Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 57 | Page 15

NEWS

Sopra Steria and OVHcloud expand their partnership to industrialise AI

Sopra Steria , a European Tech leader recognised for its consulting , digital services and software development , is joining forces with OVHcloud , a global player and the leading European cloud provider , to develop new open-source tools . Sopra Steria and OVHcloud will participate in the drive to industrialise Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) and help step up the pace of companies ’ transformation .

As demand for exploiting the value of data and AI reaches an all-time high across all business sectors and solutions are becoming available in all fields , scaling has become a priority . OVHcloud and Sopra Steria aim to industrialise the process of creating and implementing models using a Europe-based open-source solution and make these models widely available .
By combining OVHcloud ’ s AI offering with Sopra Steria ’ s AI-industrialisation capabilities , this partnership will enable companies to scale up AI rollout . It will provide a comprehensive solution , from orchestrating AI model training programmes to overseeing their secure , industrial-scale implementation via an MLOps ( Machine Learning Operations ) chain .
“ Our partnership with OVHcloud will benefit from pooling our innovation know-how , enabling public and private stakeholders based in France and Europe to power ahead with their AI implementation ,” said Cyril Malargé , CEO of Sopra Steria . “ Alongside OVHcloud , we ’ ll be making our contribution to high-performance AI industrialisation that people can trust , so that verticals can leverage the value of their data .”

NHS COVID-19 fraud increased by 167 % in 2021

Fraudulent activity on NHS patients increased overall in 2021 , with 4,022 fraud reports submitted . This is the highest number of fraud reports recorded , up by 60 % since 2017 . In total , this means that more than a quarter ( 27 %) of the fraud reports received in 2021 were related to COVID-19 .
Regular changes to guidance surrounding the response to the pandemic , including NHS Covid passes , booking Coronavirus tests , ordering lateral flow kits and vaccine appointments have all been subject to a series of evolving fraudulent activity .

BioCatch , a global leader in behavioural biometrics , has announced that COVID-19-related fraud reported to the NHS surged by 167 % from 2020 to 2021 , according to information obtained under the Freedom of Information ( FoI ) Act from the NHS Counter Fraud Authority ( NHSCFA Copyright 2022 ).

The data shows that the global pandemic served as a new line of attack for cybercriminals to target the public , with over 1,069 reports of COVID-19 related fraud being reported in 2021 . This is up from only 400 in 2020 with cybercriminals increasingly focused on capitalising from the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic response .
Although securing COVID-19 data , such as names , addresses , telephone numbers and dates of birth , may seem inconsequential it can be used to gain the victim ’ s trust and secure more information , typically financial credentials . This type of fraud is known as social engineering , whereby a criminal uses personal information to enable a subsequent crime and is one of the fastest-growing scams in the UK .
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