Over half of UK Local Authorities suffer data breaches in last two years

The Six Degrees research highlights that over half of UK councils are struggling to implement measures that will enable them to optimise, enforce and measure data security. When asked about their approach to security audits and their use of accredited security consultants, 45% of LAs revealed that they had no record of whether a security audit had taken place in the last two years. Of those which had completed audits, there was a marked disparity between the frequency required over a two year period. When asked whether they had used an accredited CESG consultant as part of their security compliance strategy in the previous two years, over 60% of respondents had no record of using one at all, with 39% using the CESG Listed Advisor Scheme on fewer than five occasions in the same period.

“This insight reveals a huge gap in approach within LAs across the UK, with a worrying majority lagging in their understanding of the actual position they are in regarding data security, let alone bringing protection up to standard,” commented Campbell Williams, group strategy and marketing director at Six Degrees.  “We see less than half of them classify their data to an officially recognised standard and have regular audits in place to protect their data; this small percentage appears to be in a reasonable position as they aren’t suffering breaches.  The rest are struggling – breaches are commonplace – and what is equally as worrying is the serious lack of insight they have into their own situation.  These Authorities need to act very quickly or more sensitive public data will be lost to potentially criminal sources.”

*Data sample: Freedom of Information Requests sent to 433 UK Local Authorities, research completed by March 2015.  Replies received from 302.