More than 1,200 attempted cyber attacks were made against Lincolnshire County Council last year. This comes as local authorities have seen a surge in attacks by cybercriminals.
The information was revealed by a Freedom of Information request by PR agency Reboot online. The figures show the council was subject to 752,797 attempted attacks in 2024 - a 50 per cent increase on the previous year, when there were 824 a day. However, none of the attempts were successful, the council has said.
The biggest threat to the council appears to be spam and phishing attacks. The authority recorded 64,994 spam incidents and 382,756 phishing attacks in 2024.
The authority also saw 2,205 impersonation attempts - in which criminals pretend to be someone else or other entities to steal sensitive data or trick the council into transferring money or giving up sensitive information - last year.
The council says it has been subject to zero successful cyberattacks since 2020, which it puts down to its effective cybersecurity measures. Back in 2016 the council experienced a ransomware attack that temporarily shut down its computer systems.
A spokesperson for the council previously explained: "It happened very quickly. Once we identified it we shut the network down, but some damage is always done before you get to that point."
The council assured that no personal data was compromised and implemented measures to enhance their cybersecurity defences following this.
