OpenUK, the not-for-profit organisation representing the UK’s Open Technology sector, announced an open source Challenge in partnership with the United Nations’ Office of Information and Communications Technology (UN-OICT) around its Data Centre Blueprint known as “Patchwork Kilt.”
Participants in the challenge will contribute open source solutions that help create a carbon-negative data centre model.
The challenge brings together a broader community for contributions to Patchwork Kilt.
Participants will have the opportunity to make contributions through an array of different fields developing carbon neutral solutions for data centres. These areas include:
Heat redirection: Develop an open source software solution to monitor and redirect heat produced in data centres.
Building repurposing: Participants will create an open source tool to better re-evaluate urban spaces, finding brownfield sites that can be re-used for data centres.
Heat reuse: A statistical analysis of open datasets to identify areas to repurpose waste – heat.
Circular supply chain: Build an open source software solution that manages the lifecycle of critical data centre components.
Blueprint evolution: Analyse the data from Patchwork Kilt for insights into how to supercharge global sustainability efforts.
Community empowerment: Providing communities with actionable insights from data centres that can be used to build more sustainable cities.
The winning Challenge contributor will be invited to celebrate their success with the presentation of a trophy at OpenUK’s Awards Ceremony and dinner at the House of Lords in November.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience attending the black tie event, a highlight of the global Open Technology calendar and receiving recognition from the sector.
Christ Lloyd-Jones, OpenUK’s chief Blueprint officer who is leading on the Project, said: “Achieving a sustainable future that benefits everyone is dependent on collaborative action – and this is why we started the Blueprint Challenge.
“Our collaboration creates a Challenge as a way to open up this initiative to wider contributions and a broader community, allowing new technologies to be included. It’s a critical initiative that can have a tangible impact on the future of data centres.”
Salem Avan, director – policy, strategy and governance division at the UN, said: “Advances in computing power and Artificial Intelligence are generating major technological advances that have the potential to support progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In this context, Open source is key as it is a universal connector, uniting diverse voices through a common language.
“I’m therefore excited to announce the October Open Source Challenge for Data Centre blueprint as a collaborative effort between OpenUK and the UN-OICT. The significance of open source in data centres cannot be overstated; it fuels innovation, transparency, and cost-efficiency. By harnessing open source technology to efficiently run data centres, we not only reduce our environmental footprint but also contribute to global sustainable development efforts.”
Amanda Brock, chief executive officer at Open UK, said: “Our UN collaboration has been a great support over the last two years. Yet as with any COP initiative, we must deliver on our promises, working towards long-term impacts through Open Technology and its community.
“To maximise its longevity, our Blueprint will keep updating in line with technological progress. We are in discussions with prospective partners to usher in its next phase, so all contributions have the potential to have a real, continuous impact on building a carbon-negative data centre model.”
Contributions can be made to the challenges via the UN Unity Platform from 1 October with further information found on the OpenUK website.
MP Richard Lochhead is travelling to a Los Angeles Summit to declare the nation’s bid, using figures of Scotland’s space success and current and future investment plans to bolster the sector and launch Scotland into a new era of space innovation.
Figures from 2019-2020 suggest that only one fifth of UK space sector jobs are in Scotland totalling to 8,400, but the Scottish government is aiming to more than double this figure, creating 20,000 jobs in the sector by 2030.
This is all in alignment with Scotland’s aspirations to become “Europe’s leading space nation,” with a focus on sustainability and increasing US investment.
The conference, the Space Economy Summit, is set to run on 11 October in LA and is sponsored by The Economist.
Lochhead is set to outline how Scotland is contributing to exploration, innovation, and economic growth of the sector to guests including international industry experts, investors, and governments.
By sharing Scotland’s current work and future goals, delegates can learn more about the latest developments in the space industry, and in turn, Scotland can maximise the economic benefits of the sector and analyse how space technology can help tackle climate change.
During his visit, Lochhead will meet with ABL Space Systems, the company developing the rocket due to power the UK’s Pathfinder space launch from SaxaVord in Shetland. He is also set to meet with Universal Hydrogen, a company developing and using innovative solutions to decarbonise air travel.
Lochhead said: “We are on the cusp of something new. Technology built in Scotland will be launched from Scottish soil and the data will be used by Scottish companies to problem solve for the benefit of humankind – this is full end-to-end space capability.”
Scotland is looking to attract more investment for its space sector as it preps for to propel the UK’s first successful commercial launch.
“Scotland has always been a leader in innovation, and we continue to excel as we lead the world in small satellite manufacturing,” Lochhead said.
Lochhead is set to highlight Scotland’s Space Sustainability Roadmap in a bid to promote Scotland as leading the way in sustainable space exploration, and highlighting how space technology and exploration can be used to study and fight climate change.
The minister will also target more US investment, highlighting successful funding from Spire Global and Mangata Networks.
“As we advance at a rate of knots towards our aim of becoming Europe’s leading space nation by 2030, I look forward to discussing opportunities within the sector and Scotland in particular,” Lochhead said.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a preliminary enforcement notice to Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, over potential failure to properly assess the privacy risks posed by its generative AI chatbot known as ‘My AI.’
Snap launched the ‘My AI’ feature for UK Snapchat+ – a premium Snapchat subscription – users in February 2023, with a roll out to its wider Snapchat user base in the UK in April 2023.
The chatbot feature, powered by OpenAI’s GPT technology, marked the first example of generative AI embedded into a major messaging platform in the UK. As of May 2023, Snapchat had 21 million monthly active users in the UK.
The ICO’s investigation initially found the risk assessment Snap conducted before it launched the AI feature did not adequately assess the data protection risks posed by the generative AI technology, particularly to children.
The assessment of data protection risk is of particular concern in this context as it involves the use of innovative technology and the processing of personal data of 13 to 17 year old children, and potentially even younger children.
“The provisional findings of our investigation suggest a worrying failure by Snap to adequately identify and assess the privacy risks to children and other users before launching ‘My AI’,” information commissioner John Edwards said.
“We have been clear that organisations must consider the risks associated with AI, alongside the benefits. Today’s preliminary enforcement notice shows we will take action in order to protect UK consumers’ privacy rights.”
The preliminary notice sets out the steps which the Commissioner may require, subject to Snaps representations on the preliminary notice. If a final enforcement notice were to be adopted, Snap may be required to stop processing data in connection with ‘My AI.’
If a further notice is issued, it could spell the end of ‘My AI’ in the UK until Snap carries out an adequate risk assessment.
Since its introduction earlier this year, the ‘My AI’ feature has been met with much curiosity, not least because Snapchat has a large underage user-base.
The AI chatbot has been accused on giving inappropriate responses to minors, such as explaining how to mask the smell of alcohol, according to a report by the Washington Post.
Further, the AI has been accused of having ‘selective amnesia’ and using location and other personal data to provide answers, something the chatbot otherwise denies having access to.
In the US, the introduction of ‘My AI’ to Snapchat caused the app’s review ratings to drop, but the application still remains across the app and can only be removed with a paid subscription.
More businesses across the Highlands and Islands are being encouraged to take advantage of a ‘pop-up’ 5G network service that is demonstrating the substantial benefits of applying advanced connectivity technology to business needs around the region.
The Scotland 5G Centre (S5GC), a Scottish Government initative, offers the region a new free 5G Innovation Testbed service, hosted by the Highlands and Islands Enterprise‘s (HIE) Digital Demonstration Centre in Inverness.
S5GC’s adivce and its pop-up networks (provided by a range of technical partners including Celona, Attocore, and Athonet) are available to organisations looking to explore how 5G solutions can significantly improve their business.
The Scotland 5G Centre has a suite of 5G Innovation test beds across Scotland, however, the use of the pop-up network allows S5GC to trial 5G technology to geographically dispersed areas, from Thurso to Fort William, making it accessible for all businesses in the region.
The application of private 5G network technology introduces new innovation possibilities that go beyond today’s connectivity limitations, removing the need to lay extensive fibering across sites. This enables the ability to connect multi devices and equipment to the network, offering fast and secure new ways to work, think, and addressing business challenges and opportunities.
For example, its low latency allows businesses to monitor and remotely control mission critical operations using data in real-time. It also enables employers to train staff and access expertise remotely and helping to reduce business costs and energy consumption.
Since the launch of the Innovation Testbed, many organisations have already engaged with the Region’s business engagement manager to explore how they can use S5GC to test products, services and solutions.
This includes a project with the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre in Moray to develop new use cases that further demonstrate how 5G supports rural health delivery solutions and enables care services to be delivered to patients’ homes, removing the need for travel and reducing patient waiting time.
Another involves a private 5G network deployed at the Port of Nigg to explore how advanced wireless connectivity can be used in a large-scale industrial site to deliver high-speed, private secure connectivity to temporary buildings and mobile installations/equipment and test push-to-talk services.
And a third is supporting Scotland’s fisheries industry, through demonstrating in a challenging rural setting, 5G’s ability to improve the monitoring of fish stock and migration.
“As the uptake of digital connectivity accelerates globally, with technology such as 5G offering unprecedented new ways to substantially improve business performance, it’s essential that Scotland’s private and public sectors take full advantage of this opportunity,” Ian Sharp, head of delivery at The Scotland 5G Centre said.
“It’s therefore exciting to see our pop-up networks being utilised by businesses in the Highlands and Islands region – supporting innovation, sustainability, and growth. We look forward to working with more organisations and supporting them to realise the benefits of 5G.”
“The Highlands and Islands hub is keeping key sectors at the forefront of digital technology developments, helping to grow their businesses and create jobs,” Theresa Swayne, senior development manager at Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) said.
“It’s great to see the adoption of 5G technology in the region and how this is supporting economic activity. “We’re now appealing to businesses and social enterprises who have not yet considered 5G (or simply want to find out what it can do) to get in touch with the Scotland 5G Centre and explore how the technology can benefit their operations and stimulate commercial activity.”
The founder of Scotland Women in Technology (SWiT) has hailed entries to the SWiT awards as “inspiring” following a surge in nominations to the ceremony after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
More than 160 submissions were received from across Scotland, with 25 individuals and 13 organisations shortlisted across 10 categories.
Finalists in the much-coveted Leader of the Year category include Karen Meechan, CEO at ScotlandIS, Gillian McLennan, managing director at JP Morgan, Jane Poojari, software development manager at Amazon, and Jacqui McDonald, CIO of group finance at Barclays.
The shortlist was announced at the sold out SWiT Awards Shortlist Conference hosted by headline sponsor Morgan Stanely on 5 October in Glasgow. At the event, SWiT founder and chair, Silka Patel, acknowledged the calibre of the entries and applauded the push from Scotland’s tech sector to champion women working in technology-focused roles.
The shortlist includes figures from large corporates and SMEs across the public, private, and third sectors who are championing diversity, equality, and inclusion within the Scottish tech sector. New award categories for 2023 include Young Tech Champion of the Year and Gender Diversity Ally of the Year.
Commenting on the shortlist, Silka Patel said: “The pandemic impacted women across all sectors – including the tech sector. Caring responsibilities alongside homeschooling and furlough put a pause on the tech careers of many women. Encouragingly, we are now seeing more women than ever enter computing-based courses which will provide a huge boost to the industry in the coming years.”
Patel’s sentiments are true, and while there may be more women studying computing science courses, the tech sphere in Scotland is still male-dominated.
These statistics make initiatives and awards, like the SWiT awards, that much more vital in fostering an inclusive community and highlighting the work of women in the tech industry.
“While the awards have been on hiatus, I have seen first-hand how more people and organisations have made a concerted effort to drive equality not only in the workplace but across the technology sector, ” Patel continued. “I am heartened by these proactive steps to champion the profile and professional development of women in technical and leadership roles across Scotland.
“It was a challenge to whittle our list of entrants down to the final shortlist – and it has been inspiring to see so many new faces put themselves forward for the awards. The judges now have a very tricky job on their hands ahead of our ceremony next month.”
The shortlist will now be reviewed by SWiT awards judging panel, which includes:
Claire El-Ezebbi, Head of Cyber Resilience at the Scottish Government
Alison McLaughlin, Member of the ScotlandIS board
Dilraj Sokhi-Watson, Director, Equate Scotland
Craig Steele, Director, Digital Skills Education
Graeme Gordon, CEO, IFB
Ailish Jamieson, Senior HR Partner for EMEA, SAS Ltd
Ray Bugg, Founder, DIGIT
Polly Purvis OBE, Non-executive director
Maggie Titmuss, National Cyber Resilience Advisory Board board member
Steven Grier, Director of Devolved Government, Microsoft
Samantha Bedford, COO, Gen+
Enoch Adeyemi, Co-Founder, Black Professionals Scotland
The full list of individuals and organisations shortlisted for the SWiT Awards 2023 includes:
Award Category
Shortlist
Young Tech Champion of the Year
Sponsored by JP Morgan
Lauren Lawson, Software Engineer – Leidos
Hannah Fairlie, AVP Full Stack Developer – Barclays
AI’s potential threat to humanity often makes top headlines, but is it’s threat to cyber being overblown by sensationalist reports?
SecureWork‘s 2023 State of the Threat report revealed some interesting trends concerning the pernicious nature of cybercriminals and new avenues of exploitation, as well as vulnerability mitigation.
While the news has often focused on the use of AI and its potential to improve the scope, scale, and effectiveness of threat actors, SecureWork’s analysis found that most uses of AI in the cyber threat landscape appear to be rather elementary.
So is the AI-hype something cybersecurity experts really need to be concerned about?
According to SecureWork’s report, the most common use of ChatGPT, the most prolific publicly available AI chatbot, has been as lures in phishing emails or malicious sites.
These sites typically used typos to impersonate ChatGPT and trick users into following malicious links.
SecureWorks also found that while threat actors are leveraging ChatGPT to create malware to evade defences and generate malicious code, they company says that these are not quite as threatening as they sound.
These models are based on user inputs on statistical analysis of existing texts, and “do not currently demonstrate the creativity and ingenuity of human coders when finding novel ways to circumvent security controls and discover new vulnerabilities,” the report said.
Threat actors are also selling access to Telegram bots that are based on AI models, which can allow users to request malicious scripts or phishing emails, and even find illegal goods on the dark web.
These bots may expand the amount of threat actors who can bypass ChatGPT’s ethical guardrails, despite a minimal skill set.
Sub-forums focusing on AI and machine learning (ML) on popular hacking and threat actor forums have begun to arise, meaning new developments could be well on their way.
By mid-2023, however, the main uses of AI in terms of cyber were still on phishing and Telegram bots, according to SecureWork’s report.
But perhaps the main concern with the rise of AI is how it makes malicious methods more accessible to less highly skilled threat actors.
The UK has announced it is joining forces with other nations to strengthen coordination on telecoms security, resilience, and innovation as a new global coalition is launched.
Together with Australia, Canada, Japan, and the US, the UK will use the coalition in a bid to ensure communications networks can remain resilient and adaptable when confronted by key challenges.
These range from supply chain disruption to cyber-attacks, strengthening the country’s ability to stay connected at the most critical times.
Announced today, the Global Coalition on Telecommunications (GCOT) will also explore opportunities for closer coordination in areas such as research and development, information sharing, and international outreach.
Through these initiatives, the coalition seeks to advance several shared objectives which include promoting growth opportunities for industry and enabling dialogue between policymakers, business, and academia.
The UK government is claiming to understand the critical nature of telecommunications and says by working with some of the largest global economies, the UK can attempt to remain at the forefront of efforts to diversify global telecoms supply chain, develop skills and industry expertise, and strengthen security in the face of potential risks.
However, the joint statement has pushed the development of future technologies such as 6G when some of the UK is still lacking reliable broadband.
The well-documented rural rift in broadband is continuing to impact many rural and remote areas, particularly in Scotland, that have yet to be reached by initiatives such as Project Gigabit or the Shared Rural Network.
As part of the UK’s international involvement, the government is putting £70m in investment towards future telecoms technology like 6G, and including new technologies to better connect space-based and terrestrial networks. Other avenues include technology that improves data transfers, energy efficiency, and moving networks to the cloud.
“This £70 million investment will, via the Future Telecoms UKRI Technology Missions Fund (TMF) Programme, form part of the UK’s contribution to international cooperation in this field and provide tangible benefits to the population and economy,” said Dr Kedar Pandya, the executive director of cross-council programmes at UKRI.
“The UKRI Technology Missions funding is designed to exploit the UK’s global leadership in transformative technologies to help solve specific problems, while also helping to lay the foundations for a longer-term leading position.”
As part of the joint statement released, the participating nations plan on introducing some standards between international partners and industry stakeholders for the development and deployment of telecommunications, which could potentially benefit the entire UK.
Welcome to the latest edition of DIGIT’s Movers and Shakers, where we highlight some of the biggest partnerships, recruitments, appointments, expansions, and awards shaking up the Scottish tech ecosystem.
From landmark NHS and university partnerships to major C-suite appointments, catch up on some of the most intriguing news stories hitting the Scotland’s tech landscape.
Partnerships
InnoScot & NHS Ayrshire and Arran Competition Collaboration
NHS Ayrshire & Arran have launched a new innovation competition in collaboration with InnoScot Health open to all NHS staff members, looking for innovative ideas to improve patient care.
Regardless of role or department, NHS employees are encouraged to submit ideas. They can address issues as simple or as complex as the employee likes, what’s important is that they are tangible solutions to real-life issues in the NHS system
The competition opened on 28 August and is calling for ideas that align with the vision “caring for Ayrshire,” which promotes local care, self-management, early interventions, and collaboration with local community services. It is run by InnoScot, which works in partnership with NHS Scotland to improve patient care through innovations.
Pulsant Partners with Fibairo to Provide Edge Computing to Local Scots Businesses
A new partnership will see the implementation of edge computer infrastructure between The Crichton Trust’s 85-acre campus in Dumfries and the Pulsant South Gyle data centre.
The partnetship will not only deliver edge infrastructure to the 126 business across the Trust site, including the academic institutions and The Crichton Trust itself, but will also encourage businesses across the South of Scotland, to connect to high performance
compute capability and benefit from access to the onsite S5GC Hub to develop and test new products.
The investment from Pulsant will ensure all local users and campus-based businesses can access the company’s platformEDGE network free of charge, opening up the host of productivity benefits, solutions, and remote working capabilities that edge compute can deliver.
Wendy Shearer, director of smart cities and ecosystems at Pulsant, said: “Pulsant is committed to supporting the growth of regional businesses across the UK.
“Connecting rural companies into digital infrastructure allows them to tap into new markets, develop innovative products, streamline their business and scale globally.
“There is much talk of Levelling Up and Innovation zones, but sometimes the small and simple initiatives like this can really make a difference at a local level. Pulsant is proud to invest in this critical connection and to work alongside Fibairo and The Crichton Trust to connect businesses across the South of Scotland into the opportunities available from edge technology.”
Snugg and Scottish Building Society Strike Energy Partnership
Edinburgh-based Snugg, which is an online tool that analyses properties to create personalised energy-efficiency improvement plans, has teamed up with the Scottish Building Society.
The partnership is set to give the Society’s members access to resources like energy efficiency plans and financial assistance.
Snugg will also recommend Scottish Building Society members to grants they may be eligible for to fund their projects, and link them with installers that could carry out the work.
“Our mission is to make it simple and affordable for everyone to have an energy efficient home. Currently, homes in the UK rank amongst some of the worst in Europe for energy efficiency and over a fifth of UK emissions come from homes,” said Robin Peters, CEO of Snugg.
RM Technology Extends Partnership with Education Scotland
RM Technology’s digital learning solution will continue to be used by staff and students across Scotland’s education sector following RM Technology’s partnership extension with Education Scotland.
Glow, the proprietary software of the edtech company has been implemented across 32 local authorities across Scotland to date. The move has proven to be instrumental in continuing the education of students during the pandemic.
Now that students are back in schools, educators noticed that the learning habits of students have shifted significantly, which prompted the continued use of the tool. “The way young people learn is evolving as technology continues to advance at a rapid pace,” said education secretary Jenny Gilruth.
“We’re thrilled to continue this journey with Education Scotland. We’ve always seen our technology’s 99.95% uptime rates for schools as a huge achievement, but the fact that we’ve managed to maintain these exceptional levels and help Glow navigate the pandemic confidently and consistently gives us great motivation,” said Jason Tomlinson, managing director at RM Technology.
Edinburgh-based space agency AstroAgency has partnered with Dubai-based AzurX to develop earth observation (EO) solutions.
The two companies hope the partnership will lay the foundations for a Gulf-UK “space channel” to encourage further collaboration between the regions. The project is receiving funding from both sides, notably, the UK Space Agency’s International Bilateral Fund (IBF) has awarded the companies £75,000.
“Working with other space agencies and organisations across the globe through our International Bilateral Fund allows us to draw on skills that enhance our homegrown expertise and capabilities, drive up investment in the UK, and support world-class science and discovery,” said Dr Paul Bate, chief executive of the UK Space Agency.
The companies are proposing to use EO data to monitor and manage water resources, urbanisation and infrastructure, carbon monitoring, oil and gas leaks, natural disaster monitoring and support general ESG (Environmental, social, and corporate governance) initiatives.
Wood and Harbour Energy Agree to £261M Partnership
Wood and Harbour Energy (Harbour), the UK’s largest oil and gas producer, have entered into a new strategic partnership for UK North Sea operations agreeing a new master services agreement (MSA) and associated contracts valued at around $330 million (£261m).
Under this new agreement, Wood will provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance (O&M) services, including digital and decarbonisation solutions, for a number of Harbour’s offshore assets critical to UK energysecurity.
The strategic partnership will run for an initial term of five years, with five one-year extension options covering Harbour’s operated assets, including its J-Area, Greater Britannia Area, Solan and AELE (Armada, Everest, Lomond and Erskine) hubs.
Audrey Stewart, Harbour Energy’s Vice President of Supply Chain, said: “Harbour is excited to develop our relationship with Wood and the signing of this contract is an important step forward in establishing our suite of long-term strategic partnerships across our North Sea assets.”
Glasgow headquartered Frog Systems has further expanded its wellbeing support for employees by partnering with the Bupp membership programme to offer regular discounts to users of its streaming service Ashia.
Employees whose companies subscribe to Ashia will receive money off everyday wellbeing products and treats, without having to earn rewards.
Phil Worms, CEO of Frog Systems, said: “We are delighted to have worked with the team at Bupp to create these exclusive offers and bring extra value to users of our wellbeing streaming service. The ability of employees to save money on items that help them to be mentally, physically and financially healthy is a great incentive for any employer who wants to sign up.”
The offers have been selected to reflect the 16 areas of wellbeing support covered by Ashia. There are discounts on health checks, healthy eating, wellbeing apps and coaching as well as days out and trips to the cinema.
NCSC and ICO Partner on Cyber Threat Intelligence
The UK’s data protection watchdog and national security agency agree to cooperate closely on the nation’s cybersecurity posture.
The agreement came in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which both the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) formally signed.
As part of the agreement, the ICO has committed to sharing cyber-incident information with the NCSC on an anonymised and aggregate basis. However, the MoU said the ICO will also share “incident specific details where the matter is of national significance.”
The MoU also confirms that the NCSC will never pass information shared in confidence with it to the ICO without consent from that organisation.
Smart Data Foundry and FCA Partner to Tackle Fraud
Smart Data Foundry has been selected to partner with the FCA and the City of London Corporation to provide synthetic data in support of their drive to encourage innovative solutions to tackle the problem of Authorised Push Payment (APP) Fraud.
Smart Data Foundry’s aizle® synthetic data engine is being used to create an APP fraud synthetic dataset that can be accessed via the FCA’s Permanent Digital Sandbox.
APP Fraud scams happen when someone is tricked into sending money to a fraudster posing as a genuine person. £485.2m was lost to APP Fraud scams in 2022 which accounts for 40% of all financial fraud losses in the period.
Bryn Coulthard, chief product and technology officer at Smart Data Foundry said “We focus on creating high utility synthetic data to enable innovation within the financial services industry.
“We are delighted to continue partnering with the FCA with our APP Fraud datasets to help play a part in tackling this growing problem and to help ignite and accelerate innovation in this space.”
The UK government has appointed Dr Dave Smith as its National Technology Adviser, following the departure of Sir Patrick Vallance from the role.
Appointed by the Prime Minister, Smith’s experience and leadership in the tech sector ‘ideally places him to guide the nation’s tech aspirations.’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Innovation in technology is one of the most important ways we can transform people’s lives, which is why I am delighted to appoint Dave Smith as the UK’s National Technology Adviser – who brings expertise and vision to this vital role.
National Technology Adviser Dave Smith said: “I am deeply honoured to serve as the UK’s National Technology Adviser. Throughout my career, I’ve consistently advocated for the transformative power of technology and innovation to redefine societies.
“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to harness the growing potential of the British tech sector to drive growth and tackle society’s biggest challenges. Building upon the significant foundations laid by Sir Patrick Vallance, I’m eager to ensure the UK’s continued leadership and position as a global tech superpower.”
Glasgow-headquartered cloud computing firm iomart has announced a change in leadership as Reece Donovan, who has served as the company’s chief executive officer since March 2020, announced he will be stepping down with immediate effect, with executive chair, Lucy Dimes, moving in to the role in Donovan’s wake.
A statement published on iomart’s site, read: ‘The Board of iomart (AIM: IOM), the cloud computing company, announces that Reece Donovan will be stepping down as Chief Executive Officer and leaving the Company with immediate effect. Reece joined the Board as Chief Operating Officer in March 2020 and became Chief Executive Officer in September 2020.
Lucy Dimes, executive chair, will become chief executive officer on a full-time basis, with immediate effect. A search for a new chair will commence in due course.
The UK Government is aiming to recruit 2,500 people into internal tech- and digital-focussed roles through new apprenticeship and early-talent programmes by June 2025, it’s been announced.
The Cabinet Office stated the efforts are being set in motion with a new digital apprenticeship programme, which supports the hiring of 500 early-career entrants into digital roles across government this financial year.
Through the programme, both civil servants and new entrants to be recruited into different in-demand roles, such as cybersecurity technologists and software developers.
The 2,000 other opportunities will include 1,300 additional digital apprenticeship programme roles, and 700 roles created through the expansion of initiatives already in place, such as the Software Developer Programme.
Scottish Financial Enterprise Appoints New Young Professionals Senior Role
Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE), the representative body for Scotland’s financial services industry, has appointed Cheri Burns to a senior role within its Young Professionals network to bolster communications, with the aim of engaging and supporting the next generation of industry leaders.
SFE Young Professionals (SFEYP) was set up in 2016 by young people working in financial services across Scotland to provide opportunities for career development, access to networking and, ultimately, make the sector more accessible for emerging professionals.
Burns, currently PR & Corporate Communications Director for RegTech provider Encompass Corporation, joins its Committee structure as a Communication Strategy Lead.
Cheri Burns, PR & corporate communications director for RegTech provider Encompass Corporation, said: “I am thrilled to have been selected to be part of such a forward-thinking, important group, and cannot wait to use my expertise to contribute to campaigns that help to amplify the roles and voices of the young professionals driving our industry forward.
FinTech Scotland has announced today the appointment of a new senior leader, Trish Quinn, who joins as Strategic Innovation Director.
Quinn will be leading the development of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) which is due to launch later on this year.
The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) is one of the recommendations laid out in the UK Fintech research & Innovation Roadmap published in March 2022.
It is set to be a new collaborative centre of excellence for cutting-edge fintech developments in financial regulation. The Lab will explore solutions that aim to streamline regulatory processes, enhance compliance measures, and drive efficiencies across the financial sector.
Commenting on her appointment, Trish Quinn said: “I am delighted to join FinTech Scotland as the Innovation Director and lead the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab.
The potential to reshape the financial industry through technology applied to financial regulation is significant, and I am excited to join the team at FinTech Scotland to drive innovation, foster collaboration, and contribute to the growth of the fintech sector.”
The Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) based in Aberdeen has announced that Sarim Sheikh – an experienced figure in the international renewables and energy industry – has been appointed as an independent non-executive director on its board.
The NZTC was founded in 2017 as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal, kick started with £180 million in UK and Scottish government funding. Since 2017, the Centre has invested more than £253m in technology, screened more than 2,170 new technologies, and supported almost 60 tech startups.
Sheikh brings with him nearly three decades of experience with companies like General Electric and Shell across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. During his career, Sheikh has collected a number of accolades including the General Electric Chairman’s Leadership Award, and Top Companies Award from the Pakistan Stock Exchange for Shell under his leadership.
“I’ve been following the impressive evolution and growth of the Net Zero Technology Centre for some time and am excited to join the board as a non-executive director at this pivotal moment,” said Sarim Sheikh.
As it continues to gear up for its launch, Alba Bank is appointing industry leaders to fill key roles.
The Glasgow-based challenger bank, dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), onboarded two industry veterans Robert Sharpe and Andrew Lewis.
The move comes almost half a year after the bank was granted a licence by the UK Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, allowing it to move into mobilisation. During this time the bank focuses on assembling its team and refining and strengthening infrastructure and operations.
Now the bank has secured two industry leaders for pivotal roles. Robert Sharpe joins the bank as chair of the board with over 45 years of experience in retail banking. He currently holds positions as chair at Metro Bank, Hampshire Trust Bank and Pollen Street.
Alba bank also onboarded Andrew Lewis as its new chief risk officer (CRO). Lewis brings over 25 years of experience in financial services with him, most of which were spent at NatWest Group where he was instrumental in various senior business and risk roles. While there, he co-founded NatWest’s Esme Loans, an SME digital lending platform.
Stampede Hires New Consult and and Commercial Head
Julie Grieve, Founder and CEO of Criton, has also joined Stampede as a commercial consultant and adviser. Criton, the UK’s largest provider of guest apps for independent hotels, was acquired by Nonius, the global hospitality technology vendor, last year. Grieve’s addition to the team comes as Stampede increases its focus on the hotel sector.
Patrick Clover, Founder and CEO of Stampede, said: “It’s great to get Julie on board, she brings incredible industry experience and operating know-how, gained at one of the UK’s most successful hospitality tech startups of recent times. It also comes at an important juncture for Stampede, where we are entering our next phase of growth, working more with hotels, and aiming to take the business to the next level.”
Additionally, Christian White has joined the company as Head of Commercial, moving from Fresh Car Group where he was Director of Operations. As a previous operations manager at both Signature Pub Group and G1 Group, White brings extensive experience from the pub and restaurants, bars, and nightclub market.
Clover added: “I am delighted to have hired someone of Christian’s calibre and experience into the business, and I know that he will continue our laser focus on delivering exceptional tools for the hospitality industry.”
Greenbean Hires New Associate Director
Greenhouse, the recruitment partner, has announced the latest addition to its senior leadership team with the appointment of Dean Durrant as Associate Director of Client Solutions.
With over two decades of expertise in recruitment and talent management, Dean stands out with his ability to forge enduring client relationships while leveraging his recruitment acumen.
Leanne Chambers, Managing Director at greenbean, expressed her optimism about the appointment, stating, “Dean’s induction to our leadership team signifies a remarkable advancement for greenbean. His proficiency in strategic hiring and innovative partnership models stands to propel greenbean to new heights, offering unmatched value to our clients.”
Dean echoed this sentiment, commenting, “Joining greenbean is an exciting chapter in my career. I was looking for an opportunity to leverage my experience within change & transformation with a business with proven capability to deliver complex experienced hire projects. The company’s values align seamlessly with my dedication to creating tailored partnership solutions that simplify and optimise the recruitment process. I’m looking forward to driving innovative strategies that address talent acquisition challenges and streamline recruitment for businesses.”
Awards
Dundee Uni Student Wins Young Software Engineer of the Year
A Dundee University student has been named Young Software Engineer of the Year for his solution which illustrates what unexplored areas of the moon might look like.
The 34th annual Young Software Engineer of the Year Awards took place in a ceremony in Edinburgh yesterday evening (28th September) hosted by Scotland’s tech trade body ScotlandIS at its ScotSoft conference.
Struan Robertson, originally from the Isle of Eigg in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, took the top prize home for his project on Lunar Terrain Void Infilling.
Karen Meechan, CEO at ScotlandIS, said: “Each year we are amazed at the amount of young talent coming through our universities, showcasing true innovation by producing creative solutions to solve real-world problems.”
Glasgow Uni Students Reach Amazon TaskBot Challenge Finals
Students from the University of Glasgow‘s School of Computing Science are defending their title in the finals of the Alexa Prize TaskBot Challenge funded by Amazon.
The teams compete to build the best AI-powered multimodal conversational assistant to help people perform real-world tasks like cooking, making crafts, or helping with DIY.
The research group – the Generalized Representation and Information Learning Lab (GRILL), advised by faculty member Dr Jeff Dalton – won the $500,000 cash grand prize in last year’s competition.
The GRILL team are the only UK entrants selected by Amazon to compete against students from 10 universities in the USA and Portugal. A semi-final in June whittled the competitors down to eight teams.
PhD student Sophie Fischer is the GRILL team’s leader. She said: “We find it exciting to use the latest advances in Large Language Models to create experiences for users that are fun and engaging by bringing in new types of rich interactions and teach them new knowledge and skills. The Challenge is a fun rollercoaster because the time from research to real-world deployment is shorter than in most research projects.”
Heero Technologies Shortlisted for Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards
Heero Technologies, a high-growth cleantech software and data company based in Dundee, is excited to be shortlisted for two Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards. The start-up has been announced as finalists in both the Funded Business of the Year and Business to Watch categories.
Commenting on being shortlisted, Nicola Kennedy, CEO of Heero Technologies, said: “As a young company, we are incredibly proud to be nominated in these two categories. It is a positive endorsement of our ambitious, woman-led team and the solution we have created, and a testament to the growing realisation that technology has a vital role to play in addressing environmental challenges.”
Heero Technologies was launched in 2022 with the aim of empowering homeowners to reduce their energy consumption and decarbonise their homes. To help overcome the multitude of barriers and complex guidance householders often encounter when trying to reduce their energy bills, the company developed an easy-to-use App aimed at guiding people through the entire retrofit journey while streamlining the user experience.
Expansions
FD Intelligence Sets Up New Office in Glasgow
Scottish automation firm FD Intelligence expands to Glasgow with a new office.
Founded in 2020 out of Edinburgh, the firm expanded to Glasgow as part of its ambitious plan to triple revenue each of the next two years.
The company specialises in robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) to handle tasks that would otherwise require human intervention.
The company currently has 25 employees across the UK, 12 of which already based in Glasgow, and the remaining 13 between Manchester and London.
“This technology has the capacity to resolve many of the current issues with staff shortages by freeing people from repetitive tasks to get involved in more customer-focused activities,” said Andrew Guy, founder and chief executive of FD Intelligence, as reported by Insider.
Heriot-Watt’s satellite campus in Dubai launches a solar energy testing facility with support from the UK Government.
The funding for this project was provided by the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT), along with support from the British Embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Dubai’s abundance of sunshine made it an attractive place to set up the Heriot-Watt solar test site. The site can accommodate between 24 and 32 panels at a time, with a weather station providing time data on ambient temperature, sun intensity, humidity, wind speed and direction.
All data is then linked to a data centre in the University’s campus, allowing the researchers to analyse live data against theoretical models.
“This provides a unique opportunity for the British industry to test and showcase their technologies, and to explore potential new markets in the Middle East and beyond,” said Nick Boucher, head of the UK Science and Innovation Network for the Gulf Region.
In a bid to tackle key global challenges through innovative technologies, the University of Glasgow has launched its new Centre for Data Science and AI.
The centre will bring hundreds of academics from across the university’s four colleges together to undergo and unlock research on data science and artificial intelligence across various applications.
At the centre’s official launch event, a handful of projects utilising data science and AI to deliver new advances across six programmes of research were showcased.
The cross-disciplinary programmes target data- and AI-driven advances in engineering and the physical sciences; medical, veterinary and life sciences; economic and social sciences; arts and the humanities; and innovation. The sixth programme will support research in data science and AI across the university.
Speaking on the launch and the centre’s mission-led ethos, professor Ana Basiri, who’s the centre’s director, said: “We were pleased to welcome Mr Lochhead to campus to learn about some of the work we’re doing to help tackle problems like climate change and inequality through data science and AI.”
Tech business, Eureka Solutions, has launched a new base in Gateshead, Tyneside within the Your Business Networks (YBN) building on Delta Bank Road to cater for its growing staff numbers and new business in the region.
The office will be manned by up to six employees at any one time, providing expert advice for customers new and old, with the premise open on weekdays between 9am – 5.30pm.
It sees the firm begin an ambitious growth strategy as it looks to attract further clients to its portfolio.
David Lindores, CEO of Eureka Solutions said: “Expanding our reach to Tyneside is more than just opening a new office; it’s unfurling our ambitions across the UK’s digital horizon.
“This milestone isn’t just about physical space; it’s about creating virtual bridges that connect us to a wealth of new opportunities. With this new chapter, we’re not only extending our presence but casting a wider net for innovation, talent, and partnerships.
“Tyneside, with its vibrant tech community, will be the backdrop to our story of growth, inspiring us to scale new heights in the sector.”
Emblation Moves to Stirling Office
A Scottish health tech leader has announced that it is well underway in moving staff into its stunning, new £4m office in Stirling, ushering in the start of a new era.
Medical microwave technology innovator Emblation has invested heavily in its new HQ Emblation House – which boasts a sauna, gym, chillout area and a 90-person auditorium – with the first of its growing workforce having moved in this week.
Departments already moved in include Commercial, Corporate and Finance, with the Product Development, Research, Operations and Quality and Regulatory teams expected to move over the next few weeks.
To mark the milestone, senior officials from Stirling Council, including leader Chris Kane, enjoyed a tour of the 20,000 plus square feet premises following its 18-month refurb.
Councillor Kane said: “Emblation is a world leading business, with an outstanding reputation for innovation in health technology.
“The move to Stirling further enhances the growth of the life sciences sector in the city and they are exactly the type of pioneering and forward-thinking company we want to attract.
“Emblation brings high value, highly skilled jobs and with plans for even greater expansion they will help deliver economic diversity and development opportunities to the area.”
Following its successful first edition, the Scottish Black Talent Summit returns this year on 30 and 31 October at Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh. The summit aims to improve Scotland’s workplace diversity and will bring influential leaders from various sectors together to explore the latest trends, insights, and solutions involved in closing the talent gap in Scotland.
The two-day event – which includes a hiring fair in addition to the summit – will host black talent, talent acquisition and HR professionals, diversity and inclusion experts, industry players, government and local authorities and universities.
DataKirk believes that leveraging the Scottish black talent pool is vital for fostering diversity of perspectives, driving innovation, and gaining a competitive edge. By tapping into a diverse range of skills and experiences, organisations can address skills gaps and create a more inclusive workforce.
This year’s edition is sponsored by Techscaler as the summit’s official partner. Techscaler is the Scottish Government tech startup support programme established in 2022 to deliver on key priorities outlined in the Scottish Tech Ecosystem Review (STER) report, and in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET), aimed at strengthening the country’s tech sector and encouraging entrepreneurship. Techscaler is delivered by tech incubator CodeBase.
