Written question asked by Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Scotland of Asthal (Labour) on Monday, 18 July 2005.

Government Departments: Electronic Attack

Question: How many compromises of information systems there have been as a result of viruses, worms, or other forms of electronic attack in each government department, and its associated agencies, in each of the past two years; and whether they will provide details of each incident affecting more than 100 computers or terminals; and

Answer: Almost every day government departments are subjected to electronic attacks of varying intensity. Most are stopped at the perimeter or have no significant impact. Compromises are defined as a denial of service to users, unauthorised system modification, or egress of data from networks. Last year NISCC assisted various departments in dealing with 25 incidents of compromise. Of these incidents, 14 were malicious software infections, four were denial of service attacks, and seven were website defacements. However, departments also handled a range of incidents themselves, without direct assistance from NISCC. Details of the size of individual networks are not held by NISCC. Requests for this kind of information should be directed to individual departments.

Secondary information