Local authorities remain vulnerable to cybercriminals, particularly nation-state backed groups who see the public sector as a strategic target. In 2024, there was a 91% increase in attacks on local and central government. Our Global Cyber Risk Outlook Report 2025 reveals the nation-states that are attacking the sector and gives their assessed risk level.
That’s why a cyber resiliency assessment, which is designed to uncover critical weaknesses in a council’s technology and operations, is invaluable.
An assessment typically uncovers technical vulnerabilities such as outdated software, unpatched systems, and poorly configured networks, which can serve as entry points for attackers. Ageing IT systems and rapid digital expansion without adequate security measures also pose risks.
Additionally, human factors are significant vulnerabilities, with nearly 80% of data breaches in local government resulting from employee mistakes or unsafe practices, and insider risks increasing with data use in service delivery.
By identifying these vulnerabilities, the assessment helps council leadership prioritise addressing the most critical weaknesses before they can be exploited by attackers.
Strengthening risk management for resilience
Assessments often reveal gaps in risk governance, such as cyber threats being isolated within IT and not visible to senior management. Councils respond by establishing clearer governance structures and regular reporting to leadership. By defining risk tolerance and ranking threats, decision-makers can make informed choices on investments and controls. Improved risk management boosts resilience by proactively addressing vulnerabilities and ensuring resources are allocated effectively.
The assessment transforms cyber security into a core part of enterprise risk management, securing leadership attention and a systematic approach to handling cyber threats.
Compliance benefits through cyber security frameworks
Local authorities benefit from aligning with cyber security frameworks like the UK’s Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) and international standards such as NIST CSF/ISO 27001. This alignment identifies compliance areas and gaps, providing a structured checklist for security controls. The UK’s adoption of the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) CAF ensures consistent resilience assessments across the public sector. Tailored for local authorities, the CAF helps standardise policies and reduce vulnerabilities. Closing compliance gaps enhances security, builds trust, and may lower insurance premiums or meet funding requirements. The assessment report’s gap analysis offers a concrete plan to achieve compliance and improve resilience.
Enhancing incident response and recovery capabilities
A cyber resiliency assessment evaluates the council’s incident preparedness, often uncovering weaknesses in response and recovery plans. Many local governments lack a current incident response plan or have staff unsure of its execution. This gap can turn minor incidents into major crises. The assessment drives the creation of a strong incident management framework, helping mitigate cyber-attack impacts.
Key outcomes include developing or updating an incident response plan, defining roles (IT, communications, legal), and creating playbooks for scenarios like ransomware and data breaches. Regular testing, such as tabletop exercises, ensures the team is ready. A trained team can react swiftly, reducing downtime and limiting damage.
In summary, the assessment improves preparedness by enhancing incident detection, containment, and recovery, significantly boosting the council’s cyber resilience and enabling quick recovery with minimal disruption.
Improving training and awareness for staff
People are central to cyber resilience, and assessments often reveal gaps in local government staff awareness. Reviews frequently find that employees lack adequate cyber security training or rely on informal programmes. Since human error is a major cause of incidents, investing in training is crucial. Assessments may show that only half of council staff receive regular cyber training, highlighting a clear improvement area. To address this, councils develop comprehensive security awareness programmes for all employees, contractors, and elected members, aiming to embed cyber security into everyday business culture, beyond just IT.
Regular training sessions cover phishing, password practices, and data handling, alongside simulated phishing exercises and clear communication of security policies. This approach shifts attitudes, making staff see cyber security as their responsibility, not just “someone else’s job,” enhancing vigilance and early reporting of potential threats.
Continuous Improvement and Resilience Roadmap
A cyber resiliency assessment provides a strategic roadmap for continuous improvement, shifting the council’s approach from a one-off project to a long-term plan, typically spanning one to three years, to enhance security maturity incrementally. The roadmap addresses identified gaps by prioritising remediation: immediate fixes like closing critical vulnerabilities or implementing multi-factor authentication for remote access, mid-term initiatives such as updating policies and improving network segmentation, and longer-term investments in modernising legacy systems or migrating to secure cloud services. Securing executive buy-in ensures cyber security improvements are funded and tracked like other business objectives, with progress milestones aligned with frameworks like the CAF.
Documenting this strategy clarifies the council’s direction and establishes a regular review cycle, revisiting the roadmap annually or after major incidents to update priorities. A governance group may oversee progress, using metrics to adapt to evolving threats. This fosters a culture of continual improvement, embedding resilience into the organisation and ensuring it can anticipate, withstand, and recover from cyber incidents as a standard practice.
UK Cyber Security Assessment Framework for Local Government
Since 2016, Quorum Cyber has helped protect numerous public sector bodies across the UK. Together with Microsoft, we’ve mapped CAF objectives to Microsoft and Quorum Cyber solutions, helping you overcome your challenges. This information will help you identify existing Microsoft products in your security stack that can address gaps and introduce Quorum Cyber’s professional and managed services for expert implementation . Read the full guide.
Why not start assessing your organisation’s resilience against the Cyber Assessment Framework today? Contact us to get started.
