Agenda item

The Cabinet considered a report of the Corporate Director of Resources which provided an overview of the Councils cyber security arrangements and a proposal to adopt a new corporate cyber security strategy for Durham County Council (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

Councillor S McDonnell informed the Cabinet that the Council could not operate without ICT and its substructure. The Council faced thousands of cyber attacks daily, with hacktivists trying to access data, disrupt business and hold organisations to ransom. Once an organisation had been subject to an attack it took many years for them to recover from such attacks. The corporate cyber security strategy set out how risks were identified and managed, along with the necessary measures the Council needed to take in relation to cyber security.

Councillor R Bell thanked the team for their hard work and explained the very real risks of cyber attacks and what the Council had to do to combat them. Councillor Bell strongly recommended that all Councillors and staff comply with the strategy which represented a very important update in terms of cyber security.

Resolved:

That the recommendations contained in the report be approved.