FOI Is Arming Cyberattackers – Here Is How to Fix It
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests on cybersecurity governance are exposing a stark inconsistency in public‑sector disclosures. Large NHS trusts and other big bodies tend to refuse or invoke national‑security exemptions, while smaller organisations often provide granular details. This uneven approach stems from the absence of a clear framework, leaving officials to balance transparency against the risk of handing attackers a roadmap. The article proposes a calibrated‑transparency model that categorises what should be disclosed, aggregated, or protected.
Treasury Chief: ‘AI Can Relieve Staff of Lower-Value Work’
HM Treasury senior official Beth Russell told the Treasury Committee that the department is actively deploying artificial intelligence to handle routine administrative tasks and support policy work. The Treasury has introduced an HR chatbot, is piloting Microsoft Copilot with 25%...
Ireland Launches ‘Large-Scale Inquiry’ Into Musk’s AI Bot Grok
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has opened a large‑scale GDPR inquiry into Elon Musk’s X over its AI tool Grok, which has been linked to a surge of sexualized deepfakes, including images of minors. Regulators estimate Grok produced three million non‑consensual...
Singapore: Expanding Community Support for Digital-Age Parents
Minister of State Rahayu Mahzam opened Phase 2 of the First Device Campaign, a new effort by TOUCH Cyber Wellness to provide community‑based support for parents navigating children’s digital lives. The initiative moves beyond online guides, offering hands‑on workshops and peer‑learning...
Identity Is the New Perimeter for State Government Cybersecurity
State and local governments are shifting from perimeter‑based defenses to an identity‑first security model, as highlighted in the State CIO Top 10 Priorities for 2026. The article argues that who a user—or nonhuman account—is matters more than where they connect,...
Telefónica Tech Promotes Digital Identity Management in the Insurance Sector in Spain
Telefónica Tech is launching a unified digital identity platform for Spain’s insurance sector, enabling secure, self‑sovereign access to digital services. The initiative builds on a 2023 European trial and integrates cloud, IoT, big‑data and blockchain capabilities. Partnering with the insurance...
Md. FD Whole Blood Program Saves 14 Lives Since Inception
Carroll County, Maryland launched a Whole Blood Program in May, enabling paramedics to carry and transfuse 500‑ml Type O‑positive units on scene. The initiative has saved 14 lives and been used 17 times, with 100% survival for internal hemorrhage cases...
EU Tech Enforcer Tells Officials Not to Be Scared by US Threats
EU Digital Services Act (DSA) enforcer Prabhat Agarwal urged regulators and civil‑society groups not to be intimidated by recent U.S. actions that exposed their identities and barred some from entering the United States. He highlighted the Commission’s commitment to protect...
FDNY Receives $9M to Modernize Firehouses and Build EMS Training Center
Federal officials secured a $9 million grant to modernize firehouses on Staten Island and Brooklyn. $5 million will fund a new EMS classroom facility, cutting travel time for trainees, while $2 million upgrades Squad Company 8’s station to accommodate larger crews and equipment. An...
Cubbit Powers Swiss Cantonal-Level Sovereign Cloud for Ailanto
IT integrator Ailanto announced a sovereign cloud service for Swiss organizations built on Cubbit’s DS3 Composer software‑defined object storage. The offering launches with 1 PB of capacity hosted in Swiss‑based data centres and will expand later in 2026. It provides S3‑compatible,...
TomTom Partners to Support Data-Driven Mobility and Infrastructure Planning
TomTom has entered a strategic partnership with engineering firm AECOM to embed TomTom’s high‑resolution mobility data into AECOM’s global planning workflows. The collaboration gives AECOM access to precise traffic, safety and congestion insights, enabling more accurate, data‑driven decisions for road...
Keir Starmer Vows to ‘Tackle’ Social Media Infinite Scrolling
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a UK consultation on children’s online safety, targeting addictive social‑media features such as infinite scroll and autoplay. The three‑month review could lead to swift regulatory action, including a possible ban for under‑16s, though a full...
