Computer hackers and online criminals are making sustained and repeated attempts to breach Perth and Kinross Council security, it has been revealed.
In just one month more than a million malicious attempts were made to hack into the authority’s computer network.
A new report says it received 7,190 emails containing viruses and 774 viruses were found on the network during a check in November last year.
The council has also been subjected to “sophisticated and targeted” spam.
John Walker, deputy chief executive of Perth and Kinross Council, said the local authority’s cyber security systems remain “safe and robust,” and that all the attacks, which included 1,066,909 “malicious connection attempts”, were successfully blocked, with no reported compromise of computer systems.
Mr Walker said the local authority is subject to “ongoing and evolving” cyber attacks which, to date, have been “successfully rebuffed”.
In his report, he states: “The council network must continuously evolve with the threats in order to remain secure.
“The council’s security posture is robust in many areas but has areas for improvement particularly protective monitoring and user awareness.
“In general, the council is not considered to be a high-profile target. Attacks are generally unsophisticated and indiscriminate, such as spam, phishing emails, email viruses and probing scams.
“However, the council has been subjected to increasingly sophisticated and targeted spam referred to as ‘spear phishing,’ where emails are specifically designed to target the local authority.
“Whilst these attacks can be successful in penetrating our network, the risks are generally mitigated by user awareness employees recognise them as suspicious and delete or report them.”
He reveals that four Scottish councils have recently been subjected to a ‘ransomware’ attack one which encrypts data and will release it only on payment of a ransom and that attempts have been made to target Perth and Kinross Council in this way.
In addition, Mr Walker states that local authorities are also considered to be targets for foreign national intelligence services.
“Information relating to these threats is limited for reasons of national security,” he adds in his report.