Steven Drost, CSO of CodeBase, said: “Techscaler is proud to sponsor this year’s Scottish Black Talent Summit event. A modern Scotland needs to harness the potential of all of its citizens in order to build the fair, inclusive and diverse country that we all want to live in – a country that can connect with the rest of the world with confidence.
“DataKirk is doing a heroic job of promoting and showcasing black talent in Scotland, helping to bring a new and unique perspective to enrich the country. We hope our participation will shine a light on an untapped talent pool and build lasting introductions and connections.”
Day one of the two-day conference will include a panel featuring insight from black talent mentors, an employability workshop where delegates can harness their interview skills and get feedback on their CVs, and a hiring fair putting industry at the hands of untapped talent.
The second day of the summit will feature a series of talks and panels about leveraging the black talent pool, social mobility and diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) strategies, and a walkthrough of the Data Challenge and Cyber competition put on by the event.
Fash Fasoro, the founder and CEO of DataKirk said: Fash Fasoro, “We are thrilled to have Techscaler’s as official partner for the 2nd Scottish Black Talent Summit & Hiring Fair 2023. At DataKirk, we believe that diversity is not only a moral imperative but also a catalyst for innovation and progress.
“Our partnership with Techscaler is a testament to our shared commitment to a more inclusive Scotland. Together, we’re forging a path towards a brighter, more connected future, where diversity is celebrated, and every citizen’s potential is realised.”
Tickets are still available and more information can be found here.
Further, there are still opportunities for speakers and exhibitors, who can show their interest by getting in touch with DataKirk via info@thedatakirk.org.uk.
Cybersecurity experts are calling out the new EU rules surrounding vulnerability disclosure requirements detailed in the new Cyber Resilience Act (CRA).
The new law includes a series of obligations cybersecurity firms and organisations will have to take to keep their software secure and to regulation.
The most controversial of these new stipulations is found in Article 11 and concerns vulnerability disclosures – organisations will have 24 hours to report to an EU agency upon learning of any software vulnerabilities after their initial exploitation.
While the law was put in place so keep software manufacturers complaint with security protocols, cyber experts have said the law is counterproductive and could cause more harm than help.
An open letter signed by the likes of Vint Cerf, VP and chief internet evangelist at Google, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the former president of Estonia, cyber experts urged the EU to reconsider the law and its potential effects on cybersecurity outcomes.
“While we appreciate the CRA’s aim to enhance cybersecurity in Europe and beyond,” the letter read, “We believe that the current provisions on vulnerability disclosure are counterproductive and will create new threats that undermine the security of digital products and the individuals who use them.”
Essentially, cyber experts are worried that speeding up the disclosure process will mean the government has access to a database of active vulnerabilities that may have not been patched, making it a prime target for threat actors.
The open letter outlined several key concerns about Article 11:
1. Misuse of Intelligence and Surveillance
If organisations are required to update the government on unmitigated software vulnerabilities, cyber experts are concerned this could be misused for surveillance or intelligence purposes, especially with the current absence of restrictions.
2. Risk of Exposure to Malicious Actors
The cyber experts claim that breaches of government held vulnerabilities have happened before, and government entities can be breached. While the new law does not require a full technical assessment as part of the disclosure, mere knowledge of a vulnerability can be taken advantage of a threat actor.
3. Effect on Researchers
Changing the vulnerability disclosure process can rupture the coordination between software manufacturers and security researchers who need time to verify, test, and patch vulnerabilities prior to publishing them. The CRA may discourage this collaboration, stopping each from reporting and investigating vulnerabilities together if they trigger government notifications.
The cyber experts did make clear that they are not critiquing the entire CRA, and agreed with the stipulation that they should mitigate vulnerabilities urgently.
They called for the absolute abolition of Article 11, paragraph 1 which detailed the disclosure policy, or for EU policy makers to revise it along the following lines:
with a provision that agencies are prohibited from sharing vulnerabilities through the CRA for intelligence, surveillance or offensive purposes
Require disclosure to occur within 72 hours of an effective patch
not require the vulnerabilities exploited through “good faith security research” to be reported with the same rules
However, reporting and disclosure of vulnerabilities is vital to keeping organisations secure.
“Timely and accurate reporting of vulnerabilities is crucial for organisations, not only to protect their own organisation, but others along the supply chain, as well as alerting software providers to potential issues,” Achi Lewis, area VP EMEA for Absolute Software, said.
“The current patching landscape is messy, and our Resilience Index research found that there are 14 different versions of Windows 10, for example, being used by enterprise businesses, with over 800 different patches. This is made worse by one in six devices working on an old patch, increasing the cybersecurity risks to the device, and subsequently the organisation.”
“IT managers already have a difficult job managing a work-from-anywhere device fleet so ensuring patching is up to date is an important step to bolstering security, and new vulnerability reporting rules as part of the Cyber Resilience Act will support organisations to stop vulnerabilities spreading. These actions will better prepare organisations to prevent cyber incidents, as well as improve response protocols when attacks occur.”
Female-founded companies account for under 3% of venture capital (VC) funding deals involving AIstartups, new research as found.
A new report from the Alan Turing Institute‘s Women in Data Science and AI team paints a concerning picture of gender diversity with regards to AI-focused VC investment in the UK.
Between 2012 and 2022, 80% of total capital invested by VCs in AI was raised by all-male teams. In contrast, all-female teams raised a mere 0.3%.
When female-founded AI startups secured funding, they received on average six times less capital per deal than startups founded by male entrepreneurs. On average, all female teams raised £1.3m per deal compared to £8.6m raised by all-male teams.
The researchers also highlighted that most of the teams who make these funding decisions are men – only 5% of VC firms that participated in funding deals have an equal or majority representation of women at decision maker level.
Venture capital firms play a pivotal role in technological innovation, and determine the companies that do and do not get funded. With the explosion of generative AI, there is an urgent need to ensure that women have an equal place in the VC ecosystem and tech entrepreneurship more widely.
Last year, women-founded tech companies only raised 15% of total VC funding going to tech in the UK, making the percentage of AI startups appear that much smaller.
Investment in AI software is booming globally, however, but all-female teams raised less than half a percent (0.4%).
Recommendations
The Alan Turing Institute provided a number of recommendations for the government and industry bodies to take to improve gender diversity across the VC and tech ecosystems.
Improving recruitment and promotion processes to drive female-engagement and enable more women to achieve higher roles in VC and in tech is vital. VC firms also need to take steps to ensure women are included in the decision process.
VCs need to keep track of the types of AI companies they are investing in, and ensure that these companies improve equality outcomes. This means investing in more diverse companies with more inclusive work policies and frameworks, and better hiring practices to mitigate gender bias.
The institute is also challenging VC to diversify their own ecosystem by building relationships with business and tech communities which are already more diverse and inclusive. This can be mutually beneficial and widen access to both investor and founder talent.
However, all of these appear easier said than done. As the landmark Pathways report put it earlier in the year: “Our society has a degree of sexism embedded within it, and these prejudices are transferred from generation to generation,”
Despite numerous warnings that AI could lead to widespread redundancies, young tech workers across Europe tend to believe that recent AI advances will supercharge the industry they work in, according to a survey of GenZ and millennial workers across the continent.
The second Young Generation In Tech survey, commissioned by HR tech leader HiBob with global Venture Capital fund Eight Roads, reveals that almost four in five of the 2,000 20-30-year-olds surveyed in tech across Europe believe AI will have a positive impact on their work.
The survey also investigated the topics of job satisfaction, the post-pandemic preference for remote working, and the much debated four-day work week.
Some 70% believe AI will make them more productive, efficient, and creative, while only 11% say they never plan to use AI tools.
Confidence levels are highest in the UK where more than 85% of young tech workers are somewhat or very confident about the advances in AI and tech.
By comparison, the percentage of people in Ireland as well as Spain is lower, at 75%, yet this still represents the vast majority.
Is Job Satisfaction Bouncing Back?
Optimism about AI is just one aspect of a dramatic upturn in confidence among young tech workers.
Just 12 months ago, this group reported feeling disillusioned and let down with their roles in the tech sector, with one in four Europeans on the verge of quitting.
As of 2023, the proportion of young Europeans who are unhappy in their role has more than halved (from 35% to just 15%). Almost half (48%) of those surveyed said they’re “very satisfied” with their role, and 63% have no plans to leave their job in the foreseeable future, indicating a more settled workforce than in 2022.
Increased job satisfaction also seems to be linked to greater job security, with 59% of respondents in Europe considering their position to be secure, compared with 51% last year. Some 77% of respondents also reported having been promoted at least once in the past 24 months, too.
Davor Hebel, managing partner, Eight Roads Ventures: “It’s heartening to see confidence recover amongst the tech’s youngest workers. Despite the ongoing economic uncertainty, today’s young professionals are proving just how resilient and adaptable they can be.
“Not surprisingly, they are the fastest generation to embrace AI, seeing it as a strong productivity lever, and not a threat. AI is one of the most significant innovations of our time, and it’s great to see younger people so engaged with it.”
As the debate around working patterns continues to divide, the survey also reveals that the office isn’t dead. While flexible work models remain important across all regions surveyed, young people do still want to go to the office.
More than half (56%) said they choose to be in the office four or five days a week, while only 9% choose to work fully remotely.
Young people confirm that being in the office makes them more engaged and motivated. When asked about what they most like about being in the office, respondents mention the people they work with: their team, their manager, and interactions with people in general.
It is also important to note that most young people do not live alone, nor do they own their own homes outright. Situations with roommates, as well as having to pay for energy throughout the workday, could also be driving young workers back to the office.
Proving that purpose is also a key driver for young workers, more than a fifth of young Europeans (21%) said that their ideal role would be for a company with positive impact, and they regret the fact their employer isn’t making more of a positive difference to the world.
The same number additionally said that working for a company with strong values and which promotes fairness, collaboration, and allows time for volunteering supports their mental health and wellbeing.
Speaking of wellbeing, while the survey found that feats over job insecurity had largely receded, over half (56%) reported their job impacts their mental health.
When asked what employers can do to support the respondents’ mental health, being trusted to complete tasks came out on top, followed by having the necessary resources to do their job.
Besides these concerns, workers are also seeking direct access to mental health specialists, and specific wellbeing benefits fell further down the list.
Ronni Zehavi, co-founder & CEO of HiBob: “The young generation is signalling a clear message: beyond competitive salaries and benefits, they’re in search of workplaces that resonate with purpose and empower them with the necessary resources to thrive.
“Companies that understand these needs will succeed in making young people feel more secure, and less likely to leave.”
Over half of businesses (52%) say they are experiencing more cyber-attacks now compared to a year ago, according to new research from the ISACA, which they say has been driven by the cyber skills gap.
The leading global professional organisation which helps companies pursue digital trust, surveyed a total of 556 respondents in Europe to gage the state of cybersecurity.
Though businesses recognise the increased threat, less than one in ten (8%) of the organisations which complete cyber risk assessments do these monthly, while only two in five (40%) conduct them annually.
The failure to regularly assess cyber risk leaves organisations vulnerable to attacks and increases the risk of breaches going undetected for prolonged periods.
A lack of human resource is contributing to businesses not measuring and testing their cyber defences regularly enough.
Almost two-thirds (62%) of respondents report that their cybersecurity team is understaffed — of those organisations, 39% are looking to fill entry-level positions that do not require experience, a university degree, or credentials.
Typically, 44% of organisations state that they require a university degree to fill entry-level cybersecurity positions when they have them.
Chris Dimitriadis, Global Chief Strategy Officer at ISACA, said: “Our findings show that businesses are still struggling to find the right people with the right skills to manage cybersecurity.
“With cyberattacks on the rise, if we do not solve these challenges and address the gaps, businesses, ecosystems of supply chains and public sector bodies could be at threat from a lack of vital protection, detection, response and recovery.
“Businesses do not exist in isolation from their customers or the other organisations within their network, and a cyberattack on one part of the ecosystem can have consequences for everyone else. This is why holistic training is needed towards creating a safer world.”
There are some simple steps businesses can take to tackle the cyber skills gap and improve their cyber resilience.
Of those who are already making headway, half (50%) of the organisations surveyed are upskilling non-security staff, 46% are increasing the use of contractors or external consultants, and a quarter (27%) are adopting reskilling programmes.
Cybersecurity professionals believe that hands-on experience in a cybersecurity role (97%), credentials held (88%), and completion of hands-on cybersecurity training courses (83%) are very or somewhat important when determining if a cybersecurity candidate is qualified.
Chris Cooper, member of ISACA’s Emerging Trends Working Group, said: “If businesses are to maintain their cyber resilience in an ever-evolving threat climate, we must encourage and nurture talent in the cybersecurity industry.
“Employers are looking for people who already have hands-on experience, but we will only enable people to build that experience by creating more entry-level roles and investing in the right training and development for everyone in the industry, from the ground up.”
The report also comes at the beginning of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which has a theme of “Secure Our World.”
MBN Solutions has welcomed a six-figure funding package from UK Steel Enterprise (UKSE), a subsidiary of Tata Steel, that will help the business drive forward its ambitious growth plans and double its headcount.
Founded in 2007 by Glasgow businessperson, Michael Young, MBN Solutions offers talent and recruitment for the data and technology industries.
Specialising in placing candidates in data engineering, data science and analytics roles, MBN Solutions has supported hundreds of clients in a variety of sectors from finance to energy, helping to strengthen their workforce and operations.
The funding from UKSE will accelerate the firm’s growth strategy by enabling it to purchase enhanced technology, increase its marketing outputs and explore new partnership opportunities with key stakeholders.
Importantly, the funding will also help MBN Solutions achieve a change in strategic direction as it evolves to meet the demands of one of the fastest growing and most pivotal technology sectors.
The company will refocus its services and expanding capabilities to better serve clients in the dynamic fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The funding will enable the doubling of its team over the next two years to facilitate the move away from traditional recruitment models to becoming a retained partner of choice.
MBN Solutions plans to increase its headcount from 20 to 40, hiring both in Glasgow and across the UK, with new hired given the flexibility to work from their Glasgow headquarters or remotely.
Its dedicated MBN Data Academy programme has also helped place more than 300 master’s programme students into summer internship programmes. In partnership with universities, the initiative ensures that students are taught skills that are industry relevant, as well as helping sector professionals understand what academia requires of students.
Michael Young, founder and CEO at MBN Solutions, said: “MBN Solutions has spent the last 16 years positioning itself as a leader in placing top talent across data and tech roles, which have become ever more fundamental for all firms given a digital-first approach to business.
“The funding from UKSE marks an important milestone in our history as we build on our strong foundation to expand operations and our team. Our ambition to create 20 new roles in the next two years underlines the direction that we see MBN Solutions taking, and we’re proud to continue supporting the next generation of tech-workers and decision makers.”
Terry Quinn, regional executive at UKSE, said: “MBN Solutions is a prime example of a Scottish business that continues to go from strength to strength. Michael and his team’s positive can-do attitude has earned them a fantastic 16 years in business, and I look forward to learning how the UKSE funding kickstarts their new chapter.”
Digital Xtra Fund will be awarding 26 grants totally £110,000 to local tech and coding clubs across Scotland this year.
The Scottish charity’s grant will span across 18 local authorities, with an outreach of approximately 3,000 children and young people.
Kraig Brown, Digital Xtra Fund’s partnership and development manager said: “We received 143 applications this year, compared to 94 last year and around 60 per year before Covid. This clearly shows an increasing determination to positively engage young people with tech both in and out of the classroom.
“We also saw a higher percentage of applications for local, community-based tech and coding clubs as opposed to larger events. These clubs usually run for 6-8 weeks multiple times a year, allowing educators to create a more enriching and impactful experience for learners. This year’s initiatives are also, once again, planning to engage a higher percentage of girls than boys. This is incredible and shows the value of extracurricular activities like these.”
This year’s grants include the ‘NextGen Coding Club’ by the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers in Aberdeen, ‘Roving Robots’ by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar in the Western Isles, an all-girls’ ‘DigiSTEM Club’ in East Renfrewshire, the ‘Hillhead Digi Den and Technology Playground’ by Hillhead Primary School in Glasgow, ‘Tech Sheds’ at three libraries in Midlothian, and the ‘St Andrews RC Primary Coding and Robotics Club’ in Dundee.
This marks the eighth cohort of tech initiatives since Digital Xtra Fund was launched in 2016. The charity supports extracurricular activities for young people at the primary and secondary school age to drive digitalskills and has secured nearly £1 million for tech clubs and initiatives around the country since its inception.
The funding announcement also follows a report from the Digital Poverty Alliance and Deloitte which detailed the pitfalls of digital exclusion and the importance of digital skills in Scotland and the wider UK.
The Benzies Foundation and Outplay Entertainment are two new backers this year joining a list that includes Baillie Gifford, CGI, Chroma Ventures, and J.P. Morgan as well as Accenture, Cirrus Logic, Incremental Group, ScotlandIS, and Skyscanner. The Scottish Government will also once again match their support for 2023/24.
Digital Xtra Fund will also soon launch Code Like Kids, a new learning and development opportunity aimed at industry and corporate executives. Participants will get hands-on with popular devices such as micro:bits, Sphero indis, LEGO SPIKE Prime, and Marty the Robot.
Kraig Brown said: “We saw companies become more connected to initiatives after getting involved; however, we also received feedback that while staff were keen to engage with young people, they were anxious doing so being unfamiliar with tools such as block coding or the type of kit found in many clubs.
“We created Code Like Kids to teach these skills but what we didn’t appreciate is that it’s also a fantastic learning opportunity for all organisations, not just tech companies, as it also teaches teamwork, creativity, and problem solving.”
Kraig Brown added: “Companies will be able to book a Code Like Kids session with a donation to the Fund meaning not only will they be giving their staff a fun and unique experience, but they will also be enabling more tech activities for young people across Scotland. It’s a win-win.”
Nearly two-thirds of parents and guardians (61.6%) are concerned about their children’s usage of mobile phones and social media, a new survey from Uswitch.com.
The survey interviewed over 600 parents and guardians in the UK with children ages six to 16, and comes amid the UK government announcing an outright ban to mobile phone usage by pupils across English schools.
The ban would include breaks and class time alike, and has brought about a string of controversy from the teacher’s union who have said education secretary Gillian Keegan’s plan are “unenforceable” and sweeping real challenges under the rug.
But how do parents and guardians feel about their children’s phone usage?
Almost half of parents in the survey (48%) said that their child’s academic performance could be impacted by mobile phone usage.
In contrast, over half of the respondents (55%) said that they’d feel concerned about their child’s safety during school hours if they did not carry a mobile phone with them.
Most parents and guardians admitted to being concerned about their child’s use of mobile phones and social media, with a larger percentage being more concerned over this (19.8%) than about their child’s safety during school if they lacked regular pone access (17.3%).
Why Are Parents Concerned About Social Media?
Uswitch delved further into some data on the most removed content on social media to determine why parents may be concerned about their children’s use of the platforms.
Most social media sites, like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, have minimum age restrictions, typically not allowing users under the age of 13 from using their platforms. However, these rules can be easily flouted — TikTok was fined by the UK and the EU for handling children’s data and making it easy for them to join the platform despite being underage.
Recent research from the Advertising Standards Authority shows that 93% of UK children aged 11-17 have social media accounts, and that 86% of 11-12 year olds have accounts as well, despite being under-age.
It is easy to see why then, parents would be concerned, considering the content their children may come across on social media.
TikTok saw the most content removed per 100,000 users in 2022, with a staggering 37,798 videos removed. The most common reason for removing the content was due to ‘Minor safety’, meaning any content potentially harmful to minors.
Facebook saw the second highest volume of content removed, followed by Instagram. The platforms, both owned by parent-company Meta, removed mainly ‘Adult Nudity & Sexual Activity’ content.
Besides this content, parents have shown concern about cyberbullying, content glorifying eating disorders and self harm, as well as content encouraging radicalisation, conspiracy theories, or hateful rhetoric. Grooming and coercion is also a concern amongst parents and government.
These concerns lead to the creation of the Online Safety Bill which was championed early on by parents who had lost children to online harms and were concerned for their children’s mental and physical wellbeing online. With the Online Safety Bill’s passing, failure to remove harmful content for children could result in prison sentences or major fines, but this does not guarantee children will not see harmful content on social media.
What Can Parents Do?
Max Beckett, expert at Uswitch.com mobiles has therefore shared his top tips for keeping children safe while using mobile phones:
1. Resecting social media age restrictions can be key to keeping children safe online. According to Ofcom research, up to two-thirds of children between the ages of eight and 12 had help from their parents when setting up social media accounts.
2. Taking an interest in what your child is doing on their phone — the apps they are using and how much they are using them, can be key in protecting your child from cyberbullying, and also other negative effects on their sleep schedule or attention span.
3. Limiting phone usage and screen time can help children build healthy habits. Barring phones from the dinner table or when its time to do homework can help children priorities their time and engage with the real world.
4. Parental control apps and software can also be key in restricting harmful or age-appropriate content for younger children.
The Royal family’s official website was forced offline after being targeted in a distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyber-attack, which has now been claimed by the Russian hacktivist group Killnet.
As a result, the site was down for about an hour and a half on Sunday morning, but apparently, no access to the site, systems or content was gained.
The Royal family’s website was up and running again by midday but had earlier displayed an “error” message to anyone attempting to access it. DoS attacks differ from hacking in that the people targeting the website do not actually gain access or control of the site.
A DDoS attack is different from standard hacking, meaning that a site typically malfunctions and is forced to shut down due to a surplus of traffic.
The website was up and running about two hours after the initial attack.
Killnet claimed credit for the attack on its Telegram page, but their actual involvement has yet to be confirmed.
Further, checks are currently underway to confirm that no data or security was compromised as part of the attack.
Responding to the news, cyber expert Oseloka Obiora, CTO, RiverSafe said: “Whether you are a prince of pauper, cyber criminals are coming for you and this incident is another reminder of the dangers posed by sophisticated online attacks.
“Moving forward, organisations of all shapes and sizes need to urgently update their cyber defences, both in terms of skills and software, to prevent malicious hackers from achieving their insidious objectives,” he added.
Last year the group was named in a joint warning about cyberattacks on critical infrastructure from the “Five Eyes” alliance, made up of intelligence agencies in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Recently, another international cohort of national cybersecurity councils met to discuss ways in which democracies can defend and protect civil society members from being targeted in cyber-attacks, by which the Royal Family could be considered.
It is currently unclear if the Royal Family website will be undertaking any measures to mitigate their chance of attack.
Currently, the site has a CloudFlare security check before allowing people entrance into the website.
International cyber agencies met to discuss how democracies can help defend communities at a higher risk of being targeted online at a meeting co-chaired by the head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron and the director of the United States’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Jen Easterly held the strategic dialogue with leaders from six other countries to discuss the threat of transnational repression facing certain civil society groups around the world.
Earlier this year, the participating countries – Australia, Canada, Estonia, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the UK and the US – committed to identifying ways to support the cybersecurity of these communities in the face of authoritarian government increasingly using cyber means to target them.
Communities identified as being at higher risk include individuals working in politics, including elected officials such as MPs, journalists, academics, lawyers, dissidents, and those sanctioned by foreign states.
The dialogue, which has been set up by CISA as part of its High-Risk Community Protection initiative, saw participants brief about their existing efforts to protect civil society groups online, exchange insights into the threat landscape and agree to continue collaborating
“Protecting civil society from cyber threats is vital so it can continue its important work upholding our democratic values in the UK and around the world,” Lindy Cameron, Chief Executive of the NCSC, said.
“The NCSC with CISA and international partners have reaffirmed our commitment to support at-risk communities to bolster their cyber security in the face of a heightened threat of transnational repression.
“This strategic dialogue is the latest step we are taking to defend our democracy and improve our collective cyber resilience against online harms.”
Security minister Tom Tugendhat added: “Over the past year we’ve seen concerted attempts by foreign powers to intimidate, harass and harm communities here in the UK.
“An increasingly connected online world grants them new opportunities to intimidate journalists and dissidents who are resident beyond their borders.
“This dialogue brings together the best minds in cyber to discuss how we can strengthen the online security of at-risk communities – which is vital to maintaining the free speech and scrutiny that repressive regimes so clearly fear.”
The NCSC highlighted how commercial cyber intrusion tools – or spyware – have almost certainly been used by some states in the targeting of individuals such as journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents, and opponents and foreign government officials.
The participants in the first dialogue have agreed to meet in the future to continue addressing the challenges of transnational repression.
Up to 19 million people over the age of 16 are currently experiencing some form of digital poverty, according to a report by Deloitte and the Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA).
The report defined those in digital poverty as not just those who lack access to digital devices and connection, but also those lacking the necessary digital skills to engage in online settings.
Based on this definition, between a quarter to a third (24-34%) of those over the age of 16 are estimated to be in at least one dimension of digital poverty.
Of this, one in 17are deprived across all dimensions of digital poverty, including digital skills, an inability to get online more than once a week, and a lack of appropriate devices or connections.
Digitally Divided
The digital divide is worse across age, gender, socioeconomic indicators, and regionally split.
Age is one of the biggest factors affecting the divide, with one in two older adults living in some state of digital poverty, and one in five in severe digital poverty.
Younger adults are also more likely to be impacted than middle aged adults, as inflation and the cost-of-living crisis squeezes families and rent impact young people’s pay checks.
As such, around a fifth (20%) of children, those under the age of 16, are estimated to be impacted.
Further, there appears to be a gender divide, with women being 14-22% more likely to be in digital poverty than men.
Lower income houses are also more likely to be suffering some sort of digital poverty, and the unemployed are two to three times as likely to be in digital poverty than the employed.
Scotland and Northern Ireland appear to be the most impacted by digital connectivity, device, and participation gaps, where as Northern Ireland and Wales appear most impacted by the digital skills gap.
The DPA estimated that the entire country is set to benefit from billions of extra pounds if they can eliminate digital poverty, with the most significant benefits to come through the forms of improved human capital and productivity.
Ensuring more people have necessary digital skills will close the digital skills gap, enabling more people to go back into lucrative work, and lessening social exclusion. This, the DPA, will balloon into more disposable income that can boost the economy in the long term.
However, there is much work to be done to lessen the skills gap and reap these benefits.
Andrew Tong, economic advisory partner at Deloitte, said: “Digital poverty is a pervasive issue that impacts not only the oldest in society who have been unable to keep pace with technological advancements, or those with acute affordability issues, but individuals of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds.
“The report highlights eight priority areas for action that could improve digital poverty outcomes for those affected across all ages and sectors.”
These priority areas include:
1. Affordable access to appropriate devices. This could be achieved through more private-charity sector device bank initiatives.
2. Quality connectivity. Continuing and extending support for broadband connectivity, especially to those most vulnerable is key to level up digital access. Reforming social tariffs for broadband costs and investing in rural and remote communities is also paramount to making this initiative effective.
3. Upskilling and Information Sharing Support. Designing digital literacy programmes to support the growth of digital skills is vital to closing the skills gap, especially among older adults.
4. Addressing Existing Gaps in Schooling. Education reforms starting at the lowest level will be essential to prepare children for the digital age. Supporting access to devices as well as digital skills will ensure society benefits from the potential human capital this could unlock.
5. Inclusivity and Online Safety. The DPA is calling for continued efforts to make sure that the online world is accessible and safe, but that its harms are limited, especially for those most vulnerable. This includes expanding the work of the online safety bill and ensuring the private sector applies protections.
6. Novel interventions: Novel interventions to promote digital skills may be necessary, especially among the older populous which might be scared or disillusioned with new technology.
7. Improving Data and Evidence. Part of the problem is a lack of accurate data to study the problem, and its root causes. There is currently no dataset which captured all the dimensions of digital poverty.
8. The Socioeconomics of digital poverty. The socioeconomic factors driving digital poverty needs to be addressed, and will require action not just from the DPA, but from the public, private, and third sector.
Elizabeth Anderson, interim CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, commented: “We are delighted to work with Deloitte to release the report on Digital Poverty in the UK, shining a bigger spotlight on the issue at hand. The report highlights key, impactful statistics, providing evidence that more must be done to address this vital issue while highlighting the widespread nature of digital poverty.
“Digital poverty can impact an individual’s life at any age, from a child’s education to an elderly person’s ability to access services, such as online banking, and more must be done to support those in need.
“As the DPA work towards the goal of ending digital poverty by 2030, the report will act as a guiding pillar for government, businesses and stakeholders. It provides detailed insight into what must be done, as well as the positive impacts becoming a digitally inclusive nation can have, not only on those who are currently excluded, but on the UK as a whole.
“Ending digital poverty will take more than just the actions of a select few, but the collective actions of the nation, and we hope the report increases the momentum the DPA has created towards this vital cause.”
This was said to Professor Eyad Elyan back in 2018 when he was hired to use machine learning and artificial intelligence to help solve a company’s problems more efficiently.
It’s a familiar rhetoric, borne from nascent fears around automation and its implications for the workforce. However, as AI’s use becomes increasingly commonplace, it’s an argument that’s becoming rendered obsolete.
AI has advanced, and whether we trust it or not, it’s here to stay.
Profession Eyad Elyan is a Professor at Robort Gordon University, and the lead of the Interactive Machine Vision Research group associated with the university.
Speaking at ScotSoft 2023, ScotlandIS’s annual conference, he asked an overflowing room ranging from decision-makers to burgeoning tech talent what word came to mind when they heard “artificial intelligence.”
“Robot!” “Speed.” “Terminator!” “Hype.” “Grift.”
ChatGPT answered “innovation” when Elyan asked it.
The professor was dissatisfied with each answer.
“For me, AI is data, it is literally data-driven solutions,” he explained. “And if you want to think about it, you have got to think about data.”
In fact, whenever Prof Elyan said AI during his presentation at SoftScot, he immediately almost corrected himself to say “data-driven applications.”
With data expanding exponentially, he says, being able to effectively harness this is vital in driving organisations forward, which he says is the main purpose of AI.
“The metrics are mind blowing,” he said, referring to the recent data boom.
With exponential data, significant progress at the algorithmic level, and the huge power offered by AI, even home computers have the ability to process, analyse and synthesise different types of data like never before.
Prof Elyan led the room through the two main forms of AI being used today, and detailed some of the major opportunities – and challenges – the technology offers Scotland.
Supervised ML – Making Your Data Work for You
Supervised Machine learning is one of the most common types of artificial intelligence used, making up about 95% of the AI landscape today, according to Elyan.
The capabilities and data this technology can harness is completely beyond human ability – “the numbers don’t compare,” claimed Elyan. Ten of thousands for a human, to many millions of AI.
Supervised ML is highly reliant on quality data, but the capabilities of the type of data it can use has dramatically expanded in recent years.
Elyan showed a picture of a dog and a child sitting on a porch, with a car driving by in the background. An AI model correctly identified each object in the picture. Just identifying the dog would’ve earned someone a PhD a few years ago, Elyan jokes.
But the use cases are expanding with the data – complex engineering diagrams and images are simply code and data that AI algorithms can understand, analyse, and make sense of.
Elyan used this in engineering and monitoring of offshore assets in Aberdeen, reducing workload and providing real-time analytics. But, according to Elyan, the applications are endless, only limited by the amount of data one has.
He said: “We have lots of data – you don’t have to buy it because your business is generating so much data and you are not using it.
“When we put it to task, it makes things much faster and much better.”
Generative AI – More Questions Than Answers
Even though it makes up a small fraction of the total AI landscape, generative AI is all the rage.
Its rise has been prolific, especially since the introduction of ChatGPT.
The large language model, developed by OpenAI, has broken the Turing test, a test developed to see if a machine can exhibit the same degree of intelligence as a human to a believable degree.
“The Turing test stood the test of time for 60 years”, Elyan said.
“This has been trashed.”
This seminal moment in the technology’s life has created a wealth of opportunities, as well as challenges.
Challenges and Opportunities
“The great news is that you won’t be exterminated by AI,” Elyan said, however he did leave an ominous admission.
He added: “There is a price that comes with this, but it’s not going to get rid of us,” he said.
AI can offer faster, safer and more efficient practices for a number of applications, and it can reduce human bias if the right measures are taken place.
But there are major challenges that arise from AI’s increased use.
“Privacy is one of the biggest issues,” Elyan said, as AI data scraping has been a major concern among privacy rights groups.
Exacerbating human bias is also a worry.
“AI is simply garbage in, garbage out,” Elyan said. “If you give them biased data, they will give you biased results.”
With these two issues combined, Elyan says soon, we will miss the simple days of the Cambridge Analytical scandal while we still grapple with international data transfer policies and AI’s use in decision making.
But Elyan was more concerned about AI’s impact on a cultural level after noticing a phenomenon he called the “shortcut-driven approach.”
“When I learned programming, we used to write on paper, draw, think about the steps, break things down into components, then go on the computer, and code it, and spend the whole night debugging the code,” he said.
“Nowadays, the first thing they do is jump on ChatGPT, even if they say they do not, I know that they do,” he said, referring to his students.
And he’s not sure if this is a good or bad thing – but it does worry him.
He’s also concerned about the lack of explainability in AI, saying: “In all AI, there’s a philosophy – ‘I don’t care why it works, but tell me it works’ – that’s a problem. We have to do a lot of work on explainability,” he said.
But his main concern, for Scotland especially, revolves around education.
“This is what really keeps me awake at night – you have to continuously upskill and reskill,” he said.
“As educators, we have to rethink how we do things. In Scotland, we have fantastic young people, but I’m not sure how good our education is to uncover their potential.”
“If I was a policy maker, I would put everything else aside, and my task would be to transform education in Scotland.”
Opening SoftScot 2023, Karen Meechan, the CEO of ScotlandIS, announced the establishment of the body’s new IT Managed Service Providers Cluster and best practice charter, aiming to elevate Scotland’s IT Support Cluster.
“By the community and for the community,” Meechan described the cluster and charter, which aim to significantly strengthen the ITMSP industry and provide a new set of standards for excellence across the nation.
Highlighting the rapidly evolving digital landscape, where technology is integral to business success, adherence to best practices is paramount.
From datasecurity to avoiding technical debt and the pitfalls of mismatched legacy hardware and software, centring IT best practices across sectors is integral to digital transformation and advancing Scotland as a digital nation.
ScotlandIS is recognising the importance of fostering collaboration within the tech community to harness its full potential by establishing this cluster and charter.
As the demand for ITMSPs continues to grow, and with more organisations outsourcing their IT services amid the skills shortage, ScotlandIS has developed the ITMSP Cluster.
“There are huge barriers of growth for our members,” Meechan said at SoftScot, “and that tends to centre around the lack of skills.
“There’s a lack of skills, a lack of talent, and a lack of people coming into the sector.”
This cluster creates a dedicated hub for the industry, cultivating knowledge sharing, quality standardisation and enriched partnership working among ScotlandIS’ extensive network of over 200 IT Managed Services Providers.
“In today’s digital landscape, where digitalisation is imperative and the risk of cyber threats is high, effective IT management plays a pivotal role,” Meechan said.
“The seamless operation, success and strength of a business hinges upon the robustness of its IT infrastructure. This new cluster supported by the Scottish Governments Cyber Resilience Unit, is hugely important in ensuring that Scotland is cyber resilient and allows companies to share a wealth of expertise in one place.”
Complimenting the cluster, the Best Practice Charter aims to reduce the potential for gaps in a business’s IT robustness, ultimately enhancing its cyber posture. It’s designed to standardise service quality and clarify roles of clients and ITMSPs.
Launched in Meechan’s opening at the ScotSoft conference in Edinburgh, the charter establishes clear standards that customers can expect from IT Managed Service providers across Scotland.
It also aims to empower businesses with the knowledge and tools needed to deliver exceptional services, maintain high levels of cybersecurity, and build customer trust.
Additionally, the Charter serves as a badge of excellence, signifying a steadfast commitment to best practices that elevates business reputation within the industry and with clients.
Spearheaded by ScotlandIS head of cyber, Beverly Bowles, the charter is 18 months in the making, and brought together individuals from across the spectrum of IT Managed Service Providers from the length and breadth of Scotland.
ScotandIS attempted to truly reflect the wants and needs of the ITMSPs who will adhere to the Charter.
Karen Meechan added: “The Charter has been established to help protect both parties. It will enable businesses to define the boundaries of their digital protections while allowing IT service providers to clearly communicate and agree on their scope.”
The Scottish National Investment Bank has released its second full year accounts, detailing its investment history since it was established little over two years ago.
Since its establishment, the Bank has committed over £445 million in long-term strategic investment. A further £703m has been attracted in from other sources, ensuring the Scottish economy has benefitted from well over £1.3bn of support.
The Bank’s activity has spanned across a range of businesses and projects, including net-zero, biotechnology, broadband connectivity, and improving communities or harnessing innovation.
Over the course of its last financial year, the Bank has seen its portfolio nearly double, from 14 to 27 investments.
Companies and projects such as pureLiFi, Elasmogen, North Star Renewable and Orbex, have all been backed by the Bank, each of which delivered against one or more of the Bank’s missions.
The Scottish National Investment Bank has also helped scale some of Scotland’s rising tech businesses.
Back in April, the company provided £5m in funding to help Scottish-cloud platform company Forrit scale up their operations.
Verlume, a clean energy technology developer, also received £7.2m in funds as part of the Bank’s mission to help a smooth transition to net-zero carbon emissions.
Furthering it’s net-zero goals, the Bank also invested £5m in Utopi, a Glasgow-based energy consumption monitoring technology company which produces real time environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data.
To advance healthtech, PneumoWave, a company which developed a remote patient monitoring technology for respiratory detection, received £5.2m from the bank earlier this year as well.
The jobs supported by investee businesses have reached 2,300 and 100% of businesses have committed to Fair Work First Principles.
Chief Executive Officer Al Denholm said: “These results show strong progress for The Bank with revenue increasing 463% to £10.7 million over the past 12 months, while there was a 55.5% increase in Committed Investment of £220.7 million.”
“I believe we can become one of the most respected impact investors in the industry, generating social, environmental and economic returns for the people of Scotland. I look forward to working with the team and our many stakeholders, on delivering the Bank’s missions on behalf of the people of Scotland.”
While delivering impact and commercial returns from its investments, as a development bank it also adopts a higher risk appetite than other investors. Risk is based on the measured judgement of the investment team and is considered throughout the investment decision making process.
An unrealised loss of £17.8 million has been recognised in the financial year, the majority relates to adjustments which reflect the underlying performance of investee companies. This includes a £4.5m unrealised loss recognised on Circularity Scotland Limited for the financial year ending 31 March 2023.
The Bank is still in early stages, being only 2 years old. As a patient capital investor, the Bank will look at opportunities and returns over the long term and while it is inevitable that not all of our investments will deliver a positive return, with this long-term view, fluctuation is expected within the portfolio.
