Cyber attacks are an increasing threat for local authorities as we continue towards a data-driven, digital future. As more and more of our public sector data is stored virtually, shared remotely and accessible through secure online platforms, so also increases the risk of these vast reserves of data becoming compromised.
As our society becomes more digitally savvy, so do the threats. Councils must now contend with everything from simplistic brute force attacks through to sophisticated cyber schemes, and all the permutations in between.
A Freedom of Information request from back in 2019 revealed more than 263 million cyber attacks were carried out on local councils’ systems in the first half of that year. That equated to around 800 cyber attacks every hour.
