance tweaks to protect very successful AN0M fake messaging app sting
Legal28 Nov 2024 | 84
T-Mobile US takes a victory lap after stopping cyberattacks: 'Other providers may be seeing different outcomes'
Funny what putting more effort and resources into IT security can do
CSO27 Nov 2024 | 9
Swedish authorities probe Oracle Cerner health record rollout
$190 million project under scrutiny after reported failures
PaaS + IaaS27 Nov 2024 | 11
UK financial regulator slammed for failed tech transformation
Poor software projects among efforts to overhaul FCA that came up short, MPs find
Public Sector27 Nov 2024 | 7
FTC urges smart device makers to disclose software update lifecycles
You need to know in advance when your kit will be bricked or downgraded – it's the law
Public Sector27 Nov 2024 | 23
UK council still hadn't fully costed troubled Oracle project 2 years in
Updated Meanwhile, budget clambered from £2.6M to nearly £40M, says report
Databases26 Nov 2024 | 54
Indonesia tells Apple $100 million investment isn't enough to lift iPhone 16 sale ban
Wants Cook to look under the couch again and find at least another $15 million
Public Sector26 Nov 2024 | 11
Smile! UK cops spend tens of millions on live facial recognition tech
Labour government keen, though critics paint it as a severe threat to privacy
Software25 Nov 2024 | 71
Trump taps border hawk to head DHS. Will Noem's 'enthusiasm' extend to digital domain?
Analysis Meanwhile, CISA chief Jen Easterly will step down prior to inauguration
Public Sector23 Nov 2024 | 43
Why Google's Chrome monopoly won't crack anytime soon
Opinion Haven't we heard this story before?
Columnists23 Nov 2024 | 77
Mega defense corp Thales faces Anglo-French bribery and corruption probe
Authorities remain tight-lipped on specifics
Public Sector22 Nov 2024 | 15
GlobalFoundries nets $1.5B from CHIPS Act despite sanctions violation fine
DoC claims only 4 non-China foundries match GF's scale
On-Prem21 Nov 2024 |
DARPA-backed voting system for soldiers abroad savaged
VotingWorks, developer of the system, disputes critics' claims
Security21 Nov 2024 | 5
Prepare for an AI policy upending under Trump, say experts
Analysis Biden executive orders are as good as dead, and the industry will probably have more say in what comes next
Public Sector21 Nov 2024 | 27
Chinese cyberspies, Musk’s Beijing ties, labelled ‘real risk’ to US security by senator
Meet Liminal Panda, which prowls telecom networks in South Asia and Africa
CSO20 Nov 2024 | 32
Dell settles with Uncle Sam over Army bid-rigging claims
DoJ alleges merely overpriced offers from reseller followed inflated deals from IT giant
Public Sector20 Nov 2024 | 2
China wants mobile devices to limit usage time for minors, ensure they only see nice content
Seeks grand alliance between manufacturers, developers and content providers – all in the name of socialism
Personal Tech20 Nov 2024 | 12
America's drinking water systems have a hard-to-swallow cybersecurity problem
More than 100M rely on gear rife with vulnerabilities, says EPA OIG
Public Sector19 Nov 2024 | 20
Northern Ireland schools ditch £485M Fujitsu deal after less than a year
Updated 'Mutual agreement' sees end of contract
Public Sector19 Nov 2024 | 30
India slaps Meta with five-year ban on sharing info from WhatsApp for ads
Shouldn't have abused messaging dominance, Zuck
Public Sector19 Nov 2024 | 6
Trump's pick to run the FCC has told us what he plans: TikTok ban, space broadband, and Section 230 reform
Loathes Big Tech and is not at all keen on net neutrality
Public Sector19 Nov 2024 | 120
T-Mobile US 'monitoring' China's 'industry-wide attack' amid fresh security breach fears
updated Un-carrier said to be among those hit by Salt Typhoon, including AT&T, Verizon
Networks18 Nov 2024 | 2
UK test-fires Spear mini cruise missile that will equip F-35 fighters
2-way datalink allows in-flight info updates including retargeting and abort
Public Sector18 Nov 2024 | 78
UK tax collector inks £366M in ERP deals to get systems into cloud
SAP and Deloitte winners in transition from legacy software to SaaS, which includes housing and transport ministries
Databases18 Nov 2024 |
EU stings Meta for nearly a billion bucks over competition-trampling Facebook Marketplace
Mark Z does not like this
Personal Tech15 Nov 2024 | 27
Google decides Europe's political ad rules are too hard to implement at scale
Will stop accepting ads instead before TTPA comes into force
Public Sector15 Nov 2024 | 26
Lenovo China clones the ThinkPad X1 Carbon with an old, slow, local x86
Four-core crawler can’t beat current – or ancient – AMDs or Intels
Public Sector15 Nov 2024 | 45
Reminder: China-backed crews compromised 'multiple' US telcos in 'significant cyber espionage campaign'
Updated Feds don't name Salt Typhoon, but describe Beijing band's alleged deeds
Research14 Nov 2024 | 5
All bark, no bite? Musk's DOGE unlikely to have any real power
Comment 'Department of Government Efficiency' expected to do little more than suggest changes, Congress will still decide
Public Sector14 Nov 2024 | 194
Here's how a Trump presidency could change the tech industry
Kettle Anything could happen in the next half ... decade
Public Sector13 Nov 2024 | 123
UK's Darpa clone faces tough test next spring as government considers future funding
With plant platforms and neural circuits on the program, Aria's leadership hope cross-party concensus continues
Public Sector13 Nov 2024 | 11
China's Volt Typhoon crew and its botnet surge back with a vengeance
Ohm, for flux sake
Public Sector13 Nov 2024 | 4
Fujitsu does not trust Post Office in use of Horizon data in future third-party prosecutions
Europe boss also speaks of 'nervousness' in any extension to the use of the controversial, aging system
Software12 Nov 2024 | 66
Canada closes TikTok's offices but leaves using the app a matter of 'personal choice'
Govt order destroys 'hundreds of well-paying local jobs', eh
Personal Tech08 Nov 2024 | 29
Flanked by Palantir and AWS, Anthropic's Claude marches into US defense intelligence
An emotionally manipulable AI in the hands of the Pentagon and CIA? Cool
AI + ML07 Nov 2024 | 4
Want advice from UK government website about tax 'n' stuff? Talk to the chatbot
Need to know how to set up a business? There's an (experimental) AI for that
Public Sector06 Nov 2024 | 31
Meta gives nod to weaponizing Llama – but only for the good guys
Change of mind follows discovery China was playing with it uninvited?
AI + ML06 Nov 2024 | 9
French govt finance panel mulls nationalizing Atos
Protecting IT projects for military and other bits of the public sector
Public Sector05 Nov 2024 | 20
CHIPS Act funding in question as House Speaker waffles on plan to repeal bill
UPDATED Breaking with Trump, Mike Johnson now suggests streamlining regulation out of funding bill
Systems04 Nov 2024 | 20
If Trump gets elected, get your tech buying done asap
60% tariffs on all Chinese goods are going to slam the IT sector
Personal Tech01 Nov 2024 | 255
Uncle Sam lays out plans for $825M EUV R&D site in New York
Given the cost of EUV litho machines, the Netherlands' ASML might be the real winner here
Systems31 Oct 2024 | 22
US Army should ditch tanks for AI drones, says Eric Schmidt
And what do you know, Google's former CEO just so happens to have a commercial solution
AI + ML30 Oct 2024 | 161
Biting the hand that feeds IT