“Our capacity as an organisation to deliver insight, investment and impact has grown significantly,” Chairman Willie Watt said.
“As an institution we are moving out of our start-up phase and are becoming an increasingly established organisation, delivering solidly against our business plans.
“The overall economic climate has been challenging for companies seeking to raise investment.
“As a development bank with a particular focus on long-term and strategic investment, we have worked to support innovative, growth-oriented businesses to navigate these conditions while delivering on their ambitious business strategies.
“Despite incurring our first investment loss after the end of this financial year, we continue to work towards a positive net return across our portfolio as a whole, demonstrating both responsible and productive stewardship of public capital.”
The UK and US have united together to combat the rise of child sexual abuse images generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) programmes.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman, alongside US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, has committed to exploring further joint action to tackle the alarming rise in despicable AI-generated images of children being sexually exploited by paedophiles.
The two countries have issued a joint statement pledging to work together to innovate and explore development of new solutions to fight the spread of this imagery and have called on other nations to join them.
“GenAI is already being extensively used for the production of CSAM material on the dark web – we are now starting to see those incidents appearing on the clear web. Most recently, a community in Spain had to respond after photographs of their children were used as the base for images, and we anticipate we will start to see this content crossing into the pure web more and more now,” Annabel Turner, founder of CyberSafe Scotland, a nonprofit which works to keep children safe online, said.
Investigations by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) have found that AI-generated images of children being abused – including babies and toddlers – are growing, with some depicting the worst kind of offending under UK and US law.
The organisation has also uncovered an online ‘manual’ dedicated to helping offenders refine their prompts and train AI to return more realistic results.
The rise is concerning, with law enforcement agencies and charities convinced an increase in child sexual abuse material will fuel a normalisation of offending and lead to more children being targeted.
The surge in AI-generated images could also slow law enforcement agencies from tracking down and identifying victims of child sexual abuse, and detecting offenders and bringing them to justice.
In addition, some AI technologies provide offenders with the capability to create new pictures from benign imagery, through a process known as inpainting.
Currently, 800 predators a month are arrested by UK law enforcement agencies and up to 1,200 children are safeguarded from child sexual abuse following information provided by social media companies.
“Unfortunately, the worldwide consumption of child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) material is far, far higher than most people realise,” Turner added, her experience as a lawyer fighting for child victims abroad and her subsequent research informing her. “There is a huge industry behind the production of this material – and to give you context – on the dark web the producers of GenAI abuse, featuring children who were first abused many years ago, are now becoming cult figures and their names, logos and tags, as well as the names of the children involved, are widely known in that space. Those children (now adults) have had their names and addresses published and their personal security is compromised. They cannot get this material taken down without government support.
Controversally, Meta is set to introduce end-to-end encryption to private messages on its platforms, including Facebook Messenger. The UK government has called on the social media company to not introduce encryption unless there are “robust safety measures” to protect children, but tech experts says that these tools do not exist without infringing on people’s privacy.
If Meta proceeds with its plans, the government says it will no longer be able to detect child abuse on their platforms. The National Crime Agency (NCA) estimates 92% of Facebook Messenger and 85% of Instagram Direct referrals could be lost – meaning thousands of criminals a year could go undetected.
The partnership between the UK and US follows after the passing of the controversial Online Safety Bill through Parliament last week.
AI-generated child sexual exploitation and abuse content is illegal, regardless of whether it depicts a real child or not. Under the government’s landmark bill, technology companies will be required to proactively identify content and remove it.
The bill is deliberately tech-neutral, the government claims, to ensure it keeps pace with emerging technologies like AI, and services will have a duty to stop the spread of illegal content such as child sexual abuse, terrorist material, and fraud.
Ofcom will have the power to direct companies to either use, or make best efforts to develop or source, technology to identify and remove CSEA content.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Child sexual abuse is a truly abhorrent crime and one of the challenges of our age. Its proliferation online does not respect borders and must be combatted across the globe.
“That is why we are working to tackle the sickening rise of AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery which incites paedophiles to commit more offences and also obstructs law enforcement from finding real victims online.
“It is therefore vital we work hand-in-glove with our close partners in the US to tackle it. I commend the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), who work tirelessly to keep children safe around the world. Social media companies must take responsibility and prioritise child safety on their platforms.”
Turner added: “This is horrific for all children involved – and it is so vital that Scotland takes a leading role in responding to this. There is something that we can all do to help in this space. There are amazing international projects happening that the tech community can get involved with e.g. the Jane Doe project. There are huge roles for those involved in the development of GenAI.”
For more information on how organisations and people can directly help the crisis, you can find more information here.
After reprimanding seven organisations in the past 14 months for data breaches affecting victims of domestic abuse, the ICO has called on organisations to step up their data handling protocols to prevent further danger.
The reprimands, which have occurred since June 2022, include:
Four cases of organisations revealing the safe addresses of the victims to their alleged abuser. In one case a family had to be immediately moved to emergency accommodation.
Revealing identities of women seeking information about their partners to those partners.
Disclosing the home address of two adopted children to their birth father, who was in prison on three counts of raping their mother.
Sending an unredacted assessment report about children at risk of harm to their mother’s ex-partners.
Organisations involved include a law firm, a housing association, an NHS trust, a government department, local councils, and a police service.
According to the ICO, the root causes for the breaches vary, but common themes are a lack of staff training and failing to have robust procedures in place to handle personal information safely.
“These families reached out for help to escape unimaginable violence, to protect them from harm and to seek support to move forward from dangerous situations. But the very people that they trusted to help, exposed them to further risk,” John Edwards, the UK information commissioner said.
“This is a pattern that must stop. Organisations should be doing everything necessary to protect the personal information in their care. The reprimands issued in the past year make clear that mistakes were made and that organisations must resolve the issues that lead to these breaches in the first place.
“Getting the basics right is simple – thorough training, double checking records and contact details, restricting access to information – all these things reduce the risk of even greater harm.
“Protecting the information rights of victims of domestic abuse is a priority area for my office, and we will be providing further support and advice to help keep people safe.”
The ICO has already revised its approach to public sector enforcement last year, aiming to reduce the impact of fines on the public by working more closely with the public sector, encouraging compliance with data protection law to prevent harms before they happen.
The reprimands provide clear instructions to these organisations on how to improve their data protection practices, and other organisations can apply the lessons to their own activities so similar incidents are less likely to happen.
Advice and Guidance for Personal Data Handling
The ICO has also released guidance for organisations to keep personal and private data secure.
If an organisation works with people experiencing domestic abuse, it should make sure relevant staff know how to handle their data with extra care and can accommodate any requests for privacy.
This could include specific training, placing notes on files, ensuring staff include information about data-handling when taking part in handovers, or regularly reminding all staff of the processes.
Regularly checking contact information is also vital to protect people’s data from being disclosed to an old address, email address, or contact number.
Organisations should also ensure they put in proper measures to mitigate any inappropriate access to personal data, whether it be implementing passwords or access controls.
Going back to basics, like always double checking information that is shared, is also key in preventing breaches.
Tailored and role-specific training is also advised for organisations dealing with delicate data.
The EU is calling on big tech companies to stand by their commitments to flush out disinformation on their platforms considering the upcoming elections across Europe and Russia’s continued assault on Ukraine.
In a speech, European Commission Vice President Ver Jourova showed the severity with which the EU is currently taking big tech’s involvement in disinformation, online safety, and fake news.
She issued an update on the anti-disinformation Code, which currently has 44 signatories from major companies including Facebook, Google, TikTok, and LinkedIn, in a commitment against disinformation on their platforms.
“One of my main messages to the signatories is to be aware of the context. Russian war against Ukraine, and the upcoming EU elections next year, are particularly relevant, because the risk of disinformation is particularly serious,” her statement read, highlighting the importance social media and digital spaces hold in supporting fair elections.
The code of practice, which focuses on squashing disinformation online, is somewhat an extension of the Digital Services Act (DSA) which came into law this year. Big tech companies voluntarily signed onto the Code in order to comply with the major tech legislation.
The Code of Practice was issued as part of a stress test so companies could test their ability to comply with the new regulations, which all large companies must comply with, even if they are no longer signatories.
This could spell disastrous for X, formally known as Twitter which left the code of practice earlier in the year, but is still obligated to follow the DSA or be banned from the EU.
The EU Commission is set to release the first compliance report after the DSA’s official approval, and the findings show that X is the worst offender.
X had the most disinformation on its platform, according the report, with Facebook in second place despite the company signing onto the code of practice.
Meta has upped its fact-checking game, however, in a bid to stop disinformation affecting upcoming elections in Europe, and now covers 22 languages in the EU.
TikTok was also a signatory, and informed the EU it has removed nearly 6m fake accounts and over four hundred unverified advertisements.
As part of it’s efforts, Google removed 300 sites it says were liked to propaganda sites, and YouTube removed over 400 channels that were linked to Russian-state sponsored affiliates.
However, the VC also noted room for continued improvement, noting where she would like tech companies to focus their work.
Consistent moderation would be key, investing in fact-checking in all Member States languages will be vital in protecting free and fair elections.
Further, companies must provide researchers appropriate access to their data to conduct their work to ensure a reasonable degree of transparency.
In Other EU Tech News…
Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner, internal market, has called on Apple to open up their software and hardware ecosystem to competitors under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The new act places certain expectations on ‘gatekeepers’ – large dominant tech companies – to not abuse their market dominance to squash new entrants and other competitors. The law aims to allow for further innovation by ensuring inter-operability is ensured across platforms.
For Apple, this would mean allowing their users to select for different apps and operating systems on their devices outside of the Apple ecosystem, including using alternative app stores and digital wallets.
Parkinson’s Disease is the world’s fastest growing neurological disorder, with over 10 million diagnoses globally –a number that is expected to double over the next 50 years. It is a progressive disease, and unavoidably ageing is the biggest risk factor.
Accurate diagnosis and grading from brain tissue after death is necessary to more fully research and understand pathological causes and develop potential new treatments.
However, brain changes can only be assessed manually, and the time required – four to six hours – is hindering the speed and scale of research into causes and potential new treatments.
Further, there is currently a shortage of trained neuropathologists globally, and partly automating their job would increase the number of cases each can examine, saving time and costs.
Automatic Classification from Digitised Brain Images
Parkinson’s UK, the largest membership-based charity in the world, was a partner on this 12-week project and enabled access to the charity’s brain bank at Imperial College London – which has more than 1,300 brains from people with Parkinson’s as well as healthy donors.
The charity produced a dataset containing 401 digitised images of brain sections immunostained to detect alpha-synuclein (a-syn), a protein which is the pathological marker of Parkinson’s, including 100 control cases from healthy donors.
Polygeist, a digital forensic and AI company, from ACE’s Vivace community, which is dedicated to using AI and technological solutions typically in law enforcement, achieved a diagnosis breakthrough by repruposing existing technology to exclude other types of brain matter that were not needed for this process.
Then, they synthetically stained slides of brain tissue using the iDeepColour neural network – an AI model which colourises images, which highlights and stains areas affected by a-syn.
Once processes, areas of interest turned bright green, making them quickly identifiable. Chopping up the original image, and slicing it into squares, meant counting the green areas also gave a strong indication of disease density.
Developing State-of-the-Art Accuracy
The work enabled Polygeist to go on to develop a proof of concept classifier which achieved around 92% accuracy hit rate on automatically classifying Parkinson’s from digitised images of brain sections, with no false alarms – remarkably close to a perfect score.
Applying this process meant moving from assessing one brain in four to six hours to minutes, which allows neurologists to focus on more complex cases. The quality of the tool is approaching viability for real-world applications.
Next steps include enhancing this process to differentiate stages of disease, as well as looking into whether proteins which indicate dementia can also be identified. Additionally, there is also potential to use this technique with brain scans on live patients in the future.
BT is inviting older people in Glasgow to come along and improve their digitalskills over a cup of tea or coffee in the city centre later this month.
Aimed at people aged 65 or over, the free sessions are set to offer support on how to accomplish tasks safely online, and help with using different digital devices.
The sessions will be held at Cafe Fame on Hope Street in the centre of Glasgow, with the café turned into the ‘BTea Room’ over three days from Wednesday 4 to Friday 6 October. BT will be offering free food, teas, and coffees to those who come along and take part.
Hosted in partnership between BT and UK charity AbilityNet, tech experts will be on hand over three days to offer advice to older people, from complete beginners to those looking to increase their online confidence.
Support will be offered on tech basics and how to carry out everyday tasks like online shopping, to support on specific devices and how the internet can help older people socialise and stay in touch with friends and family.
A key focus of the training will be on online safety and avoiding scams.
As the world shifts to become more digitised, older people are often left behind without the skills to navigate new technology. Further, older people are often targeted in online scams which can put their money and identities at risk.
With more and more everyday activities such as booking a doctor’s appointment, shopping, banking, and paying bills increasingly difficult to do without going online, there are concerns that some older people may be missing out due to a lack of confidence or access to the internet.
The charity Centre for Ageing Better says that although internet use is still increasing among 55-74 year olds, the growth is slowing and there are still more than three million people aged 55 and over who have never used the internet.
The charity’s latest State of Ageing report finds that, while eight in ten people aged 65 and over now have internet access, only six in ten have the skills to be able to access the internet independently.
Victoria Johnson, Social Impact Director at BT Group, said: “While we know that the pandemic resulted in many older people using online devices for the first time, it’s sadly the case that there are still many who, for various reasons, aren’t online. It’s really important we try to change this and give those people who are reluctant, or those who lack confidence, the skills to get online.
“Experts tell us that the best approach to helping older people gain confidence and improve their online skills is through tailored, one-to-one support delivered among peers. What better way to do this than over a cuppa in a great venue.”
The sessions – created in partnership with AbilityNet – will offer a range of options, from a quick drop-in to ask specific questions, to more detailed 30 minute and 90 minute sessions.
The sessions in Glasgow are part of a UK-wide ‘Senior Skills’ Programme from BT and AbilityNet that will deliver more than 1,000 group and one-to-one training sessions to those who need it most in regions across the UK.
The partnership between the two organisations has set the goal to help improve the digital skills of 5,000 older and digitally excluded people across the UK in 2023.
40% of women in the technology sector agree that their decision to stay in their current role hinges on the care responsibilities they have.
This dismal but ultimately unsurprising statistic is from this year’s Tech Talent Charter (TTC) 2023 Attrition Report, which surveyed 500 women throughout the UK working in digital, IT or tech roles.
The TTC was founded to support diversity and inclusion across the technology sector, with aims to secure the talent pipeline, but their surveys have consistently found societal gaps and pressures are keeping women out of the tech sphere.
It’s a well known fact that tech has a gender gap – UK averages show that just 22% of the tech sector is made up of women, with this statistic winnowing as it tracks up to senior and C-suite roles.
TTC therefore attempted to examine the current landscape for attrition of women in tech roles, finding a high degree of mobility among the subsect.
The survey found that job changes are common across all ages of women in tech, with 64.8% reporting they had changed tech jobs in the last five years.
Slightly more to the point, however, is that around a third (32.2%) of women said they were planning on leaving their current tech job, and only half of that number (16%) had been in their tech role for more than a year with no plans of leaving.
The stability that tech jobs claim to offer may not nearly be enough to keep women, or people as a whole, attached to a company or role – those in London, abundant with tech jobs, were more likely to move to a new job (39.2%) than those further afield (32.5%).
While women may be on trend for changing their tech jobs, what they change to is more troubling – while over half (55.4%) did leave a tech role for another tech role, over a third (36.2%) left with no plans of re-entering the tech world.
While a decent proportion of these women attributed their move to caring responsibilities (11.4%), over a quarter (24.8%) of the total sample stayed in the workforce in a non-tech role instead.
Among those who are currently planning to leave a tech job, over a third (34.8%) are planning to work in a non-tech role.
Clearly, something is wrong with the tech industry as women are not turning away or pushed out of work completely.
TTC investigated further, finding some of the top reasons women are leaving the tech world.
Career Progression Concerns
The number one factor with the highest level of agreement among those surveyed was career progression, with four out of five (79.9%) agreeing that they were dissatisfied with their career development.
TTC’s research made it quite clear that women were not the problem in this case – they were more likely to hold degrees than the wider survey population, and that majority of them either actively disagreed (55.2%) or had no feelings (21.5%) that the difficulty of their role was a factor in their decision to leave.
Women in junior tech roles were even less likely to find the technical aspects of their job too difficult than the rest of the respondents.
The Big Three: Pay Gaps, The Cost of Living, and Care Responsibilities
The interplay between the big three concerns amongst women in the workforce cannot be understated: the overall gender pay gap, which is exacerbated by the lack of women in senior roles, the cost of living crisis, which has been shown to more greatly affect women, and societal pressures disproportionately placing care responsibilities onto women.
These interwoven issues affect career progression, family decisions, and future outlooks of women in the overall workforce.
Salary dissatisfaction was among one of the top reasons women considered jumping from their tech roles, with over two thirds (67.9%) leaving because of it. Despite tech roles being estimated to pay nearly two thirds (64%) higher than the UK average, women tend to be left out of the more lucrative roles.
Gender diversity in senior-level roles drops by six points, and women are already in typically less highly-paid tech roles, TTC research has found.
According to the World Economic Forum, women were bearing the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis, with women in the UK bringing home on average $696 less per month than men in 2022.
With family responsibilities, this issue only gets worse, with even women in a two-parent household giving survey responses that childcare costs were their sole responsibility.
Analysing the data by age group, with priorities fluctuating between work life balance to salary. Salary was the highest priority for those between the ages of 25 and 34, and lower amongst those under 25. Those over 55 prioritise non-salary benefits, and 45-54 year olds gave preference to career progression as a reason to leave their role.
Work Life Balance
The majority of women surveyed cited work-life balance as a key issue impacting their decision to leave their role. Many of these women then went on to relate the subject again to the issue of caring responsibilities.
The TTC’s research reflected the complexity of caring arrangements, which not only included child-rearing responsibilities, but elderly and disabled care, and family-forming priorities.
This tied into the oft-cited need for more flexible working arrangements, which would enable more women to balance their care responsibilities as well as their work load, which would at least reflect a work-work balance between a company and a household.
Company Culture
Women also cited company culture as a reason for leaving their tech roles – this was lower among those in younger age groups (18-34) but higher in those above 35. Culture tended to be a bigger factor for those without children as well, coming in as the fourth highest ranked factor after career progression.
Of the surveyed women who left their tech roles for a role outside of tech, culture was more important than for those who moved from one tech role to another.
The research also found that women with caring responsibilities were more likely to stay in tech, citing flexibility in their job.
Despite a degree of retention, the tech industry’s culture is still driving women away.
Joanna Kori, head of people at Encompass Corporation, commented: “It is both concerning and disheartening to see these figures, which highlight women being forced to alter or give up their careers in technology – and especially when a primary cause is centred on a lack of flexible working practices.
“With women saying they have left roles to better fulfil care commitments, this only emphasises, again, the importance of giving employees the opportunity to make work work for them.
“These commitments should not be a barrier and flexible working policies, for example, can be central to empowering women, and all workers, to prioritise the life and wellbeing choices that are important to them while meeting professional goals.
“Organisations should regularly evaluate whether their existing workplace policies match the needs of their employees, and evolve them as necessary to ensure all staff are well supported.
“Despite progress, the number of women in the technology sector is still too low. Unless we see tangible action and commitment to change, this will only continue, with talent and potential remaining untapped.”
Researchers from the University of Glasgow are contributing to three new innovative 5G connectivity projects which have received UK government backing.
The projects are among a total of 19 from across the country which are sharing £88m in new funding from the UK government’s Open Networks Ecosystem (ONE) competition.
The ONE competition helps deliver on the UK’s ambition to be a global leader in telecoms research and development, through investment in cutting edge open hardware and software.
Each of the projects aims to demonstrate the reliability and feasibility of Open Radio Access Network (RAN) technologies and showcase their role in delivering resilient and future-proofed connectivity to UK citizens and businesses.
The funding will enable the successful projects to develop and demonstrate a range of innovative technological solutions to improve connectivity in places with some of the biggest demand on mobile services.
These include busy locations like cities, airports, stadiums, tourism hotspots or large venues where many people use their devices simultaneously, posing a challenge for mobile networks to handle high levels of traffic.
The ONE competition was designed to demonstrate how this new way of building mobile networks can deliver fast, dependable connectivity in busy places where many people need wireless connections. Instead of using only one company’s equipment, Open RAN enables different companies’ technology to work together, which can make the network better and more flexible.
The projects will initiate trials of open 5G networks across the country, including Glasgow. The University of Glasgow is also home to the Scotland 5G Testbed, in partnership with the Scotland 5G Centre and the University of Strathclyde.
The projects supported by the University of Glasgow are:
BEACH (Worthing), which brings together Dense Air Limited, West Sussex County Council, Radisys UK Limited, the University of Glasgow, Sitenna and VMware UK Limited, which has received £8,990,595 in funding.The project will implement an energy efficient shared mobile network responding to increasing user demand in Worthing, a popular south coast holiday destination.The project will implement a shared cellular 4G/5G small cell solution, which will include intelligent network power management capable of flexing capacity in response to seasonal fluctuations in user demand.
ON-SIDE (Open Network Shared Spectrum Innovation and Design Environment), led by Cisco with the support of the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow City Council, AMD, the University of Glasgow, BBC, Neutral Wireless Ltd. and Scottish Wireless Ltd, which has received £1,694,542.The ON-SIDE project will address key challenges associated with deploying private 5G StandAlone networks operating in Shared Access radio spectrum, such as obtaining suitable spectrum licences and affordability of kit, while supporting the UK government and Ofcom’s broader telecoms diversification and spectrum management strategies.
SCONDA (Small Cells ORAN in Dense Areas), supported by AWTG, Three, Boldyn, University of Surrey, PI Works, The Scotland 5G Centre, the University of Glasgow and Accenture, which has received £9.1m in funding.
Running until March 2025, the projects are part of the UK government’s Open Networks Research and Development Fund, dedicated to building secure and resilient communications infrastructure and enhancing competition and innovation within the 5G telecoms supply chain.
The University’s contributions to the projects will be led by Professor Muhammad Imran of the James Watt School of Engineering.
Prof Imran, who leads the Communications, Sensing and Imaging research group, said: “I’m thrilled to be part of the three winning projects – BEACH, SCONDA, and ON-SIDE – in the UK government’s ONE competition.
“Together with our partners, we are driving innovation to ensure resilient, secure, and competitive networks, advancing the UK’s goal of carrying 35% of mobile network traffic over open RAN architectures by 2030.
“The University of Glasgow is at the forefront of this transformative journey, contributing to a brighter technological future.”
STEM Returners is a programme dedicated to helping STEM professionals who have taken a career break to re-enter the labour market, helping employers recruit skilled and qualified STEM workers back into the industry.
The programme, which is backed by the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology, and the Women’s Engineering Society, is focused on helping close multiple gaps in the STEM world, including the diversity gap as well as the overarching skills shortage.
In a report published today, the STEM Returners Index 2023 found that unconscious bias surrounding CV gaps has been holding talented and qualified returners from re-entering the workforce after a break in their careers, dramatically limiting the talent pool companies think is available to them.
The report also found that the current UK engineering workforce is 88% male and 91% white, with few companies taking meaningful actions to attract minority ethnic groups or address the gender imbalance.
Through partnerships with STEM organisations to run returner programmes, providing career coaching and mentoring programmes, and partnering with the Government Equality Hub, STEM Returners has helped over 400 professionals return to work across the UK.
Out of these 400, nearly half (46%) were women, and over a third (34%) are from minority ethnic groups.
Still, recruitment bias is rampant, and tends to affect women and minority ethnic workers the most.
The report surveyed over 1,000 STEM professionals on a career break, and found that women trying to re-enter the engineering industry were more likely to experience recruitment bias than men. Just shy of a quarter (24%) of women said they felt they personally experienced bias in recruitment processes due to their gender compared to just nine percent of men.
In the survey, professionals from minority ethnic backgrounds represented a large proportion (39%) of candidates attempting to return to work in 2023. They were twice as likely as all other ethnic groups (34% vs average of 17%) to feel they have experienced bias in a recruitment process related to race or ethnicity.
Ageism appears to affect returners as well, with both men (29%) and women (25%) saying the felt they have personally experienced bias in recruitment processes due to their age. As a result, 30% of returners say their personal confidence has been affected by the recruitment challenges they face, and their low confidence remains a barrier.
However, the latest results show some progress. In 2022, 29% of women said they felt bias due to their gender (5% more than this year) and overall, 38% of returners felt they had experienced bias in a recruitment process, compared to 33% this year.
In 2022, 65% of participants said they found the process of getting back to work difficult or very difficult, but this year it was just over half (51%) of participants.
Natalie Desty, founder and director of STEM Returners, said that while progress should be celebrated, there was still a lot of work to be done, especially in helping returners who are residents in the UK and eligible to work transfer their valuable skills and experience they acquired internationally.
She said: “For the first year since we launched the STEM Returners Index, we have seen that candidates are finding it slightly easier to return to work than they were this time last year. This is positive news but there are still too many people finding it an uphill battle.
“There are skills gaps across the engineering, tech and green jobs sectors – these gaps are growing, and the UK needs a diverse, agile and innovative STEM workforce more than ever. This talented and committed group of professionals are ready to help fill those roles. But they are still facing recruitment bias against their race, age, gender, and a perceived lack of experience.
“Women and professionals from minority ethnic backgrounds still face a significant disadvantage when attempting to return. People from minority ethnic backgrounds were 50% percent more likely than White British candidates to say they were finding the process of returning ‘very difficult’. This has to change. Additionally, we are seeing people who have moved to the UK from overseas are finding it difficult to transfer their international skills and experience to UK positions.
“Industry leaders need to do more to update recruitment practices and challenge unconscious bias to give returners a fair chance to rejoin the industry they are passionate about.”
The survey found that only a small proportion (12%) of career breakers stop working out of personal choice. Caring for others (both children and other family members) was a primary reason for a career break for 44% of respondents. Relatedly, 36% of women said they feel they have personally experienced bias in recruitment processes due to childcare responsibilities compared to 8% of men, according to the results.
Despite 86% of respondents having career breaks lasting less than five years, 38% of candidates felt they have received bias related to lack of recent experience, signalling there is a perception that a break leads to a deterioration of skills.
Helping professionals return
When asked if they would have preferred to return to work through a supported returners programme, 40% of returners said yes.
Despite the clear need for structured return to work programmes, only 21% had seen one, and only 16% had returned to work via this route – underlining the need for more STEM employers to think seriously about diversifying their approach to recruitment.
The race among major cloud providers to seal their place in the AI race continues with Amazon announcing it will invest up to $4 billion into Anthropic, the AI startup based in San Francisco.
Integral to the deal is early access for Amazon’s cloud employees and customers to Anthropic’s AI technology, which the cloud provider hopes to integrate into their business and offerings.
For their part, Anthropic agreed to rely Amazon’s cloud services (AWS) as their primary cloud provider to develop and train their models, specifically relying on their AWS Trainium and Inferentia chips, with the potential to collaborate on these chips further.
The deal will also lock in Anthropic to provide AWS customers with access to future generations of its foundation models via Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s manged service providing access to foundation models.
The $4bn investment means that Amazon will have a “minority” ownership position in the company, though the actual percentage has not been disclosed.
As reported by Reuters, the initial investment will amount to $1.25bn, with either company having the ability to initiate the other $2.75bn in funding.
“By significantly expanding our partnership, we can unlock new possibilities for organizations of all sizes, as they deploy Anthropic’s safe, state-of-the-art AI systems together with AWS’s leading cloud technology,” Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of Anthropic said.
AWS is currently topping the cloud market, capturing just shy of a third (32%), with Microsoft Azure (23%) coming in second, and Google’s Cloud trailing behind at 10%.
Ties to Google?
The news comes months after Anthropic announced it had selected Google Cloud as its cloud provider back in February, stating that the companies will co-develop AI computing systems” in the announcement.
Further, Google invested about $300m in Anthropic, which earned it a stake of 10% in the company.
It would appear that this deal is continuing.
Anthropic’s work with Google was initially compared to the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI. However, it seems that Google has not worked to integrate Anthropic’s AI models – its most famous one being Claude, a LLM comparable to ChatGPT – into its systems as it has its own AI models for this, such as Bard.
The partnerships seems to be leveraging Anthropic’s models to instead further Google’s cloud capabilities.
Ultimately, this deal could see Anthropic working on two different competing cloud services, but the deal also hinges on Amazon’s AI foundation model platform, Amazon Bedrock.
Amazon Bedrock is a service that allows companies to use a range of foundational AI models to create different applications tailored to their business. The platform has already attracted thousands of users, including Sony, Ryanair, and LonelyPlanet.
Now, users of Amazon Bedrock will gain access to Anthropic’s models, which will allow them to customise their AI with Claude 2, a model which can analyse and respond to long prompts like business and legal documents.
AI and the Cloud
Amazon may be winning the cloud game, but it is somewhat late to the AI arena. While is announced Amazon Bedrock in April, it has so far not made any major dealings with AI companies or developed its own AI foundation model.
Microsoft, which holds about a fifth of the global cloud market, currently owns the biggest name in generative AI, OpenAI, the company responsible for ChatGPT.
Google has also released its own AI model, Bard, onto the market, as it plans to integrate this LLM into its search engine and other products.
All companies, however, will need to ensure their cloud services are AI capable in order to maintain their market dominance.
Amazon’s and Google’s approach to Anthropic, which has yet to achieve the fame of OpenAI, by using it to leverage their cloud capabilities and develop new AI-capable chips, may prove to be a beneficial background move.
Companies like Broadcom, Nvidia, and Arm are already trying to leverage their place in the AI-chip race, and cloud companies appear to be doing the same.
Ransomware gangs are expanding their sights, exploiting small and large enterprises alike in the first half of 2023, a recently published report exploring cybersecurity trends has found.
According to Trend Micro‘s research, the company found that active ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups grew and and the number of victims surged in the first half of 2023.
The total active RaaS and RaaS-related groups grew by 11.3%, and the number of victims recorded grew by 45.27% compared to the last half of 2022.
The research focused on the top three ransomware groups responsible for the most victims in 2023 so far, including LockBit, BlackCat, and Cl0p.
Perhaps the most infamous group, LockBit, accounted for 26.09% of the total number of victim organisations targeted, with notable institutions like the Royal Mail, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacutirng Company, and Ion Group.
That said, the majority of LockBit’s targets were small businesses – those with 200 employees at most – with 57.3%. Large businesses made up about 17.4% of their victims, with mid-sized businesses making up just under a fifth (19.7%).
Nearly half (44.8%) of all of BlackCat’s targets were small businesses in the first half of 2023, followed by nearly a third (29.2%) being mid-sized businesses.
However, the gang did make some high profile attacks in 2023, including the Reddit attack in February.
However, Cl0p bucked the trend, with exactly 50% of their attacks targeting large enterprises, those with over a thousand employees.
Their major ransomware attack in January which exploited the Fortra’s GoAnywhere file transfer software claimed to have compromised 130 organisations, including several hospitals in Canada.
In terms of industries, banking, retail, and transportation were the most targeted based on the number of ransomware file detections.
Meanwhile, IT, healthcare, and manufacturing were the most targeted sectors in the same terms.
The United States faces the most ransomware attacks, with 950 victims in the first half of 2023, with the UK falling far behind with 132 victims.
The UK and the US have reached an agreement to establish a data bridge for the free flow of data between the two countries.
Following adequacy regulations being finalised in the UK parliament as of 12 September, the regulations will come into effect from 12 October, transforming the requirements for international data transfers between the UK and US.
Recently, the US also formed a data bridge with the European Union in an adequacy agreement not seen since the landmark Shrems II case. This dismantled the previous data transfer agreements between the US and the EU after it was disclosed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) was investigating the personal data of foreigners without their consent.
What made the UK-US data bridge possible is an adequacy decision driven by US Executive Order 14086, which guarantees certain “qualifying states” data rights within the US, including the ability to access a redress mechanism if individuals feel their data had been unlawfully viewed, intercepted, or investigated by US intelligence services.
Initially a provision for the EU and three more member states of the European Economic Area, the UK was designated as a qualifying state on 18 September.
Following this, UK secretary for sciences, innovation, and technology Michelle Donelan said that the decision did not undermine the data rights of UK citizens and laid the adequacy regulations in Parliament.
Back in June, the UK and US met to agree on their intention of building the data bridge, intending for the data bridge to be an extension of the EU-US data adequacy agreement.
The UK-US data bridge would enable the faster, more efficient transfer of data between the two countries without specific legal agreements for every data transfer from the UK to the US. It also formalises the protections of UK citizens’ personal data when it is transferred to the US.
However, the adequacy agreement is not without controversy – None of Your Business (NOYB), the data protection rights group, already has intentions to file against the EU-US data agreement, on which the UK-US data bridge relies on.
“The EU-US. Data Privacy Framework is already seeing legal challenges on the basis that it does not do enough to protect EU citizens whose personal data is transferred to the U.S. Any such challenges will likely take months, more likely years, to work their way through the courts,” Georgina Graham, privacy and technology partner, Osborne Clarke commented.
“In the event that a challenge to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework is successful, or the European Commission reverses its approval of the framework, it is not clear whether the UK-U.S. data bridge would also be invalidated. The fact that the UK-U.S. data bridge is an extension to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and a U.S. business must participate in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework to be able to participate in the UK-U.S. data bridge, suggests that the UK-U.S. data bridge will only remain valid for as long as the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework remains valid, but we don’t yet know that for sure.”
In March 2023, Rishi Sunak wrote in The Times, “I want to cement the UK’s place as a science and technology superpower by 2030.”
We didn’t rejoin Horizon – the world’s largest and most successful research collaboration – for another six months. Our extended time outside the research bloc has shattered Rishi’s self-proclaimed goal, doing deep, long-term damage to our science and technology ecosystem.
Rejoining Horizon was an essential and welcome move, but I won’t join the celebration. I want to see a concerted effort from the government to repair the damage that has been done and prevent us from falling even further behind our international partners.
So, what damage has been done?
While many have skipped over this detail, we left Horizon Europe as a full member and have rejoined as an associate member.
The distinction here is that the EU can withdraw funding from associate member projects that it deems to conflict with its strategic priorities, such as security and competitiveness.
This could hold us back in crucial areas such as space, nuclear fusion, and advanced robotics – all of which hold significant potential to boost growth in our flagging economy.
As an associate member, we’re also excluded from the European Innovation Council – a £10 billion fund with the sole goal of supporting the development and commercialisation of high-risk and high-impact technologies.
High-risk projects often struggle to drag in funding, which is precisely why this fund is so important.
There’s also the issue of our reputation in the global scientific and technology ecosystem – whose players have taken note of our ideological and idiotic disregard for it.
Why should our global partners in Europe and further afield trust us to collaborate openly going forward? They will likely be wondering whether we’ll renew our membership after the current funding cycle or shoot ourselves in the foot again.
Research can be a slow process, taking years to yield tangible results, and even longer for advancements to be felt in the real world. In 2030, the year by which we’re supposed to have reached superpower status, according to Sunak, we’ll likely still be catching up from the disaster of the last few years.
We’ve also drained the talent pool available to UK science and technology projects.
The number of EU researchers working in the United Kingdom has plummeted, and some UK scientists have had to move abroad to continue accessing Horizon grants and collaborating with their international partners.
In fact, figures show that 20,000 UK-based researchers have sought opportunities abroad, with funding prospects looking bleak.
To make matters worse, post-Brexit visa restrictions make the UK even less appealing for talented European researchers. If you’re working on a research project and you’re looking for colleagues, you want to pick those with the right expertise and samples, independent of where they’re based.
The barriers we’ve put up have cordoned us off from Europe’s talent pool, and this will be impacting UK innovation for years to come.
So, how do we minimise the damage and move forward?
First and foremost, we need a no-holds-barred independent inquiry to uncover the full extent of the damage to our science and technology ecosystem. Unless we know the extent of the damage, we can’t hope to fix it.
I’d also like to see the announcement of a funding body to temper the loss of our exit from the European Innovation Council. This must earmark funds for innovative, high-risk and high-reward technologies. And it must be proportionate to the funding we would’ve received from the ERC, or our rate of innovation will continue to lag.
This might sound costly, but the inevitable societal and economic costs we’ll see if we continue without this will be far, far greater.
To begin mending our reputation and instil trust in our international partners, we need clear commitments from all major UK political parties to renew our membership of Horizon after the current funding cycle, which ends in 2027.
But this will only go so far – we need to address the immediate researcher shortages at our universities and research labs to get back on track.
We need a streamlined visa system targeted at bringing skilled researchers and students to the UK, offering everything from scholarships to financial assistance. And we must once again make the UK a leading location for STEM graduates and entice them to stay long-term and contribute to UK research. This will require the easing of restrictions on work visas.
These are just a few suggestions among many sensible ones, and they would, for the most part, be easy and relatively cheap to implement. But they would go a long way to fixing the damage done by our reckless and sustained withdrawal from Horizon.
If Sunak truly wants to see us become a science and technology superpower, he’ll move to make amends before the next election.
Yes, we’ve rejoined Horizon as an associate. But it’s not enough, and we don’t have time to rest on our laurels.
Glasgow, as well as being Scotland’s largest city, has undergone arguably the country’s largest shift in economic identity – from its famed ship building years, the city on the Clyde has transformed into a bustling technological hub, boasting some of Scotland’s most exciting startups.
Further, Glasgow City Innovation District serves as the first of its kind in Scotland bringing together researchers and technology firms to showcase Scotland’s status as a hub of technological innovation to the global stages
As well as hosting three world-class universities – The University of Glasgow, the University of Strathclyde, and Glasgow Caledonian University, – the city is also home to a number of spin-out and research institutions. The University of Glasgow recently launched a Centre for Data Science and AI, aiming to harness the emerging technologies and attract international talent.
“The Glasgow Tech Ecosystem has entered a virtuous cycle. Catalysts such as the Innovation Districts, Tech Scaler, and an increased focus from our universities on entrepreneurship are combining to create more, and stronger startups,” Mark Logan, chief entrepreneurial advisor at the Scottish Government, stated in a Glasgow City Region Tech Ecosystem report.
“These, in turn, create more belief, and strengthen the ecosystems experience base, leading to further start-up creation. It’s the most exciting entrepreneurial environment weʼve seen in Glasgow in living memory.”
Despite challenges such as talent acquisition and retention, as well as tightening budgets amid an ongoing cost-of-living crisis and a tense geo-political landscape, there’s plenty to be excited about when it comes to startups as Glasgow, as we pick out nine that we think are doing some really interesting things within the ecosystem.
Gigged.AI
Founded in 2020, Gigged.AI has already made a name for itself within the Scottish tech ecosystem for its AI-driven talent platform, and will not surprise many as an opener for this list of interesting Glasgow startups.
