The Council has once again supported Cyber Scotland Week (26 Feb – 3 March). This event brings people and organisations across Scotland together to raise cyber security awareness and build cyber resilience.
To mark the occasion, the Council’s Cyber Security team ran a series of webinars over the week titled “Timeline of a Cyber Attack”, these were open to all within the Council.
An accompanying series of informative articles on a different cyber security topic was also shared each day of the Cyber Scotland Week and published on Connects. These included:
- Artificial intelligence – read the article on Connects here
- Warning about spear phishing – read the article on Connects here
- Your digital footprint – read the article on Connects here
The threat of cyber-attack
Cyber-attack can have devastating operational, financial, and reputational impacts on an organisation.
Phishing emails remain the foremost method of initiating a cyber-attack, with the availability of Artificial Intelligence services and chatbot’s like ChatGPT, the sophistication of these emails has rapidly increased.
What steps should I take?
There are a few simple actions you can take to help protect yourself and Council systems against fraud:
- Read the Cyber Security Team’s advice on how to identify and treat suspicious emails.
- Fully restart your computer daily to ensure it has all the latest software updates and anti-virus protection.
- Use a passphrase which meets the Council’s passphrase policy and best practice to protect your North Ayrshire user accounts.
- Ensure you are registered with the Council’s Multi-Factor Authentication scheme to further protect your M365 account.
- If you notice any unusual, or suspicious activity on your computer report this to the IT Service Desk Early intervention is crucial in reducing the impact of any potential incident.
Gavin Alston, Team Manager (ICT and Cyber Security) shares: “The Cyber Security team would like to thank everyone who took the time to attend a webinar or read our articles during Cyber Scotland Week.
“Cyber-attack represents a real threat to the Council and we all play a vital role in the Council’s defence. Please continue to exercise vigilance to cyber threats, particularly phishing emails. We encourage everyone to report any suspicious email or activity to the Cyber Security team.”
Don’t forget to complete the Council’s Cyber Security training!
All colleagues should now have completed the iLearn Cyber Security online training module 2024 – if you haven’t done so, please schedule the time to complete the course on iLearn.
There is a forgotten password option if you haven’t logged in for a while. If you have any problems logging in please contact: support@learningpool.com
To book onto any of the other learning courses, speak to your line manager in the first instance.
Full details of the Council’s ICT and Cyber Security guidance can be found on Connects.
“The Cyber Security team would like to thank everyone who took the time to attend a webinar or read our articles during Cyber Scotland Week. Cyber-attack represents a real threat to the Council and we all play a vital role in the Council’s defence. Please continue to exercise vigilance to cyber threats, particularly phishing emails. We encourage everyone to report any suspicious email or activity to the Cyber Security team.”Gavin Alston, Team Manager ICT and Cyber Security
The threat is current and ongoing.
Remember, we should all be extremely cautious of clicking, opening or downloading any links or attachments in email, consider if the email is expected and verify the sender is who they claim to be.
If in doubt, do not interact with the message.
Instead, report it immediately to our Cyber Security team. You can do this via email at: CyberSecurityTeam@north-ayrshire.gov.uk or using the IT Customer Portal.
