Information Technology Request

The request was refused by Mid Sussex District Council.

Dear Mid Sussex District Council,

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please forward responses to the attached questions below.

I would like the above information to be provided to me as an electronic document.
If this request is too wide or unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me as I understand that under the Act, you are required to advise and assist requesters. If any of this information is already in the public domain, please can you direct me to it, with page references and URLs if necessary.

If the release of any of this information is prohibited on the grounds of breach of confidence, I ask that you supply me with copies of the confidentiality agreement and remind you that information should not be treated as confidential if such an agreement has not been signed.
I understand that you are required to respond to my request within the 20 working days after you receive this letter. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Gloria Zimba.

1. Do you have a formal IT security strategy? (Please provide a link to the strategy)

A) Yes
B) No

2. Does this strategy specifically address the monitoring of network attached device configurations to identify any malicious or non-malicious change to the device configuration?

A) Yes
B) No
C) Don’t know

3. If yes to Question 2, how do you manage this identification process – is it:

A) Totally automated – all configuration changes are identified and flagged without manual intervention.
B) Semi-automated – it’s a mixture of manual processes and tools that help track and identify configuration changes.
C) Mainly manual – most elements of the identification of configuration changes are manual.

4. Have you ever encountered a situation where user services have been disrupted due to an accidental/non malicious change that had been made to a device configuration?

A) Yes
B) No
C) Don’t know

5. If a piece of malware was maliciously uploaded to a device on your network, how quickly do you think it would be identified and isolated?

A) Immediately
B) Within days
C) Within weeks
D) Not sure

6. How many devices do you have attached to your network that require monitoring?

A) Physical Servers: record number
B) PC’s & Notebooks: record number

7. Have you ever discovered devices attached to the network that you weren’t previously aware of?

A) Yes
B) No

If yes, how do you manage this identification process – is it:

A) Totally automated – all device configuration changes are identified and flagged without manual intervention.
B) Semi-automated – it’s a mixture of manual processes and tools that help track and identify unplanned device configuration changes.
C) Mainly manual – most elements of the identification of unexpected device configuration changes are manual.

8. How many physical devices (IP’s) do you have attached to your network that require monitoring for configuration vulnerabilities?

Record Number:

9. Have you suffered any external security attacks that have used malware on a network attached device to help breach your security measures?

A) Never
B) Not in the last 1-12 months
C) Not in the last 12-36 months

10. Have you ever experienced service disruption to users due to an accidental, non-malicious change being made to device configurations?

A) Never
B) Not in the last 1-12 months
C) Not in the last 12-36 months

11. When a scheduled audit takes place for the likes of PSN or Cyber Essentials, how likely are you to get significant numbers of audit fails relating to the status of the IT infrastructure?

A) Never
B) Occasionally
C) Frequently
D) Always

Freedom of Information, Mid Sussex District Council

Please note: The Council is closed for a week over the Xmas/New Year
period. Any requests received from now until 2^nd January, will take into
account this closure period.

 

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Any future correspondence you may have in relation to this matter should
be sent to the Information Manager, Mid Sussex District Council, Oaklands,
Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1SS or by return to this
email.

 

Information provided under the FOI Act 2000 or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 may be not be re-used, except for personal
study and non-commercial research or for news reporting and reviews,
without the permission of the Council. Please see the Council website
[1]http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/my-council/f... for
further information or contact The Digital and Customer Services Team on
01444 477422.

 

 

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disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the
information contained in this email is legally exempt from disclosure, we
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References

Visible links
1. http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/my-council/f...

Freedom of Information, Mid Sussex District Council

Dear Ms Zimba,

Thank you for your request. Please find our response below. Please note we have responded to Qs 1, 4 and 10, for all others our response is as follows:

We have exempted our responses under Section 31(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Section 31 applies where complying with the request would prejudice or would be likely to prejudice various law enforcement purposes (listed in the Act) including preventing crime, administering justice.

The exemption in Section 31(1) is designed to cover all aspects of the prevention and detection of crime. Section 31 is a qualified exemption which means we must undertake a public interest test which is set out below.

