The Government has issued new ‘Data Retention’ advice following an increase in ransomware attacks on the public sector.

In the most recent public sector attack 14 UK schools were targeted by cybercriminals and sensitive data was stolen, some of which was released onto the Dark Web. In the face of this attack and the increasing threat to the public sector, the government has released new advice on how organisations can better manage data.

Focused on schools, but very relevant to local government organisations, the guidance gives advice on how to develop a data retention policy, how to carry out data audits and importantly, how to depersonalise and dispose of personal data.

With the threat from cybercriminals increasing in regularity and sophistication, local government departments need to learn how to more effectively manage data, understand what data they hold and how to protect or safely dispose of it.

The very nature of the data held by local government means that it is an incredibly tempting target for cybercriminals. More worryingly perhaps is the apparent lack of knowledge of what data resides in organisations and how to effectively manage it.

The advice the government has issued makes absolute sense and organisations in local government need to look at and implement it. One of the main issues with the data taken from the UK schools appears that it was old, probably ignored and not seen as a priority. This is a major issue throughout local government too and so alongside a better understanding of what data is held, organisations have to ensure that where possible data is held out of reach of cybercriminals even if they do gain access to systems.

Storing data in backup data centres is the traditional method of many looking to ensure business continuity. However, because the backup is continuously connected to other systems if a cybercriminal gains access they can also get to the backup data. Therefore, storing data in silos, away from connected backups keeps them out of reach, even if a cybercriminal gains access.

Equally, ensuring that it is as hard as possible for cybercriminals to gain access in the first place is obviously important. Employees are often considered the weakest link in any organisation’s security. This has increased since many are now working at home or in hybrid roles, outside of the corporate network.

Whilst some solutions continuously warn employees of potential risk, this has had a negative impact, leading to security fatigue. This means staff make less rational decisions and start to ignore all warnings. However, other solutions only contact employees at the point of ‘danger’ ensuring that they are not overwhelmed and can act accordingly.

The threat to local government from cybercrime is only going to get worse over the coming months. Combining the government’s latest advice with some of the solutions described above, can help organisations keep cybercriminals out and data safe.

AJ Thompson is CCO of Northdoor plc.