FOI request (FOIR-675827841)

BBC FOI Cyber Attacks

Requested Mon 06 January 2025
Responded Thu 09 January 2025

I am writing to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

1. How many times did your council experience an attempted cyber-attack in each of the following calendar years: 2022, 2023, 2024? If you do not have complete data for 2024, please provide the most up to date information you have available.

2. Of these attacks, how many resulted in the criminal being able to obtain data or disable systems, per calendar year: 2022, 2023, 2024?

3. Please advise what is the most common type of attack you have experienced, again per calendar year: 2022, 2023, 2024? (for example, malware, ransomware, phishing)

4. For each of the calendar years: 2022, 2023, 2024, what has been the financial cost to recover from these cyber-attacks? If you cannot provide an exact cost, please provide an estimate. Please include costs such as rectification, loss of data, money paid to hackers, legal costs, and so on.

5. Do you have an insurance policy to protect against the potential consequences of cyber-attacks?

6. When did you last update your security system to cope with the volume and sophistication of cyber-attacks?

Please also advise and assist, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request if needed.

Response

Notice of Refusal

Disclosure of information relating to ICT systems, infrastructure and 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 systems, infrastructure and 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.