Headquartered in Glasgow, the company launched its Talent Portal using AI algorithms to create optimal business and employee matches. The company claims to help onboard new tech talent while helping SMEs retain their current staff to optimise effective hiring.
According to the company, this means using data-driven AI algorithms to use both internal talent and freelancers to enhance efficiency and productivity, especially in the current talent shortage.
CEO and Founder Rich Wilson recently wrote in an opinion piece for DIGIT, encouraging companies to take advantage of what he called “quite hiring” to deal with the current skills shortage, explaining: “By combining internal mobility, upskilling, and reskilling initiatives with strategic engagement of contingent workers, we can solve the skill shortage in the short and long term.”
The company already has big ticket clients signed using their platform, including the BCC, The University of Edinburgh, Skyscanner, ATOS, FanDuel, and Webhelp.
As of January this year, the company has amassed £2.5 million in total funding, thanks in part to a deal lead by Par Equity alongside existing investors Techstart Ventures, Nile HQ, and others for £1.6m.
In 2022, the company announced its intentions to expand globally, eyeing the North American markets
Founded in 2021, Loopsio connects university and college students studying computing science with companies looking for software development, training, and consulting.
Supervised by professionals, students are able to work on software projects for companies in varied industries and sectors, gaining real-world experience, while the organisations benefit from student talent and professional expertise.
Loopsio appears to be tackling two major issues in the tech sector at once – a lack of proper experience for those studying computer science, which can keep them from entering the tech world, and the looming skills gap affecting sectors that need tech talent, but cannot afford the competitive salaries of major tech companies.
Loopsio aims to provide cost-effective technical solutions to organisations outside of the tech sector that need assistance and expertise in developing apps, websites, and platforms for their businesses, concepts, and ideas.
Digitising chemistry, as the company calls it, Chemify is a spin out of the University of Glasgow which recently reaching £36m in series A funding.
While research began in founder and CEO Lee Cronin’s university days in 2019, Chemify spun out in 2022, entering the market with research meant to create the necessary infrastructure to ‘digitise chemistry’
Put simply, this means essentially turning every molecule into code, with allowing that code to be converted back into the relevant molecules, in order to digitally develop compounds and conduct experiments over digital platforms, expanding chemistry research.
The use of AI, machine learning, and robotics in chemistry could allow for the potential discovery of new chemical compounds and materials enabled by the speed and efficiency of AI algorithms.
“Chemify is building a company that can design, make, and discover complex molecules on demand using digital blueprints faster, more efficiently, and safely than is currently possible,” said CEO Lee Cronin, as quoted in a recent DIGIT article covering their series A funding.
“Our mission is to deliver better molecules for pharmaceutical and industrial partners in a fraction of the time and cost currently required.”
Chemify claims their new technology can reduce the time and money typically needed to experiment with different chemicals and materials to develop new pharmaceutical drugs, driven by innovations in AI and data-driven decision making.
Prior to gaining £36m in series A funding, the company already used £25m in funding to finance their foundational research developing the technology to create their digital chemical approach, transferring chemical information into code.
Focusing on advancing the “wee-est” bit of technology, WeeTeq is a Scottish company developing artificial intelligence for some of the smallest levels in manufacturing.
While most AI models used to sensing performance abnormalities in manufacturing rely on sensors to understand the status of a machine, WeeTeq’s Ultra Edge® model accesses the data within a machine on the circuit level, using artificial intelligence to them analyse the performance and even automatically adopt improvements.
This makes the machines “self-healing,” the company purports, enabling predictive maintenance of a closed-loop system.
A member of Silicon Catalyst, a semiconductor focussed accelerator programme and incubator, WeeTeq’s technology can be used to optimise the performance of machines by analysing the data from their circuits without the need for a separate sensor.
The company has secured four patents to protect their technology, which included embedded software, silicon, circuits and models, and enterprise software.
Launched in 2022, WeeTeq won £100,000 as winner of the Scottish Edge 2023 awards.
The global pandemic stifled creativity and innovation for some, but inspired the founder of Nooku, Danny Kane.
Founded in 2022, Nooku is a recent Scottish Edge award winner, and was inspired by the lockdowns of the pandemic.
Kane, CEO of Nooku, became more worried and aware about the quality of indoor air after raising his 18 month old child inside during the lockdowns of the pandemic, as he struggled with respiratory issues.
Using his experience at Filament PD, Kane designed a smart indoor air ventilation monitor that can monitor four key elements in indoor air quality, as well as six common pollutants.
Nooku devices monitor humidity, temperature, Volatile compounds, CO2, noxious oxide, and fine particulate matter.
Not only does Nooku monitor air quality, but it provides practical advice to create better air quality within a home or business.
The company also created a kid-friendly version complete with bear ears, and offers gamified challenges to help children and young people learn about air quality.
Founded in 2022, Nooku is a recent Scottish Edge award winner, and also partnered with Our Classroom Climate to offer their products to schools and help inform children about air quality and the effects of climate change.
“The best defence is a good offence,” is a common saying in the realm of sports, and now, Lupovis has adopted it into the world of cybersecurity.
The Glasgow-based cybersecurity firm uses AI-driven technology for early detection of threats to their clients’ most sensitive data, and uses tactics often adopted by threat actors themselves – manipulation, gamification, and deception – to steer attackers away from a company’s assets.
Founded in 2021, the company claims their deception technology makes the hunter the hunted, and has since won a Scottish Edge Award and joined the National Cyber Security Council and Plexal for Startups.
Lupovis’ process employs a series of decoys and lures, leading adversaries out of a company’s network at the earliest detection of a breach.
In 2022, the company won a pre-seed investment of over €700k from a syndicate co-led by Techstart Ventures and Natural Capital, and the University of Strathclyde, from which it spun out.
A spin out of the University of Glasgow, Vector Photonics, the semiconductor laser producer, was founded in 2020.
The company is focused on laser production for Cloud Datacentre applications, aiming for their designs and laser technology to reduce the energy consumption of these ever-important servers.
Producing Photonic Crystal Surface-Emitting Lasers (PCSEL) for semiconductors, the company aims to leverage their cost-effective and energy efficient laser technology in the race to develop more sustainable AI-capable semiconductors and servers.
In April of 2023, Vector Photonics won £1 million for the UK’s ZEUS research project to commercialise its 1-Watt, datacoms PCSEL for the parallel development of AI lasers, funded by Innovate UK and UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund.
“The full impact of a 1 Watt PCSEL on AI chip design is not yet quantified, as the entire architecture of the chips and systems will change, but it brings countless manufacturing and energy saving benefits,” Dr. Richard Taylor, chief technology officer officer of Vector Photonics said.
Founded in 2021, Architextures developed an online platform allowing architects and designers to experiment with multiple textures, colours, and patterns on different surfaces in a realistic online environment.
The technology offers a library of different texture swatches architects can use on various surfaces, but also offers the way lighting, space, and other environmental factors will affect how these surfaces interact with each other and how they will change.
This aspect of the technology has garnered the attention of video game designers, as the platform can be used for 3D renderings as well as flat designs.
Further, manufacturers can get in touch to licence their materials and products with Architextures to make them available to designers across the world.
Launched in 2020, OneBanx aims to provide a bridge between the fast-pace digital transformation of banking and the decline of in-person banking and customer service.
OneBanx offers an open-banking experience, allowing customers to consolidate all their accounts into one app where they can manage transactions and balances.
While traditional banks may be disappearing, OneBanx also offers in person services via kiosks, of which there are currently three in Scotland. These are open to people from all banks and offer advice and in-branch services like withdrawals, payments, deposits, and customer support.
In 2021, the company gained £580k in seed funding from Advantage Business Angels and Chris Adelsbach, with a further £1.2m of funding from Crowdcube in December 2022.
OneBanx’s app can be used from anywhere, but their in-person services are currently focused on Scottish towns which have lost many of their high street bank locations. Their kiosks can currently be found in Co-op food stores located in Kilwinning, Denny, and Lochgelly.
Which new, interesting Glasgow tech companies are on your radar?
If there’s a particular startup that you’d like to champion — and think would be at home in a list like this — feel free to let us know via LinkedIn, Twitter, or by email via the editor@digit.fyi address.
A new report has found that GenZ Scots, those between the ages of 18 to 23, are more likely to use AI tools to help write a cover letter or CV in a bid to give them an advantage over other candidates.
New research from HiJOBS shows that young Scottish job seekers are catching onto the trend and using AI tools to give them an advantage on the other side of the hiring process.
More than eight in ten of GenZ (83%) in Scotland have gone to extra lengths to secure a job, with is 20% above the national average. This ranges from sending a boss a gift, to over-exaggeratting their work experience, altering their appearance, to using AI.
About one in five (21%) of GenZ has admitted to using AI to help write their cover letter of CV, compared to only 6% of baby boomers also responding to the survey.
Turning to AI tools may be a compensation for young Scot’s lack of confidence – over a third (35%) of GenZ see confidence as the main barrier to getting their target job, while only 22% of baby boomers view this as an obstacle.
The confidence gap may stem from a lack of necessary training and education, with nearly a third (32%) of GenZ citing this as an obstacle compared to one in six baby boomers.
But the confidence gap does not stop at the youngest generation entering the job market – the gap seems to grow, according to HiJOBS, until peaking between the ages of 35 to 44.
Glaswegians appear to cite a lack of confidence as their biggest hinderence, with nearly one in four (39%) citing it as a barrier to getting their dream job.
Glaswegians are also more likely to use AI to help with a cover letter or CV than the national average, 16% vs 11%.
Those in the Highlands and Islands and the North East of Scotland are not nearly as concerned about their confidence levels, with 69% not registering it as a barrier to entering the workforce. This may, of course, have to do with other barriers facing the more remote regions of Scotland, such as less job availability, poorer broadband, and less academic institutions.
Job Trends Overall
Overall, the majority of Scots are looking for a job that benefits them on the whole.
82% of Scots expect flexible working options, despite current pushback against remote working. This rising to 86% for female respondents, who still are more likely to face extra care and home responsibilities due to societal expectations.
Scots are also interested in progression, with 82% wanting opportunities for professional development.
Stability and appreciation for work is also vital to the majority of Scots, with 83% valuing a pension plan, and 82% expecting paid overtime.
Staff benefits like these were seen as just as important to GenZ jobseekers as a company’s values – a third of GenZ would be put off my companies not aligned with their values.
This, however, falls to only 14% of baby boomers, nearly a third (29%) of which say they would take any job with the right salary.
Students appear to be the most put off by companies which do not align with their values, at 44% compared to just a quarter of those in full time employment.
The UK’s market watchdog has proposed guiding principles to safeguard consumer protection and healthy competition at the heart of responsible development and use of foundation models.
Foundation models (FMs), are AI systems with broad capabilities that can be adapted to a range of different, more specific purposes.
Recent developments in FMs and their rapid adoption across several user applications (such as ChatGPT and Office 365 Copilot), highlight the potential for AI’s continued growth but also give rise to several conflicting avenues for data protection, safe and responsible development, and fair market competition.
FMs have the potential to transform how we live and work, as well as a range of industries – these changes can happen quickly and have a significant impact on people and businesses, and the UK economy. The UK government appears aware of the velocity AI’s development is traveling at, and yet is still to put out more formal regulations on its emergence.
“The speed at which AI is becoming part of everyday life for people and businesses is dramatic,” Sarah Cardell, CEO of the CMA said. “There is real potential for this technology to turbo charge productivity and make millions of everyday tasks easier – but we can’t take a positive future for granted. There remains a real risk that the use of AI develops in a way that undermines consumer trust or is dominated by a few players who exert market power that prevents the full benefits being felt across the economy.”
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has released a report highlighting how people and business could stand to benefit if the development and use of FMs works “well” and offers fair competition enabling a more equitable distribution of innovation.
In the report, the CMA stressed the importance of fair access to the key inputs required to develop FMs, particularly data or computing power.
The FM market is more likely to trend toward positive outcomes, the CMA stipulated, if initial entrants continue to face competition from new entrants, and their leading position in other markets does not enable them to unduly restrict access to competing firms.
Further, a range of available FMs, from open-source to closed-source models, will lead to better competition outcomes in favour of innovation and better consumer choice.
A well-functioning market could lead to new and better products and services, easier access to information, scientific and health breakthroughs, and lower prices.
The report, however, also cautions that if competition is weak or developers fail to heed consumer protection law, people and businesses could be harmed. For example, people could be exposed to significant levels of false and misleading information and AI-enabled fraud.
In the longer term, the CMA warns that a handful of firms could use FMs to gain or entrench positions of market power and fail to offer the best products and services, or charge high prices.
In order to mitigate market harms and increase market competition, the CMA released seven principles for AI FMs to follow as they are developed.
1. Accountability – FM developers and deployers are accountable for outputs provided to consumers.
2. Access – Companies should provide ongoing and ready access to key inputs of FMs without unnecessary restrictions.
3. Diversity – Business models should be diverse, and include both open and closed models.
4. Choice – There should be sufficient choice for businesses so they can decide how to use FMs.
5. Flexibility – Businesses and consumers should have the flexibility to switch and use multiple FMs according to their need.
6. Fair dealing – Businesses developing FMs must not conduct anti-competitive practices, including anti-competitive self-preferencing, tying, or bundling.
7. Transparency – Consumers and businesses should be given information about risks and limitations of FM-generated content so they can make informed choices.
“The CMA’s role is to help shape these markets in ways that foster strong competition and effective consumer protection, delivering the best outcomes for people and businesses across the UK,” Cardell said. “In rapidly developing markets like these, it’s critical we put ourselves at the forefront of that thinking, rather than waiting for problems to emerge and only then stepping in with corrective measures.”
“That’s why we have today proposed these new principles and launched a broad programme of engagement to help ensure the development and use of foundation models evolves in a way that promotes competition and protects consumers. While I hope that our collaborative approach will help realise the maximum potential of this new technology, we are ready to intervene where necessary,” she continued.
The CMA is set to engage with a range of stakeholders across the UK and internationally, to develop these principles further and foster effective competition.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has announced a fine of €345M (£296.92m) for the social media company TikTok, after finding their handling of children’s data to not be compliant with GDPR.
In this case, which was originally brought up in 2021, users questioned if TikTok was in violation of GDPR for having users under the age of 13 on the platform despite what was deemed to be insufficient age-verification methods.
While TikTok has a minimum user age of 13, the DPC was made aware of and found instances of children under 13 using the social media platform.
Further, the company came under fire for making underaged user’s profiled public-by-default, meaning that anyone could automatically see the profiles, videos, and comments posted by underaged users, unless users changed their settings to private.
Their “family pairing” feature also came under scrutiny in the case, which allowed an adult’s TikTok profile to be paired with a child’s with no verification of their familial relationship. This made it possible for adults to send direct messages to users over the age of 16.
After being viewed by the Irish DPC, the draft decision was sent to all Supervisory Authorities Concerned (CSAs) in September for further scrutiny and to determine the amount of the fine.
Contentions from the Italian and German regulatory bodies sent the case to the overriding European Data Protection Board (EUDPB), where the body ruled in favour of finding a new GDPR infringement over the principle of fairness in the use of “dark patterns” – where a platform users methods to trick users into harmful but not necessarily illegal practices like purchasing overpriced products or entering subscriptions with no easy method to cancel.
The fine comes on the tails of the EU’s Digital Services Act coming into effect, which places certain expectations on social media giants like TikTok, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter) for safety and data protection, with particular rules for the handling of children’s data.
“The genie is out of the bottle,” Jordan Schroeder echoed throughout his presentation on generative AI.
The proverbial genie is artificial intelligence, and the “bottle” refers to the deep ethical and theoretical questions surrounding its introduction to society, the potential dangers lurking within the emerging technology, and how this can transform society for better or worse.
Questions, Schroeder says, which are both valid and out-of-date.
The genie is out of the bottle, the world of AI is here.
Schroeder likened GenAI to introducing a fully capable laptop with the full breadth of the internet to a mediaeval farmer – “for good or for ill, it’s going to have an impact for years.”
An impact that cybersecurity experts need to be prepared for.
AI is the fastest adopted technology ever, Schroeder reiterated to an audience that is, at this point, probably aware that ChatGPT was the fastest technology application to reach a user base of 100 million.
“That should scare you, and excite you!” Schroder said, touching on the whiplash generative AI has sent through the technology ecosystem. The emerging technology has introduced a realm of new opportunities for increasingly efficient productivity, more data-driven decision making, and transformative operations with potential implications for our entire socio-economic model.
The possibilities appear endless, but then, so do the dangers.
Generative AI’s purpose, Schroeder attempted to make clear throughout his presentation, is to create new information – “its purpose is to do something novel.”
This, however, leads to its own issues. The level of “novelty” can range, from changing a single word from a copyrighted material to rendering art in the exact style of an illustrator, to creating fake references and providing completely false information in the form of “hallucinations.”
Each end of the “novelty” spectrum creates their own legal and ethical issues, but Schroeder says this phenomenon is the entire point of the technology, to create something new.
“AI takes a lot of source material, tweaks it, modifies it, and stitches it back together into something novel,” he said. “Understanding this model is very important for business and security leaders because it influences how we use it, determine its appropriate use for our organisations, and how we determine that we are able to use it.”
Schroeder urges businesses to keep an eye on the trends as well: a survey from Salesforce showed that 50% of people have tried ChatGPT or another generative AI chatbot, and that out of this half, a third have used it daily, and 60% are on their way to master the technology.
Now, there is no definition for what it means to “master” generative AI, but Schroeder says that these potential “masters” are “our biggest risks, because they are going to use [generative AI] in ways we cannot predict. In weird and wonderful ways, but ways we cannot predict.”
Schroeder took the audience through some of the inherent risks in the trends of emerging generative AI technology, as well as specific security risks, and ways to mitigate these in the company.
GenAI: The Inherent Dangers
Generative AI has its own lurking dangers even without specifically mentioning cybersecurity risks, which Schroeder pointed out.
Most generative AI chatbots function based on prompts provided by the user to then determine an output. These prompts can be manipulated to derive strange or weird answers, or derive from copyrighted material.
Schroeder even said that an active area of research for security leaders is if prompts can be manipulated to let users pull data from other users’ chatbot sessions and their personal data.
“Anything that has user inputs has the risk of injection,” he said, meaning an injection into an AI chatbot’s output in any given session. The impact of this data risk is being lessened as it is researched and resolved, but still presents a data security risk.
This ties into the inherent danger of inputting sensitive information into an AI chatbot – most generative AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, keep your session data to further train their model. So disclosing sensitive data to a third party can be a risk workers are unaware of.
According to Schroeder, ChatGPT itself is very raw as a website – “it doesn’t have a lot of features.” Programmers and developers have therefore developed browser plugins to create extra detail and specifically tailor ChatGPT, but these tend to not be entirely secure since they are typically made by individuals lacking specific cyber training.
The other concerning factor surrounding generative AI is overreliance – despite being introduced to the wider public just this year, many are already overestimating the accuracy of large language models (LLMs), according to Schroeder.
Trust in AI ranges with the ages, with around half (52%) of Gen Z trusting not just the information it provides, but trusting it to make “informed decisions,” according to the Salesforce survey.
Generative AI does not just struggle with hallucinations, but struggles with intermediate coding, according to Schroeder, and often needs human input to not exacerbate bias.
One of the most highlighted issues with LLMs including ChatGPT and other chatbots is how it collects the information it uses to create output.
Often called data scraping, this method can indiscriminately scrape intellectual, copyrighted, and personal information, which it can then “learn” from, and even regurgitate “word for word, something you or your company has written” Schroeder said.
These are just the generative AI concerns at the most basic level, according to Shroeder, and they are riddled with questions surrounding data protection, personal information, copyright infringement, information integrity, and trust.
Generative AI: The Cybersecurity Woes
Schroeder went through the full spectrum of emerging cybersecurity trends utilising AI technology, with his own demonstration highlighting just how pernicious these threats can be.
WormGPT is even allowing threat actors to scan the internet without guardrails to find illegal information, “its like a ChatGPT without guardrails,” Schroeder explained.
However, one of the ways generative AI is threatening security, is difficult to explain through the written word.
Deepfakes, where AI is used to falsify images, videos, or audio recording to imitate a person’s likeness to a realistic degree, have terrifying implications, as shown through a live demonstration Schroeder presented at DIGIT Scot Secure West.
Using generative AI models and a recording of DIGIT founder Ray Bugg, Schroeder plugged in Ray’s ‘voice’ into ChatGPT, getting to provide live answers in a conversation between Schroeder and ‘Ray’ – with previous permission of course.
In the recording Schroeder could produce a very realistic version of Ray’s voice, with a somewhat realistic version of his countenance and opinions. For example, Schroeder’s deepfake version of Ray is a fan of Manchester United, much to the real Ray’s dismay.
Schroder also got ‘Bot Ray’ to request a payment of £100 pounds to a fake account, which shows that deepfake voice automations could be used to bypass biometric voice recognition services, sparking a conversation about what safety measures will even be left out of reach of generative AI’s insidious reach.
“I think voice biometrics is now dead,” he said. “it is reproducible — I think this will actually kill voice biometrics.”
Personal identification is now a “massive puzzle” cybersecurity experts will have to reconfigure as advances in AI overtake current security measures.
AI and Security: How do they Co-exist
So what can companies do to responsibly use AI? According to surveys, not everyone is willing to even try.
75% of organisations, according to Salesforce, are considering outright bans on using AI within their organisation, and 61% planning on making these bans permanent.
However, Reuters found that a “significant number of users continue to use genAI after bans,” Schroeder said, for their work.
“As security specialists, we don’t want to be the Department of No. We want to be the Department of Safely Yes,” he said.
So if bans do not work, Schroeder has some steps companies can take to mitigate the risks of AI – as he said, the genie is out of the bottle, and now it’s time for security experts to reckon with its power.
To actually enforce a ban, Schroeder recommends zero trust tools to ensure that unauthorised sites are blocked, and to keep track of what AI is being used for if some allowances are maintained.
Further, to mitigate against spear phishing attacks, Schroeder mentioned new cybersecurity innovations using AI to scan emails for potential malware and threats.
Overall, Schroder emphasises the importance of policy – “I love policy” he admitted.
“Policies are living documents and should provide a feedback loop so that you know what it’s being used for and what you need to do to protect it,” he said.
Providing training involved in the policy, including training not sharing sensitive data and weeding out potential biases, is integral to this method.
Allowing for feedback and innovation surrounding the use of an emerging technology is also essential.
As the technology continues to develop, and innovations challenge security leaders, Schroeder is often left with comments and questions surrounding what this means for technology, cybersecurity, and humanity as a whole. People often wonder if the advancements promised with AI are worth all the potential risks and dangers, if we are ready for such a new era in innovation, if we can handle it responsibly and ethically.
“And I understand, and agree with these questions,” he said. “But as security people, we have to deal with the genie.”
Less than half of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Scotland had a contingency or rainy-day fund in place before the inflation spike earlier this year, a report has found.
A UK-wide survey of 1,000 senior decision makers by Cynergy Bank found that higher energy and finance costs created serious cashflow challenges — with only 37% in Scotland having cash buffers in place prior to July 2022 when prices began to rise.
The research also found that nearly two in three (60%) had no contingency fund in place.
Most bosses were somewhat slow to protect their business from rising borrowing costs, the report found with as little as 3% fixing their mortgage or rent in the early stages of the Bank of England’s hiking cycle.
Sharon Maguire, Chief Product Officer at Cynergy Bank, comments: “There has been a sea change in attitudes towards crisis planning. Cost pressures over the past year has led to businesses reassessing their risk profiles, and in addition to cost savings SMEs are urgently looking for solutions to help them build resilience in their businesses.”
While rising inflation and interest rates have eaten into financial firepower, they have also accelerated the pace of change and innovation within buisniness.
The nearly all respondents (90%) said that the cost-of-living crisis had caused them to make significant changes to their business operations.
SMEs claim to be budgeting more thoughtfully, with about a third (31%)of those impacted by soaring overheads saying they have shipped around on suppliers.
Nearly half (43%) had switched materials, while 12% had resorted to using poorer quality goods and one in four (25%) said they have rearranged working patterns to save on energy bills.
Increasingly, the majority of businesses (58%) said that tech and innovation have played a “huge” part in their response to cost pressures, including circumventing traditional sales channels and innovating how their offering is sold.
Business leaders appear to be aware of the benefits of AI, but their preparation levels are currently out of step with their investment ambitions, a new survey has found.
Workday, an enterprise cloud application vendor for finance and human resources, has published its latest study examining how artificial intelligence and machine learning will impact the future of work.
The global C-Suite Global AI Indicator Report reveals that leaders know their organisations would benefit from AI and ML, but several factors are holding them back.
Optimism for AI and ML is evident, with nearly three quarters (73%) of business leaders believing both will have an impact on the global business landscape in the next three years, and over half (58%) thinking they will significantly amplify human potential.
But despite this positive outlook, businesses are not prepared to adopt the AI tools they plan to invest in. Nearly half (46%) of respondents say that more than a fifth of their organisation’s annual technology budget is currently invested in AI and ML, only 13% of UK organisations reveal they are completely prepared to adopt them.
AI and ML: More Than Hype?
Based on the survey results, CEOs and other global business leaders have bought into the hype of AI and ML, with nearly three quarters (73%) saying that the global business landscape will be affected in the next three years by the emerging technologies, and 70% believing their own organisations will be affected in the next three years.
Nearly all (99%) leaders surveyed said there would be some immediate business benefit from implementing AI and ML. Top benefits leaders listed include increased productivity, data-driven decision-making, and improved collaboration.
Despite believing in short- and long-term benefits, 42% of CEOs say their organisation is unprepared to adopt AI and ML as they lack some or all of the tools, skills, and knowledge necessary to embrace these technologies, and nearly a quarter (24%) of CEOS want to wait and see how AI and ML will affect their organisation before they decide on their approach.
What Holds Business Leaders Back
Uncertainty about data, privacy, and trust are holding CEOs and other business leaders back from fully embracing and adopting AI and ML.
Almost half (46%) of all leaders surveyed said they were concerned about the trustworthiness of AI and ML, with 74% of CEOs citing potential errors as a top risk of AI and ML integration, reinforcing that lack of trust.
Increased transparency is needed to build CEO trust, but siloed data is obscuring leaders’ ability to lean in. 52% of organisations surveyed reported that their data is somewhat or completely siloed. Only 4% of all respondents said their data is completely accessible.
“With such a small fraction of UK respondents saying their data is completely accessible, it’s clear that an urgent shift in mindset is needed to ensure that the right people have access to the right information, as only when data is accessible can AI and ML truly deliver on its promise for companies,” commented Daniel Pell, VP and UKI country manager, Workday.
“Teams and organisations that have accurate and meaningful insights into their businesses will be able to make smarter decisions and ultimately, protect their bottom-line more than those who do not have this foresight.”
Clare Hickie, chief technology officer, EMEA, Workday, added: “With UK organisations collecting a widespread and large amount of data—about people, finances, operations, and more—blending those data sources, making sure the information is accurate, and turning them into actionable insights can be challenging. This is why having a single source of data which as a result, can be trusted, is vital.”
“Defining clear use cases for such data which solves real business problems and addresses the foremost concerns of leadership can enhance a business’s competitiveness, elevate the employee experience, and mitigate skills gaps through strategic partnerships with experienced collaborators.”
Optimism Despite Uncertainty
Among CEOs, 28% are concerned that employees will struggle to keep up with rapid changes as AI and ML become more integrated into their organisation, and 32% of both HR and finance leaders worry their teams will not have technical skills they need to work effectively with AI and ML.
While leaders have concerns about the immediate impact AI and ML adoption will have on employees, they are ultimately optimistic about the overall impact.
Almost three in five (58%) of business leaders believe AI and ML will significantly amplify human potential, and 44% of CEOs believe AI and ML will create a more equitable and diverse workforce.
“Despite some uncertainty, leaders are optimistic that AI and ML will augment their workforce and drive productivity,” said Jim Stratton, chief technology officer, Workday.
“Trust is paramount to embracing these benefits, and building trust requires the right data foundation and commitment to governance. By implementing trustworthy solutions that prioritise data quality and transparency, companies can reap the rewards of AI and ML across their organisation.”
The UK government has appointed Dr Dave Smith as its National Technology Adviser, following the departure of Sir Patrick Vallance from the role.
Appointed by the Prime Minister, Smith’s experience and leadership in the tech sector ‘ideally places him to guide the nation’s tech aspirations.’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Innovation in technology is one of the most important ways we can transform people’s lives, which is why I am delighted to appoint Dave Smith as the UK’s National Technology Adviser – who brings expertise and vision to this vital role.
“We share the ambition of forging a better Britain and growing the economy through technology – and with Dave at the helm, we will champion the dynamism of the tech sector so that it can continue to thrive, attracting top talent, boosting innovation and cementing our place as a global science and technology superpower by 2030.”
As National Tech Adviser, Dave Smith will advise the Technology Secretary on the best approach to building and enhancing the UK’s technology strengths, working across government to champion the science and tech industries, and build networks across industry and academia to draw the best minds into policymaking.
This will see Smith use his decades of experience working across the technology industry, which has most recently seen him lead Rolls-Royce’s approach to innovation as Technology Director.
His career has otherwise seen him sit as the Managing Director of a British tech firm working across cyber-security, networking and more, before taking up leadership roles in public sector and technology consultancies.
National Technology Adviser Dave Smith said: “I am deeply honoured to serve as the UK’s National Technology Adviser. Throughout my career, I’ve consistently advocated for the transformative power of technology and innovation to redefine societies.
“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to harness the growing potential of the British tech sector to drive growth and tackle society’s biggest challenges. Building upon the significant foundations laid by Sir Patrick Vallance, I’m eager to ensure the UK’s continued leadership and position as a global tech superpower.”
Smith will report directly to the Department for Science Innovation and Technology’s Permanent Secretary to drive forward the work of the newest government department to drive innovation, create better paid jobs and grow the economy.
Secretary of State for Science Innovation and Technology Michelle Donelan said: “The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology has a clear mission: to ignite innovation that enriches our economy, elevates our public services, and strengthens our national security. Dave Smith’s appointment sends a firm message: we are committed to bringing the brightest tech minds to government, and working hand-in-glove with industry to make the most of what tech has to offer.
“The UK is pro-tech and open for business, I look forward to championing and delivering for the sector alongside Dave.
“Dave’s work and visionary leadership will no doubt propel us towards our goal of becoming a global tech superpower by 2030.”
With a price of $51 per share, Arm’s IPO is the biggest of the year on the NASDAQ after snubbing the London Stock Exchange for its return to the stock market.
The Cambridge-based chip designer was originally publicly listed on both the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Nasdaq since its founding in 1998, but then went private when it was bought by the Japanese firm Softbank in 2016.
Now, the company has said it already sold 95.5 million shares, raising $4.87bn in total thus far.
Softbank’s move to list Arm publicly comes after a failed attempt to sell Arm to competing chip maker Nvidia, which was blocked due to regulatory pressures from the UK, US, EU, and China.
The Japanese firm has touted the expected success of Arm, saying that their microchip technology will be central to the AI boom.
Softbank recently moved to purchase the remaining quarter of Arm they did not outright own for $64bn, much higher than their original purchase of the firm back in $37bn, from Saudi-based Vision Fund.
Known as the “crown jewel” of the UK, Arm’s decision to list in the US rather than London was a blow to the UK, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was unsuccessful in his talks with the company bidding them to list on the LSE.
Arm touts microchip designs that are energy-efficient and low cost, and provide the central processing units (CPUs) for semiconductor companies across the globe. Arm sells its products to a wide range of tech giants including Apple, Mercedes-Benz, and Qualcomm.
While most of its designs are typically manufactured by other companies, Arm announced earlier this year that it will begin developing its own semiconductor with its manufacturing partners.
A lack of digital expertise may mean that Whitehall is unable to genuinely transform its services, and will only be capable of incremental upgrades. This could lead to increased costs in the long run, with government continuing to run its services on ageing legacy systems.
The government is therefore at risk of increasing its technical debt, which can lead to higher overall costs from outdated software and hardware, and lessen their cyber resilience.
This all stems from a lack of digitally skilled workers in the civil service – the report found the number of digital, data, and technology professionals in the civil services is estimated at only 4.5%.
This is less than half the number it needs when compared to an equivalent industry average of between 8% and 12%, meaning this number will need to double.
In response to the findings, the government claims that “pay constraints” mean that they are unable to compete with the private sector in “hard-to-recruit roles.”
However, the PAC said it was “disappointed” to find that some of these digital skills shortages were “self-inflicted” via counter-productive staffing cuts.
Digital headcount has been rationed in government departments – against the backdrop of a struggle to recruit and retain the necessary skilled people in a drive to double the civil service’s digital workforce.
Further, the inquiry found a troubling shortage of cybersecurity experts, which, coupled with the national shortage of skilled cyber experts, makes their command a “premium.”
Part of the civil service’s issues may be in their requirements for senior leaders – the PAC found that senior generalist leaders were not formally required to have a better understanding of digital business.
This can lead to poor management of vendor selection for software and data storage, a lack of understanding surrounding legacy technology replacement, and introduces massive gaps in cybersecurity resiliency.
“Our inquiry has found that Whitehall’s digital services, far from transforming at the pace required, are capable of only piecemeal and incremental change” Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair of the committee, said.
“Departments’ future-proofing abilities are hobbled by staff shortages, and a lack of support, accountability and focus from the top. In particular, a lack of cyber-security experts should send a chill down the Government’s spine.
“The Government talks of its ambitions for digital transformation and efficiency, while actively cutting the very roles which could help achieve them.
“Our inquiry leaves us unconvinced that these aims will be achieved in the face of competing pressures and priorities. Digital must not be treated merely as a sideline, but must sit right at the heart of how Government thinks about delivery. Without swift and substantial modernisation, opportunities to improve services for the public will continue to be lost.”
Scotland is open for business as a world-leading destination for developing ethical artificial intelligence (AI), innovation minister Richard Lochhead has told investors and senior industry figures.
Hosting the CogX fringe event at Scotland House London, the minister highlighted the supportive environment he says is being developed to foster the industry. This includes £24 million Scottish Government strategic investment in The Data Lab, a dedicated innovation centre for data and AI. It also serves as the home of the Scottish AI Alliance, which is meant to deliver the vision of Scotland’s AI Strategy.
Mr. Lochhead also officially opened the University of Glasgow’s new Centre for Data Science and AI earlier this week, which has been launched in a bid to tackle key global challenges through the innovative technologies.
“We are working to make Scotland a world leader in the development and use of artificial intelligence in a way which is trustworthy, ethical and inclusive,” he said. “We are, first and foremost, a land of invention, a pioneer in technology and an ideal place to invest and grow an AI business.
“Scotland gets AI. Our universities’ AI research and teaching has been ranked as world-class since the early formation of the sector, while Edinburgh was recently ranked the UK’s most “AI ready” city in the UK.
“Scotland is an outward-looking nation and is open for business. While rising to the challenges of this rapidly-evolving technology, we are also embracing the unprecedented economic opportunity it presents – just as we did for previous scientific and industrial revolutions.”
Earlier in the summer, Lochhead addressed the Chamber, raising doubts surrounding the UK’s current non-statutory approach to AI regulations. While he did not support the introduction of what he called “unnecessary red tape,” the innovation minister did say that “we do have a duty to create the right supportive environment for business to thrive, and also for citizens to be protected.”
However, most of these protective powers are left up to the UK government, including: “data protection consumer protection; equality and human rights; employment regulations; medical devices regulations; telecommunications; financial services; self-driving cars – they’re all reserved matters to the UK government.”
Lochhead did state back in June that he intended to write to the UK government in a bid to generate a more open dialogue between Parliament and the devolved administrations surrounding innovation, technology, and business regulations.
The Scottish government launched its own AI strategy in March 2021, which aims for Scotland to be a leader in trustworthy, ethical, and inclusive AI.
Over a quarter (29%) of European organisations are unable to fully utilise data within their organisation due to challenges with data security, according to an IDC InfoBrief sponsored by Immuta.
This data security “gap” is a result of organisations grappling with increasingly complex IT and data infrastructures internally, leading to huge siloes of sensitive data.
Businesses must manage this alongside the external risk of rising cyber-attacks in Europe: 58% of organisations experienced an increase in cyber-attacks in the last 12 months, followed by 49% in DACH (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) and 47% in the Nordics.
According to insights from 108 European organisations, data security is rising rapidly to the top of the CEO’s agenda: 45% will prioritise spend on data security, risk and compliance this year to enable trustworthy data collaboration and sharing, followed by workplace solutions (36%), application development and deployment platforms (35%), infrastructure and operations (33%) and automation technologies (31%).
Organisations must also address a new blind spot caused by shadow data – a side effect of data sprawl in the cloud – with only 42% of European businesses selecting “confident” or “highly confident” in their ability to discover and classify sensitive data, both known and unknown, in the public cloud.
Meanwhile, evolving privacy regulations are creating tension between digital innovation and data sovereignty: only 15% of organisations in Europe are highly confident in their ability to discover and classify sensitive data in order to protect it.
Additionally, when managing compliance with GDPR, the biggest challenges facing organisations stem from identifying and mapping personal data (41%), creating data protection by design (40%), data retention and deletion (38%) and data security (35%).
In the UK, organisations cited working from home and hybrid work as the top operational security priority for 2023, followed by cyber resilience of systems and data privacy and regulatory compliance.
Nearly two thirds (58%) described their organisation as “confident” or “highly confident” in its ability to discover and classify sensitive data, both known and unknown, in the public cloud – a significant increase on the European average (42%).
Over half (56%) of UK organisations will expand or upgrade technology related to data access and governance in the next 12 months.
“The reality is that organisations are typically operating with data spread across multiple platforms and locations, all whilst navigating a rapidly evolving privacy and regulatory landscape,” said Colin Mitchell, the general manager at Immuta.
“Data is a critical asset for organisations, enabling collaboration, innovation and informing decisions. However, as data usage increases, businesses need to manage unauthorised access, breaches and misuse. This creates a complex dynamic between data utility — the usefulness and accessibility of data — and the security and compliance measures in place to protect data from risks.”
Looking ahead, organisations are exploring ways to build trust in data by streamlining their security operations and rationalise their existing security tool environment: about half (49%) of respondents all working within security plan to expand or upgrade implementation of data access controls in the next 12 months.
Nearly a third of European organisations (32%) also intend to increase spend on data discovery and classification to overcome challenges of complexity.
Gartner Inc, the technology analysis firm, identified three macro trends impacting recruiting technology that HR leaders will need to address in 2024.
These trends include broad ranging themes surrounding generative AI, changing regulations, and vendor selection.
“This year, recruiting has been focused on leveraging new technology investments for talent attraction and engagement, enabling more streamlined worker transitions, and slowly consolidating technology market,” said Emi Chiba, principal analyst in the Gartner HR practice said at a conference hosted by Gartner. “As we look to 2024, while these trends will evolve, we see new macro trends emerging that HR leaders will need to address.”