City of Atlanta Modernizes Constituent Services with Oracle Permitting, Licensing, and Embedded AI
The City of Atlanta announced an expansion of its partnership with Oracle and Deloitte to deploy Oracle Permitting and Licensing (OPAL) across planning, zoning, code enforcement and inspections. The new ATLcloud Permitting solution builds on the city’s existing Oracle Fusion...
CISA Gives Feds 3 Days to Patch Actively Exploited BeyondTrust Flaw
U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has ordered all federal agencies to patch the actively exploited BeyondTrust Remote Support vulnerability (CVE‑2026‑1731) within three days. The flaw, an OS command‑injection that enables unauthenticated remote code execution, affects Remote Support 25.3.1...
Home Office Previews Plan to Appoint £100m Partner to Manage Datacentres
The Home Office has issued an early‑engagement notice for a £102 million hosting capability supplier contract to manage its on‑premises datacentre estate. The agreement is slated to commence in December 2026 with an initial three‑year term, covering 24/7 operational support, maintenance, engineering...
New Government Commercial Agency to Launch on 1 April
The UK government will merge the Crown Commercial Service with central commercial teams in the Cabinet Office to form the Government Commercial Agency (GCA) on 1 April. The new agency will operate as a self‑sustaining trading fund, led by CCS chief...
DVSA Seeks £95K Digital Chief to Steer Test Booking System Out of the Ditch
The UK Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is recruiting a chief digital and information officer with a £95,000 salary to overhaul its 18‑year‑old practical test booking platform, which has been plagued by bots and resale schemes. A National Audit...
UK Councils Prioritise Connectivity but Lack Impact Data
Four‑in‑five UK councils now list digital connectivity as a top local priority, with gigabit broadband and rural inclusion driving the agenda. Yet nine‑in‑ten admit they cannot quantify the economic or social returns of improved connectivity, and 70% would like formal...
Large-Scale Pilots of AI and GenAI for Medical Imaging
The European Commission will launch a call for proposals on 21 April 2026 to fund two large‑scale pilots that deploy cloud‑based AI and generative AI for medical imaging, allocating €9 million under the Digital Europe Programme. The pilots target real‑world clinical settings,...
Everdrone to Deploy Emergency Response Drones in Stockholm
Everdrone and the Ambulance Services Administration in Region Stockholm have signed an agreement to roll out an autonomous emergency‑response drone system. The drones will transport defibrillators to suspected cardiac arrests and deliver early situational awareness at accident scenes. Placement of...
India Can Lead Globally in AI: Ahead of Delhi Summit, CEA Nageswaran Explains How
Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran told the AI Impact Summit 2026 that India’s ascent to a global AI leadership position will not happen by accident. He emphasized that sustained political will, robust state capacity, and a national commitment are...
Natural England Uses Aerial Survey Technology for Seabird Flight Data
Natural England’s Reducing Seabird Collisions Using Evidence (ReSCUE) project is deploying LiDAR‑enabled aerial surveys to map seabird flight heights across UK offshore waters. The 12‑month campaign, running September 2025 to August 2026, will conduct 20 surveys in the North Sea, Irish Sea...
Aided by AI, California Beach Town Broadens Hunt for Bike Lane Blockers
Santa Monica will become the first U.S. city to equip its parking enforcement fleet with Hayden AI’s scanning technology, deploying the system on seven vehicles to spot illegal bike‑lane blockages. The AI captures a ten‑second video and license plate only...
GSA Aims to Publish Results on USAi Program, Official Says
The General Services Administration announced it will publish documentation on the USAi program, detailing how federal agencies are testing and deploying artificial‑intelligence tools. Chief AI Officer Zach Whitman said the agency will release a six‑month performance report and form a...
NOAA Nears Rollout of Its Modernized National Spatial Reference System
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey is nearing completion of the modernized National Spatial Reference System, which integrates GPS and GNSS to replace the legacy NAD83 and NAVD88 datums. The new system will deliver centimeter‑level accuracy, streamline surveying, and cut costs for...
