Whitehall departments are at growing risk of being hacked because anti-cyber attack defences are ‘lower’ than thought, an alarming report has found.
The inquiry by the National Audit Office (NAO) was branded a ‘wake-up call’ for officials to step-up defences against hostile actors.It identified a shortage of cyber skills within departments and risks posed by outdated IT systems. This means the UK is struggling to ‘catch up with the acute cyber threat’ and ‘get on top of this most pernicious threat’, according to the watchdog. More than two hundred antiquated IT systems were also in operation, with officials unable to say how vulnerable these were to attack.
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Source: MSN News
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