Please provide the following data on cyber-attacks affecting your council from 2020 – 2024:
1) The total number of successful cyber-attacks in your county council and their dates.
2) A breakdown of these successful attacks by category, indicating the nature of the attack (Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, ransomware, phishing, malware, etc) if applicable.
3) The total number of attempted cyber-attacks in your county council. This refers to data on cyber-attacks which have targeted or impacted council infrastructure specifically and not residents.
In response to questions 1 to 3 – this information is exempt from disclosure under Section 31(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Prevention or Detection of Crime).
Devon County Council can confirm the requested information is held; however, this information constitutes valuable intelligence that could be leveraged by a motivated cyber threat actor to inform a successful attack against Council infrastructure. Releasing this information would therefore increase the chances of the Council becoming the victim of a cyber-attack.
The Council has considered the public interest in releasing this information and recognises there is a public interest in openness and transparency. However, there is a stronger public interest in the Council maintaining the security and integrity of its IT systems. Significant weight should be applied to this public interest consideration given the current elevated cyber threat landscape facing public sector organisations.
Therefore, the balance of public interest weighs in favour of withholding this information from disclosure.