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The States is standing by its IT security after it successfully identified a cyber-attack this week, which led to one deputy writing on social media saying a sudden cancellation of political passwords and an “inept” process for resetting them was an “utter shambles”.
Deputy Mark Helyar posted on Facebook critiquing civil service IT management, saying “without warning, all States members had their passwords cancelled so this evening cannot access anything at all - no teams, email".
“The hilarious thing is they are so ‘security conscious’ you have to call someone God knows where, with no identification required, to get a new password, because someone else, no doubt after several meetings, decided to make it impossible for us to set our own passwords."
But the States has now revealed it was subject to an attempted cyber attack against itIT network, with email accounts targeted.
“This attack was detected, and quick action was taken to successfully prevent any of the risks it posed,” Ge Drossaert, Chief Digital & Information Officer, said. “No data or systems were compromised, and systems are operating as usual today”.
The States also batted down Deputy Helyar’s security concerns, saying it has processes in place to identify people calling the help desk.
“Some users had to re-identify themselves before being able to log back into systems. Due to the security protocols, we have in place we will not be commenting any further,” Mr Drossaert added.
Pictured: Deputy Helyar posted his outrage to Facebook.
Deputy Helyar has also said that he could publish the helpline number and anyone could be given a password “with no ID or security”, but in his case he was given a new password which was incorrect that he had to write on the back of a menu in London.
“If we created security systems this bad in the finance sector we would be either banned by the regulator or robbed... or both.
“That ladies and gentlemen is where your hard-earned tax is going.”
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