This Week in Tech - November 19, 2021

It’s that time again! It’s been another fascinating week in the world of technology, so pop the kettle on and relax with some of the best stories from the last 7 days.

UK's Digital Supply Chain

Tick tock, it's cyber security o’clock.

The government has announced proposed new measures for IT service providers in an effort to boost the cyber security resilience of the nation and protect the digital supply chain, including a required adherence to the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Assessment Framework and new procurement rules for the public sector.

 It remains to be seen how much these government measures will be able to help stem the tide of cyber threats.

 Australian Tech Scrutiny 

 In an announcement likely to have your average conspiracy theorist jumping for joy, Australian PM and coal’s biggest fanboy Scott Morrison has announced a list of technologies that need to come under greater scrutiny to “balance the economic opportunities of critical technologies with their national security risks.”

 The list included 5G, vaccines, drones and artificial intelligence, all bits of science and tech that are cited as being tools of the deep state in the somewhat shadier corners of the internet. While the implementation of any technology requires a methodical and thorough evaluation, it does appear Morrison is pandering to a certain Qanon-like demographic here.  

 Women in tech 

A slight change of pace here with some genuinely good news that I can write about positively. The Office for National Statistics has released the UK’s employment figures for Q3, where women accounted for 71% of 58,000 new tech sector jobs and tech was the third highest sector in terms of job creation for women.

 This is a great start to stopping the long-standing male dominated tech sector trend everyone. Long may it continue.