We acknowledge the public interest in openness and transparency and we recognise that releasing this information would provide the public with assurance that we are protecting our technologies. However, disclosure of the information requested could make the Council more vulnerable to cyber-crime as it outlines the Council's position with regard to certain technologies that could be used as a starting point to attack network infrastructure and/or information systems.

There is always a strong interest in disclosure from the Freedom of Information Act; in addition to the Council's commitment to transparency and openness. However, while we strive to be transparent, we must also consider the importance of our duty to protect the data that we hold. As a result of this duty, and the risk of potential prejudice to it posed by the reasons laid out above, we believe the interest in withholding this information outweighs that for disclosure.

1. Do you have a formal IT security strategy? (Please provide a link to the strategy)

B) No

2. Does this strategy specifically address the monitoring of network attached device configurations to identify any malicious or non-malicious change to the device configuration?

A) Yes

B) No

C) Don't know

3. If yes to Question 2, how do you manage this identification process - is it:

A) Totally automated - all configuration changes are identified and flagged without manual intervention.

B) Semi-automated - it's a mixture of manual processes and tools that help track and identify configuration changes.

C) Mainly manual - most elements of the identification of configuration changes are manual.

4. Have you ever encountered a situation where user services have been disrupted due to an accidental/non malicious change that had been made to a device configuration?

A) Yes

5. If a piece of malware was maliciously uploaded to a device on your network, how quickly do you think it would be identified and isolated?

A) Immediately

B) Within days

C) Within weeks

D) Not sure

6. How many devices do you have attached to your network that require monitoring?

A) Physical Servers: record number

B) PC's & Notebooks: record number

7. Have you ever discovered devices attached to the network that you weren't previously aware of?

A) Yes

B) No

If yes, how do you manage this identification process - is it:

A) Totally automated - all device configuration changes are identified and flagged without manual intervention.

B) Semi-automated - it's a mixture of manual processes and tools that help track and identify unplanned device configuration changes.

C) Mainly manual - most elements of the identification of unexpected device configuration changes are manual.

8. How many physical devices (IP's) do you have attached to your network that require monitoring for configuration vulnerabilities?

Record Number:

9. Have you suffered any external security attacks that have used malware on a network attached device to help breach your security measures?

A) Never

B) Not in the last 1-12 months

C) Not in the last 12-36 months

10. Have you ever experienced service disruption to users due to an accidental, non-malicious change being made to device configurations?

C) Not in the last 12-36 months

11. When a scheduled audit takes place for the likes of PSN or Cyber Essentials, how likely are you to get significant numbers of audit fails relating to the status of the IT infrastructure?

A) Never

B) Occasionally

C) Frequently

D) Always

If for whatever reason you are unhappy with our response you are entitled to pursue any dissatisfaction, in the first instance, by contacting Tom Clark, Solicitor to the Council, Mid Sussex District Council, Oaklands, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 1SS, email: [email address], quoting your Reference Number, and and if an exemption/exception has been applied, stating your reasons why you believe the public interest is best served by the release of the withheld information. You have a maximum of 40 working days in which to request a review.

If you still remain dissatisfied with the response you can complain to the Information Commissioner - details available at: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

Information provided under the FOI Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 may be not be re-used, except for personal study and non-commercial research or for news reporting and reviews, without the permission of the Council. Please see the Council website https://www.midsussex.gov.uk/about-us/op..., for further information or contact the FOI Team on 01444 477422.

yours sincerely,

FOI/EIR/DP Team

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The information contained in this email may be subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the information contained in this email is legally exempt from disclosure, we cannot guarantee that we will not provide the whole or part of this email to a third party making a request for information about the subject matter of this email. This email and any attachments may contain confidential information and is intended only to be seen and used by the named addressees. If you are not the named addressee, any use, disclosure, copying, alteration or forwarding of this email and its attachments is unauthorised. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately by email or by calling +44 (0) 1444 458 166 and remove this email and its attachments from your system. The views expressed within this email and any attachments are not necessarily the views or policies of Mid Sussex District Council. We have taken precautions to minimise the risk of transmitting software viruses, but we advise you to carry out your own virus checks before accessing this email and any attachments. Except where required by law, we shall not be responsible for any damage, loss or liability of any kind suffered in connection with this email and any attachments, or which may result from reliance on the contents of this email and any attachments.