The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is aiming to build a team to work with councils on improving their cyber security.
It has identified the importance of improvements in central logging, the use of the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) Active Cyber Defence tools, the use of two-factor authentication and the security of back-ups.
The ministry has begun to look for private sector support over a year with a market notice, valued at up to £1.3 million, in following up its research on cyber security in local government in England and Wales.
It says it wants to help councils make changes based on the survey findings through engagement and the creation of common guidance, tools such as scripts and technical documentation.
The team will work with IT staff in local authorities on helping them to understand cyber risks and what actions they need to take.
This follows alpha work with an initial cohort of 34 councils to validate their responses to the survey and agree on a personalised cyber treatment plan.
Over the past year MHCLG’s Local Digital Collaboration Unit has identified five areas for alpha projects to improve cyber security in local government, taken its cyber health framework to alpha stage and identified measures to reduce the threat from ransomware.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
