Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Councils pay up to remain safe on web
TAYSIDE councils have invested hundreds of thousands of pounds in improving online safety and cyber security research.
Between January and November 2020, Dundee City Council spent £88,488 on cyber security and cybercrime prevention.
This included £13,300 on firewalls, £10,861 on antivirus software, £21,333 on internet filtering, £25,494 on email filtering, and £17,500 on cyber support.
With the majority of council staff now working from home due to the pandemic, the council says it is important to do all it can to prevent cyber attacks.
A spokeswoman said: “The council maintains and renews multiple levels of cyber security to keep staff and data secure.
“Specifically, regarding virtual home working the council deploys technologies including virtual private networks, two factor authentication tokens and firewalls which secure access and maintain council data within the council network.
“We fully recognise how important our cyber security is and we are doing everything we can to safeguard the council.”
Meanwhile Angus Council upped its spending on cyber security from £112,000 in 2019 to £302,000 in 2020 thanks to £11.7 million agreed through the Tay Cities Deal for a facility called the cyberQuarter at Abertay University in Dundee.
This will be topped up with £6.5m from the university and aims to provide a space for industry and academic experts.
Dr Natalie Coull, head of the division of cyber security at Abertay University, said: “This is a hugely exciting time for Dundee’s cyber security sector, with the recent signing of the Tay Cities Region Deal signalling the green light for the £18m cyberQuarter project.
“The cyberQuarter will bring a new research and development centre to Abertay, providing a space where industry, academics and students work together on new solutions to real world cyber security problems. The project is designed to attract existing cyber security firms to Dundee, support the creation of new companies and boost the security and resilience of the Scottish business community.
“There is currently a significant global shortage of skilled cyber security professionals and we believe this is an area with huge potential for growth in Dundee, building on the city’s international reputation for excellence in tech.
“In addition to leading the cyberQuarter project, Abertay has recently been confirmed as the first Scottish university to be awarded the gold-level academic centre of excellence in cyber security education recognition by the National Cyber Security Centre (part of GCHQ), further underlining Dundee’s credentials as Scotland’s cyber capital.”
Angus Council’s £302,000 outlay includes spending on firewalls, antivirus and malware prevention, mail and cloud security.
A council spokesman said: “The greater expenditure reflects the increased demand and necessity for working remotely and the increased IT provision required to support our council services.
“Cyber security threats and the mitigations against them are constantly evolving. As such, Angus Council continuously reviews and updates technology, processes and training.”