FOI request (FOIR-293069002)

Council data security

Requested Fri 08 January 2021
Responded Tue 19 January 2021

Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to ask for information on Hastings Borough Council's data security spending and training on behalf of XXX.

Please could you share the following information in the format of an CSV, XLS, XLXF file - or any other format that may be opened via Excel or Google Spreadsheets (preferably not a pdf). If you wish to add more context or information, please do so in a separate document or in the body of an email.

N.B we intend on anonymising the results of this FOI when publishing it on the XXX site. We do not wish to highlight which councils are performing better/worse than others (which would be irresponsible), we simply want to understand the risks posed to councils and how they approach training/qualifications.

1. Council name.

2. Region. Please select from the following: South East, London, North West, East of England, West Midlands, South West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, North East, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland.

3. The total number of full-time and part-time employees employed by your organisation (as of 1st January 2021 or latest figures available).

4. The total number of full-time and part-time employees employed by your organisation with professional data security / cybersecurity qualifications (as of 1st January 2021 or latest figures available) - Common qualifications may include any cyber or IT security related qualifications such as CISSP, SSCP, CSA, CEH, CISA, CISM, Security+.

5. The total number of full-time and part-time employees employed by your organisation who have completed cyber security training between 1st January 2020 and 31st December 2020 (or latest annual figures available).

6. How much money (in pounds sterling) has been spent on cyber security training between 1st January 2020 and 31st December 2020 (or latest annual figures available)? This may include GDPR-related training.

7. How many data breaches did your organisation report to the ICO between 1st January 2019 and 1st January 2020?

8. How many data breaches did your organisation report to the ICO between 1st January 2020 and 1st January 2021?

9. Was your organisation victim to a successful ransomware attack between 1st January 2020 and 31st December 2020? As for the definition of a 'successful ransomware attack', please include any incident in which an attacker requesting a ransom/payment managed to successfully encrypt, steal or leak any data/systems/assets that your organisation processes/holds.

10. If you answered yes to the previous question, did your organisation agree to pay a ransom?

11. Did your organisation suffer a cyber security incident between 1st January 2020 and 31st December 2020 which resulted in disruption to the council's services? This refers to any cyber incident that forced usual services to go offline or become unavailable.

Response

Hastings Borough Council is in the South East of England and currently has 71 part time and 253 full time staff.

Notice of Refusal

Disclosure of information relating to ICT security constitutes a security risk as it would leave the Council's computer assets more vulnerable to a malicious hacking attack.

This means that disclosure would:

• Make the Council more vulnerable to crime (Section 31)

• Risk harming the systems on which the day-to-day business of the Council relies (Section 43) Section 31 (Law Enforcement)

Section 31(1)(a) states that information is exempt if its disclosure is likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.

ICO guidance states that this can be used to protect information on a public authority's systems which would make it more vulnerable to crime.

This exemption can be used by a public authority that has no law enforcement function:

• To protect the work of one that does.

• To withhold information that would make anyone, including the public authority itself, more vulnerable to crime.

The crime in question would be a malicious attack on the Council's computer systems. Since the disclosure of the withheld information would make the Council's systems more vulnerable to such crime, the exemption is engaged.

The exemption is subject to the public interest test. There is an overwhelming public interest in keeping the Council's computer systems secure which would be served by non-disclosure. This outweighs the public interest in accountability and transparency that would be served by disclosure.

Section 43 (Commercial Interests) Section 43(2) states that information is exempt if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).

Disclosure of information relating to ICT security puts the council at risk of a malicious hacking attack. This would compromise the Council's ability to provide its services and carry out 'business-as-usual' should our systems be compromised. Were our systems to be compromise, the cost of a system recovery would be detrimental to the Council's commercial interests.

The exemption is subject to the public interest test. There is an overwhelming public interest in keeping the Council's computer systems secure which would be served by non-disclosure. This outweighs the public interest in accountability and transparency that would be served by disclosure.