Generative AI
The buzz around generative AI has yet to die down, and Gartner predicts that this will continue to impact hiring trends.
The hype had shifted the conversation about artificial intelligence as a whole, with topics ranging from the copyright law, job replacement, and other technological advancements.
HR and recruiting leaders are actively determining where AI is applicable, and which use cases make sense for organisations to augment human recruiters.
Many organisations have already implemented AI in their recruiting processes, the analyst firm said, to personalise candidate outreach, complete mundane tasks like scheduling, or conduct candidate matching assessments.
“While AI has become widespread in recruiting, generative AI is not at the same level of applied maturity in the recruiting process,” explained Chiba.
“In 2024, we expect generative AI use to continue increasing, particularly to draft job descriptions, candidate communications, and even interview questions.”
The use of AI in recruitment, however, does not come without controversy. Routinely, AI is found to be littered with biases when used in recruitment. In one of the most high profile cases, Amazon stopped using an AI platform to conduct hiring efforts after it found the model to sort against CVs of women and people of colour.
In the examples provided by Gartner, the use of generative AI in the hiring process appears to be less invasive, and people can still be central to the decision making processes.
However, many hiring practices are already facing scrutiny for being discriminatory or inaccessible to those with varying care needs and to those who are neurodivergent.
Regulatory Changes
Amplified regulations will lead organisations to be more vigilant in 2024, Gartner Inc. predicts.
The hype surrounding generative AI is also causing a shift in how organisations are looking at the ethics of AI as a whole.
The regulatory uncertainty of 2023 will likely persist and intensify in 2024 as more laws are enforced.
Afterall, the EU AI Act is just being formalised into official law, and the UK AI Summit is set to take place this autumn, with potentially more regulations to follow.
As more companies seek to incorporate generative AI in their day-to-day, the conversation around responsible AI will be front and centre, Gartner predicts.
“Despite increasing regulations, organizations will continue to lean into generative AI,” said Rania Stewart, senior director analyst in the Gartner HR Practice. “As organizations experiment more with AI, HR leaders must hold their AI vendors co-accountable while maintaining attentiveness.”
Vendor Selection
Buying cycles for talent acquisition tech have been elongated in 2023 as general uncertainty in the market led to increased scrutiny of the business case for talent acquisition tech transformation.
This trend is set to continue well into 2024, Gartner predicts. This is problematic for businesses as longer buying cycles can cause vendors to resort to hastily pulled-together new products that they’ve rushed to market to maintain their bottom lines.
As a result, it is more important than ever for HR leaders to be intentional when buying technology. In turn, this can further elongate the buying cycle.
Before buying, HR leaders must consider their priorities, how they’ll measure success, and hard vs. soft requirements.
In one of the tech world’s biggest anti-trust cases in decades, Google is set to defend itself against the US Government over claims it used its market dominance to make exclusive deals and quash competition.
The US Justice Department is set to show in court how Google, owned by Alphabet, paid billions to Apple, broadband companies, and browser makers to keep Google as the default search engine on their devices and platforms.
This, they are expected to say, has depleted competitors’ abilities to compete in the search engine marketplace.
It will be argued that Google has used its dominant market position to quash competition, though Google denies all the claims.
Judge Amit Mehta dropped certain charges made against Google, including a charge that its search results page design hurt competitors specialising in travel recommendations and customer reviews.
However, its other practices will come under fire in the court of law. Judge Mehta did acknowledge that Google is so ubiquitous in the public mind that “dictionaries recognize it as a verb,” he said in an opinion released in August, as reported by The Guardian.
Despite acknowledging Google’s dominance – its 90% market share as of 2020 and the fact that advertisers spend more than $80 billion annually to reach users on search results – Mehta is tasking the Justice Department to prove that Google breached anti-trust laws in every argued instance, rather than presenting a case of overall market dominance as being anti-trust.
“A company with monopoly power acts unlawfully only when its conduct stifles competition,” he reportedly wrote.
The case mainly hinges on Google’s payment of £1.2bn to Apple to ensure it was the default search engine on the company’s default browser, Safari, as well as similar payments to other browsers.
Further, Google applications are already defaulted and installed on different Android phones and other browsers, which the US government will claim has resulted in less competition and consumer choice, as well as stifling innovation.
Google has retorted that browsers and phones are “choosing” Google as their default search engine to offer the “highest quality” to their customers.
While making exclusive contracts with vendors and suppliers is not against the law and is in fact a common business practice, these deals can break anti-trust laws if a company has enough market power that it can prevent rivals from entering or participating in the market.
The burden of the case will therefore be on the Justice Department to show that Google’s dealings have hindered search engine competition and stifled rivals.
A similar consumer lawsuit is taking place against Google’s digital advertising practices, saying that the company used its market dominance to up prices for advertisers which ultimately increased consumer prices.
While the US lawsuit is not seeking financial compensation, it could give the government powers to stop Google’s ability to make exclusive deals, and even allow them to break up the company to an extent.
The Digital Critical Friends initiative has been set up by Scotland’s tech trade body, ScotlandIS, to address the industry’s skills gap and tackle high Computer Science drop-off rates in a time when one in ten jobs in Scotland is in the tech sector.
As demand for their services increase, Scottish tech businesses are continuing to face challenges, with 23% citing a lack of basic data skills and 37% reporting a lack of advanced digital skills among their existing workforces.
“While our well-established tech sector is growing, companies today are finding it difficult to recruit with today’s shortage of skills. Our mission is to engage and inspire young minds while bridging the skills gap,” ScotlandIS’s CEO Karen Meechan (pictured) said.
“Scotland’s tech sector is dynamic, exciting and offers a brilliant career path for young people today. But given the fast nature of the industry, the changes in how we use and develop technology can’t always be reflected in how the subject is taught in schools. There is no better way to protect the industry’s promising growth trajectory, and job opportunities of school leavers, than to build a direct line of contact between schools and professionals.
“We’re looking forward to working alongside new industry partners as we work to equip students with industry-relevant skills.”
The Digital Critical Friends initiative aims to link industry professionals with Computer Science educators to support the alignment of lessons with industry best practices and offer students a holistic view of sector opportunities.
Tech professionals – from IT technicians to software engineers – are being encouraged to volunteer to take part in the programme that will help to shape schools’ curriculums.
“It’s important for schools to have direct links with the tech sector so pupils can ask questions and get inspired by the potential career paths that they perhaps weren’t aware of previously,” Fiona Anderson, the project manager at software development and digital transformation company PDMS said.
Anderson’s company is taking part, in a partnership with St Margaret’s High Scool in North Lanarkshire.
“Giving young people an idea of the skillsets required for the various jobs in our sector can really help to give them direction for the future,” she said. “For example, discussing how good attention to detail and problem-solving skills are key for analysis and testing jobs, or that design roles might be well-suited to those who are keen on art and design or who have a creative flair, can help students understand which roles in our industry might be a good fit for them.”
Becoming a Digital Critical Friend involves an initial face-to-face meeting with a local school. The volunteers then maintain regular contact with teachers to help inform teaching, with at least one in-person meeting per term. Additionally, mentors have the opportunity to invite teachers to their workplace, providing them with an immersive experience, observing their teams and gaining insights into ongoing project.
It’s a common enough concern that Which? investigated the data collection practices of popular household smart devices across the UK to find out if our smart devices actually eavesdropping on us, or if it’s just paranoia.
While smart devices may not be ‘spying’ on us in the traditional sense, a new consumer review from Which? shows that the data collection methods of top household device brands are arguably more intensive than they need to be.
Which? went through the data collection practices of multiple smart devices, ranging from speakers, to TVs, to washing machines, to analyse the data they collect.
Their findings show that while smart devices may not be spying on us, it is only because they don’t really need to – the data they collect every day is enough to track our location, our economic status, and our consumption practices.
Below are the data practices of some of the most common smart devices in UK homes.
Smart Speakers
While smart speakers are supposed to only listen to you when you specifically want them to, this doesn’t mean that’s the only time they collect data.
Which? found an interesting pattern concerning the data collection differences between consumers with smart speakers attached to an Android or Apple device.
Those using an Android device were typically asked to provide more data — Amazon Echo, Google Next, Bose, and Sonos requested precise and coarse location data on Android devices, where as Apple users were only asked this same data by Amazon Echo.
Further, Which? found that Bose’s smart speakers share their user data with Meta.
Security Cameras and Doorbells
Google Nest appeared to ask for the most information out of all the security cameras and doorbells Which? investigated, asking for users’ names, birth dates and addresses, email, and phone number.
For Android users, Amazon, Arlo, and Ezviz products wanted background location data, meaning that they could keep track of the user’s location when they were not using the app.
Which? also found that Ezviz devices have the biggest number of active tracking firms, including Google, Meta, Huawei, and Pangle, TikTok’s business marketing unit.
According to the consumer group, all the permissions among the cameras and doorbells are activated by default. While users can manually opt out, this requires settings changes that might compromise some working aspects of the device or its associated app.
Smart TVs
In order to keep track of what you watch, most smart TVs use a system called automatic content recognition (ACR) — this can track what you watch via an app, via traditional TV, or even though a DVD player of gaming device.
This is typically option, however some brands like LG, Sony, and Samsung bundle these permissions with other terms and conditions in an “accept all” button.
Most brands offer tracking options that can be opt-in/opt-out, like personalised ads, usage history, location services, and voice recognition.
Which? did not find any smart TV brands that offered behaviour tracking by default, with these services requiring an opt-in and can be adjusted in the TV menu.
Smart Washing Machines
Which? said they were surprised by the amount of data tracking they identified from smart washing machines in the UK.
Every washing machine required users to create an account to use the smart settings – for LG and Hoover, users had to provide their date of birth to access the app.
Most washing machines requested location data of both Android and Apple users, and LG and Samsung even requested permission to access Photos from Apple users.
Miele went so far as to track users’ precise location as a default and required setting to use the app.
As part of their research, Which? also investigated the practices of consumers concerning the terms and conditions of different smart devices, where the details on data collection would be contained.
The terms and conditions of all 23 brands they investigated totalled 199,905 words, which would take the average reader over 13 hours to get through. Google Nest’s T&Cs total to a staggering 20,000 words, which still may not be comprehensible to the average consumer.
Data Protection Concerns
With companies wanting location data just to do laundry, it is no surprise that some consumers are growing more concerned around data protection.
In the UK, companies do have to rationalise why they collect certain data points, but these can often be listed under a vague category of the company’s “legitimate interest.”
“Consumers have already paid for smart products, in some cases thousands of pounds, so it is excessive that they have to continue to “pay” with their personal information,” Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said.
“Firms should not collect more data than they need to provide the service that’s on offer, particularly if they are going to bury this important information in lengthy terms and conditions.
“The Information Commissioner’s Office should crack down on data collection by manufacturers and marketing firms that appears to go beyond ‘legitimate interests’. A proper standard or code of practice should also be put in place to make the rules clearer.”
In response, Stephen Almond, the executive director of regulatory risk at the Information Commissioner’s Office said: “People should be able to enjoy the benefits of using their connected devices without having excessive amounts of their personal data gathered. This simply isn’t a price we expect to pay.
“To maintain trust in these products companies must be transparent about the data they collect and how they use it, and ensure that the data is not used or shared in ways that people would not expect. The ICO is developing guidance on data protection and Internet of Things devices and we will act where we don’t see the rules being followed.”
Transatlantic data flows underpin more than $7 trillion in cross-border trade and investment per year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The recently announced EU-US Data Privacy Framework (TADPF), in place as of 10 July 2023, is expected to further promote opportunity and economic fruitfulness on both sides of the Atlantic.
However, many are rightfully questioning the staying power of this latest version of the TADPF: Will it be third-time lucky or Groundhog Day all over again?
Against this backdrop of uncertainty, many companies must evaluate their short- and long-term regulatory resilience.
Framework inadequacy
For those less familiar, TADPF is a legal framework for data transfers that helps businesses comply with both EU and US data privacy laws.
The TADPF is the successor to the Privacy Shield and Safe Harbor agreements and offers a legal basis for securely transferring data from the EU to the US. The TADPF is intended to limit access by US intelligence services and guarantee the protection of EU citizens’ personal data.
The TADPF is similar in substance to the Privacy Shield agreement that Schrems II – a European Union court case – nullified.
According to Gartner, this new framework will only last 2-5 years; in fact, this third attempt to get a stable agreement on EU-US data transfers will likely be back at the Court of Justice (CJEU) before the end of the year.
Max Shrems, a data privacy advocate and founder of None of Your Business (NOYB), has already announced further legal challenges, and a plethora of other privacy groups and activists will likely follow.
As a result, it may be a just matter of months before a filing against the first companies to execute a transfer under this framework is made.
For businesses it is clear – a decision to solely rely on the new framework for transatlantic data flows, given the TADPF’s expected shelf life and the challenges it faces, leaves a high level of uncertainty, instability and risk.
Growing regulatory requirements
Today data borders and regulations are being constantly strengthened in a drive to protect customer privacy and fight global cybercrime. These good intentions, however, are evolving into what could fairly be called data nationalism.
As the regulatory landscape for privacy becomes increasingly volatile and fragmented, business risk – being out of compliance and subject to significant penalties – grows accordingly, absent regulatory resilience.
For the C-suite this presents a significant challenge. By law, cyber-risk is a board-level conversation because company performance in this area will impact shareholder value, customer confidence, and risk profile.
Equally, an inability to demonstrate privacy compliance creates short-term investment challenges including higher insurance premiums, cash reserves requirements for penalties, and higher costs of compliance.
In the long term, it impacts revenue and growth as companies are forced to pay higher costs to participate, or even exit markets entirely.
For data and technology leaders, today’s challenge is to comply with local regulations while respecting customer expectations and managing complex global supply chains.
But localisation of data is a problem that must be solved. To meet these macro and micro-economic challenges, organisations should look for borderless data systems that enable global business operations, ensure compliance and also meet local demands.
This is creating pressure with real-world consequences for global businesses. We only need to look at the recent issues faced by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
Meta was fined because they relied on Standard Contractual Clauses to achieve compliance for moving EU citizen data to the US for processing.
However, regulators have now said SCCs are not compliant with the GDPR, meaning that their current toolset commonly used by multinationals will no longer solve the data localisation challenge.
Furthermore, privacy will only continue to evolve, becoming more complicated tomorrow than it is today.
Pseudonymisation is an effective way to comply with the EU’s GDPR demands for secure data storage of personal information.
Recently, the EU Court of Justice ruled that pseudonymised data transmitted to a data recipient is not considered personal data if the recipient does not have the means to re-identify the data subject.
Therefore, pseudonymisation is a foundational technique to mitigate data protection risks. It plays a valuable role in helping organisations to address the challenges of data protection, security and privacy.
Pseudonymisation is now accepted by legal bodies as a method for protecting PII data and provides companies with the regulatory resilience they need to underpin compliance.
When done right, data privacy delivers not just compliance, but also competitive advantage. Without a doubt, businesses that can accelerate the free flow of data and the adoption of new technologies will be market disruptors. They will innovate faster, enter new markets and nimbly deliver new sources of revenue.
Ultimately, borderless data accelerates business by de-risking the data that drives sustainability, profitability, and growth, connecting and creating new value for organizations, partner ecosystems, and the entire supply chain.
This is according to Traceable’s State of API Security 2023 Global Findings, which surveyed 1,629 respondents across 32 countries from over six major industries, including financial services, insurance, retail, healthcare, SAAS, and high technology and software.
APIs, or application programming interface, are the intermediary software allowing two different applications to communicate. They are vital for the functioning of most webpages and interfaces, and underscore the foundation of web applications.
57% of organisations surveyed by Traceable said APIs were critically important to their digital transformation journey, underscoring their vitality.
Further, nearly a quarter (23%) of organisations use 251 to 500 APIs, with a fifth using 1,001 to 2,500 APIs, showing their growing importance in tech.
Being able to keep these streams of communication secure is therefore crucial to keeping data secure as it moves between interfaces.
That being said, Traceable’s findings were anything but comforting – 60% of organisations surveyed experienced an API-related data breach in the past two years, and nearly three-quarters (74%) experienced at least three of these events.
Shockingly, just over a third (34%) reported experiencing three to four breaches, and 40% suffered five or more breaches. Over one in ten (11%) respondents reported seven breaches, highlighting a chronic cybersecurity issue.
Distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks were the most common API attack method according to 38% of respondents. Fraud and known attacks were both cited by nearly a third (29%) of participants as a top cause of data breaches.
A concerning 57% of respondents say that traditional security solutions are simply not effective enough in detecting legitimate versus fraudulent activity at the API layer.
Respondents are even confused on their own organisation’s API morphology, with 56% saying that the increasing amount and complexity of APIs make it difficult to keep track of how many APIs exist, where they are, and what they do.
Adding to the security concerns are third parties – the report found that an average of 127 third parties are connected to an organisation’s APIs, but only a third of organisations say they are prepared to mitigate risks associated with third party access.
In relation to this, just over a third (35%) of organisations claim to be able to identify and reduce risks associated with APIs outside of their own organisation, with 40% saying they are capable of the same within their organisation.
According to Traceable, these issues arise from organisation’s lack of knowledge surrounding the actual amount of data being transmitted through their APIs.
All these issues lead to a negative outlook over the coming two years, with 61% of organisations anticipating API risks are set to increase or significantly increase. In contrast, only 15% of those surveyed think the associated risks will decrease.
APIs are unavoidable necessities, but the majority (58%) of respondents find that these only expand their attack surface across every layer of their technology sack, increasing security vulnerabilities.
Their vitality and accompanying security issues has created many top concerns for organisations. API sprawl is the top concern for nearly half (48%) of respondents, and this makes sense as the term encompasses some of the many issues arising from the indispensable nature of APIs.
API sprawl is the situation of having many APIs, in many locations, managed by many different teams. Essentially, APIs are ‘sprawled’ out across a company, regulated by different departments, affecting different systems, and ultimately, presenting various security vulnerabilities that are not managed by a unified system.
Akin to this challenge is maintaining an accurate inventory of APIs, which was cited by 39% of organisations, followed by managing third-party access, which was listed by about a third (30%) of companies as a top concern.
This all rounds out to the need for unified management of APIs and their security challenges.
Microsoft has announced that it will back users of its AI systems in copyright claims for AI-produced work and outputs.
“As customers ask whether they can use Microsoft’s Copilot services and the output they generate without worrying about copyright claims, we are providing a straightforward answer: yes, you can, and if you are challenged on copyright grounds, we will assume responsibility for the potential legal risks involved,” an announcement by Microsoft on Thursday read.
The company’s decision appears to be the first of its kind in the AI-copyright debate, as users and companies grapple with upcoming regulations and lawsuits from creators surrounding AI outputs.
Questions concerning copyright laws have racked the world of generative AI applications, as authorits, artists, academics, and content creators have called the use of their work for training AI to be in breach of their intellectual property rights.
So far, companies have faced direct lawsuits from claimants saying that they did not consent to having their data or content used to train AI systems. Further, artists have said that AI models have copied their original style, allowing users to pass the resulting output as their own.
Microsoft’s move appears to be in the interest of its users, but also at the interest of its own company, and may be due to a lack of overriding legislation regarding AI and copyright.
In the UK for instance, has flip-flopped on AI copyright laws since the prolific rise of ChatGPT. Currently, data mining of copyrighted material is allowed in the UK for non-commercial use, such as for research purposes, but this was set to potentially expand to allow AI companies to flourish more freely in the UK. Pushback from privacy groups, however, meant that this amendment was not adopted, and the UK is still awaiting more direction for AI legislation, which may be delivered in the upcoming AI summit in Autumn.
Microsoft’s move will concern users the use of Microsoft’s AI Copilots and the output they generate, specifically commercial versions of Copilot services and Bing Chat Enterprise, as well as GitHub Copilot which is used to produce code.
The announcement did come with a condition, however: users must have used the guardrails and content filters Microsoft says they have built into their products in order to qualify for legal representation.
Microsoft says that these filters are designed to reduce the likelihood returning infringing content.
“These build on and complement our work to protect digital safety, security, and privacy, based on a broad range of guardrails such as classifiers, metaprompts, content filtering, and operational monitoring and abuse detection, including that which potentially infringes third-party content,” the company said.
It is unclear if there are specific filters that can filter out copyrighted material from being included in a generative AI models’ output.
However, AI companies will have to disclose what copyrighted material was used to train their systems if they are to abide by the EU AI Act.
Further, Microsoft says that users cannot attempt to generate infringing material by providing prompts or input to a Copilot service that the customer does not have the rights to use.
Microsoft did state that their new policy does not change the company’s position that it does not claim any intellectual property rights in the outputs of its Copilot services.
Period and fertility apps are typically use to track a user’s menstrual cycle, and can include person data such as the use of birth control, days of ovulation, and sexual intimacy frequency.
A poll commissioned by the regulator revealed women said transparency over how their data was used (59%) and how secure it was (57%) were bigger concerns than cost (55%) and ease of use (55%) when it came to choosing an app.
“These statistics suggest data security is a significant concern for women when it comes to choosing an app to track their periods or plan or prevent pregnancy. That’s not surprising, given the incredibly sensitive and personal information involved,” Emily Keaney, deputy commissioner of regulatory policy at the ICO, said.
The poll showed a third of women have used apps to track periods or fertility.
The research also showed that over half of people who use the apps believed they had noticed an increase in baby or fertility-related adverts since signing up. While some found the adverts positive, 17% described receiving these adverts as distressing.
As part of its continued research, the ICO is now urging users to come forward to share their experiences through a survey in a call for evidence.
The regulator has also contacted companies who provide period and fertility tracking apps, including some of the most popular apps available to UK users, to find out how they are processing users’ personal information.
“We want to make sure women can use these services with confidence, so we’re calling for people to share their experiences,” Keaney said. “This will help us understand whether there are areas that need improvement – from how easy it is to navigate privacy policies to whether people have experienced upsetting and unexpected targeted advertising. We also know some users feel these apps bring many benefits and we’d like to hear about these too.”
A focus of the ICO’s work is to identify whether there is the potential for harm and negative impact on users as a result. These harms could include unnecessarily complicated and confusing privacy policies, leaving users in the dark as to what they have consented to, apps requesting or storing unnecessary volumes of data, or users receiving upsetting targeted advertising that they did not sign up to.
The ICO will also be commissioning focus groups and user testing, and working with key stakeholders, where the National Data Guardian, Dr Nicola Byrne, and women’s health groups, including Wellbeing of Women, have offered their support.
“As with all health apps, we would expect organisations to safeguard their users’ privacy and have transparent policies in place. This review is intended to establish both the good and bad of how the apps are working currently. Once we have more information, we will explore next steps, but we will not hesitate to take regulatory action to protect the public if necessary,” Keaney added.
Privacy and Fertility Apps
At this year’s Scot-Secure 2023, Flo presented their own story as a period and fertility tracking app used by many people in the United States. After a Supreme Court decision meant that abortion was no longer legally protected in all 50 states, users of fertility tracking apps were concerned that government and law enforcement could use this personal data against them to see if users had become pregnant and sought an abortion.
In an effort to protect their user’s privacy, Flo partnered with CloudFlare to implement an Oblivious HTTP (OHTTP) and re-examine their IP firewall system in order to create an anonymous mode which decoupled health data from personal information containing no unique user identifiers, and kept both data sets secure.
Anonymous [Mode] is important, especially in the world that we live in,” said Leo Cunningham, chief information security officer at Flo said. “Particularly with female data, it is imperative that we respond as a company and protect the users.”
“It is non-negotiable for us as a company.”
You can find hear about more data privacy and cybersecurity stories, protocols, and best practice at Scot-Secure West taking place in Glasgow on 14 September.
UK tech businesses are growing in confidence about their economic prospects, despite many economic concerns and the mass tech layoffs seen earlier this year.
This is according to research commissioned by Integro Accounting, an accountancy provider to contractors, freelancers, and small businesses, which found rising confidence amid stubbornly high inflation, rising interest rates, and ongoing layoffs made by big tech companies affecting UK-based staff and suppliers.
Over 400 tech businesses were sampled across on a range of subjects ranging from sales volumes, staffing shortages and inflationary pressures.
IT consultancy businesses, which includes software developers and consultants providing technical support, are reporting a marked improvement across most metrics whereas businesses in many other sectors, such as retail, housebuilding, and hospitality, are gloomier about their prospects.
Graph 1: How do you expect your business’s overall performance to change over the next 12 months? Percentage of tech sector respondents who said they expect performance to increase, stay the same, decrease or not sure.
On the question “How do you expect your business’s overall performance to change over the next 12 months?” 62% of IT consultancy businesses sampled in Q2 said that they expect performance to improve, compared to 51% when asked the same question in Q1 (Graph 1).
“The UK’s tech sector is rebounding strongly at a time when many other sectors of the economy are struggling, Christian Hickmott, managing director of Integro Accounting, commented. “There are signs that business failures among tech businesses are starting to fall from their peak at the end of 2022 whereas the upward trend is continuing for many other sectors of the economy.”
“Rising interest rates are exacerbating the financial strain many businesses are facing as they struggle to service loans. Tech businesses usually carry lower levels of debt than capital intensive industries, which means they are relatively insulated from rate rises. This puts them in a much more resilient position as interest rates continue to rise from record lows.”
He adds: “The dilemma for UK tech companies is that access to equity funding is drying up, which makes businesses looking to scale more reliant on expensive debt. Given that many tech businesses are not profitable, they may not have the option to fund growth from cash reserves.”
Integro Accounting also points out that talent shortages in the IT sector are continuing to ease. Over three quarters (77%) of IT business leaders are no longer experiencing a shortage of workers, up from 69% in Q1 and 66% in Q4 of 2022.
Graph 2: Is your business currently experiencing a shortage of workers? Percentage of tech sector respondents who said yes, no, not sure or not applicable.
Of the IT consultancies currently experiencing worker shortages, 41% said they had been unable to fully meet demand as a result – a dramatic improvement on the 54% of IT consultancies experiencing worker shortages who were unable to fully meet demand in Q1 (Graph 2).
“The UK has been relatively shielded from the mass layoffs of the US tech giants, which has affected both contractors and employees,” Hickmott said. “While there have been layoffs and hiring freezes, these have benefited other users of tech skills who have often been priced out of the market in the war for talent with big tech.”
“Hirers are now generally finding they have a larger candidate pool to choose from, whereas previously they might have had only a couple of viable applicants for a role.”
According to a survey by Finder UK, one in five British adults intended to work remotely from another country this year. This new way of working was particularly popular amongst Generation Z, with 39% reporting they would be working from another country in 2023. Popular destinations for remote work included the US, Germany, France, Spain and Pakistan.
This increase in so-called Digital Nomads raises several issues for their UK employers. Businesses must consider how a temporary period of remote working abroad will affect their usual systems of work and identify whether this will have any impact on the employee’s employment rights.
Must employers accept a request to work remotely from abroad?
Requests by employees to work abroad should be managed in a fair and consistent manner. If an employer prohibits employees from working remotely from certain countries, this may give rise to indirect discrimination claims. Employers should, therefore, ensure that there is an “objective justification” for all decisions to reject requests to work remotely from abroad.
Rejecting a remote working request may be justified by reference to:
the economic and operational requirements of the business;
specific requirements of the role such as training obligations; or
concerns about an employee’s wellbeing, for example, where there is conflict in the country or political instability.
What are the practical considerations when an employee wants to work remotely from abroad?
There are several practical considerations when an employee requests to work abroad. In particular, an employer must ask:
Can the employee carry out their work lawfully and effectively?
Will the employee be working from a different time zone and will changes to working patterns, team meetings and deadlines be required in order to accommodate this?
When abroad will the employee have a safe and suitable working environment with all required equipment?
How will the employee communicate securely and effectively with their colleagues in the UK?
How will the employee be supervised?
How will the employee continue to access support and opportunities for training and promotion?
Can the employee be required to return to work in the UK?
Before accepting a request for work remotely from abroad, employers should review employment contracts and existing policies and procedures relating to flexible and remote working to identify whether these are still appropriate in the context of an employee working in another country.
What compliance issues need to be addressed?
There are a number of compliance areas which need to be considered and may require legal advice from specialists in the UK and/or in the country where your employee is to work:
Does your employee have the right to work in the country of their choosing? and Do you incur any risks by allowing them to do so?
What are the tax implications of your employee being based overseas? Should you still operate UK PAYE? Must you comply with the tax/social security regime of the other country, register as an employer there, and operate payroll locally?
Are you going to be transferring personal data to this employee? What additional considerations need you take account of when transferring data outside the UK? Need you ensure compliance with local laws on data protection?
How do you comply with your health and safety obligations for an overseas employee? Do you have any obligations under local health and safety laws?
As may be gleaned from this list, as well as specialist legal advice, multi-jurisdictional tax advice is also likely to be needed.
Will working remotely abroad affect my employee’s employment rights?
The primary position is that parties are free to choose the law which will govern the employment contract. As such, if there is any doubt about the law which applies to the employment relationships, it is important to specify this in the contract.
However, even if an employment contract states that Scots law will apply, for example, employees may still be able to rely on employment legislation in the country in which they are working, if there are “mandatory provisions” of the local legal system which apply irrespective of the choice of law.
Therefore, if an employee is regularly working abroad, it is recommended that you seek specialist legal advice to determine how this impacts an employee’s rights under employment law.
It will often be necessary to take advice from an employment lawyer in the country your employee wants to work in. BTO is a member of the Mackrell International network of law firms and can put you in touch with an appropriate specialist lawyer
Scots have been warned that the rise of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) is making scams harder to spot.
Advice Direct Scotland said AI is now playing a “major part” in the ways scammers target people – with schemes becoming more sophisticated and difficult to detect.
The charity said that previously, one of the main signs of a digital scam was bad spelling or poor use of English, which could clue targets into if an email or message was fraudulent.
Now, scammers can use AI platforms like ChatGPT which uses natural language processing to create human-like dialogue to seem more believable. They can also use AI image generators to create fake celebrity endorsements that appear real.
Advice Direct Scotland, which runs the consumeradvice.scot service and scamwatch.scot website where scams can be reported, said people should be more alert and think carefully before engaging with anyone asking for personal information.
Its experts said people should always look closely at images in emails and on social media or text messages and consider whether the background or those pictured look realistic.
People are also advised to look at the senders’ email address and to always check with the original source if they are in any doubt.
Over the past year, the number of scams reported to Advice Direct Scotland has increased by a third, with AI tactics now being used across the board.
consumeradvice.scot provides free, impartial and practical advice on a range of issues including scams, issues with products and services, and consumer rights.
Conor Forbes, director of policy with Advice Direct Scotland, said: “Scammers are constantly adapting their methods to target people more effectively, and we know that AI is now playing a major part in their tactics.
“The use of AI makes it a lot harder for people to spot scams because it can make emails and images look far more believable.
“People should always be vigilant and pause before interacting with emails, text messages or social media adverts.
“Look closely at images and whether they look realistic, for example, does the person pictured have all five fingers, and does the background appear to be real.
“If there’s any doubt whatsoever, check with the original source before parting with any type of personal information – even if you think it looks legitimate overall.
“The most effective way to stop scammers in their tracks is to report a scam to scamwatch.scot when you see one.
“Remember there is no shame in being scammed, and anyone who is concerned should contact one of our specialist advisers for free, impartial and practical advice on 0808 164 6000 or via www.consumeradvice.scot.”
Google is facing a new class action lawsuit that has been filed today for anti-competitive digital advertising practices on the behalf of all UK consumers.
The lawsuit, which claims Google abused its market dominance to make more profit during the cost-of-living crisis, could result in nearly everyone in the UK receiving a share of the £7.3 billion the lawsuit is after.
Consumer rights group Consumer Voice is leading the lawsuit, which alleges that Google has stifled search engine competition by making itself the default search engine on nearly all mobile phones in the UK.
According to claimants, this increased the prices for advertisers promoting their products and pages on Google, which ultimately passed costs onto consumers.
“Almost everybody uses Google as their go-to search engine, often trusting the company to help them find the best products and services at reasonable prices,” Nikki Stopford, the co-founder of Consumer Voice and leader of the claim said.
“Unfortunately, Google’s dominance of the search market has actually raised those prices for consumers. Despite judgments at the highest levels in Europe and complaints in the US, Google continues to rig the search market so that it can charge advertisers more.”
The lawsuit claims that Google’s popularity as a search engine is not out of fair market competition, but by unfair market practices which forced the search engine onto people’s mobile devices.
The claim stipulates that Google forced smartphone manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search and Google Chrome mobile apps as a condition of using Google’s Android operating system, and to gain a licence for Google Play, the company’s mobile app store.
Further, the lawsuit claims that Google’s payment of £1.2bn to Apple to ensure it was the default search engine on the company’s default browser, Safari, was unlawful.
Consumer Voice is not the only ones who have noted the potential anti-competitive nature of the deal – in 2020 the Competition and Markets Authority completed a market study into digital advertising, saying the Apple-Google deal created a “significant barrier” to other search engines entering the market.
Further, the US Department of Justice also found that the deal squashed competition for search engines on iOS devices.
The EU even fined Google £3.6bn in 2022 for anti-competitive behaviours for forcing android phone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome as a condition of using Google Play.
“It’s a clear breach of competition law, for which consumers are paying the price,” Stopford argued.
“Google has been warned about its behaviour by competition regulators repeatedly but has taken no meaningful action to stop the abuse. This action aims to make the company accountable for its repeated lawbreaking and get consumers back the money they’re owed.”
The Consumer Voice claimants will be represented by the law firm Hausfield & CCo. LLP and will be filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, a specialist competition court.
“Google provides a great service, but it isn’t free,” Luke Streatfield, a partner at Haustfeld leading the lawsuit, said.
“This claim says that Google has choked off competition in search engines for years, to the detriment of the businesses that use its services – and, ultimately, consumers. The lack of competition leads to higher prices and poorer quality, and the effects of this are felt throughout the UK economy.”
Using it’s market dominance, the lawsuit claims that Google can force advertisers to pay a premium to top search results for products and services, with top billing going to the highest bidder. This would ultimately raise prices for advertisers to compete, which raises consumer costs.
“This case is speculative and opportunistic – we will argue against it vigorously,” a Google spokesperson said, as reported by The Guardian. “People use Google because it is helpful. We only make money if ads are useful and relevant, as indicated by clicks – at a price that is set by a real-time auction.
“Advertising plays a crucial role in helping people discover new businesses, new causes and new products.”
One in six women in Scotland have experienced online violence, according to a new study, with the figure rising amongst those aged between 16-24 (27%) and LGBTQ+ women (45%).
This is according to researchers from The Open University who carried out one of the largest ever UK studies into societal attitudes and experiences of online violence against women and girls across Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
When comparing responses across the nations, the research showed that women and girls in Scotland were the most likely to have witnessed online violence (35%), in comparison to those in Wales (27%), Northern Ireland (27%) and England (30%).
Of even greater concern, one in nine Scots (11%) who have experienced online violence said it later progressed to offline violence.
“This new research represents the largest-ever study into societal attitudes and experiences of online violence against women and girls across the four nations. For Scotland, the results are extremely sobering and highlight how endemic online violence is in and what serious impacts it is having on girls’ and women’s lives and on our society as a whole,” Susan Stewart, director of The Open University in Scotland, said.
“In line with The Open University’s mission to empower communities, tackle inequalities and drive positive societal change, we hope that these findings will open the dialogue among policymakers and authorities to help better tackle online violence and improve outcomes for those affected.”
Online anonymity (54%), ease of getting away with it (47%) and misogyny (46%) top the most commonly perceived reasons for why people commit online violence against women and girls.
At the same time, a higher proportion of people in Scotland strongly support making online violence a criminal offence than England , with women across both nations more supportive than men (73% of women and 55% of men in Scotland versus 69% of women and 50% of men in England).
Interestingly, Scots overwhelmingly support new Scottish devolved laws designed to address online violence against women and girls (76% for men and 82% for women).
The findings illustrate some gender divides with men being more likely than women to believe that legally prohibiting online violence would limit their freedom of expression (17% of Scottish men and only 8% of women).
Men were also more confident than women that the Scottish Government is doing all they reasonably can to address online violence (19% of men vs 14% of women).
The data illustrated a lack of confidence on the part of women and girls, that the authorities would deal effectively with a report of online violence.
Almost one third of women in Scotland (32%) who experienced online violence were more likely to seek support from friends, with only 4% saying they were likely to go to the police.
Further, 64% of women stated that they thought the police lacked the resources needed to tackle online violence against women and girls effectively. Over three quarters (76%) of women who reported online violence were not satisfied with the outcome.
According to Professor Olga Jurasz, a senior lecturer in Law at The Open University who lead the project, online violence can come in a number of forms, including trolling, threats, abuse, non-consensual sharing of photos, and unwanted sexual remarks.
“This can have a serious impact on women’s wellbeing and their behaviour, including a negative impact on mental and physical health, having to implement measures to protect themselves from abuse, and a change in willingness or ability to express views online,” she said.
Indeed, of those who have experienced online violence in Scotland, 85% said it had impacted on them, with six in ten (61%) reporting it had a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing.
“Violence against women and girls is endemic in Scotland and has devastating physical and psychological consequences, disproportionately impacting women of colour, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalised groups. The new research from The Open University further confirms this fact,” Catherine Murphy, executive director at Engender, Scotland’s feminist policy and advocacy organisation, commented on the research findings
“Following six years of campaigning the UK Government’s Online Safety Bill will now include Women and Girls. The amendment will require Ofcom to publish guidance for tech companies on reducing the risk of harm to women and girls using their platforms.
“Engender is currently calling on the Scottish Government to also adopt a Digital Health and Safety at Work framework, supporting employers to ensure women’s right to workplace safety is upheld online.”
The report surveyed 7500 people over the age of 16 via YouGov, providing an insight into the thoughts and lived experiences of those living across the UK.
The sobering statistics show that, not only do women and girls find online environments unsafe, but they have a lack of trust in law enforcement’s ability and care.
In response to the new research, Assistant chief constable Bex Smith, Police Scotland, said: “We are committed to creating a society where women and girls live free from violence, abuse, exploitation and harassment and therefore we welcome this research.
“We have made progress, but we want to do more to support the right of women and girls to feel safe. By continuing to listen to the experiences of everyone, we will have a more informed approach and our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy outlines the actions we will take as a service, along with our partners.
“We are committed to continually improving the service we provide, to build confidence in reporting and in policing more widely. Our service must be trauma-informed, we will prioritise the needs of victims and survivors. Our role is crucial, but policing alone cannot stop this and we will continue to work with our partners to improve our response and drive the change needed to end violence against women and girls.”
According to a report from LBC in May, Police Scotland also have nearly 180 sexual assault allegations against serving officers that have yet to be dealt with.
As the Online Safety Bill enters its final checks in the House of Lords today, the controversial bill has undergone a major reshape in its last hours of debate.
