I am requesting the following information for each year from 2019 to 2024:
1. The total number of cyberattacks detected or reported to you for each year (and month if possible) between and including 2019 and 2024.
2. A breakdown of the types of cyberattacks experienced, including but not limited to:
o Phishing attacks
o Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks
o Malware infections
o Ransomware attacks
o Insider threats
o Other types of cyber threats, if applicable.
In response to questions 1 and 2, Devon County Council (DCC) confirms that we hold the information you have requested. However, we consider this is exempt from disclosure under Section 31(1)(a), the prevention or detection of crime, of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
This is because the Council considers that this information constitutes valuable intelligence, that could be leveraged by a motivated cyber threat actor to inform a successful attack against our infrastructure. We feel that releasing this information would therefore increase the chances of DCC becoming the victim of a cyber-attack.
We have considered the public interest in releasing this information. While we recognise that there is an overriding public interest in openness and transparency, we feel that there is a stronger public interest in the Council maintaining the security and integrity of its IT systems. We feel that significant weight should be applied to this public interest consideration given the current elevated cyber threat landscape facing public sector organisations. For these reasons we feel that the balance of public interest weighs in favour of withholding this information from disclosure.