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As part of the ICO’s AI auditing framework blog series, it looks at how AI can exacerbate known security risks and make them more difficult to manage.

Personal data must always be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate levels of security against unauthorised processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage.  There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to security.

The appropriate security measures organisations should adopt depend on the level & type of risks that arise from specific processing activities.  Using AI to process any personal data will have important implications for an organisation’s security risk profile, which need to be assessed and managed carefully.  In this post we will focus on the way AI can adversely affect security by making known risks worse & more challenging to control.

Information security is a key component of our AI Auditing Framework, but is also central to our work as the information rights regulator. The ICO is planning to expand its general security guidance to take into account the additional requirements set out in the new GDPR.  While this guidance will not be AI-specific, it will cover a range of topics that are relevant for organisations using AI, including software supply chain security and increasing use of open-source software. 

At the recent GeoPlace annual conference one of the ‘big moments’ for everyone in the room was at the end of the day – with a show-stopping visualisation that was created in partnership with Ito World.

Every day, local authorities across England & Wales capture an enormous amount of change on the ground. Their work essentially maps the nation’s development & physical infrastructure over time.  This year, at the GeoPlace conference, we were delighted to showcase the way that this data – so carefully collected & managed by local authorities – is now being used in real world situations.  

Not just to bring services & citizens together, but as a way of visualising the world around us; demonstrating the landscape’s capacity for evolution – and highlighting the importance of street & address data in recording actual changes to the built-up environment.

We worked with Ito World to create a showstopping short visualisation that, at its heart, depends entirely on the work of Street and Address Custodians.  Using address & street data created by Custodians, curated by GeoPlace and placed into context with OS MasterMap, Ito World were able to illustrate this by;

• visualising the development of the Olympic Park from 2005 to 2019
• taking a closer look at development at a sub-regional level
• visualising the astounding amount of change at a national level.

GeoPlace | Address and Street Data Change from ItoWorld on Vimeo.

The CQC is calling for an independent review of every person who is being held in segregation in mental health wards for children & young people and wards for people with a learning disability or autism.

These reviews should examine the quality of care, the safeguards to protect the person and the plans for discharge.  The CQC makes the recommendation in an interim report in which it shares early findings from its review, which was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care, also highlights the need for a better system of care for people with a learning disability or autism who are, or are at risk of, being hospitalised & segregated.

From an information request sent to providers CQC was told of 62 people who were in segregation.  This included 42 adults and 20 children & young people – some as young as 11 years old.  Sixteen people had been in segregation for a year or more - one person had spent almost a decade in segregation.  The longest period spent in segregation by a child or young person was 2.4 years.

Future spaceports can apply for a share of £2m to support plans for small satellite launch from aircraft & sub-orbital flight from the UK, Science Minister Chris Skidmore has announced.

Sites such as Newquay in Cornwall, Campbeltown and Glasgow Prestwick in Scotland, and Snowdonia in Wales are already developing their sub-orbital flight, satellite launch and spaceplane ambitions. The £2m strategic development fund, opened by the UK Space Agency, will help sites like these accelerate their plans further.

The potential spaceports can now submit applications to enable research into the market opportunities offered by new & emerging horizontal spaceflight technologies. The UK Space Agency is driving the growth of the space sector as part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy and continues to be a leading member of European Space Agency, which is independent of the EU.  The UK is also playing a major role in space exploration & science, with a British built rover going to Mars in 2020.

The demanding environment of space means that investments in the sector generate new knowledge & innovations that extend far beyond the space industry. For example, satellites provide services that enable a wide range of economic activities, supporting industries worth £300bn to the UK.