Scots are to be armed with a new tool to equip them with the digital know-how and best practice on how to tackle cyber crime. To coincide with Safer Internet Day 2018, the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) has revised its hugely successful cyber safety factsheets which aim to provide individuals and businesses with enhanced guidance to thwart e-crime. Continue reading Safe Surfing: free cyber safety factsheets available
Another major cyber-attack could be on the way as soon as Monday, IT security experts have warned. Friday’s global hit infected more than 125,000 computer systems across the world, spreading to at least one hundred countries. The effects of that ransomware attack are still being tackled and industry experts now fear a further attack could be imminent. Continue reading Cyber-crime: experts braced for another attack
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon chaired a Scottish Government resilience (SGORR) meeting last night following confirmation that a number of Scottish health boards are affected by cyber attacks.
Continue reading Resilience committee meets following cyber attacks
‘Don’t lose out to cybercrime and fraud’ – DFM John Swinney
As Christmas approaches, Deputy First Minister John Swinney is calling on Scots to keep personal and financial information secure when shopping online. Continue reading Stay safe online this Christmas
Hackers target City Council
The city of Edinburgh Council’s website has been hacked. Cyber-criminals have stolen over 13,000 email addresses after penetrating the city council’s security firewall.
Individuals who have had their details stolen were contacted by the city’s Director of Corporate Governance, Alastair Maclean, this morning, asking them to change any passwords used to access the council’s website.
In an email to clients who have registered with the council, entitled ‘The City of Edinburgh Council – Important information about your email address’, Mr Maclean said:
Dear Website User
We are emailing to let you know that the Council’s website was subject to a cyber attack which got through our website service provider’s security. The attacker copied some email addresses, including yours, but we would like to reassure you that no other personal data was taken.
If you had a password for the website, as a precaution, we have reset your account and you will have to change your password the next time you log in. This change does not apply to your “MyGovScot” account.
It is possible that your email address might experience an increase in spam or phishing emails. Information and guidance on spam and phishing is available from Citizens Advice
We are taking this incident very seriously. We have made sure that our service providers have reinforced the security of our website and we will continue to monitor security regularly.
If you do have any concerns, please contact the Council on 0131 200 2000
A council spokesman added: “This was a malicious cyber attack on the Council’s website which is hosted in a UK data centre. It was dealt with swiftly and at no point were any Council services affected.
“We are contacting everyone who has been affected to inform them of the incident and offer them advice and support. We have reassured individuals that the only details that have been accessed are their e-mail addresses.
“The Information Commissioner’s Office has been informed and preventative measures have been taken by the web service providers.
“We want to reassure the public the ongoing security of our website is critically important, and we continue to work with our service providers to ensure that the risks associated with attacks are dealt with.”
