In 2020, hundreds of councils across the UK suffered from data breaches, according to new Freedom of Information research produced by Redscan. Redscan utilized official FOI responses from 60% of the country’s 398 local authorities to compile the new report, Disjointed and Under-Resourced: Cybersecurity across UK Councils. The managed security services provider found that there were over 700 breaches among the council reported to the data protection regulator in 2020. The average number reported by county councils was more than double that of the total figure.
Redscan also found that most breaches tended to be targeted towards the largest councils, who in turn reported the highest number of incidents to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Threat to local government remains high despite witnessing a decrease from 2019’s figures, warned Redscan. Ten councils confirmed that they had been the victims of ransomware or had experienced breaches that disrupted operations in 2020. One branch reported 29 breaches to the ICO in 2020 alone. Redscan’s findings also serve as a warning to allies as their local governments remain under attack as well.
