Battle against the hackers: Councils across Northern Ireland step up online security after recent attempted cyber attacks

This follows the Sunday Independent last week revealing that another council is currently restricting access to its website to UK and Ireland users only. Derry City and Strabane District Council took the decision after a number of recent security alerts.

Other councils in the North have also been looking at ways to step up their online security.

A new cyber security forum has been set up to allow the 11 councils to share warnings and advice on how they are dealing with the issue.

A spokesperson for Newry, Mourne and Down District Council said they are dealing with daily attempted attacks on their computer systems.

“These have so far been unsuccessful,” the spokesperson said.

“The council is aware of the heightened cyber threat and is working with the National Cyber Security Centre, peer groups, industry experts, insurance providers, service providers and staff to continually increase our resilience.”

Lisburn and Castlereagh Borough Council has recently increased the provision of security awareness training for staff in response to the “heightened security threat”.

“Our online security is kept constantly under review. We also seek to improve the security of systems where we can and as part of our wider improvement plan of our systems,” said a spokesperson.

A spokesperson for Belfast City Council said they had experienced attempted cyber-attacks but added that “no significant damage” had been caused to date.

When asked what steps had been taken to protect its computer systems, a spokesperson for the council said: “For our own security and protection we do not comment on the steps and technical controls we have in place. One of the more recent areas of good practice we have put in place involves cyber threat and intelligence sharing with other local councils to help protect against potential threats.”

A report prepared for a recent meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council said its digital team had been working on a series of network and security infrastructure updates in the past year.

“Following the onset of the Covid pandemic in March 2020, the role and importance of a secure and reliable network with the capacity to deliver digital services throughout all of the council’s facilities and remotely to facilitate home working has been crucial.

“The council currently has over 200 users accessing the network on a remote basis, therefore it is vital that the cyber infrastructure is robust to ensure seamless service delivery.”

The report said the council’s digital services manager receives regular advice from the National Cyber Security Centre and other sources on the dangers faced online.

“At present, it is clear that there is an increased threat of cyber attacks across the UK and Ireland.

“The council established a Cyber Incidence Response Team in 2020 to monitor, plan and deal with the increased threat identified.

“While the threat level has remained high over the last number of years, council’s digital team have dealt with a number of specific cyber threats in the early months of 2022.

“As a result of this, council has sought specialist third party security support to review our current status and identify actions to further enhance security on council’s digital systems.”

As well as restricting website access to UK and Ireland users only, the review team has also recommended an upgrade of the council’s firewall system and the removal of remote access to the system.

Other councils contacted by the Sunday Independent said they were treating the threat of cyber attacks with the “highest importance”.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​