According to a breaking report by the Financial Times, the government is set to back down from perhaps the most contentious clause in the bill, surrounding the potential end of end-to-end encryption.
As reported by the FT, the UK government is will not enforce pre-emptive scanning of encrypted messaging for harmful content until Ofcom – the telecommunications regulator – can prove it is technically feasible to do this without completely compromising the integrity of encryptions.
The draft bill has gone under numerous changes and undulations through the administrations of three prime ministers – the encryption clause, however, has seen the most contention across parliament, the public, companies, and human rights groups.
As the bill stood prior to the statement, Ofcom would be empowered to force companies offering encrypted messaging services to scan messages for illegal content prior to encrypting and sending the message.
Privacy watchdogs have also said that a compromise on end-to-end encryption would allow for increased state surveillance and invade people’s online privacy.
While the government tried to lessen fears and say that they could scan messages without infringing on people’s privacy, the tech world scoffed – tech leaders simply said the technology does not yet exist, and could even take years to develop.
The new statement, as reported by the Financial Times, acknowledges the lack of technology to allow encrypted messaged to be scanned for harmful and illegal content without infringing on people’s privacy – a prospect which feels ultimately counter-intuitive.
Still, the conversation surrounding end-to-end encryption has dominated headlines concerning the Online Safety Bill, transforming the discussion from one about protecting children and vulnerable groups online to protecting online privacy.
As 73% of these crimes involved Snapchat and sites owned by Meta, the charity has urged for big tech to be regulated to prevent such serious crimes from occurring on a continually large scale.
“No-one is questioning that more must be done to protect people, especially children, online,” Martina Larkin, CEO, Project Liberty, said. “However the debate should not be about protecting children versus protecting privacy. We can have, and should have, both.
“When it comes to how we build a better web, everybody loses when rash decisions are made. Trying to protect children by building backdoors into encryption will have unprecedented negative consequences for online privacy, the use of people’s data as well as the protection of free speech and democratic values.
“No-one would ever willingly let a complete stranger read all of your mail, put cameras in their house, and follow their every move. So why do it online?” she questioned.
It remains to be seen what the House of Lords will decide regarding the Online Safety Bill, and leaves more questions as to who the bill will actually protect if ratified.
Board members are increasingly aware of cybersecurity threats affecting their organisations, but a startling number of them also feel unprepared to handle these threats.
This is according to a new whitepaper from Proofpoint which tracked the perspective of board members and CISOs across the globe on the ever changing cybersecurity landscape.
While the survey found that most board members understood the myriad threats affecting them, a staggering 53% felt that their organisations were unequipped to handle a cyber attack in the next 12 months.
This rose when Proofpoint asked the same of CISOs, with a whopping 61% believing their organisation is unprepared to cope with a targeted cyber-attack in the next year.
Though unprepared, board members seemed to understand the cyber threat ecosystem.
Awareness Does Not Mean Preparedness
Malware (40%), cloud account compromise (36%) and insider threats (36%) were the top three biggest cybersecurity concerns listed by board members for the next 12 months.
Interestingly, ransomware came in fourth place, at 35%, despite the high-profile nature of these attacks.
Last year, board members were more concerned with email fraud, but worries here were likely stymied by increased effectiveness of inbox security tools. Further, high staff turnovers during the aftermath of the pandemic also increased fears of business email compromise, as new staff are not as trained in cybersecurity best practices, and may fall victim to fraud.
According to Proofpoint, insider threats are costing businesses over $15 million a year, and are only on the rise, so it is positive that board members are noticing the trend.
However, despite an increase in supply-chain attacks as noted by Proofpoint, only 26% of board members listed it as a top concern. Despite a previous finding from 2023 Voice of the CISO showing that 64% of CISOs think their organisations can mitigate supply-chain risks, these threats are not going anywhere. Supply chain attacks are projects to cost businesses nearly $46 billion by the end of this year.
When thinking about the damages these cyber attacks can cause, boardrooms have much the same opinion as they did in last year’s report.
Disruption to operations (36%), internal data becoming public (36%), and reputation damage (34%) all topped the list as the greatest concerns companies had regarding a cyber incident.
“It’s easy for board members to take their eyes off cybersecurity when current events take precedence and raise new concerns. Even if 72% of board members feel comfortable with their understanding of cyber risk today, the modern landscape is constantly introducing new complexities and cybercriminals are not standing still,” Lucia Milica Stacy said, a policy council and board member for the National Technology Security Coalition.
“Other priorities should not overshadow cybersecurity, especially in our deeply interconnected world where systemic risk is a growing problem.”
Confidence in the Board Room
Despite board members lacking confidence in their organisation’s cybersecurity posture, they have more faith in their own posture in the board room.
Most board members in the UK (57%) feel their board is comfortable making decisions about cybersecurity issues affecting the organisations.
This confidence, however, is dwarfed by the global average of 75%.
In the UK, confidence in cybersecurity investment has waned since last year.
According to the report, 84% of UK board members in 2022 thought that their organisation adequately invested in cybersecurity.
This dropped by 36% in 2023, to just 48% of UK boards thinking their company invested enough in cybersecurity.
Across the globe, however, most board members (84%) believe they will see an increase in their cybersecurity budget.
Proofpoint, however, pointed out that though 71% of board members believe they understand the systemic impact of cyber risk, this does not necessarily mean they do.
The complexity of cybersecurity, the interdependency of different supply chains and technology, continually transforms the needs of organisations to stay cybersafe. Changing regulations concerning data privacy and digital rights can also confound businesses attempting to dissuade attackers and evade hefty fines.
Overall, only 52% if board members surveyed in the UK agree that cybersecurity is a priority for their board, down from 80% last year. This may be due to a rise in other concerns, like economic insecurity, or a decrease in cyber concerns due to the ease of the pandemic’s effects and stressors on technology.
The teams compete to build the best AI-powered multimodal conversational assistant to help people perform real-world tasks like cooking, making crafts, or helping with DIY.
The research group – the Generalized Representation and Information Learning Lab (GRILL), advised by faculty member Dr Jeff Dalton – won the $500,000 cash grand prize in last year’s competition.
The GRILL team are the only UK entrants selected by Amazon to compete against students from 10 universities in the USA and Portugal. A semi-final in June whittled the competitors down to eight teams.
Now, the team are finalists in this year’s competition. The GRILLBot conversational assistant, based on the research group’s Open Assistant Toolkit (OAT), will be judged against four other competitors from the USA and Portugal at the finals event later this month.
The Alexa Prize TaskBot Challenge is a competition for university teams to develop conversational AI agents capable of helping people perform real-world tasks using an Alexa device with both voice and a screen. The new machine learning models can be tested with real-world users at scale.
Last year’s competition asked the teams to help users with cooking and DIY tasks. This year, the challenge expands to include more hobbies and at-home activities.
A key aspect of this year’s challenge is going beyond just audio to effectively incorporate visual aids.
Dr Dalton said: “I’m proud of the team rising to meet new AI research challenges in the second year of Taskbot. This includes deploying LLMs for social chat, knowledge augmentation, and improving task-specific QA. Reaching the Finals demonstrates the world-leading talent and determination of UoG students at all levels and their ability to engage with research. The GRILL team pushed the frontier of multimodal generative language models to new levels in the Challenge.”
PhD student Sophie Fischer is the GRILL team’s leader. She said: “We find it exciting to use the latest advances in Large Language Models to create experiences for users that are fun and engaging by bringing in new types of rich interactions and teach them new knowledge and skills. The Challenge is a fun rollercoaster because the time from research to real-world deployment is shorter than in most research projects.”
The GRILL team going to compete include: Sophie Fischer (Team Lead), PhD in Computing Science; Carlos Gemmell, PhD in Computing Science; Niklas Tecklenburg, Bsc Informatics; Philip Zubel, BSc (Hons) Computing Science; Ekaterina Terzieva, MSc Computer Science; Daniel Armstrong, MSs Information Technology; Eva Kupcova, BSc (Hons) Computing Science; Federico Rossetto, PhD in Computer Science; and Iain Mackie, PhD in Computing Science.
Meta is updating the Facebook News feature in three European countries, including the UK, starting this December.
The new policy will see Meta deprecateFacebook News, which is a dedicated tab for news content on the social media site, in the UK, France, and Germany, representing some of the largest parts of the European market.
According to the company, news makes up less than 3% of what people around the world see in their Facebook feed, and therefore represents only a small portion of their social media experience on the site.
This policy is simply getting rid of the specific news tab – news will still be available on the website from the Facebook Newsfeed, and news outlets and publications can still share their content on the site.
Further, Meta has said that it will maintain existing Facebook News deals and obligations with publishers in the UK, France, and Germany until they expires.
However, the company will not be entering into any new commercial deals for news content in these countries and do not expect to offer Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future.
The update is in contract to Meta’s recent changes in Canada, where new Canadian media laws insisted that Meta compensate publications for sharing their news content on their site.
Instead, Meta refused to share news on Canadian Facebook as they did not want to be liable for compensation. This led to outrage as wild fires raged across Canada’s northwest region, with many unaware of calls to evacuate as news of the fires on Facebook, one of the most widely used social media sites, was not shared.
This new European policy is less stringent, however, and is part of a realignment for the product and services Meta offers, the company insisted.
“As a company, we have to focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of on the platform, including short form video,” said a blog post concerning the new policy.
“We know that people don’t come to Facebook for news and political content – they come to connect with people and discover new opportunities, passions and interests.”
The current Facebook News functions as a current tab on a person’s Facebook profile where a user can select to see news exclusively.
With the removal of this tab, it is yet to be seen if more news content will flood into the normal newsfeed of Facebook users as publishers try to maintain their revenue from Facebook clicks.
The removal of this tab also comes in conjunction with Meta cutting funding to the Community News Project in the UK, which was established in 2019 in collaboration with Sir Nick Clegg to introduce news reporting and journalism to underserved communities across the UK.
With funding, which amassed to £1.3bn, cut, journalists worry that around 100 jobs will be cut across community news organisations. Reporters’ current contracts will be honoured, according to the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), which handled the distribution of the funds.
At the time of its inception, the Community News Project helped Facebook undermine critiques of its affect on journalism and reporting, as it funded local communities while also profiting on the work of journalists posting their content on their news site.
Mocean Energy, an Edinburgh-based wave energy company, has received £3.2M in funding from the EU to create and launch a 250kW wave machine in Okrney.
Names Blue Horizon 250, the device is set to be manufactured in Scotland and will be deployed in a grid-connected berth at EMEC in Orkney as early as 2025.
The technology is able to harness energy from natural waves and tides, and can be deployed along coastlines.
It is hoped the project could then pave the way to a small wave farm delivering 1-2 MW of low carbon electricity by 2030. This would help Scotland in achieving its ambitious net-zero goals.
According to the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group, it is estimated that around 21.5GW of wave energy could be generated from Scottish waters every year. Scotland currently produces around 10% of the total tidal and wave energy of all of Europe.
The Edinburgh firm has been awarded £3.2m in Phase 3 of EuropeWave, a pre-commercial procurement programme, funded through the EU and managed in collaboration with Wave Energy Scotland, the Basque Energy Agency, and Ocean Energy Europe.
Mocean Energy is one of three wave companies to have been awarded funds in this phase. The other successful companies are IDOM Consulting and CETO Wave Energy Ireland, who will install their devices at the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) in northern Spain.
“We have already demonstrated our technology successfully at small scale and this programme will allow us to build a significantly larger machine based on our proven hinged raft design, and incorporate our novel direct drive generator,” said Cameron McNatt, the co-founder and managing director of Mocean Energy.
“We are already working with a range of supply chain partners across Scotland and the UK who bring tremendous experience and professionalism to the wave energy sector, and I am confident we have the right suppliers on board to bring this ambitious project to fruition.
“Looking further ahead, our goal is to deliver a small array in UK waters this decade, and I am confident that with appropriate innovation funding in place we can realise our ambition to build commercial wave energy arrays and generate home-grown green energy from our seas, both in the UK and around the world.”
Mocean Energy is already a key participant in the £2 million Renewables for Subsea power (RSP) programme which has connected Mocean’s 10kW Blue X wave energy prototype with a Halo underwater battery system developed by Aberdeen intelligent energy management specialists Verlume.
The two technologies are currently in the seas off Orkney where they are delivering low carbon power and communication to infrastructure including Baker Hughes’ subsea controls equipment and a resident underwater autonomous vehicle (AUV) provided by Transmark Subsea.
The programme has been supported by industry partners alongside the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC).
Blue Horizon 250 will be a “significant” scale up from Blue X, the company says, and is designed for commercial applications on islands and remote communities, while also including grid projects and off-grid applications, such as oil and gas and aquaculture.
The Blue X prototype was built in Scotland with around 80 percent local supply chain content, and it is anticipated Blue Horizon will deliver similar levels of local work.
In March, Mocean Energy selected Aberdeen-based TEXO Engineering and Fabrication as its preferred fabrication, assembly and load-out contractor for its future wave energy convertors
The deployment and demonstration of the Blue X at EMEC was funded by Wave Energy Scotland (WES) and supported by Interreg North-West Europe’s Ocean DEMO project.
“With their Blue X prototype deployed in Scapa Flow, Mocean Energy proved their technology had the right cost, performance and reliability to deliver commercial wave energy,” Tim Hurst, managing director of WES, said.
Phase 3 will involve the detail design, a full-scale build, and 12 months at-sea testing of a first-of-a-kind wave energy converter (WEC) at EMEC.
Focus areas will include:
Building a novel power take-off system (PTO) at full-scale – combining a Vernier Hybrid Machine (VHM) with an associated linkage mechanism to boost energy yield/mass;
Exporting power to the grid – ensuring grid compatibility and compliance;
Meeting targets set across IEA-OES evaluation areas, and improving across power performance, availability, reliability, and survivability in particular;
Refining costs and our commercial roadmap – ensuring follow up projects exist that are viable and attractive to customers and end-users.
Further, to complete the full-scale programme, Mocean will bring in private funding as required.
“The EuropeWave programme is a vital catalyst to build confidence in the industry and accelerate the technology towards commercialisation,” McNatt concluded.
While the majority of UK companies have needed to recover data from a backup in the last year, the number who lost data in the process has increased.
This is according to annual research of security leaders in large enterprises carried out by Apricorn, a USB manufacturer. Conducted by Censuswide, the survey comprised 201 security decision makers of large companies in the UK between March and June of this year.
Of the 90% of companies that had been forced to turn to their backup system, only 27% were able to recover all of their information and documents – a drop from 45% in 2022.
Almost a third (32%) of the security decision makers surveyed attributed the unsuccessful recovery to a lack of robust backup processes, up from 2% in 2022.
Meanwhile, 22% admitted “we don’t have sufficiently robust backups in place to allow rapid recover from any attack”– a rise from 15% in 2022. The ability to quickly restore information following an incident is a critical factor in cyber resilience and the capacity to resume business activities following disruption.
With nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents stating that ransomware has been the main cause of a data breach at their organisation – an increase from 15% last year – indicating a significant point of weakness.
Backups play a vital role in maintaining business continuity in the wake of a ransomware attack that involves the theft or compromise of key data, enabling the business to restore quickly from a clean data set.
Jon Fielding, Apricorn’s managing director EMEA, said: “Fewer companies today are successfully restoring all of their backed up data than in 2022. This fall is paralleled by a rise in recognition that backup processes are inadequate. Having processes in place is probably less than half the battle. For a business to respond effectively to an incident that has disrupted critical data – whether that’s a cyber attack, employee error, or technical failure – processes must be rigorously tested and rehearsed, and continuously refined and updated.”
Apricorn’s research also uncovered a shift in companies’ backup strategies, from an automated approach to a manual approach. Backups were automated at half (50%) of the surveyed companies, a drop from 93% in 2022.
Manual backups are now carried out at 48% of companies, a significant increase from 6% last year – with a rise from 1% to 16% backing up to personal storage repositories such as removable hard drives.
“The upsurge in manual backups is likely to be the result of an increasing trend for IT teams to give employees greater autonomy over routine tasks. It’s good news if more employees are being required to make local backups of the data they create and handle, especially when working remotely,” Fielding said.
“However, this relies on people remembering to execute the backup – and to do it correctly. This is why a ‘belt and braces’ strategy that includes automated backups to a central location is vitally important.”
The percentage of companies backing up to both central and personal repositories is still fairly low, standing at 38% across both automated and manual approaches.
“Too many companies are still at risk from having a ‘single point of failure’,” Fielding added. “They must embrace the 3-2-1 rule: have at least three copies of data, stored on at least two different media, at least one of which is offsite.
“This means that if one copy is compromised, the information can be quickly and fully restored. Ideally, one offsite location should be offline – for instance an encrypted removable hard drive or USB which can be disconnected from the network to create an ‘air gap’ between data and threat.”
A LockBit ransomware sting has leaked sensitive data from the UK Military of Defence (MoD) contractor Zaun, a West Midlands-based fencing systems manufacturer, in a “sophisticated cyber-attack”.
Zuan, which is contracted with the UK military, first admitted to a cyber incident on 1 September, which took place between 5 and 6 August, but at that time did not think any sensitive data had been accessed or leaked.
According to the company, the breach occurred through a rogue Windows 7 PC that was running software for one of Zuan’s manufacturing machines.
“At the time of the attack, we believed that our cybersecurity software had thwarted any transfer of data,” the company said in a statement.
“However, we can now confirm that during the attack LockBit managed to download some data, possibly limited to the vulnerable PC but with a risk that some data on the server was accessed. It is believed that this is 10 GB of data, 0.74% of our stored data.”
As first reported by the Mirror, the data leaked by LockBit included sales ordered related to UK military sites like the Porton Down in Wiltshire, a research unit, and Scottish nuclear submarine base, Faslane. They also alleged that the breach included data on the equipment used at RAF Waddington and GCHQ’s Bude satellite ground station.
The Daily Mirror even claimed that maps and drawings of perimeter fencing at British army site Cador, were compromised, as well as documents concerning various jails in England.
Zuan however, has denied that the data leaked included sensitive information. The company produces high-security perimeter fencing, and has supplied this to many high profile sites, the company said, but these are in the public domain and are on public display.
Further, their product details are available online for unrestricted purchase – they are not an approved government contractor, and claim that “any member of the public can walk up to our fencing that has been installed at these sites and look at it.”
“As such it is not considered that any additional advantage could be gained from any compromised data beyond that which could be ascertained by going to look at the sites from the public domain,” they said in a statement.
“LockBit will have potentially gained access to some historic emails, orders, drawings and project files, we do not believe that any classified documents were stored on the system or have been compromised,” the statement continued, again denying any sensitive and undisclosed data was revealed in the leak.
LockBit first claimed the attack on 13 August, and gave Zuan 16 days to pay a ransom. Data was then released on LockBit’s leak site after this time, likely due to the ransom going unpaid.
Since then, Zuan has said they have been in touch with the relevant authorities concerning the attack, including the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The UK government has set out its ambitions for the much-anticipated AI Safety Summit taking place on the 1 and 2 November at the historic Bletchley Park.
Information about the global summit has been steadily trickling out since the UK government first announced. Currently, the UK government is taking a non-statutory approach to AI regulations, essentially not introducing any formal legislation to moderate its application.
Despite not leading the race for AI regulation, the UK is aiming to come out as an AI superpower by hosting the summit.
Secretary of State Michelle Donelan is this week launching the start of formal engagement prior to the summit as Jonathan Black and Matt Clifford, the Prime Minister’s Representatives for the AI Safety Summit, begin discussions with countries and some frontier AI organisations. This follows a roundtable hosted by the Secretary of State with a cross-section of civil society groups last week.
The AI Safety Summit aims to bring together countries, as well as leading technology organisations, academia and civil society to inform rapid national and international action at the frontier of Artificial Intelligence (AI) development.
According to the UK government the summit will focus on risks created or significantly exacerbated by the most powerful AI systems, particularly those associated with the potentially dangerous capabilities of these systems. For example, this would include the proliferation of access to information which could undermine biosecurity.
Interestingly, this priority comes closely after the UK government launching an exploratory market into the use of AI facial recognition, which privacy and human rights activists have pushed back on over concerns this could target individuals, increase discrimination, and invade personal privacy.
The UK government, however, would also like the summit to focus on how “safe AI” can be used for public good and to improve people’s lives – from lifesaving medical technology to safer transport.
Medical research in the UK have revealed the efficiency in AI systems being used for diagnosis of heart disease.
As part of an iterative and consultative process, the UK is now sharing the five objectives which will be progressed. These build upon initial stakeholder consultation and evidence-gathering and will frame the discussion at the summit:
a shared understanding of the risks posed by frontier AI and the need for action
a forward process for international collaboration on frontier AI safety, including how best to support national and international frameworks
appropriate measures which individual organisations should take to increase frontier AI safety
areas for potential collaboration on AI safety research, including evaluating model capabilities and the development of new standards to support governance
showcase how ensuring the safe development of AI will enable AI to be used for good globally
The UK government has claimed that the emergence of AI models with increasingly general capabilities, and step changes in accessibility and application, have created the prospect of up to $7 trillion in growth over the next 10 years and significantly faster drug discovery.
Despite a current lack of formal regulations, the government also admitted that without appropriate guardrails, this technology also poses significant risks in ways that do not respect national boundaries.
The need to address these risks, including at an international level, is increasingly urgent.
The summit therefore aims to build on the work of the UN, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), Council of Europe, G7, G20 and standard development organisations to formally address the risks of frontier AI.
This will include further discussions on how to operationalise risk-mitigation measures at frontier AI organisations, assessment of the most important areas for international collaboration to support safe frontier AI, and a roadmap for longer-term action.
The TUC launched a new AI taskforce as it calls for “urgent” new legislation to safeguard workers’ rights and to ensure AI benefits for all.
The taskforce aims to bring together specialists in law, technology, politics, HR and the voluntary sector.
With a chief mission to fill the current gaps in UK employment law, the taskforce is aiming to draft new legal protections to ensure AI is regulated fairly at work for the benefit of employees and employers.
The taskforce aims to publish an expert-drafted AI and Employment Bill early in 2024 and will lobby to have it incorporated into UK law.
The TUC has already raised a warning about the use of AI in the workplace and the lack of protections for workers rights. Not only are more workers at risk of being replaced by automation and AI, but decision-making processes surrounding hiring, firing, and management can change workers lives with little human input.
A Coalition
The taskforce aims to introduce a wide-ranging coalition to the conversation surrounding worker’s rights and AI, and will be led by the TUC and assisted by a special advisory committee.
Members of the committee will include Tech UK, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the University of Oxford, the British Computer Society, CWU, GMB, USDAW, Community, Prospect and the Ada Lovelace Institute.
In addition, MPs David Davis, Darren Jones, Mick Whitley, and Chris Stephens will also sit on the committee.
The committee will be jointly chaired by Kate Bell, the assistant general secretary of the TUC, and Gina Neff, the executive director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at the University of Cambridge.
The Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy will provide the secretariat for the taskforce.
“I am delighted to co-chair the Artificial Intelligence and Employment Bill Advisory Group,” said Neff.
“Responsible and trustworthy AI can power huge benefits. But laws must be fit for purpose and ensure that AI works for all.
“AI safety isn’t just a challenge for the future and it isn’t just a technical problem. These are issues that both employers and workers are facing now, and they need the help from researchers, policy makers and civil society to build the capacity to get this right for society.”
A New Bill
The ‘AI and Employment Bill’ will be drafted by employment lawyers Robin Allen KC and Dee Masters from the AI Law Consultancy, with assistance from Cloisters barristers’ chambers.
A bill has already been introduced to Parliament, however, after the TUC’s initial call on worker’s protections following the widespread adoption of AI advancements. Introduced by Labour MP Mick Whitley, the bill aimed to provide worker’s protections and rights over the use of their data as well as giving them a say in the decision-making process.
Despite the introduction of this bill, as well as the government’s AI Whitepaper introduced earlier this year, the taskforce is launched as experts warn that the UK is “way behind the curve” on the regulation of AI, with UK employment law failing to keep pace with the development of new technologies and employers uncertain of how to fairly take advantage of new technologies.
The TUC taskforce says AI is already making “high-risk, life changing” decisions about workers’ lives – such as line-managing, hiring and firing staff.
And AI is being used to analyse facial expressions, tone of voice and accents to assess candidates’ suitability for roles.
Left unchecked, this could lead to greater discrimination, unfairness and exploitation at work across the economy, the taskforce warns.
Meanwhile employers are purchasing and using systems without knowing fully the implications, such as whether they are discriminatory, the taskforce claims.
Robin Allen KC and Dee Masters from the AI Law Consultancy said: “Developing a new AI legal framework for workers and employers, in which the full benefits of AI technologies can be properly shared and enjoyed, is an urgent task.
“Developing the new AI legal framework for workers and employers requires input from experts of all kinds.
“The TUC’s innovative initiative, with experts from Tech UK, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), academia, the British Computer Society, major unions and the Ada Lovelace Institute, is a step change toward maximizing the benefits of AI for all.”
An International Outlier?
The TUC has said the UK risks becoming an “international outlier” on the regulation of AI.
The UK has currently taken a non-statutory approach to AI’s implementation – this essentially means that the UK will address AI’s use on a case-by-case basis as it comes rather than producing specific regulations.
Experts say ministers have yet to put in place the necessary “guardrails” to protect workers’ rights, with March’s AI White Paper proposing only a principles-based approach that lacks statutory force.
In response to the white paper, the TUC released a number of protections they wish to be enshrined in law, including a legal duty on employers to consult trade unions on the high risk and intrusive forms of AI in the workplace. This includes its use in hiring and firing, line management, as well as monitoring and facial recognition.
Further, the TUC called on a legal right for all workers to have a human review of decisions made by AI systems, so they can be challenged if thought to be unfair or discriminatory.
The TUC also called for specific amendments to the UK’s current data protection regulations as well as the Equality Act to guard against discriminatory algorithms.
AI Summit
The UK is set to host a global AI summit this autumn, and the TUC taskforce says it is vital that workers’ groups and the wider voluntary sector are invited to attend alongside business groups and employers.
“AI is already making life-changing decisions about the way millions work – including how people are hired, performance-managed and fired,” TUC assistant general secretary Kate Bell said.
“But UK employment law is way behind the curve – leaving many workers vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination.
“We urgently need new employment legislation, so workers and employers know where they stand.
“Without proper regulation of AI, our labour market risks turning into a wild west. We all have a shared interest in getting this right.”
Police Scotland’s new five-year Digital Strategy has been approved which sought a total £400m investment into a new digital era for Scottish policing.
Pushing for a shift from “doing” to “being” digital, the strategy is outlined around six key technology themes aiming to advance the current policing technical systems as well as introducing emerging technology.
Grounded in the use of data, the strategy aims to update legacy technology used throughout policing, make body-worn video cameras available throughout the nation, further investment in cybersecurity, and advance data evidence sharing.
New technologies meant to be included in policing include AI and machine learning, multi-cloud systems, real-time biometric analytics, augmented reality, and low-code application platforms.
“Our ambition of making the shift from Doing Digital to Being Digital will require a fundamental shift in the way we view and use technology and by engaging, involving and supporting the public and communities,” the report said.
Six strategic enablers underpin the five-year plan, including: data, data ethics, cyber resilience, people, sustainability, and investment and prioritisation.
Police Scotland highlighted some key crime data to rationalise the strategy, including a 1,262% increase in cyber dependent crime, a 511% increase in online child sexual abuse and exploitation referrals from 2015 to 2021, and a 17% increase in fraud in just the last 12 months.
Further, Police Scotland noted the aging population, rise in overall costs due to inflation, and the increased use of the internet across the population as key data driving the need for change.
“Police Scotland has an important role in modernising criminal justice to benefit the public we serve by introducing new technology, such as the establishment of a single national crime system, the greater use of video interviews, digital evidence sharing and virtual courts, and improved digital contact services for the public,” deputy chief constable designate Fiona Taylor QPM said in a press release prior to the approval of the strategy.
While the increased use of body worn video cameras among police would increase public trust by 85%, according to the strategy report, other technology introductions will need to go through data ethics reviews.
The introduction of AI, ML, and live biometric analytics into policing has historically been met with protest from human rights groups, which often stipulate that the technologies are bias and invasive, putting people in danger of increased discrimination and privacy invasion.
In the EU, the new AI Act – which is set for its final approval after being ratified by the European Commission – would ban the use of AI and live biometric analytics by law enforcement authorities due to ethical concerns surrounding its bias and privacy invasion potential.
In the new strategy, Police Scotland has said that every new technology and its various applications will undergo a Data Ethics Assessment, which will include internal and independent scrutiny for “high risk projects”.
“When we do introduce new technology, we are committed to engagement with partners and the public so we can address any concerns and ensure the use of the technology is transparent, ethical, and aligned with our values of fairness, integrity, respect, and our commitment to upholding human rights,” Taylor claimed.
BrawBand, a Scottish ISP specialising in full-fibre broadband, has revealed plans to expand its network across Scotland, doubling its network coverage in order to reach 500,000 properties.
BrawBand will now provide its gigabit broadband to properties in Aberdeen, Dundee, and Stirling alongside its existing offering in Inverness and Renfrewshire.
As part of the move, the ISP will also extend its services in Edinburgh and Glasgow, in a move to cover all postcodes within the central belt cities.
David Munro, director of product at BrawBand operator Focus Group, said: “We firmly believe that everyone in Scotland deserves access to high speed internet. Being able to expand our network across a huge portion of the country is an exciting step towards making that dream a reality – and we can’t wait for customers to experience what surfing the web with BrawBand is like.”
To coincide with the nationwide rollout, Inverness-headquartered BrawBand has launched three new full fibre broadband packages – The Bairn, The Pure Rapid One, and The Belter – which offer up to 900 Mbps download and upload speeds.
David continued: “Scotland has the least access to full-fibre broadband in the UK – with 48% of homes able to access it, compared to 92% in Northern Ireland. We’re delighted to be bringing BrawBand to even more homes than ever before, ensuring more people in Scotland have access to high quality internet for browsing, streaming, gaming and working from home.
“And as availability grows across the country, we plan to grow too, ensuring everyone has access to the high speed internet needed for modern life. After all, it’s braw not to buffer.”
The firm’s expanded coverage comes as part of the CityFibre network, allowing the ISP access to a greater geographical area.
Paul Wakefield, senior partnership manager for Scotland at CityFibre, added: “We’re delighted that BrawBand is expanding across our Scottish footprint and offering residents and businesses more choice when it comes to internet packages. We’re extremely proud of our rollout in Scotland as full fibre has the potential to truly transform the digital capabilities of Scotland.”
More than one in three (35%) of people with access to a subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) service are sharing at least one of their subscriptions with others outside their home, according to new research by Deloitte.
Deloitte’s 2023 Digital Consumer Trends research, based on a survey of 4,150 UK adults aged 16-75, found that account sharing is most widespread among younger users.
More than half of 16-24 -year-olds (51%) are using a video subscription service that is shared among multiple households, with 43% of 25-34-year-olds doing so.
Subscription sharing has also become more formalised, according to the research, with a quarter of users (25%) sharing the cost of an SVOD platform they use with other households. This is also most common among younger users, rising to 34% for 16-24 year-olds and 32% for 25-34 year-olds.
Among respondents who are currently using a service paid for by someone outside their household, the majority (57%) say that they would stop consuming the service if subscription sharing was banned. Only 15% say that they would take out a new subscription themselves if sharing was banned.
Netflix, one of the most successful video streaming subscription services, controversially began cracking down on password and account sharing in May of 2023, to the protest of many users. Previously, the streaming giant had made posts on X joking about the ubiquity of account sharing years before making the dramatic shift to cracking down on passwords shared outside of households.
Paul Lee, partner and global head of technology, media and telecommunications research at Deloitte commented: “Since the birth of subscription-video-on-demand, the sharing of user IDs and passwords with other households has been widespread. As SVOD providers look to implement tighter guidelines around sharing to boost subscriber numbers and revenues, consumers are being faced with the choice of paying more, moving to lower-cost ‘with-ads’ packages, or foregoing their access altogether.
“Restrictions on sharing may well lead to a growth in subscribers and higher revenues. However, it may also reduce the total number of people viewing a show or film, reducing the degree of buzz around that content, in turn diminishing the overall appeal of a service. Word of mouth recommendations – in person or online – have long been key to SVOD’s popularity. That said, some sharers who currently state that they would go without if subscription sharing was banned may ultimately decide to pay for access, so as not to miss out on the latest series of their favourite show.”
Deloitte’s research found that access to video subscription services in the UK has fallen by one percentage point to 73% in 2023 in the last year, having peaked at 76% in 2021. The fall in access was steepest among 65-75 years olds (to 49% in 2023 from 53% in 2022 and 57% in 2021) whose usage of the subscriptions had surged during lockdown periods.
The number of subscriptions per person is still rising, up from 2.46 in 2022 to 2.62 in 2023, an increase of 6.5%.
However, this growth is at a much slower pace relative to 2018-2021, when the number of subscriptions per respondent rose 60%, from 1.45 to 2.33. This rise in the number of subscriptions per person was likely due to the Covid-19 pandemic which caused many households to stay isolated for long periods of time, and cut off different entertainment options.
Deloitte’s research also revealed that one in five (21%) SVOD subscribers have cancelled a service in the past 12 months, up from 19% the previous year. The rising cost-of-living appears to have been a driver for this, with 27% of respondents saying they cancelled due to the subscription being too expensive (23% in 2022), and 24% cancelling due to rising costs elsewhere (21% in 2022).
Lee added: “Churn is rising and continues to be a significant challenge for SVOD providers at a time when there is growing pressure for services to become profitable, mostly via the lever of increasing subscription prices. This comes at a time when consumers are continuing to be impacted by cost-of-living pressures.
“In order to reduce levels of churn, we may see more SVOD platforms teaming up with other media, telecoms, or financial providers to offer bundled deals; securing new and existing users in longer-term contracts. Meanwhile, a continued focus on producing a diverse range of high-quality content that is accessible for all consumers will be key.
A new lawsuit has been submitted to the Polish Data Protection Agency (DPA), alleging that the AI company is infringing on the privacy rights of EU citizens as it does not disclose how it processes personal data.
According to the initial reporting by TechCruch, the 17 page complaint alleges that OpenAI is in breach of a swath of GDPR rules, including having a lawful basis for the collection of personal data, transparency, fairness, privacy by design, and data rights.
The compliant was filed by Lukasz Olejnik, a privacy researcher based in Poland, who is represented by GP Partners, a law firm based in Warsaw.
According to reporting from TechCrunch, Olejnik first discovered a problem when using the website itself to generate a bibliography, and noticed some errors. He got in touch with OpenAI to report the errors and asked to get them corrected.
During the interaction, Olejnik also issued the company a Subject Access Request – under EU law, any EU subject has the right to issue this to a company which processes their data, and the company is obliged to then provide said data to the subject.
Olejnik said that, while OpenAI did disclose some data, the information provided has notable exclusions, such as information about how it processed personal data it used for AI model training. This information must be provided for under law, as part of EU data transparency regulations.
Further, this omittance brings into question OpenAI’s legal basis for processing personal data – in order to process data, a data controller is required to have a formal legal basis under EU law, and part of this formality is the transparent communication of it. In addition, the EU law applies a level of fairness to this basis, meaning that if companies make their legal basis unfairly difficult to understand or to access, they can also be outwith the law.
The lawsuit specifically brings up the issue of personal data used in training the AI, for which OpenAI notably did not ask individuals for permission to use. The company’s AI models has already come under fire for using copyrighted material without specific permissions to train its AI, and there is already a similar lawsuit taking place in the US, which accused the company of data scraping their personal data of millions of people, even children, to use for its AI model.
It even faced a temporary ban in Italy for suspected GDPR non-compliance, but the ban was lifted once OpenAI allowed users to submit to remove their personal data from the chatbot, and that the tool would perform age verification before allowing users to access it. But the lawsuit based in Poland goes much deeper into ChatGPT’s creation and functionality.
“Although OpenAI indicates that the data used to train the [AI] models includes personal data, OpenAI does not actually provide any information about the processing operations involving this data. OpenAI thus violates a fundamental element of the right under Article 15 GDPR, i.e., the obligation to confirm that personal data is being processed,” a portion of the complaint as translated and quoted by Techcrunch read.
“Notably, OpenAI did not include the processing of personal data in connection with model training in the information on categories of personal data or categories of data recipients. Providing a copy of the data also did not include personal data processed for training language models. As it seems, the fact of processing personal data for model training OpenAI hides or at least camouflages intentionally. This is also apparent from OpenAI’s Privacy Policy, which omits in the substantive part the processes involved in processing personal data for training language models.
“OpenAI reports that it does not use so-called ‘training’ data to identify individuals or remember their information, and is working to reduce the amount of personal data processed in the ‘training’ dataset. Although these mechanisms positively affect the level of protection of personal data and comply with the principle of minimization (Article 5(1)(c) of the GDPR), their application does not change the fact that ‘training’ data are processed and include personal data. The provisions of GDPR apply to the processing operations of such data, including the obligation to grant the data subject access to the data and provide the information indicated in Article 15(1) of GDPR,” the report continued.
Based on this, the lawsuit would find OpenAI in violation of transparency terms and fairness key to legally processing personal data, even without the overriding issue of getting individuals consent prior to data processing.
Olejnik’s complaint does not stop there, actually, but his original interaction with OpenAI turned out to open a can of pernicious, data privacy-violating, worms.
He is also suing the company for not rectifying incorrect personal information regarding him and his research, which he first discovered when asking ChatGPT to create a bibliography. After his initial complaint, OpenAI only offered to block prompts or requests mentioning him, and then told him it was unable to make the corrections.
Under GDPR, individuals have the right to rectify incorrect personal data on the internet, and companies are liable to provide appropriate channels to do so. This is not the first time ChatGPT has gotten something wrong, however. The AI chatbot is known to have ‘hallucinations’ – in other words, dispel completely false information as facts. The chatbot provided a fake legal suit which claimed a man in Georgia was guilty of fraud and embezzlement, which he was not.
“Given the general and vague description of ChatGPT’s data validity mechanisms, it is highly likely that the inability to correct data is a systemic phenomenon in OpenAI’s data processing, and not just in limited cases,” the complaint read.
The entire lawsuit goes for ChatGPT’s jugular, reading: “OpenAI seems to accept that the ChatGPT tool model that has been developed is simply incompatible with the provisions of GDPR, and it agrees to this state of affairs. This shows a complete disregard for the goals behind the principle of data protection by design.”
Essentially, based on ChatGPT’s original training on personal data, OpenAI’s refusal to disclose how this was done, its incomplete transparency on data processing, and its inability or refusal to comply with the right to rectify, leaves the landmark AI chatbot at the mercy of GDPR regulators.
According to a new report from SlashNext, Airbnb – the short-term letting service commonly used by travelers as an alternative to hotels and hostels – is one of many online platforms falling victim to increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, with compromised Airbnb accounts having been found in the thousands on hacking forums.
