Council computer systems under constant attack Report says cyber hackers in network breach
Over 14,000 attempted cyber attacks were made on Perth and Kinross Council’s computer systems EVERY DAY in just one month this year.
The council has revealed it comes under near constant attack by hackers, some of whom have succeeded in breaching the network.
In a report to be mulled over by elected members this week, it is reported that in February this year alone 398,416 “malicious connection attempts” were made.
A further 683,367 suspicious emails were blocked and 18 viruses or malware were detected on workers’ computers, again in February alone.
“These were all successfully blocked,” the report says, “and there was no reported compromise of council systems”, although the report concedes later that “a small number” of these kinds of attacks over the months and years “have breached the network”.
The paper, which says people “will always be the weakest link in any secure system”, then goes on to reveal council bosses have bought tech to simulate phishing attacks to test workers’ susceptibility.
“Attacks against the council are generally indiscriminate, i.e. spam, phishing emails, email viruses, and probing scans, but the sophistication of these attacks is increasing rapidly,” the paper says.
“The NHS, local authorities and other public sector bodies are now regularly reported as being affected by cyber-attacks, most notably continuing ransomware attacks.
“The council has invested in new technology in an attempt to block more of these attacks from entering the network. No technological measure is 100 per cent effective and ultimately we must depend on our staff being vigilant to those malicious messages which make it through our defences. The council has also purchased a product to carry out simulated phishing attacks against our employees. These simulations allow employees to be exposed to superficially malicious emails and provide an element of awareness education to those who fall for the ruse without any danger to the network.”
The report concludes: “The council network is subject to ongoing and evolving cyber attacks. Although a small number of these attacks have breached the network perimeter the criminals are targeting Perth and Kinross Council thousands of times a day response plans in place have allowed the incidents to be resolved quickly with minimal disruption and no compromise of confidentiality.
“The council network needs to continuously evolve with the threats in order to remain secure.”
The paper is to be considered by the council’s strategic policy and resources committee on Wednesday. Councillors will be able to put specific questions to officials concerning the local authority’s preparedness for cyber attacks.