§ Brian WhiteTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps she has taken to review the security of the Department's IT system; and how many digital attacks there were on the Department's system in(a) October and (b) 2002. [80767]
§ Yvette CooperThe Department is well advanced in its plans to implement an information security management system based on the BS7799 standard. This work has involved a major review and update of our IT security policy. We have undertaken risk reviews on all of our key information systems over the past 18 months, using the Cabinet Office approved CRAMM risk review methodology. A health check was undertaken on our data network in 2001 and a further health check will be undertaken in early 2003.
The number of cases of digital attacks detected was:
(a) 1 in October and(b) 6 in 2002These attacks were all virus attacks. They caused no damage to our key IT systems and were all detected by our virus protection defences. There were no hacking attacks.