Who’s in Charge of AI at Every Federal Agency
Federal agencies are rapidly appointing chief artificial intelligence officers (CAIOs) to comply with President Biden’s 2023 AI executive order and a 2025 Trump administration memo that mandates AI leadership. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has also launched a...
Navy Installations Shift to Continuous Cybersecurity Model
The U.S. Navy is moving to a continuous cybersecurity model that relies on artificial intelligence to detect and mitigate threats in real time. Navy Installations Command (CNIC) is replacing its legacy risk‑management framework with the Cybersecurity Risk Management Construct, emphasizing...
How Chip Cards Have Been Deployed to Battle Fraud in State EBT Programs
Alabama’s Department of Human Resources is issuing EMV chip‑enabled electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards to curb rising fraud, partnering with Conduent, the chip supplier. The chips create a unique encrypted code for each purchase, making data skimming ineffective. Alabama follows...
Project Seeks to Bring Data Analytics to ‘Analogue’ Football Policing
The Police Digital Service (PDS) has signed a six‑month, £600,000 contract with data‑analytics specialist Bays Consulting to pilot data‑driven planning for football match policing. The initiative seeks to replace traditional analogue risk‑assessment matrices with crowd‑modelling and predictive analytics, aiming for...
The Cyber Express Weekly Roundup: Escalating Breaches, Regulatory Crackdowns, and Global Cybercrime Developments
The Cyber Express weekly roundup highlights a series of high‑profile cyber incidents across continents. The European Commission’s mobile device management system was breached but contained within nine hours, while Senegal’s national identity services were crippled by ransomware. In Australia, FIIG...
“Not Ready for Prime Time.” A Federal Tool to Check Voter Citizenship Keeps Making Mistakes.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) was rapidly expanded under President Trump to let states bulk‑verify voter citizenship. Early deployments in Missouri and Texas flagged dozens of lawful citizens as potential noncitizens, prompting local clerks...
60,000 Records Exposed in Cyberattack on Uzbekistan Government
Uzbekistan’s Digital Technologies Ministry confirmed that a cyberattack on three government information systems in late January exposed roughly 60,000 individual data records, not the personal data of 15 million citizens as earlier rumors suggested. The breach, which lasted from January 27‑30, was...
When Every Second Counts: Government Tech Helps First Responders’ Lifesaving Missions
Government labs are accelerating first‑responder capabilities through two NIST‑sponsored challenges. The prize competition pushes drones to generate high‑resolution 3D indoor maps, while the First Responder Smart Tracking (FRST) challenge develops rugged wearables that pinpoint personnel inside structures where GPS fails....
Transparency in Coverage Proposed Rule Aims to Make Price Files More Usable
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a December proposed rule to overhaul the Transparency in Coverage (TiC) machine‑readable files, with implementation slated for 2027. The rule would filter out payment rates that never apply to a...
Navy Secretary Outlines AI, Unmanned Tech to Advance Golden Fleet Initiative
U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan detailed the Golden Fleet initiative, which pairs AI, autonomous systems and distributed shipbuilding to accelerate fleet growth and modernize the maritime industrial base. Central to the plan is ShipOS, an AI‑driven connective platform that integrates...
New NPS Challenge Aims to Rewrite How the Military Builds Missiles
The Department of Defense has long struggled with the high cost and long timelines of traditional missile programs, where a single system can exceed millions of dollars. To counter this, the Naval Postgraduate School introduced the Tactical Missile Innovation Challenge,...
Integrating FIDO Standards Into Secure OT Connectivity — A Practical Path to Resilience
The FIDO Alliance is mapping its phishing‑resistant passkeys, Device Onboard (FDO) and emerging Bare Metal Onboarding (BMO) to the UK NCSC’s Secure Connectivity Principles for Operational Technology. By replacing passwords with cryptographic credentials, FIDO eliminates the most common breach vector...
