Agenda item

(i)         Report of Corporate Director of Resources

(ii)       Presentation of Detective Inspector, Durham Constabulary - Cyber Prevent, Protect and Prepare Supervisor, Durham Constabulary – Strategic Manager, Partnerships, Durham County Council

The Committee considered a report of the Corporate Director of Resources which provided background information on activity of the Safe Durham Partnership’s Safer Cyber group (for copy see file of minutes).

The Detective Inspector, Durham Constabulary and the Strategic Manager, Durham County Council gave a presentation which provided an overviewof the activity of the Safe Durham Partnership’s Safer Cyber group including its remit, achievements to date and future work activity.

Councillor Boyes referred to the hack video that was produced by the students of New College Durham and commented that it was a good production. In addition, Cllr Boyes highlighted that the report did not make any reference to the dark web and raised his concerns regarding its accessibility for drugs. In response, the Detective Inspector confirmed that there was a dedicated team for dark web intelligence.

In relation to the cyber-crime report that had been produced in 2018, which included information on young people at schools whose expertise in IT hacking had been positively utilised to help improve fire walls for businesses, Councillor Boyes asked if there was any information available to confirm the number of young people who had been deterred. The Detective Inspector agreed to report back to Members with this data.

Councillor Quinn referred to the Cyber Safety Event that had taken place at New College Durham and asked whether they had received any feedback from the students. He commented that young people generally have the most knowledge when it comes to IT and wanted to ensure that they were not being taught what they already knew. He went onto ask about password protection and if pass phrases were being promoted.

The Detective Inspector confirmed that pass phrases were being used. In terms of feedback, he explained that some difficult subject areas had been delivered to the students and that the feedback had been positive.  

Superintendent Bickford asked what the biggest strategic risk was for the region.

The Detective Inspector believed that the cyber-attack at Durham Johnson School was only the tip of the iceberg and stated that more attacks would happen. He explained that businesses needed to protect themselves from cyber-attacks and advised that information on how to do so was available. He agreed to share this information via the Overview and Scrutiny Officer. 

Councillor Nicholls emphasised the importance of raising awareness of this issue and stated that it could happen to anyone. He expressed that some people had suffered with mental health and wellbeing because of cyber-crime and he was pleased that this area was being targeted.

In addition, Councillor Nicholls expressed his concerns with ransomware attacks and commented that the attack on Durham Johnston School highlighted that it was not only national infrastructures like the NHS who were affected by this. He asked what help was needed to tackle the issue. The Detective Inspector advised that ransomware attacks were a national problem and that this was part of a national strategy, he noted that funding had been given to address this.

Councillor Nicholls commented on high street banks within the context that branches were closing and therefore the approach to traditional banking had changed and asked how they were working with the banks and whether banks were being forced on-line. The Detective Inspector advised that the police had set up various protocols with regards to on-line banking with an example where large amounts of money had been withdrawn. He explained that if someone was scammed, the police would provide wrap around safeguarding and added that banks were good at re-imbursing those people affected if evidence of fraud was provided.

Mr D Balls asked whether any cyber-attacks from Russia were anticipated. The Detective Inspector confirmed that he was unable to answer that question but that prevention work and raising awareness were key to deal with any potential threat.

Councillor Quinn asked about punishments for cyber-crime and whether the punishment matched the crime committed. The Detective Inspector confirmed that they did and advised that there was currently a Police and Crime Online Safety Bill going through parliament which included information on this subject.

Councillor Sutton-Lloyd stated that he was interested in what people were putting into the community at grass route level and how they could improve partnership working to promote this. The Detective Inspector agreed. He stated that there was a good footprint in education but that the footprint in youth clubs was not as good and advised that they were working closely with neighbourhood policing teams regarding this area. He encouraged members to contact his team if there were any areas in their ward where this could be helped. Councillor Sutton-Lloyd suggested that this could encourage cohesion between the generations. The Strategic Manager commented that Age UK Beat the Scammers had linked in with their team.

Councillor Mavin raised his concerns that cyber-crime was increasing.

Councillor Atkinson asked whether the team, if requested, would be able to give a presentation at a local community group. The Detective Inspector agreed that they would encourage this and explained that they had been doing some work with Durham University and welcomed ongoing community work.

Councillor Heaviside commented that a recent presentation given in the Chester-le-Street area regarding scams had been very helpful.

Councillor Charlton advised that not all parents were technically minded and noted that some were unable to secure the equipment their teenage children used. She asked whether any help could be given to these parents.  The Detective Inspector advised that the issue was education and explained that there was a vast amount of information available on the internet regarding this area.

The Overview and Scrutiny Officer agreed to share with members the link to the hack video from New College Durham, the information document containing links to cyber security advice and contact details for the Detective Inspector’s team. 

Resolved:

That the report and presentation be noted.