Regulatory Compliance

e-Privacy DirectiveTracking consumer behaviour to support targeted advertising has dramatically increased over recent years. This has been driven by the move of advertising spend away from traditional media towards online channels, and advertisers and marketers seeking to collect and exploit consumers online shopping and browsing habits to improve the success ... read more..

September 2011 A collection of recent NCC research, thought leadership, presentations, webinars and news to help those interested in professional development get up to speed with the key IT management issues in IT governance and compliance. IT governance is a board-led management framework for making IT an integrated, value-adding ... read more..

7 July 2011, The British Library, London Information governance and the management of data is no longer just the concern of the IT department but has become a key corporate and commercial issue. Never more has it been true to consider information as the lifeblood of the organisation. We ... read more..

financial data management It used to be the case that companies would have a different software package for each key function within their business. This inevitably led to a spread of information, a lot of rekeying, and due to the time it takes to gather information and compile reports, the ... read more..

IT Department Accreditation - case study Michael Dean finds out how and why the Department of Justice, Northern Ireland became accredited to the NCC Standard for IT Departments. The criminal justice system in Northern Ireland never sleeps, incidents and crimes can occur at any time of the day and often ... read more..

SAP advances GRC strategy When Ovum last reported on SAP's governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) strategy two years ago at the SAP Insider event in Las Vegas, the company still had its work cut out trying to execute on an aggressive roadmap. The roadmap had to pull together its Virsa-sourced ... read more..

One of the few remaining ways to realising cost efficiencies Software Asset Management (SAM) is the most efficient way for organisations to gain control of their software estate from both a licence compliance and financial perspective. The most effective SAM licence management and optimization strategy will enable organisations to achieve ... read more..

A real possibility or an impossible business requirement..? Business enterprises fuel the digital economy by generating the wealth to provide public services, to create more and better jobs, higher standards of living and a more sustainable economy. Financed through taxation, the public sectors role is to deliver goods and services ... read more..

An increasing proportion of crimes are perpetrated using the IT or telecommunications infrastructure, and this is putting law enforcement under great pressure. While the security vendors and the ISP community are trying to tackle crime within the Internet, they lack enforcement powers. Police forces are limited by geographical scope, skills ... read more..

cloud computingAs cloud computing adoption accelerates, the associated risks are becoming increasingly apparent, the most prominent of which is security. Rob Winter, chief engineer and Tracey Stretton, legal consultant both at Kroll Ontrack look at the challenges from their different perspectives. The benefits of cloud computing are undeniable. ... read more..

shared services case studyIntroductionThe challenges of working with multiple databases within any organisation are well documented. In the sensitive and data rich environment of the NHS, handling, managing and accessing multiple databases is a regular activity that drives the business forward. However, as databases organically grow and the demands placed ... read more..

John Lovelock, Chief Executive of FAST IiS (the Federation Against Software Theft and Investors in Software), discusses possible threats to the digital economy. The digital economy has received much publicity over the last year, and especially the last few weeks. The Governments Digital Britain Report has led to the Digital ... read more..

We hear a great deal about the efficiencies of mobile working, as well as the environmental benefits. Sadly, we also hear a great deal about the vulnerabilities of mobile technologies, especially in terms of data protection. Too often and once is already too often as far as the people ... read more..

With the general election looming and a potential government change in 2010, the future for ICT and schools programmes will be up for debate. The growth in investment since 1997 will come under increasing pressures as the new government wrestles with a massive deficit and a need to reassess priorities ... read more..

(Article taken from Legal Guidelines 11 Shoosmiths)There is no universally accepted definition of Cloud Computing. This is perhaps what underlies so many of the misconceptions and gaps in understanding, and what causes difficulties when it comes to communicating the benefits and risks to the various tiers of a business.Regardless ... read more..

AccreditUKMichael Dean looks at how the Accredit UK ICT Supplier Standard underpins NCCs IT Department Accreditation.Michael Dean looks at how the Accredit UK ICT Supplier Standard underpins NCCs IT Department Accreditation.Elsewhere in this edition of ITadviser we celebrate the first organisations to be accredited to the National Computing Centres new ... read more..

Sean Sherman of Tripwire explains how the fast maturing compliance landscape is changing the way organisations are addressing global regulatory requirements. Increasing sophistication in both the regulatory bodies and compliance experts is driving regulations to evolve beyond tick box compliance towards a risk-based model that reflects organisations specific operational requirements. ... read more..

Mobile phones have now become an essential part of everyday life with more that 40m owned by British residents. Their constantly increasing functionality and the fact that hardly anyone goes anywhere without their mobile means that the information available on both SIM /Handset can determine more about a person's movements, ... read more..

The purpose of this white paper is to give an overview of Microsoft licensing models for the server operating system and server applications under virtual environments. It can help you understand how to use Microsoft server products with virtualization technologies, such as Microsoft Hyper-VT technology, Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2, ... read more..

With the 1st November deadline for the adoption of MiFID rapidly approaching, investment firms' IT organisations are working hard to ensure that systems are ready to handle the complex requirements of MiFID.Addressing compliance requirements ... read more..

A new version of the industry standard on IT governance has expanded its ambitions and now provides firm guidance to management as well. Erol Mustafa and Neil Robertson assess the improvements to COBIT 4.0.COBIT Version 4.0 Reframing the Picture ... read more..

Ernst Young's 2008 Global Information Security Survey - one of the longest running and most recognized annual surveys within the global information security arena.Moving beyond compliance ... read more..

In our present tough economic climate, it's the big companies that are getting all the press - mostly for negative reasons, but did you know that SMEs constitute 99.9 per cent of businesses in the UK, employing 59 per cent of the private sector workforce and making up 52 per ... read more..

The financial crisis has affected business results and altered business practices around the globe. As a result, companies are carefully analysing expenses as budgets become more constrained. Like other expense centres in a corporation, the litigation budget is under continual scrutiny. However, the risk of litigation and the corresponding cost ... read more..

A new avenue for civil discovery is appearing on the horizon: the discoverability of sound recordings. From March 2009 UK financial institutions will have to record and store telephone conversations and electronic communications relating to client orders, under new regulations introduced by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Under these new rules ... read more..

Windows Vista has been one of the greatest software challenges in history and has resulted in a completely re-written operating environment that has over 50 million lines of code. The scale and complexity involved in its development has resulted in a number of high-profile delays, with the first production release ... read more..

Many organisations focus their attention on Data Quality wholly in the customer names and address area, but Data Quality issues apply to all business information and an end-to-end approach is required. This is challenging as the path taken by data on its long and sometimes complex route before its transformation ... read more..

The Data Protection Act 1998 is the law that governs the processing of personal information held on living, identifiable individuals. You must comply with the Act if your business processes personal information. The Act requires that you are open about your use of information and follow certain principles for ... read more..

You can submit a range of tax forms and returns securely over the Internet including: PAYE (Pay As You Earn) self assessment ... read more..

Since 1995 disability discrimination has been added to the list of social intolerances that also includes age, race, gender, religion, belief, and sexual orientation. Today, treating a disabled person less favourably than someone who is able bodied can be unlawful. However, with disability discrimination, it is not simply a case ... read more..