College of Policing Accounts ‘Disclaimed’ by Auditor for Second Year in Wake of IT Failure
The National Audit Office refused to endorse the College of Policing’s 2024‑25 accounts for a second consecutive year, citing lingering fallout from a botched migration to the Home Office’s Oracle‑based Metis system. The IT switch triggered inaccurate financial reporting and...
Why Do Sovereign AI Projects Fail? IBM’s Chief Scientist Ruchir Puri on the Pitfalls Governments Face
At the AI Everything 2026 conference in Cairo, IBM Research chief scientist Ruchir Puri warned that sovereign AI initiatives are tripping over three core organisational flaws: chaotic data, unrealistic expectations, and cultural resistance. He explained that without unified data governance,...
SmartBear Partners with Carahsoft
SmartBear announced an expanded partnership with Carahsoft, designating the latter as its Master Government Aggregator for federal, state and local agencies. The agreement routes SmartBear’s API development, automated testing and application monitoring solutions—including ReadyAPI, TestComplete, Swagger, Reflect, BugSnag and Zephyr—through...
ITS UK Annual Conference Agenda Revealed for Manchester Event
Intelligent Transport Systems UK (ITS UK) has released the agenda for its Annual Conference, scheduled for 3‑4 March at Manchester Central Convention Centre as part of the Interchange event. The Department for Transport’s chief scientific advisor, Patricia Thornley, will deliver the keynote...
Mamdani Appoints Lisa Gelobter as NYC CTO
Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed Lisa Gelobter as New York City’s Chief Technology Officer and Commissioner of the Office of Technology and Innovation. Gelobter, a veteran technologist who helped create the GIF and launch Hulu, will oversee digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, and...
California City Approves $683K Drone Program for Police Emergencies
Santa Ana City Council approved a Drone as a First Responder program, allocating up to $682,900 to purchase five Skydio drones over three years. The drones will be deployed only for clearly defined emergencies such as active crimes, searches, and...
From NIMBY to YIMBY: A Playbook for Data Center Community Acceptance
The data‑center industry is moving from a defensive NIMBY stance to a proactive YIMBY strategy, driven by tools like the Digital Infrastructure Framework that give local governments clear evaluation language and negotiation leverage. Communities such as Loudoun County now see...
Utah Advances Policy-First Digital Identity Framework Centered On Individual Control
Utah is drafting comprehensive State‑Endorsed Digital Identity (SEDI) legislation that puts individuals in control of their cryptographic keys while the government acts only as an endorser. The policy relies on open standards, supports both long‑lived and short‑term credentials, and preserves...
Federal Agencies Embrace Networking as a Service to Modernize Their Networks
Federal agencies such as CISA and the VA are rapidly adopting Network as a Service (NaaS) to replace legacy network infrastructure. By partnering with FedRAMP‑authorized providers like Cisco Meraki and Juniper Mist, they gain cloud‑native agility, scalable security, and AI‑driven...
CMS’ Roadmap for Switching to FHIR-Based Digital Quality Measures
CMS announced a roadmap to transition its quality measurement programs from eCQMs to FHIR‑based digital quality measures (dQMs). The agency released draft dQM packages covering 17 inpatient, 4 outpatient, and 49 clinician measures and opened a public comment period through...
Around the Commercial Drone Industry: Air Taxi Demos, Police Drone Programs, and Weather Forecasting
SkyDrive Inc. will showcase its SD-05 eVTOL passenger drone in Tokyo this February, a public demonstration that precedes a planned 2028 market launch and supports Japan’s 2030 commercial vertiport roadmap. In Ohio, six police agencies have adopted Skydio drones, fielding...
Bridging Continents: Lessons Learned From Singapore and Estonia’s Tech Journeys
Singapore and Estonia, despite their size, have cultivated vibrant tech and startup ecosystems anchored by strong government backing and well‑connected investor networks. Recent initiatives such as the Estonian Business Hub in Singapore enable cross‑border trade missions, exemplified by startup ÄIO’s...