Airbnb has about 7 million global listings, according to SlashNext, making it another prime target for threat actors to exploit.
The nature of Airbnb — being a fully online platform with users promoting their own properties for short term rent — leaves gaps for potentially fraudulent activity, like fake accounts, fake hosts, and other scams.
The report highlights that threat actors typically access Airbnb accounts for scams in one of two ways: by employing the use of ‘stealers’, or by using cookies.
Stealers
Stealers are a form of malicious software threat actors can use to obtain login credentials to gain account access. The malware of stealers can infiltrate a device and transfer stolen data, like usernames and passwords, to an attacker, either via a server, email, or chat programme.
Stealers can be purchased for use on the dark web, or deployed through different methods like social engineering or malicious advertisements.
If a cybercriminal purchases a stealer, they can deploy it on potentially thousands of devices immediately, and gain access to log in information, as well as credit and debit card details, depending on the access gained.
Cookies
Another avenue of exploitation is using cookies — small data files that track browsing activity and preferences for a website.
Airbnb cookies, according to SlashNext, are often bought and sold on different illegal online forums, giving buyers short-term access to accounts without the need for login credentials.
Using cookies to gain access to compromised accounts would then allow cybercriminals to make bookings, send messages, and access saved payment details.
This method does have a catch, however, as cookies have a short expiry date, so cybercriminals would only have temporary account access using this method.
What Happens Next?
Once cybercriminals gain access to Airbnb accounts via stealers or cookies, they often go on to simply sell the compromised information onto other threat actors to make a profit, SlashNext’s research found.
This often occurs on underground forums – SlashNext found thousands of Airbnb accounts for sale on a single forum.
Each account they found only cost one US dollar, with the price likely driven down by the plethora of options available.
Airbnb accounts are apparently so popular that cybercriminals even offer an account checking service which verifies if uploaded accounts are valid.
SlashNext even found cybercriminals selling services that would offer a 50% discount on Airbnb bookings
Interestingly, the site did not investigate which Airbnb accounts were more likely to be compromised — Airbnb accounts can be linked to Facebook and Google accounts. This connection may explain why Airbnb accounts are targeted by threat actors as the credentials may match passwords for other sites, further exposing personal data and information.
“It’s clear that these services are profitable because the forum threads advertising them have received tens of thousands of views and hundreds of replies,” SlashNext’s report said, illustrating the popularity of the target site.
Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh Remakery are partnering up for a Tech Donation Box programme, encouraging students and staff to recycle their e-waste.
Staff and students at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh are being invited to donate unwanted personal laptops, smart phones, and other tech items to a local social enterprise that diverts waste from landfill and refurbishes old IT kit so it can be used again – including by people facing digital isolation and poverty.
The University has taken deliver of a Tech Donation Box from Edinburgh Remakery, which repairs, refurbishes, and responsibly recycles computing and smart phone electronic waste, or e-waste, as part of their vision to create a culture of sustainable, waste-free living that helps protect the planet for future generations.
Around 1.45 million tonnes a year of e-waste is generated from homes and businesses in the UK, with much of it going directly to landfill and impacting the climate, according to Edinburgh Remakery.
Edinburgh Remakery also helped 412 people out of digital poverty by donating tech to them through its regifting programme.
The social enterprise also gives 20% of all its donations to charity to help people facing digital isolation and poverty – and supports disadvantages and vulnerable communities through initiatives including skill building and training opportunities.
“With some refurbishment and repair, end-of-life IT equipment can often start a whole new life that helps people and the planet in so many ways, ” Fraser Muir, director of information services at Heriot-Watt University said.
The Tech Donation Box is part of a Memorandum of Understanding the Heriot-Watt has signed with Edinburgh Remakery to look at future collaboration opportunities in line with the University’s Global Environmental Sustainability strategy.
This is the University’s commitment and action plan to reduce its environmental impact, enhance climate mitigation initiatives and contribute to sector-wide decarbonisation efforts.
Lindsay Wilson, global sustainability strategic programme lead at Heriot-Watt University, said: “We’re embedding sustainability across what we do at the University and this project is part of our Sustainable Technology Action Plan.
“Edinburgh Remakery’s Tech Donation Box scheme is a great initiative for us to support digital inclusion as well as raising awareness of e-waste and how we can work together as a community to help combat it. We’re also really pleased to be supporting a local social enterprise.”
Muir added: “Our Tech Donation Box helps the University play its part in the circular economy and we’re pleased to have it installed in our library for the start of the new term for staff and students who may have been doing a clear-out of their old tech over the summer.”
A circular economy involves repairing, reusing and redesigning products, minimising waste and demand on raw materials by keeping items in use for as long as possible. This also results in reducing carbon emissions from waste as well as surplus manufacturing.
Asrar Qazi, carbon project officer at Edinburgh Remakery, said: “We are really excited to have one of our Tech Donation Boxes at Heriot-Watt University as part of its sustainability plan.
“This initiative offers students and staff an excellent opportunity not only to responsibly dispose of their unused technology, but also extends a helping hand to people experiencing digital isolation at a time when the cost of living is escalating.”
Edinburgh Remakery: How it Works
Edinburgh Remakery repairs and refurbishes everything it can before passing it on to be reused. Anything not able to be repaired is dismantled, with the parts used to repair other items.
Anything that cannot be reused is responsibly recycled, to ensure as little as possible goes to waste, the charity said.
Refurbished IT kit is available through Edinburgh Remakery’s online shop and its office in Newkirkgate Shopping Centre in Leith, Edinburgh.
Donations of old electronics that can be accepted to the Edinburgh Remakery’s Tech Donation Box include laptops and Macbooks; tablets and iPads; smart phones; DSLR cameras; general cables; chargers; headphones; Wi-Fi routers; smart watches, and peripherals, such as keyboards, webcams, and mice.
Items which cannot be accepted include desktop computers and other late items, printers and general household electrical goods such as toasters, kettles, lamps, and hair dryers. The maximum size of donation that can be accepted is located in the Cameron Smail Library, near the main reception of Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh campus in Riccarton to the West of Edinburgh.
Heriot-Watt has sponsored the Tech Donation Box at Silver Level, meaning it will remain on campus for six months. If successful, the University will look to extend this period.
The Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) has released a new report detailing the opportunities presented by a new hydrogen pipeline.
Scotland’s hydrogen production and export potential could be significantly accelerated with the development of purpose-built marine pipeline, according to a report published by the NZTC.
The NTZC’s Hydrogen Backbone Link project explored the critical hydrogen transport infrastructure required to deliver a cost-effective pipeline solution which could potentially position Scotland as a front runner in the development of a pan-European hydrogen infrastructure for export.
The project, which received funding from the Scottish Government’s Energy Transition Fund (ETF) and match funding from industry, examined the repurposing of existing oil and gas infrastructure before determining that a new purpose-built marine pipeline link to Europe is the optimal route to market for Scotland’s green hydrogen.
According to the report, the new pipeline would connect Scotland’s East Coast to Emden in Germany, creating a direct link to the continental European market.
While the report notes an investment of around £2.7 billion will be required to build the pipeline, the NZTC says investors can expect a 6% initial rate of return, and that Scotland’s resulting green hydrogen will be cost competitive compared to other globally sourced hydrogen.
The new pipeline could enable Scotland to meet up to 10% of Europe’s projected hydrogen import demand by the mid 2030s. Through ongoing investment in additional infrastructure, it could maintain this proportion of export beyond 2045, helping Scottish Government meet its green export ambition and facilitating continental Europe’s industrial decarbonisation.
However, the report noted several key areas of technological improvements needed to enable a functioning pipeline system. This includes emerging compressor technologies, such as turbo, electrochemical, and compact centrifugal designs, which need “accelerated development and scale up,” according to the report.
Further, development and scale up of storage solutions for hydrogen, as well as using hydrogen as test medium, and testing meter designs for operational limits, needs investment to make the pipeline a stable reality.
If delivered, the Hydrogen Backbone Link could create over 700 Scottish Jobs and enable new and existing green hydrogen projects, with the potential to support a further 300,000 jobs in the green energy economy.
To fully release this goal, the report notes action is required in six key areas:
Rapid acceleration of public and private investment to deliver the backbone pipeline
Continued investment in hydrogen and wind deployments to deliver security of supply
Developed a National Energy Storage Strategy to deliver an integrated renewables and hydrogen storage system for 2030 and beyond.
Cross border policy and standards alignment to enable safe, efficient export
Financial support to accelerate technology development and infrastructure deployment to turn the vision into a reality
Callum Milne, Hydrogen Backbone Link project manager at the Net Zero Technology Centre said: “Scotland is poised to utilise its abundant natural resources, skilled workforce and proximity to an energy hungry market in north-west Europe but to maximise this, will take accelerated and increased government and industry investment, rapid development of infrastructure and cross border collaboration over the next decade.
“The Hydrogen Backbone Link (HBL) project is a key early enabler for this, providing cost-effective transportation to market for Scottish hydrogen producers and supporting the transition to a low-carbon energy system.”
Net Zero Technology Centre Opens £1.2M Start Up Accelerator
Scottish Government energy secretary Neil Gray said: “The Scottish Government recognises the importance of developing hydrogen pipelines to unlock Scotland’s export potential. We want to work collaboratively with partners across Europe to advance infrastructure which ensures security of supply in Europe and positions the North Sea as a centre for low-cost hydrogen production.
“The Scottish Government supports the Hydrogen Backbone Link project because it gives valuable insight into the viability of repurposing or developing new pipelines. This can help us understand any barriers where government support is required to unlock investment and realise Scotland’s export potential.”
The project has received support from funding partners including Shetland Island Council, EnQuest, Kellas Midstream, Crown Estate Scotland and Shell, contributing members Xodus, DNV-GL, Wood., Wood Mackenzie and Worley, and strategic partners National Grid and SGN.
Phase two of the project will examine the next steps required to progress to construction and start-up of the Hydrogen Backbone Link.
By 2025, more than half of all software engineering leader role descriptions will explicitly require oversight of generative artificial intelligence (AI), according to Gartner, Inc.
“Outside of generative AI’s impact on technology implementation, it also changes the managerial responsibilities of software engineering leaders,” said Haritha Khandabattu, senior director analyst at Gartner.
“This includes those related to team management, talent management and code of ethics. Software engineering leaders will find themselves at a significant disadvantage if they do not recognize and adapt to these changes – facing the risk of being replaced by those who embrace this disruptive technology.”
Fostering a Focus on Their Team’s Value
When piloting generative AI, software engineering leaders must demonstrate the business value of using generative AI to augment their teams. This will help software engineering leaders build a compelling business case for ongoing investment in their teams.
Software engineering leaders must also be transparent with their teams and focus conversations on how AI technology will enhance developer productivity, rather than focusing on how it will replace staff.
“Generative AI will not replace developers in the near future,” said Khandabattu. “While it has the ability to automate certain aspects of software engineering, it cannot replicate the creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving abilities that humans possess. Leaders should reinforce the value of their teams by demonstrating how generative AI is a force multiplier that can enhance efficiency.”
Transforming Talent Recruitment and Management
Generative AI applications can speed up recruitment and hiring tasks, such as performing a job analysis and transcribing interview summaries.
For example, software engineering leaders can enter a prompt requesting keywords or key phrases related to skills or experience for platform engineering, and scan these using an AI system.
Software engineering leaders can also invest in generative AI to allocate more time to focus on the people-centric aspects of their role.
Investing in generative AI technologies, Gartner predicts, will allow software engineering leaders to continuously upskill engineers and cultivate an adaptable workforce.
“In addition to recruitment, skill management and development lie at the core of leaders’ responsibilities,” said Khandabattu. “AI-enabled skills management, a dynamic skills approach that helps in supporting talent and work processes, will help software engineering leaders rethink roles by identifying skills that can be combined to create new positions and eliminate redundancies.”
However, relying on AI in recruitment and management procedures has been met with much pushback – AI bias is rampant in recruitment, and simple keyword searches can put those from a disadvantaged background in jeopardy of missing out on appropriate opportunities because they lacked the guidance or finance to tailor their resume.
The above concerns all surround the ethics of AI’s introduction into society, especially its potential in decision-making positions.
“The use of foundational AI models can introduce risks such as hallucinations, the generation of false yet plausible-seeming content, and bias,” said Khandabattu. “Software engineering leaders need to be cautious when using this technology.”
In order to introduce and rely on AI systems, software engineering leaders must worth with or form an AI ethics committee to create policy guidelines that help teams responsibly use generative AI tools for design and development.
Software engineering leaders play a key role in identifying and helping to mitigate the ethical risks of any generative AI products that are developed in-house or purchased from third-party vendors.
“Refrain from using generative AI to replace tasks that require human judgement and critical thinking,” said Khandabattu. “Constantly evaluate use cases where generative AI can add maximum value in day-to-day activities.”
At least 78% of global healthcare organisations experienced at least one cybersecurity incident in the last year, according to a new survey from Claroty.
The study interviewed 1,100 cybersecurity professionals from healthcare organisations across Europe, North America, South America, and Asia, who divulged the effects of cyber incidents on healthcare institutions.
Of those that suffered a incident, 61% said the event had a moderate or substantial impact on care delivery, with a further 15% globally reporting a severe impact on patient health and safety.
In around 30% of global incidents, only IT systems were affected, but in another 30% of instances, medical devices, like MRIs or infusion pumps, were affected by a cyber incident, potentially putting patient care at greater risk.
27% of global incidents affected BMS devices, like elevators, ventilation controllers, or security cameras, increasing infrastructure risks and potentially delaying life-saving care.
Sensitive data like personal health insurance information was also affected in 30% of cases, potentially opening up patients and staff at greater cyber-risks.
Cybersecurity leaders in healthcare organisations across Europe are typically most concerned about ransomware (43%) insider threats (43%), supply chain attacks (41%), and Denial of service (DoS) attacks (41%).
Concerningly, as digital transformation efforts increase the number of connected devices, medical devices are put at greater risk of cyber threats if they are not secured properly.
On a global basis, the report found that 38% of organisations are at or below a basic level of network segmentation, creating potential exposure to risk.
Just over half (57%) of organisations in Europe said they had highly or moderately proactive vulnerability management strategy for medical devices. 5% said they had none in place, and 12% adopted a reactive approach.
However, it appears cybersecurity is becoming a priority among healthcare organisations, and 54% of European organisations reported that their security budget has increased in the past year. This matches the concern among European raking of “lack of overall budget” as a top gap in their threat preparedness.
A majority of European organisations (58%) did say that their security posture had improved in the past year, with only 18% reporting that it had declined, and 23% reporting no change.
Looking to the future, European respondents said they would most like their organisations to focus on identifying vulnerabilities (22%), training employees (18%), and monitoring network traffic and device behaviour (16%) to improve their cybersecurity.
Further, 78% say that their biggest gap in defenses currently is patching vulnerabilities in medical devices.
“The healthcare industry has a lot working against it on the cybersecurity front—a rapidly expanding attack surface, outdated legacy technology, budget constraints and a global cyber talent shortage,” said Yaniv Vardi, CEO of Claroty, in a blog post.
“Our research shows that healthcare delivery organizations need the full support of the cyber industry and regulatory bodies in order to defend medical devices from mounting threats and protect patient safety.”
ChatGPT has been accessed thousands of times across Scottish universities, according to new data from Freedom of Information requests, intensifying the uncertainty around the involvement of AI in education.
As reported by The Times, Glasgow University alone had 150,647 ChatGPT connections from their campus Wi-Fi networks since May of this year.
Abertay University recorded 19,101 visits to the site over the early summer, and Robert Gordon University registered an average 2,434 visits per month to ChatGPT over their networks.
This data only reflects the number of times ChatGPT was accessed over university Wi-Fi networks, so students may be accessing the it in greater number when using other connections. Further, the technology may be accessed not just by Scottish university students, but by staff as well.
It is no secret that ChatGPT has been employed by university students — it was revealed by The Tab that Russell Group universities recorded over a million visits to ChatGPT in the first two months of its release.
Since the AI chatbot’s release to the wider public, academic institutions have been grappling with what the new technology means for essay writing, grading, and education as a whole.
The startling success of the online chatbot, developed by OpenAI, has seen countless debates concerning its proper use around education, work, innovation, and art.
ChatGPT has been known to develop incorrect yet confident sounding answers to queries, create fake references to papers, and dispel conspiracy theories if provided certain prompts.
The resource can write essays, poems, and songs, stumping educators on how they can continue to assess students’ work with the possibility they leveraged an AI chatbot to create it.
But every use of ChatGPT is not the same — students may use it to explain a concept, answer a simple query, or provide an outline or structure of an essay. Others may use it to produce fully-formed coursework or edit their work — each specific use only leaves more questions into when it is and is not appropriate to employ AI technology for education.
Scottish universities, in light of this, have taken various approaches to the emerging technology.
It was revealed by The Tab that the University of Glasgow, for instance, has investigated four students for using ChatGPT, saying these cases counted as academic misconduct in the form of cheating or plagiarising.
However, the university also released guidance on AI use for assessments in July of this year, saying that “rather than seek to prohibit students’ use of these tools, we want to support students in learning how to use them effectively, ethically, critically, and transparently.”
The institution went on to stipulate that students should not use AI tools to generate content and submit it as their own, but should rather work to understand how AI could be used, and how to acknowledge its use.
The University of Edinburgh provides similar guidance, stating: “Be aware that if you use AI tools (such as ChatGPT or others) to generate an assignment (or part of an assignment) and submit this as if it were your own work, this will be regarded as academic misconduct and treated as such.”
But this still leaves a bit of wiggle room in the everyday life of a student — what if a student gets ChatGPT to edit their essay instead of a friend, what if ChatGPT is used to produce a bibliography or recommend readings, or provide an essay structure?
Universities are importantly, not instituting outright bans of the technology, and are instead attempting to warn students of ChatGPT’s limits while acknowledging its many benefits.
Sites like TurnItIn, which typically check essays for plagiarism, have launched new programmes to check if essays were developed by ChatGPT or other large language models. However, editing a ChatGPT- generated essay can make it unidentifiable by plagiarism checks.
The guidance across universities leaves much up to the discretion of educators, but ultimately accepts the involvement of ChatGPT and other language models in academic work, though to varying degrees.
Applications are now open for the first CodeBase cohort of Edinburgh Greentech Futures, which will provide a space and community for businesses and entrepreneurs interested in developing green technology.
The group-based programme is aimed at established businesses, startups, and emerging entrepreneurs alike, and is appropriate for those at the idea stage, to those with businesses looking to incorporate greener technology into their company.
Edinburgh Greentech Futures is a collaborative project between Codebase, The City of Edinburgh Council, and the UK Government via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The programme is for anyone over the age of 18 with a greentech idea, but what does greentech even mean?
To CodeBase, greentech has a broad definition “We define greentech as the development of technology to support sustainability, conservation of the environment, carbon reduction, adaptation, renewable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, and responsible production and consumption,” the programme explained.
The programme consists of two main parts: learning time, which takes place online or in-person, and creative time, which is in person only.
During learning time, cohort members will be taught about sustainable product making, sustainability by design, carbon taxes, product building, as well as stakeholder and customer needs.
Creative time leans heavily on the established community, and will include time for “hackathons” where the group can learn more about Edinburgh’s specific climate-change issues, like wildlife interactions and seasonal interruptions, surface water fluctuations, and changes in the natural environment resulting from seasonal variations.
The learning is geared towards digital software products, but CodeBase has said the same lessons can apply to physical products as well.
The programme is set to provide cohort members with a framework of what needs to be done to create a sustainable product and business centred around some of the most important climate issues affecting the local area.
Learning time will be fortnightly from 10:30am and 2pm, starting on 12 October. Creative time is once a month from 6pm to 8:30pm, with the first session on 23 November.
Applications are currently open, and can be found here.
As the economic turbulence of the past few years continues to send shockwaves across the global economy, businesses have markedly intensified their focus on cutting costs where possible. Some of these cost-minimising measures, however, may actually have the opposite effect.
Indeed, when it comes to relying on legacy tech, postponing a modernisation plan due to cost becomes, ironically, rather expensive. This reliance is more common than one might expect – even among the heavy-hitters who dominate their industries.
According to a report from Dell, more than 70% of software used by Fortune 5000 companies was developed 20 or more years ago. Many of these large enterprises are specifically concerned about the immediate financial and temporal costs of transitioning to a new digital architecture, and so continue to utilise their existing systems instead.
In times of economic uncertainty, it is tempting for enterprises to think only in terms of the here and now. Given the financial squeeze many businesses have faced since the pandemic, therefore, an increased focus on short-term costs is not surprising.
Moreover, in addition to the initial costs, digital architecture migration can be challenging and protracting and there can be pitfalls along the way. But the long-term potential gains make it more than worth the risk and there are a number of drawbacks that can come with the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach.
Security Risks
Legacy systems leave enterprises exposed to cybersecurity attacks and data breaches from hackers looking to exploit vulnerabilities. The financial risks associated with outmoded security cannot be overstated.
According to Sophos’ State of Ransomware Report 2021, the average total cost of remediation from a single ransomware attack more than doubled between 2019 and 2020, from $761,106 to $1.85 million (£1.53 million). The more up-to-date a company’s security systems are, the less likely hackers are to be able to breach it without considerable time and effort on their part.
Poor Integration
A lack of integration with more modern technology and automated systems can lead to valuable data being overlooked or siloed. The more modernised the data systems are, the better connected the data will be as a result. Indeed, an incredible range of exciting new data-use cases are starting to become realistic for enterprise businesses: advanced real-time business reporting, incredibly detailed 360° customer views, AI/ML-assisted applications and business processes.
These can all drive improved interdepartmental alignment across organisations, better insights and ultimately, more informed business decisions. However, organisations which rely on legacy technology lack the ability to meet the sophisticated data demands of these use cases.
According to a recent survey we conducted at esynergy, a third of business leaders at large enterprises reported that they were unable to make sound decisions based on data. Business-as-usual approaches (i.e. siloed data teams, centralised data warehouses) are too slow and fragmented. It can take months to deliver basic data capabilities and use cases.
Operational Costs
Maintaining legacy tech can prove to be every bit as expensive as a digital upgrade. This is because IT staff have to spend time and money to keep the obsolete software functioning. This wastes the valuable staff-hours that could be channelled into improving products, services, or company systems.
A report from Dell estimates that organisations currently allocate 60-80% of their IT budget to maintaining existing on-site hardware and legacy apps, which leaves only 20-40% of the budget for everything else.
Technical debt
When it comes to upgrading, time is of the essence. No company can defer upgrading its tech indefinitely: sooner or later, the business will fail as its rivals outpace it. Despite this urgency, many business leaders mistakenly believe that they can afford to defer their tech improvements, and rely on dated systems in the meantime. However, this is a misapprehension and can lead to ‘technical debt.’
‘Technical debt’ describes the phenomenon in which the use of legacy systems defers short-term costs in favour of long term losses that are incurred when reworking the systems later on.
This is because the longer the enterprise defers, the further ahead their competitors will become, making it even harder for them to accrue the profits necessary to fuel the innovations needed to catch up. The longer that upgrading is deferred, the harder transitioning to a more modernised system becomes.
As any data expert knows: laws and legislations for the use of technology do not remain immutable. These complex codes and regulations are constantly in a state of flux, and can vary wildly across the world.
Reliance on legacy systems means that a company’s outdated tech will be based around outdated financial and data protection legislation. Therefore, when an enterprise refuses to update their tech and software they risk becoming non-compliant and breaching the law.
Creative stagnation and lost opportunities
Relying on dated technology limits the pace at which an enterprise is able to innovate. If a company does not have the best possible infrastructure to help it improve and iterate its products and services, these will fall short of the mark in comparison with competitors’ more cutting-edge offerings.
Furthermore, businesses utilising older systems also miss out on certain features that improve the user and customer experience, exacerbating the negative impact on their business.
For example, e-commerce merchants who rely on legacy systems might not be able to support handy additional utilities for potential consumers, such as one-click payments, or tools needed to track each stage of the customer journey, such as smart data analytics. This can stifle business opportunities enormously.
Looking ahead
Making the jump from an outdated infrastructure to a more modern digital system cannot happen overnight. Creating the infrastructure that will empower your business to innovate at speed and scale involves a profound transformation across the levels of people, process and technology.
Yet, some businesses, afraid that legacy systems are driving them towards obsolescence, attempt to suddenly pivot to a new architecture. This can lead to the new system being rushed and poorly integrated.
Transitioning away from legacy tech should and can be achieved in a safe and cost-effective manner. To reap the multitude of benefits that a more modernised digital infrastructure has to offer, companies should take a business agility approach to updating their tech stack.
By taking incremental steps that lead from one goal to the next in a linear manner, businesses can gradually advance the long-term, sustainable tech objectives that will secure their place in the future.
Scottish Equity Partners, a tech investment firm, has made a successful exit from international digital commerce solutions business, Tryzens, following a private equity-led management buyout (MBO).
For many years, Tryzens has cultivated a reputation for delivering end-to-end digital commerce strategies and solutions to global businesses with a digital-first approach.
Tryzens collaborates with brands to optimise customer experience and growth through digital channels, and partners with technology vendors to streamline the implementation of merchant solutions. Its client portfolio includes the likes of Sweaty Betty, Cotton On Group, and Treasury Wine Estates, as well as technology vendors such as Klarna, Loqate GBG, and Attentive.
The company offers global solutions from its London headquarters, with further offices in Australia, Bulgaria, and India, as well as a presence in the US.
Andy Burton, Tryzens CEO, said: “I would like to thank Tony Robison and the broader team at SEP, as well as our inspirational outgoing chairman, Geoff Unwin, for their tremendous support over the years. Speaking for my team, we have very much enjoyed the journey together and take enormous pleasure in what we have created: a strong, dynamic and high-quality business that now has operations across the globe, supporting clients through their digital journey, and underpinned by a culture of transparency, integrity, and trust.”
Commenting on the transaction, Tony Robison, partner at SEP, and former non-executive director at Tryzens, said: “We are pleased to have supported Tryzens growth as the company has expanded its services, market presence and international reach. We wish Andy and the Tryzens team continued success with their new investment partners.”
Losses from global roaming fraud are anticipated to exceed $8 billion (£6.34bn) by 2028, driven by the increase in bilateral roaming agreements for data-intensive use cases over 5G networks.
This is according to a new study from Juniper Research, which in turn predicts that fraudulent data traffic will account for 80% of global operator roaming-based losses by 2024.
Bilateral roaming agreements refers to the contractual agreement between two or more mobile data companies to offer the same or ‘lateral’ services to an international roaming customer for the same price as their domestic mobile package. These agreements are meant to lower the costs for customers travelling internationally as an alternative to traditional data roaming.
As 2G and 3G networks are sunsetting, operators are accelerating the transition to 5G and VoLTE (voice-over LTE) roaming services to leverage the high levels of virtualisation and lower operational costs.
However, the highly virtualised nature of 5G networks is creating more opportunities for fraudsters to deploy their attacks, leaving operator networks open to emerging fraud tactics over 5G networks.
As bilateral 5G roaming agreements proliferate, the research predicts operators will deploy more sophisticated fraud mitigation tools. The greater amount of data that 5G roaming connections generate will require the development of solutions that can detect fraudulent users and traffic over new 5G networks as they evolve.
An example is the rise in 5G subscription fraud, whereby fraudsters create new subscriptions with false information, incurring roam charges without intending to pay. Until the subscription is cancelled, fraudsters will continue anonymously using 5G roaming data, with operators losing potential roaming revenue.
Juniper Research also explained six roaming fraud threats to keep watch of for users and operators.
1. Sim Card Cloning
Fraudsters can access a legitimate subscriber’s SIM card and use it to make calls or use data services, all while the legitimate subscriber is roaming abroad, resulting in greater charges for the subscriber and reduced operator revenue.
2. Identity Theft
Fraudsters can access a subscriber’s personal information in order to act as the subscriber. Then, scammers are using roaming services at a cost of the target subscriber and operator, and potentially damaging the subscriber’s credit history by amassing unpaid bills in their name.
3. Sim Box Fraud
In this scam, fraudsters use multiple SIM cards in a SIM box to redirect international calls through local numbers, allowing them to evade high international charges and thus impacting operator revenue.
Here, fraudsters manipulate call records so that international calls are recognised as local calls, also known as ‘landing fraud.’ This is a popular fraud tactic in countries where the cost of terminating international calls is high, according to the study.
5. Subscription Fraud
In this, fraudsters use a stolen identity to subscribe to multiple roaming services, leaving operators unable to identify the source and recover their costs, impacting revenue and damaging relations with the identity’s real owner.
6. International Revenue Share Fraud
Fraudsters manipulate call patterns and exploit revenue-sharing models by targeting International Premium Rate Numbers (IPRN) in high-cost locations. These numbers are usually more expensive, but can function internationally without extra fees. By exploiting these, fraudsters can taken advantage of operators’ revenue sharing agreements, impact traffic, and affect operator revenue.
“Operators must implement 5G-specific signalling detection and firewalls that offer real-time monitoring and ID-registry analysis,” research author Rosie O’Connor said. “Only then, can operators more efficiently identify subscription fraud across 100 million 5G roaming connections predicted globally in 2024.”
Fraud mitigation services will alert operators of any potentially fraudulent activity across 5G networks in real-time and enable them to identify and block suspicious roaming subscribers. This will enable operators to minimise fraudulent activity and therefore reduce the impact on their roaming revenue.
A new study has shown that AI analytical tools developed by the University of Glasgow are just as effective in detecting heart failure as human experts, but are even faster, opening up potential to reduce clinical times and speed up diagnosis.
Presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Conference in Amsterdam, the findings come from the OPERA study, a collaboration between the University of Glasgow, AstraZeneca, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, and NHS Golden Jubilee to assess the effectiveness of AI technology in patients with heart failure.
The results show that AI interpreted heart ultrasound images, including those taken with a handheld device, are as effective as using a typical ultrasound machine operated by an expert in measuring the pumping action of the heart.
Standard analysis times, however, take around 30 minutes with a human operator. The new AI tool takes just a minute to interpret the echocardiogram image – the image of the heart produced by the ultrasound. This is a dramatic reduction in clinical time, which could significantly speed up heart failure diagnosis waiting times, potentially saving lives.
Heart failure is a serious condition resulting from the heart being unable to pump blood around the body effectively. The condition can be debilitating, with a range of symptoms impacting a person’s day-to-day life.
Over a million people in the UK are estimated to be living with heart failure – 48,000 people in Scotland have been diagnosed with the condition by the GP. Experts believe, however, that thousands more are living with the condition unknown.
Early diagnosis is key, as starting treatment early can reduce the risk of hospitalisation for people with the condition and improve their overall quality of life.
The latest results from OPERA show that using AI to interpret echocardiogram images could allow for early diagnosis, and that faster analysis of scans could also help the NHS reduce waiting times and help to alleviate pressures on the healthcare system.
The OPERA study findings are the first outcome from the Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Glasgow, NHS Golden Jubilee, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, AstraZeneca UK and Lenus Health. Formed in 2022, the partnership of academia, healthcare and industry work collaboratively together to deliver NHS transformation by testing new digital technologies and patient pathways, to enable earlier diagnosis and treatment.
“Our breaking new OPERA results show that investing in AI in healthcare could offer remarkable benefits to both patients and the NHS,” said Dr Ross Campbell, from the University of Glasgow, who presented the OPERA findings at the ESC Conference.
“We have shown that AI can interpret echocardiogram images accurately, and given AI can produce a report in a fraction of the time, this could really make a difference in allowing us to make early diagnosis of heart failure possible.
“OPERA has been made possible by the collaboration between the University of Glasgow, AstraZeneca, Lenus Health and the NHS, who have helped us demonstrate how heart failure diagnosis could be improved for patients around the world.”
Dr Ed Piper, Medical and Scientific Affairs Director, AstraZeneca UK, added: ‘”The results of the OPERA study show how innovative technology, including AI, has the potential to streamline the diagnosis of heart failure so that patients receive the care they need at the earliest opportunity to improve their outcomes.
“AstraZeneca is proud to have collaborated with our partners in Glasgow under the Memorandum of Understanding to deliver these exciting data that will help transform future clinical practice in heart failure diagnosis.”
The University of Glasgow is testing the strategy of the OPERA study through the University of Glasgow-led global SYMPHONY study (Screening for earlY heart failure diagnosis and Management in Primary care or at HOme using Natriuretic peptides and echocardiographY), which involves testing whether AI reporting can detect heart failure and lead to earlier diagnosis and life-saving treatment. The study is made possible by a collaboration with AstraZeneca and is taking place in Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Canada and the USA.
Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde Universities are set to receiving funding for the next wave of research aimed at accelerating UK decarbonisation efforts, as supported by the IDRIC.
Backed by the UKRI’s Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge, IDRIC has made the awards as part of its rolling “Flexible Funding Programme,” funding 13 new research projects to the tune of £1.2m in total.
The UK aims to reduce industrial emissions by at least two-thirds by 2035, with an overall net-zero aim of 2050. The winning research projects each support these ambitions, and aim to tackle a range of challenges, from examining approaches to carbon capture and storage in different industries to exploring the potential for green hydrogen production and transforming waste carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals.
Among Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde Universities, funding will also go towards projects in Universities of Durham, Cardiff, South Wales, Sussex, Oxford, Lincoln, Liverpool, Sheffield, and Imperial College London.
Since its launch two years ago, IDRIC has awarded £16.8m to over 60 diverse research projects across the UK. This current phase of rolling flexible funding has been developed to be responsive to emerging industry needs so that IDRC can support activities are able to realise a rapidly achievable impact. Such funding has the potential for a positive outcome with minimal risk and expenditure.
The funding announced today extends IDRIC’s current programme with aims to accelerate research and innovation through a whole systems approach. IDRIC’s funding ensures that critical decarbonisation technologies are developed and tailored for industry purposes. As such, IDRIC’s research and innovation programme is now delivering outputs that are driving efficiencies, cost reductions, and new green business opportunities.
IDRIC’s key areas of impact also include creating an industrial decarbonisation “Knowledge Hub” for research projects and cluster activities; supporting policymakers at both the UK and devolved levels and also carrying out important research related to skills and training for academia, industry and government.
Since the commencement of its work in 2021, IDRIC has collaborated with more than 200 partners and stakeholders including industry, community representatives and policymakers to address urgent innovation needs.
Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer, director of IDRIC said: “IDRIC’s programme has demonstrated that we have the tools to be responsive to industry needs and become an engine of green growth. This new round of flex funding will help develop practices that significantly aid the decarbonisation of industry.
“We have successfully developed an influential and impactful network at a critical time, bringing academics and industries together, across UK industrial clusters. This is an important step towards achieving Net Zero for the UK industry in an integrated and innovative manner.
“IDRIC’s progress over its two years has been wide-ranging. By integrating findings from across IDRIC’s research portfolio, we are directly informing plans for decarbonisation in some of the UK’s largest industrial clusters and generating collaboration between those clusters and academic research teams local to them.”
Bryony Livesey, director of the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge at UKRI said: “The new round of funding by IDRIC aligns with the UK Government’s commitment to support and drive Net Zero goals. The quality of projects is a testament to IDRIC’s ability to collaborate with high-quality researchers to find meaningful solutions to decarbonising industries in the UK.”
The EU Digital Services Act (DSA) came into effect in November 2022, but large tech companies were provided a few months to get to grips with the new landmark law. From today, they will have to comply with regulations meant to moderate hate speech, disinformation, and online safety across the internet.
A landmark internet-regulatory act, the DSA is set to provide further protections to internet users concerning harmful content, data protection, personalised and targeted advertising, and particular rules for underage users.
The law is staggered in it’s strictness – larger online platforms will have to comply with more stringent regulations to provide further protections to users, or face larger fines.
In April 2023, the EU released the list of what it deemed to classify is ‘large platforms’ – those with around 45 million active users per month, or 10% of the EU population – including: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Wikipedia, Booking.com, Amazon Store, Goole Play, Maps and Shopping, Alibaba and AliExpress, Zlandao, Pintrest, and X (former known as Twitter). The Google and Bing search engines will also have to comply with the tougher rules.
From this announcement, tech companies had four months to comply with the rules before they would face review and potential fines – breaches could result in a penalty of 6% of their yearly turnover, and even a suspension of their services in the EU.
Large online platforms will have to comply with a number of extra requirements as specified under the DSA, meaning they must identify, analyse, and assess systemic risks that are linked to their services. These include risks related to:
Illegal content.
Fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, media freedom and pluralism, discrimination, consumer protection and children’s rights.
Public security and electoral processes.
Gender-based violence, public health, protection of minors, and mental and physical wellbeing.
After identifying the risks, the large companies will be obliged to put into place measures to mitigate them. These include being audited independently to ensure their compliance, sharing data with the European Commission, and allow researchers to access platform data for studies concerning systemic risks in the EU.
Further to the risk mitigations outlined but the DSA surrounding recommender systems and advertising, which are often key components of social media platform business models.
The EU is asking these companies to provide an option in their recommender systems that is not based on user profiling. This essentially means companies would have to let users opt-out of algorithmic recommendations based on their behaviour.
Platforms will also have to provide a publicly available repository of advertisements they allow on their site.
They would also have to identify how their algorithms are used to recommend content to users so the EU could then identify if this is exacerbating biases, hate speech, or threats.
A number of tech companies underwent stress-tests earlier this summer to see if their compliance efforts were enough, to varying reviews from EU regulators.
TikTok, despite its moves to stop underaged users from being shown personalised advertising, was told in July by EU regulators that their efforts were simply not enough to comply with the full set of regulations.
Similarly, X, formerly known as Twitter, was found to need further improvement in July by EU regulator Thierry Breton.
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, have provided European users the ability to view content such a Reels and Stories in chronological order from people they follow, rather than from recommended pages and users.
Snapchat has also put in new rules restricting the use of personalised advertising for children, and is creating a repository of available advertisements.
Wikipedia has also said they have made some changes, and supports the EU’s approach to online regulations over the UK’s highly contested Online Safety Bill, which plans on putting age restrictions on certain content.
However, not all of the designated large companies are working on compliance – Amazon and Zalando, both retailers, are attempting to change their designation claiming they are not large enough platforms and that as retailers, some of the stipulations should not comply.
An H1 2023 cyber threat report highlights the adaptability of cybercriminals and documented a renewed rise in sextortion scams – the use of sexual threats and coercion to receive a ransom.
Online sextortion usually comes in the form of email or messages, where threat actors will threaten victims that they have sexually explicit images or videos of the victim that they will release if a ransom is not paid.
Fraudsters also claim that they have installed malware on the target’s device that allows them to gather data of a sexual nature, which can be exploited if a ransom is not paid.
According to the report from ESET, these claims should be ignored as empty threats. The most common variant of these types of frauds the cybersecurity firm saw were DOC/Fraud.AAW, which they observed demanding Bitcoin in return for not divulging sexual content.
