Computing

1 week ago | computing.co.uk | Tom Allen

Intruder accessed historic personal data Oxford City Council (OCC) detected and shut down an “unauthorised presence” in its network, although the attackers still managed to access some data. According to the council’s statement the intruder was able to access “historic data on legacy systems” over the weekend of 7th and 8th June.

1 week ago | computing.co.uk | Louise Burke

It’s time our national data assets were treated as critical national infrastructure, just like datacentres Our world increasingly relies on access to data across geographic, organisational, economic and cultural borders. The potential benefits are immense. According to a European Commission study, cited in a recent UK government consultation, data-specialised businesses are a growing part of the economy, increasing their share of GDP from 6.5% to 7.4% between 2021 and 2023 alone.

1 week ago | computing.co.uk | Tom Allen

Plus: Chinese chip bans may have backfired Welcome to Computing's weekly roundup of tech news in Asia. This time we look at the results of Australia’s age assurance trials, plus signs of regret over US chip bans to China. Restricting access to online sites based on age is controversial for several reasons, not least of which are questions over the effectiveness of age assurance technologies.

1 week ago | computing.co.uk | Tom Allen

A study has found significant differences in those who use chatbots versus those who are ‘Brain-only’ People who regularly use chatbots like ChatGPT have lower brain activity than those who rely on their own thoughts. The conclusion was reached by researchers at MIT, who were studying the neural and behavioural consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. The team divided participants into three groups: LLM, Search Engine and Brain-only.

1 week ago | computing.co.uk | John Leonard

Sales positions will be hit in July, according to insiders Microsoft is planning another round of redundancies, with a significant number of sales jobs to go, media reports say. According to Bloomberg, which cited unnamed sources, the job cuts will be announced early July after the end of the company’s current financial year. Along with other big tech companies, Microsoft has undertaken several rounds of redundancies in recent years, in part to restructure as it focuses on AI.