Nearly half of local government workers do not know what ransomware is, making councils more vulnerable to cyber attacks new research has warned.
A study, conducted by Clearswift, also found 42% of public sector workers have not heard of, or know what, two-factor authentication (2FA).
The research also found more than three-quarters of public sector workers (77%) have been given no instruction in how to recognise ransomware.
Alyn Hockey, VP of product management at Clearswift, said: 'The public sector has seen significant developments since WannaCry but these findings suggest that there is still progress to be made.
'As we’ve seen the volume and variety of cyber-attacks increase, especially during the coronavirus lockdown period, it’s an on-going fight for the public sector to stay protected and constant and incremental improvements are the key to success. The right technology is important of course, but of equal value is ensuring that employees are fully aware of cyber security best practice and that the right processes are in place to mitigate the risk.'
The research also revealed that 11% of public sector workers were still using Windows 7, with 6% still using Windows 8.