Other variants included ATT and ADJ, with similar scams claiming to have stolen data of a sexual nature.
When the report was published, ESET discovered a Bitcoin address among the extortion demands which had amassed 0.08 Bitcoin, which is currently work over 2,000 USD, and then emptied.
Overall, sextortion scams rose by around 201% in H1 2023, and the sextortion fraud grouping ranked third among all email threats detected by the cybersecurity firm.
However, it is possible that these scams are coming from a relatively small group of threat actors, according to a report by Barracuda Networks, which could make the threat easier to defend against.
Sextortion appears to be on the rise in Scotland as well – Police Scotland in a recent meeting said that a rise in overall sexual and violent crimes was largely due to a rise of online sextortion, where criminals were threatening victims to post explicit images online unless a ransom was paid.
Police Scotland have therefor urged residents to stay vigilant online and to not pay up ransoms, and instead report the incidents to the police. They have also encouraged better education concerning online safety, especially for younger children.
Social Engineering, AI, and Sextortion
Sextortion is a form of social engineering – when scams play on human emotions to gain money or personal data. Advancements in AI large language models (LLMs) has increased the effectiveness of threat actors.
Large language models like ChatGPT can remove many of the inconsistencies or inaccuracies which are usually hallmarks of scam attempts. Spelling and grammatical errors are often tell-tale signs of a fraud attempt, but using LLMs can make scams harder to pick up for unassuming victims.
Further, the threat of sexual exploitation on the internet has reached new heights with the advent of deepfakes – technology which allows users to create fake images and videos with realistic likeness of a target. These can be used to threaten for ransom ore genuine explicit photos, and the phenomenon has caused the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to release an alert concerning the threat.
But these financially-motivated, technology-enabled actors are not the only threats lurking in an ever-increasing online world. A rise in text pests – the use of personal data shared for business purposes being used to contact people for romantic or sexual reasons – is also on the rise in the UK, with around a third (29%) of 18 to 34-year-old experiencing this phenomenon.
The race to develop microchips capable of harnessing generative artificial intelligencetechnology is gaining pace as Nvidia has seen record sales nearly doubling as a result of their new AI chip.
Nvidia is reported to have already cornered about 95% of the AI chip market, and is mostly known as a chip-maker for data centres, and graphics cards for desktop computers and video games.
The company revealed it amassed $13.5 billion (£10.67bn) in revenue since this May, in its 2023 Q2 earnings. The earnings are largely credited to AI, as Nvidia designs the microchips used in data centres that run and train large language models like ChatGPT.
Data centre revenue more than doubled in Q2, and Nvidia’s profit from this alone was up 843% year over year, amassing $6.188bn (£4.89bn). Even their gaming sales are back up, not quite at pre-pandemic levels, but increased 22% year over year.
Nvidia’s direct competitors are Intel and AMD which also design microchips for desktops and data centres, but have yet to release their own competing AI chip, meaning there is little current direct competition to corner the market.
Intel is set to release an AI chip potentially in time for the final quarter of 2023, but it may struggle to compete against a more established AI chip in the data centre market.
On the other hand, Nvidia is projecting another $16bn (£12.65bn) in revenue for the rest of 2023, and this is before their newer AI chip, GH200, is set to be released.
Nvidia is not the only chip designer making moves to profit off the AI-boom: designers of small microchips are also working on advanced AI microchips.
While Nvidia has cornered the data centre chip market, the race to dominate Edge AI – AI processors on devices without a cloud connection – is emerging, as Arm, Qualcomm, and Mediatek aim for centre stage.
The drive to introduce AI-capable chips to smartphones could provide emerging technologies with an extra boost – one of the biggest obstacles for further advancements is the costly necessity of running models remotely on cloud servers. Natively operating AI on mobile devices would significantly reduce costs, and allow alternative developers to access the foundational tech.
Another major benefit to native AI operation is in sustainability – data centres already consume mass amounts of energy and water, with researchers from the University Colorado Riverside claiming ChatGPT training consumed around 700,000 litres of water, and a chatbot conversation consisting of 20-50 questions uses around 500 ml of water alone.
Meta has so far made two partnerships with Qualcomm and Mediatek to create these mobile AI microchips. MediaTek has said they will release a new chip to work with Meta’s Llama 2 AI model, after Qualcomm announced their partnership with the tech giant in July.
Arm, on the other hand, has already been working on this technology, but has focused on producing chips capable of native AI processing for varied Internet of Things (IoT) devices rather than just smartphones and tablets.
Out of nearly a trillion customer IT events collected by Barracuda Managed XDR in the first half of 2023, 6,000of them appeared to be of high-risk.
The most common high-risk incident the team encountered had to do with identity abuse, which have become increasingly sophisticated, not in the least because of advancements in AI.
Barracuda, a cybersecurity firm, outlined the three most common high-risk threat detections they found in order to mitigate the effects of these identity-abuse incidents.
1. Impossible travel login
Impossible travel refers to when there are at least two attempted log ins to a cloud account from geographically distinct locations that could not be traversed within the timeframe of the two log ins. While it could simply mean a VPN has been used for one of the logins, it can often mean that a threat actor is attempting to or has gained access to a user’s account.
Investigating the IP address of each log in can help determine if a VPN was used or if it was a different actor logging in, and a user can then verify which log in attempt was genuine.
2. Anomaly Detections
These refer to unusual activities in a user’s account that can be tracked by a security team, including log-in times, account creation, and different patterns for accessing files.
Barracuda claims that these unexpected activities could be signs of malware infections, insider threats, or phishing attacks, and should be investigated.
The team at Barracuda has said that their “rare hour for user” detection issued over 400 alerts since the start of 2023. With the continued integration of remote and flexible work, however, it may be more difficult to recognise ‘normal’ patterns for people’s work.
3. Communication with Known Malicious Materials
Essentially, this is any communication with a known malicious IP address, file, or domain, which can be a sign of phishing or malware. This would call for immediate quarantining of a computer or device, Barracuda advises, until further investigation is done.
AI in Cyber
AI advancements can be used on both sides of the cybersecurity race, by threat actors and defence experts alike.
As large language models advance, adversaries are able to make their phishing attempts and social engineering more realistic and harder to identify.
AI can also be used to automate their malicious actions, making their attempts more effective, efficient, and harder to defend against.
“For example, command line utilities powered by AI can rapidly adapt to changes in a target’s defences, identify vulnerabilities, or even learn from previous failed attempts to improve subsequent attacks,” Merium Khalid, director of SOC offensive security at Barracuda said in a blog post.
WormGPT, a malicious version of ChatGPT, is already being used for to replicate phishing scripts and create specifically targeted social engineering attempts.
To defend against these rapid advancements, cybersecurity teams can employ their own emerging technology to threat detection, but remembering the basics is key.
Employing multifactor authentication, zero-trust approaches, and training employees remains vital, no matter how advanced the techniques of threat actors have become.
This is all according to Sophos, a cybersecurity company, which released their Active Adversary Report for Tech Leaders 2023, aimed to outline the major trends and – and dangers – on the cybersecurity sphere in the first half of 2023.
The data found that ransomware was still the most common attack method in the first half of 2023, account for 68.75% of all attacks. This is followed by network breach (16.25%), data extortion (16.25%), and data exfiltration (2.5%).
Importantly, the report highlighted the many vulnerabilities and reasons threat actors always seem just a step ahead of tech leaders and cybersecurity specialists.
Ransomware Dwell Times are Down
A major finding of the report is the drop in dwell times – the time between when a threat actor access a target’s systems and when the attack is first detected or executed.
In the first half of 2023, the median dwell time declined from 10 days in 2022 to just eight days, but this trend is not true across all cybercrime.
Ransomware appears to be leading the charge – the median dwell times for these incidents fell from nine days to just five days. However, all other non-ransomware incidents rose from 11 to 13 days.
Now, it is not easy to take these metrics in a positive or negative light – the decline could be due to a faster detection and response time to threats, but could also lead to threat actors attempting to go even faster.
Compromised Credentials Top Root Causes
Compromised credentials continually provide access for threat actors to more easily remotely infiltrate a network and breach sensitive data – in the first half of 2023, 50% of root causes for attacks were from compromised credentials, beating out vulnerability exploitation which tallied at 23% of attack routes.
A lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA) makes compromised credentials even easier to use for threat actors to gain network access and expose data – but MFA was not configured in 23% of the cases Sophos investigated in the first half of 2023.
Attackers are Reaching Active Directory
In addition, Sophos X-Ops found that it took on average less than a day — approximately 16 hours — for attackers to reach Active Directory (AD), one of the most critical assets for a company. AD typically manages identity and access to resources across an organization, meaning attackers can use AD to easily escalate their privileges on a system to simply log in and carry out a wide range of malicious activity.
“Attacking an organization’s Active Directory infrastructure makes sense from an offensive view. AD is usually the most powerful and privileged system in the network, providing broad access to the systems, applications, resources and data that attackers can exploit in their attacks. When an attacker controls AD, they can control the organization. The impact, escalation, and recovery overhead of an Active Directory attack is why it’s targeted,” said John Shier the field CTO at Sophos.
“Getting to and gaining control of the Active Directory server in the attack chain provides adversaries several advantages. They can linger undetected to determine their next move, and, once they’re ready to go, they can blast through a victim’s network unimpeded.
“Full recovery from a domain compromise can be a lengthy and arduous effort. Such an attack damages the foundation of security upon which an organization’s infrastructure relies. Very often, a successful AD attack means a security team has to start from scratch.”
Patching Efforts are Too Little, Too Late, Too Often.
As pointed out by Sophos, patches are vital in removing different vulnerabilities and narrowing the ways in which threat actors can access networks and data.
While patches may be available, they are not always implemented, or systems are not updated to offer better protection and mitigate the effects of vulnerabilities.
Sophos found two instances of patches not being implemented on vulnerabilities in time to stop attacks. Zoho ManageEngine had two vulnerabilities which had a patch available since October 28, 2022, but an advisory was not released until January 10, 2023. Attacks using this vulnerability occurred on 18 and 20 January, 82 days after the patch had been available.
In another case, a ProxyNotShell vulnerability had an advisory published 30 September 2022, an available path on 8 November, but attacks occured on 19 May 2023, leaving a patch gap of 192 days.
Sophos did identify some improvements in 2023, however, in the cases of the 3CX and PaperCut vulnerabilities.
Essentially, patching is important, and patching in a timely manner is vital to stopping attackers from exploiting vulnerabilities.
Threat Actors Don’t Have Office Hours
This was another point Sophos drove home in their report – threat actors do not work a regular nine to five to take holidays, and can actually exploit these slower times to take advantage of a smaller or absent workforce.
In 81% of ransomware attacks, the final payload was launched outside of traditional working hours, and for those that were deployed during business hours, only five happened on a weekday.
The number of attacks detected increased as the week progressed, most notably when examining ransomware attacks. Nearly half (43%) of ransomware attacks were detected on either Friday or Saturday.
“In some ways we’ve been victims of our own success,” Shier said. “As adoption of technologies like XDR (extended detection and response) and services such as MDR (managed detection and response) grows, so does our ability to detect attacks sooner. Lowering detection times leads to a faster response, which translates to a shorter operating window for attackers. At the same time, criminals have been honing their playbooks, especially the experienced and well-resourced ransomware affiliates, who continue to speed up their noisy attacks in the face of improved defences.”
“But, it doesn’t mean we’re collectively more secure. This is evidenced by the levelling off of non-ransomware dwell times. Attackers are still getting into our networks, and when time isn’t pressing, they tend to linger. But all the tools in the world won’t save you if you’re not watching. It takes both the right tools and continuous, proactive monitoring to ensure that criminals have a worse day than you do. This is where MDR can really close the gap between attackers and defenders, because even when you’re not watching, we are,” said Shier.
Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP) has selected ten Scottish startups for its latest accelerator programme committed to amplifying sustainable mobility and decarbonisation solutions.
MSIP, a joint venture between Michelin, Dundee City Council, and Scottish Enterprise, is a dynamic and creative home for innovators, manufacturers, and skills leaders who are actively working towards reducing carbon emissions and fostering a cleaner, more sustainable future.
Partly funded by Scottish Enterprise and delivered by Skillfluence, the MSIP Accelerator has been specifically designed to help ambitious young companies who are developing new solutions in sustainable mobility and decarbonisation achieve a step-change in their business.
Skillfluence, a company which designs and delivered startup accelerator programmes, is tasked to provide a specialist programme to support Scotland’s Net-Zero carbon ambitions.
Alison Gray, founder and director of Skillfluence Ltd, said: “We’re excited to collaborate with the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc team to support this remarkable cohort of founders. They’re creating businesses poised to significantly benefit the world. Given the pressing climate challenges, their efforts, alongside MSIP’s, have gained unparalleled significance and we look forward to working with them to accelerate their impact.”
This is the fourthcohort of the MSIP Accelerator. The successful applicants are developing a range of ‘future thinking’ products and services, including sustainable mobility technology, innovative climate action products and services, sustainable manufacturing technology, wind power, energy efficiency and biotech for net zero.
The fourth cohort commenced on 22 August and will primarily be delivered virtually, running for 12 weeks. The programme aims to provide participants with access to the skills, knowledge, networks, and advice to enhance their overall solutions.
A number of participants will become the first users of MSIP’s newly launched Innovation Labs and will have first access to the soon-to-be-launched Innovation Hub.
The MSIP Accelerator is one of many initiatives MSIP is undertaking as part of its Innovation Programme, designed to underpin Scotland’s response to the global climate emergency.
The ten companies entering the Accelerator Programme include:
Other Way Climate Limited, a carbon-data company focused on journeys and vehicles
Donaa Ltd, an AI company which detects defects in real-time to reduce manufacturing waste;
BOABER by Innovate Rural, a boat travel booking app using AI to keep live timetables current
BioBright, a data-driven biomedical company
Copper & Carbon Ltd, which developed a wind turbine that can control wind flow
Veritherm, a company focused on decarbonising buildings
Recarbox, a garage innovation that fits into parking spaces to make electric driving and safe parking more accessible
Well Spent Ltd, an upcycling brewery that takes spent grain and develops it into snacks
HydroTrux, a fuel company creating co-combustion hydrogen kits.
Sarah Petrie, innovation director at Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc, said: “The purpose of the MSIP Accelerator programme is to help companies grow. The 31 companies that have participated to date have demonstrated some astounding progress.
“In the past 18 months alone, MSIP Accelerator companies closed equity investments totalling £1.08m and sales have increased by over £2m in the same period. Twenty of these companies have also received innovation grants to the value of £1.47m, and several have been recognised for their ground-breaking products and businesses.
“To have 10 new ambitious companies to work with and continue that level of impact, is incredibly exciting.”
Suzanne Sosna, director of economic opportunities and climate at Scottish Enterprise said: “Green energy is a key sector of the future and, with sustainable mobility in particular being a crucial element, there are huge opportunities for innovative companies.
“It is fantastic to see the calibre of innovators we have coming forward in the Accelerator and really exciting to help them develop the ideas that will tackle the climate challenge.
“Supporting businesses to develop in this space is vital to ensuring we maximise their potential and the part they will play in a successful greener Scottish economy.”
Duolingo data from 2.6 million users has been scraped from the language learning app, and is now for sale on a hacking forum, according to VX Underground. The exposed information, including email addresses, names, and profile pictures, can be used to conduct phishing attacks.
Information currently for sale includes users usernames and full names, which are public information, according to Duolingo, but also email addresses, which are not publicly available. The language app has around 74 million global users, making it a prime pool of victims if their data can be easily accessed.
The scraped data was first reported in January of this year, but was re-released this week on a newer version of Breached, a hacking forum, as reported by FalconFeedsio on X.
The DuoLingo database (scraped) has been listed for sale in a hacker's forum. According to the user, the claimed data contains 2.6 million account entries.#databreach#cyberriskpic.twitter.com/7jttRnncpM
When it was first made aware of the incident, Duolingo said that as the data was public information, they were investigating if they needed any further cybersecurity precautions. This, however, did not address the fact that the emails exposed were not public information, and therefore could not be scraped from the site.
To gain access to user emails, threat actors utilised an exposed application programming interface (API), which has been circulated and known since at least March 2023.
The API attack format in this case is similar to credential stuffing – hackers can submit a Duolingo username and retrieve a JSON output revealing the user’s public information, but the same can be done by submitting an email address to find an associated Duolingo account.
Scrapers could therefore insert potentially millions of email addresses into the API to match them to Duolingo accounts, which were then used to match the private email addresses to public information.
With an email, full name, and even a profile pictures, threat actors will be better able to conduct more pernicious phishing attacks.
According to Bleeping Computer, the API is still active, even though it has been known since the initial scrape in January.
Allowing private data to be accessed via a known vulnerability could be in violation of data protection laws, and put consumers at risk of phishing attacks.
Glasgow-based online pharmacy, Simple Online Healthcare, has nearly doubled headcount to 99 after increasing their revenue by 56% to £23.4 million and expanding operations across the UK, Germany, and Australia.
Founded by Addy Mohammed and Karim Nassar in Glasgow in 2015, Simple Online Healthcare offers a free online NHS England prescription delivery service, an online pharmacy store, and online doctor services in the UK, Australia, and Germany.
Simple Online Healthcare Co-founder Addy Mohammed said: “Last year saw us significantly scale and invest across the business, in terms of geography, supply chain, technology, and our team. Overall, we are one step closer to realising our ambition to be a truly global provider of patient-centric care.”
The company is planning for further expansions into Europe, and has invested £1m in next generation AI powered by BD Rowa robotics, hoping the technology will boost capacity and reduce unit costs for NHS dispensing.
Further to its employee expansion, Former Skyscanner and TravelNest senior executive Rebecca Moore joined the business as chief operating officer (COO) in 2022, and the company reportedly has a number of further senior hires in the pipeline.
In 2022, Simple Online Healthcare acquired Kaspel and Dr Felix brands from Stark Healthcare. Now integrated into the group, Kapsel provides primary care services to patients across Germany, while Dr Felix is an online doctor clinic service serving patients UK-wide.
Rebecca Moore, Simple Online Healthcare’s COO, said: “The acquisitions have proven to be a great success, they have enabled us to extend our reach in the UK and Europe, and we’re adding strong triple-digit revenue growth in these units.”
Addy Mohammed added: “Our mission is to build the most patient-centric online healthcare service in the world, simplifying healthcare for patients everywhere. We want to make treatments more accessible and affordable, whilst giving the highest standard of care and we continue to see considerable growth prospects going forward.”
To date, Simple Online Healthcare has served over 700,000 patients across all regions and brands.
Three Scottish projects have been awarded up to £55,000 in UK Space Agency funding for innovations and research into water management, carbon emissions, and climate change effects using satellite technology.
The projects are set to take advantage of Earth observation tools, satellite tracking, and data on population demographics, in a bid to benefit sectors ranging from agriculture and energy, to finance and insurance.
Earth observation tools gather and present information based on imagery of the Earth’s exterior, providing essential data on its physical, chemical, and biological systems, often through the use of remote sensing technologies like satellites.
Recently, the Geospatial Commission launched a pilot programme to invest in this vital technology to aid organisations in accessing this data to better support critical projects like the ones receiving funding.
Supported by the UK Space Agency, the three projects are part of ten UK projects set to receive funding this September, aiming to produce the most up to date view of environmental contexts possible with available Earth observation date, including methane and nitrous oxide emissions watercourse resilience, biodiversity changes, and the infrastructure of decarbonising technologies.
Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology George Freeman MP, said: “The great challenges of our time need bold solutions and from tackling water pollution to carbon emissions and biodiversity threats, the unique perspective that space provides can play a major role in securing the health of our planet and people.
“By backing UK innovators to make the most of modern technology including satellite data, AI, and Earth observation, we are also supporting businesses up and down our country to grow our economy while driving forward our ambition to make the UK a major player in space.”
One application by EOLAS Insight Ltd, a Glasgow-based company, will develop a mapping and reporting service focused on watercourse resilience, aiming to help organisations understand the effects of climate change and rising global temperatures on crucial local watercourses, as well as the benefits of mitigation strategies like riverside woodland schemes.
A project by Omanos Analytics, another Glasgow company, will generate social context data about the nuanced impact of climate change issues on different demographic groups, in a bid to support the development of more integrated, whole-of-community approaches to environment-related issues and planning.
Climate change is affecting different demographics disproportionately, across the globe as well as in the UK. While it is well known that the global south is already dealing with the more disastrous effects of climate change, including deadly floods, consistent drought, and intense wild fires, ethnic minority groups in the UK are also more likely to suffer. Minority ethnic groups – particularly Black and South Asian residents, were more likely to live in areas with worse air pollution in London, and were therefore more likely to suffer from asthma, according to a study by City Hall.
Further to climate change initiatives, Edinburgh-based Sparkgeo UK will also receive funding to support their automated methane service. This allows stakeholders to measure and monitor emissions of methane – one of the most potent greenhouse gases – across their areas of interest and alert them when they are above acceptable levels. This can be used across industries, from livestock management to manufacturing.
Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said: “The UK has a long history of expertise and innovation in Earth observation, developing satellites to collect increasingly detailed data and using that information to build services that help protect our planet.
“This targeted funding for early-stage innovations is all about supporting fresh ideas and accelerating the rollout of powerful new tools that have the potential to bring benefits to a wide range of users both within and beyond the space sector.”
The total £530,000 funding across the ten projects represents the second tranche of investment by the UK Space Agency directly into climate services development. It follows an £85,000 pot awarded earlier this year, which was split between nine UK organisations, including some of the same projects in their earlier stages of idea development, with used UK Space Agency funding to demonstrate the potential of their business ideas.
The Cambridge-based chip designer, Arm, has officially filed for US Nasdaq shares, snubbing the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Before it’s takeover by Japanese firm Softbank in 2016, the company was publicly listed on both the LSE and Nasdaq since its founding in 1998. Softbank then took the company private.
While the company has yet to disclose the number of shares or their price ranges, their initial public offering (IPO) is likely to be the largest since 2021, and they are seeking a valuation of between $60bn (£47bn) and $70bn (£55bn). The company also expects to raise an index float of up to £8 billion with its listing.
Softbank’s move to list the company publicly comes after a failed attempt to sell Arm to competing chip maker Nvidia, which was blocked due to regulatory pressures from the UK, US, EU, and China. While Arm’s chip designs mainly power smartphones – about 95% of them – Nvidia’s chips are largely for gaming consoles, cars, and data centres. Combining the two companies could hurt market competition and create a microchip monopoly, so the deal was blocked.
After the failed deal, Softbank moved to purchase the remaining quarter of Arm they did not outright own for $64bn, much higher than their original purchase of the company for $37bn back in 2016, from Saudi-based Vision Fund, which was completed just a day before they filed their IPO.
Despite Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s talks with the UK’s technology ‘crown jewel’, Arm’s first public listing since Softbanks’ takeover will be solely in the US, with the company claiming that it was “the best path forward,” as quoted by the BBC.
The company will remain headquartered in the UK, however, as will its intellectual property and operations.
Arm touts microchip designs that are energy-efficient and low cost, and provide the central processing units (CPUs) for some of the top semiconductor companies in the world. Arm sells its products to a wide range of tech giants including Apple, Qualcomm, Mercedes-Benz, and Qualcomm, and most of their designs are manufactured in Taiwan by other companies.
However, in April of this year, Arm announced that it will start developing its own semiconductor with its manufacturing partners in an effort to prove their technology’s capabilities to investors following its IPO listing.
While analysts expect Arm’s IPO to be the largest of 2023, some do not think it is worth nearly as much as Softbank would like it to be.
Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son has claimed the AI boom will provide a sustained boost to the company, saying that Arm’s microchip technology will be central to potential AI innovation. He even announced he would step back from the day-to-day operations of Softbank to focus on the “exponential growth” of Arm over the coming years.
However, since Softbank’s takeover of Arm, the company has made major claim about the chip designer’s role in technological advancements. Son had similar sentiments about the growth in the Internet of Things (IoT), which saw little effect on Arm’s revenue growth.
Further, Arm’s main microchip competitor, Nvidia, is already beating them at the AI game, as their microchips are in the data centres behind ChatGPT. However, Nividia’s chips are typically paired with Arm’s CPUs, so this could still be beneficial overall to both companies.
Arm is however, staking their future success on the back of newer chip designs needed for in smaller devices like phones and other IoT devices, as AI shifts to being an end-user product, the firm’s speciality.
Son has claimed that 85% of SoftBank’s customer portfolio are AI companies, but may well be an exaggeration – they may use some AI capabilities, but whether this is enough to prop up SoftBank’s Arm remains to be seen.
Glasgow-based foodtech company Enough has raised £34 million (€40m) in new growth funding to expand their mycoprotein plant-based food production.
The company, founded in 2015, is a spin out from University Strathclyde graduates Craig Johnston and David Ritchie, and touts an environmentally-friendly meat-alternative.
The product uses Abunda, an ingredient created by feeding fungi sustainably-sourced sugars, which is then fermented in a way similar to beer.
The resulting product has a texture that is supposed to be similar to meat, and a ‘neutral flavour’ the company says makes it suitable to substitute for meat, fish, and dairy.
According to Enough, the product is “zero-waste”, and uses up to 93% less water and 97% less food than cows raised for beef, as well as creating 97% less CO2 emissions than cattle.
With the new funding, the total capital raised by the company is over €95m, or about £81m.
The company has already used some of this funding to create a manufacturing unit in the Netherlands, which aims to create 10,000 tonnes of Abunda a year initially. It eventually plans to scale up to 60,000 tonnes, which would be the equivalent of producing the same amount of protein in one cow ever two minutes.
Abunda is credited as a protein alternative, with all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete protein.
The latest funding round was from foodtech investors World Fund and CPT Capital, with previous investors including Scottish Enterprise, AXA IM Alts, HAL Investments, Onassis Group, and Tailored Solutions.
Jim Laird, chief executive and founder of Enough, said: “With this new funding, we will accelerate that growth. The alternative protein market is a multi-billion dollar opportunity, and the ethical and environmental reasons to embrace non-animal protein sources are more pressing than ever.”
Since the release of advanced generative AI models that could produce realistic artistic renditions, write novel-length stories, and can now even create music, the art world has reacted with a flurry of debate over what is art, what tools can be used to create it, and how AI can enter the industry responsibly – if at all.
The copyright debate is coming from both sides of the AI art controversy – from artists who want AI models to stop training on their work, to users who want to copyright their AI-generated creations.
Both sides bring into question greater themes around art, ownership, and the commodification of creation. Intermixed into every argument for and against each copyright debate are questions surrounding the foundation of generative AI models, the nature of their training, what it means to create a work of ‘art,’ as well as data protection rights.
All of this debate is centred in a trying time for artists as a whole, amid the writers and actors strikes taking place in Hollywood to the copyright lawsuits right here in the UK.
Here, we’ll dive into the two major debates over AI and copyright.
1. Can AI-Generated Art be Copyrighted?
Stephen Thaler, an artist and programme developer based in the United States, created an AI image generator dubbed ‘Creativity Machine’ claiming that it had generated a piece of art ‘on its own accord,’ according to recent court documents read. Thaler then tried to copyright the image under his own name, claiming that, as the creator of Creativity Machine, the AI’s output can be credited under himself.
However, the US Copyright Office refused to issue the copyright, and Thaler appealed the case to a US Court. On Friday, Judge Beryl Howell issued her ruling – that human authorship was a “bedrock” for copyright law, and that no copyright had ever been given to something that was “absent of any guiding human hand”.
In her ruling, she did note that the world was changing as AI was advancing and making its way into the mainstream, acknowledging the fact that this may be the first of many cases, many rulings, and these rulings may change.
What is interesting about the case is that Thaler stated his AI algorithm generated the image without human input, which he later attempted to change in court, saying that he “directed his AI to create the Work” and that the machine is under his control. As these statements were not admissible in court, the judge made the ruling that outputs without any human input could not receive a copyright.
The judge recognises the need, however, for further laws surrounding the amount of human input and direction needed in AI-generated works to warrant authorship and copyright.
The case offers two unusual points that may make it difficult to relate to other AI copyright cases – Thaler created his own AI algorithm to generate the image, but also said he played no role in the image’s generation.
AI image and ‘art’ generators typically function different than this case, and are often not exclusively used by their creators. Users instead write prompts for the AI to then generate an ‘output.’
So, while the case is a landmark in refusing copyright licensing for AI images, Thaler plans to appeal, and the case may not be applicable to other copyright attempts.
The US copyright office said in March they would be open to granting an AI-generated image copyright to its ‘creator’ (i.e., the person that prompted the AI model) on a ‘case-by-case’ basis.
In this case, AI simply lost.
2. Using Copyrighted Art to Train AI
On the other side of the debate is the copyrighted material AI models are trained on. These range from original artworks posted on online forums like the long-running DeviantArt, to famous books.
Artists expressed their outrage that their artwork on DeviantArt would be automatically used to train an AI image generator powered by Stable Diffusion, a AI model. Artists were similarly worried with Adobe said that artwork created using their products – ranging from Illustrator to Photoshop – could be used to train their own AI.
Users can opt-out on both forums, however artists have said the rules should instead be opt-in.
Instead of paying an artist to render an artwork, users can simply write a prompt on an AI model asking for an artwork of [insert idea] in the style of [insert art style, ranging from Baroque to classic Disney to Steampunk], and voila: art (?).
But how does an AI know what Baroque, Disney, or steampunk art looks like? By looking at art rendered by those artists, companies, or in that style.
In early 2023, Getty Images opened a lawsuit against Stability AI, which is the creator of Stable Diffusion, claiming the company had processed around 12 million copyrighted images to train its AI system without consent.
Artists are suing DeviantArt saying that their art had been used to train its AI model without their consent, and that they could potentially lose commissions and money because of the AI system.
There still appears to be global confusion on how to handle this issue, and governments appear to be falling behind as artists are already affected by AI’s use of copyrighted work.
The EU AI Act will require models to disclose if any copyrighted material is used for training purposes, but this still does not provide a clear picture on the rights of artists to opt-out of AI training datasets or to seek compensation for their work being used.
Overall, the issue of copyrights, AI, and art is far from over.
As students prepare to go back to school this September, schools are being encouraged to take advantage of free resources to boost cyber skills and set up aspiring young people to aim for careers in cyber.
More than 500,000 students from 2,000 schools across the country have already been signed up to Cyber Explorers, a free learning platform provided by the UK government that introduces 11-14 year-olds to important cyber security concepts, supporting learning objectives for Key Stage 2 and 3.
Commenting on the announcement, Chris Ensor, NCSC deputy director for cyber growth, said: “The UK’s cyber industry is growing rapidly, but it’s facing a skills shortage as a result – which is why it’s so important to have initiatives such as Cyber Explorers which work to uncover cyber talent and support young people across the country in exploring the career opportunities this thriving industry has to offer.”
Students can explore a variety of engaging and challenging cyber scenarios, collect virtual badges, and learn tips and tricks from the Cyber Ranger and experts in the Cyber Squad.
Through interactive quizzes and activities, children will be able to learn how digital, computing, and cyber skills can help them navigate the online world and unlock exciting new careers paths, ranging from social media content creation to medical research, and sports technology to AI innovation.
In order to take part in the initiative, all teachers, parents, and guardians of home-schooled students have to do is register their students to access free lesson plans, resources, and guides for wider educational support.
Schools taking part in Cyber Explorers have also played host to a number of career-focused sessions for students, with visits from the likes of Amazon and Verizon showcasing to students some of the practical applications of cyber skills.
Responding to the news Achi Lewis, area VP EMEA for Absolute Software commented: “It is brilliant to see government and the education sector working together to deliver essential cybersecurity training to usher in the new wave of cyber professionals. Cyber Explorers offers students a head start in cyber training, keeping them up to date with the latest trends and innovations impacting organisations.
“In an industry where the complexity of threats continues to rise, it is more important than ever to encourage people into cyber to help protect organisations from prevailing attacks.”
According to a 2022 government report, around half (51%)of all private UK businesses suffer from a basic cyber skills gap.
The number of cyber security job postings rose by 30% to 160,000, although the UK cyber workforce is facing a shortfall of around 11,200.
Further, women make up only 17% of employees in this sector, while senior roles are typically not representative of gender or ethnic diversity across the wider stage.
The government says this new initiative is an investment in the next generation of cyber professionals and security experts, helping young people develop the skills and knowledge prized by a UK cyber sector worth £10.5 billion.
Cyber minister Viscount Camrose said: “The UK’s growing cyber sector is where the technological innovations and digital discoveries of the future will start. That’s why we’re focused on breaking down the barriers to entry, and creating new opportunities for young people to gain the skills and knowledge that could kick-start exciting careers in cyber.”
New research analysing data from the Prolific research platform reveals how the demographics of people labelling the data used to build and train AI models influences their decisions.
What one person finds offensive, another may find perfectly acceptable – which has major ramifications for the development of AI systems with the danger that existing biases – perpetuated by a lack of diversity – are baked into them and amplified.
Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence systems often rely on high-quality human labelling and annotation – people reviewing and categorising the output of language models to train them.
This would include using humans to monitor for offensive language and hate speech, to better understand toxic behaviour and human intentions – often referred to a ‘Human-in-the-loop’ or Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF).
The study, conducted collaboratively by Prolific, Potato, a web-based annotation tool, and the University of Michigan, found that age, race, and education are statistically significant factors in determining how something is labelled.
For instance, when asked to rate the offensiveness of online comments, Black participants tended to rate the same comments as being significantly more offensive compared to other racial groups.
Prior research on annotator background has mostly focused on specific aspects of identity, like gender, and on certain tasks, like toxic language detection.
This study aimed to undertake a much broader analysis, including offensiveness detection, question answering and politeness. The dataset contains 45,000 annotations from 1,484 annotators, drawn from a representative sample regarding sex, age, and race as the US population.
The ratings were compared with annotations from a Ruddit data set which judged 6000 comments from Reddit for offensiveness and politeness.
Offensiveness Detection
The study identified some discrepancies in the rating of offence comments across various demographics.
Across gender, men and women showed no statistically significant difference in their offensiveness ratings – the data did not provide a distinction for non-binary individuals, however.
There were significant differences in offensiveness ratings across various racial groups.
Black participants rated the same comments as more offensive that all other racial groups in the study. The scores of white participants strongly correlated with the original Ruddit data set, potentially indicating that this study mainly had white participants.
There were also differences between ages – those over 60 years of age tended to find comments more offensive than their middle-aged/younger counterparts.
Interestingly, the study found no significant differences with respect to the education level of different participants.
Politeness
The study went further than offensive comments and asked participants to rate the politeness of responses to see if there were demographic discrepancies.
Women tended to find messages as being less polite than men, and older participants were more likely to give higher politeness ratings.
Those with higher education levels tended to give lower ratings than those with less formal education.
Black participants rated messages as being more polite than their white peers, but Asian participants gave the lowest politeness overall across different racial groups.
Commenting on the research, Phelim Bradley, CEO and co-founder of Prolific said, “Artificial intelligence will touch all aspects of society and there is a real danger that existing biases will get baked into these systems.
“This research is very clear: who annotates your data matters. Anyone who is building and training AI systems must make sure that the people they use are nationally representative across age, gender, and race or bias will simply breed more bias.”
With tech dealing with a major gender gap and racial gap, not to mention a lack of data for wider gender diversity and neurodivergent workers, AI bias can be exacerbated by a lack of diversity
“Systems like ChatGPT are increasingly used by people for everyday tasks,” says assistant professor David Jurgens from the University of Michigan School of Information. “But on whose values are we instilling in the trained model? If we keep taking a representative sample without accounting for differences, we continue marginalising certain groups of people.”
AI models have recently come under fire for holding political biases as well. Most notably, a study was released tracking the political leanings of ChatGPT according to a Political Compass Test, finding that is aligned more with left-leaning and liberal ideologies.
However, another study on other large language models found that ChatGPT was one of many models that leaned more to the left according to the Political Compass Test, with other models, such as Meta’s LLaMA, leaning to the authoritarian right in its Political Compass results.
At least 1,500 organisations and individuals feel victim to ransomware globally in the first half of 2023, according to new stats from Rapid7.
Its 2023 Mid-Year Threat Review revealed the top threat actors from the first half of 2023, with familiar names taking top billing.
According to the research, three ransomware gangs were responsible for a majority of the attacks: Lockbit (35.3%), BlackCat or ALPHV (14.2%) and Cl0p (11.9%).
Vulnerabilities
Rapid7 research discovered new vulnerabilities, but found that the majority of attack vectors were traditional, and methods such as brute force attacks and credential stuffing were still prevalent.
Incident responders at Rapid7 saw a 69% increase in year over year caseload in the first half of 2023.
Nearly four out of ten (39%) incidents seen by Rapid7 in the first half of 2023 were the result of lax or missing enforcement of multi-factor authentication, especially for VPNs.
Vulnerability exploitation (27%) and phishing payloads (13%) were the next most common initial access vectors.
Ransomware Groups
While the top three ransomware gangs in the first half of 2023 have remained stable, new groups are continuing to emerge onto the landscape.
Akira, a ransomware group that reportedly launched just at the end of Q1 2023, has already amassed 60 known victims.
Further, the data collected by Rapid7 does not take into account downstream organisations affected by cyber-attacks, so does not reflect the true impact of these incidents.
Still, the top three gangs appear to be effective – Cl0p just released victim data online after a ransom was not paid.
“Given the publicity and money Cl0p potentially made from the attack, it’s safe to say that ransomware is a threat that here to stay,” Jordan Schroeder, managing CISO at Barrier Networks said. “Criminals are earning millions of dollars from victims, often without even having to take the measures of encrypting data.”
State-Sponsored Attacks and ATP
The report found 79 known state-sponsored attacks in the first half of 2023.
Of these, 24% targeted public-facing applications to target governments, critical infrastructure, and corporate networks, 23% used spear-phishing, and 22% abused valid accounts to gain access to victim environments.
Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors targeted a mix of zero-day and known vulnerabilities in the first half of 2023.
Threat actors targeted routers, print management software, and security appliances – typically staying along network edges to gain access. While also targeting business emails and virtualisation platforms, Voice Over IP (VOIP) solutions were noted as an “underappreciated attack vector,” with Rapid7 expecting to see them targeted more in the future.
Security Guidance
Rapid7 also included some security guidance as the threat of cyber-attacks continually looms.
This includes practical advice like various monitoring protocols for cloud storage access, firewall rules, data transfers, and data archiving.
Alerting or restricting large files uploads and monitoring large volumes of traffic is also recommended to surveil for malicious activity.
Implementing egress filtering and restricting admin privileges are also recommended.
More specific advice includes implementing and hardening organisational multi-factor authentication as this was a leading attack vector.
Keeping a tight hold of network perimeter devices, by putting them on a high-urgency patch cycle, can increase protections from attackers looking to exploit edge devices.
Finally, creating a vulnerability management protocol is vital to properly maintain a robust security system.
