Government spent approximately £7.6 million on mobile devices and computers for employees at the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has splashed out nearly £7 million on laptops and over half a million on mobile phones for their staff, sparking concerns about data breaches as our tech-reliant world grows increasingly risky.
Data supplied to City AM by think tank Parliament Street, via Freedom of Information (FOI), reveals CPS pulls out all the stops when it comes to equipping their 7,000 employees across England and Wales, purchasing 4,648 laptops and 2,671 mobile phones over the last three years. The average price for these gadgets stood at £1,483 for laptops and £233 for mobile phones – not exactly pocket change!
With such a hefty tech budget of £681.6 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year, it begs the question: is this spending showing signs of an effective cybersecurity strategy?
City tech guru Arkadiy Ukolov, co-founder and CEO of Ulla Technology, warns that more devices mean more complications and potential entry points for cyber invaders. With the legal sector processing case-specific data, watertight encryption and compliance are essential.
Tech extraordinaire Andy Ward, senior vice president of Absolute Security, shares the concern, emphasizing that a robust cybersecurity infrastructure is vital to prevent, respond, and recover from data breaches given the propensity of remote and hybrid work arrangements. As attacks become an unfortunate future reality rather than a distant threat, resilient cybersecurity protocols designed for prompt isolation, safeguarding, and restoration of compromised devices are imperative to protecting sensitive data.
These concerns gain urgency in the wake of high-profile data breaches affecting household names like M&S and Co-op. Despite the CPS's assertion that their staff receive mandatory cybersecurity and data protection training, it remains to be seen if their efforts will be enough to counter evolving cyber threats.
A push to return civil servants to the office has stirred controversy, with the 60 per cent in-person attendance target receiving backlash and triggering 4,000 industrial actions in January. Whether or not the CPS's sizeable tech bill is an efficient investment in safeguarding their critical data remains to be seen, as the ongoing debate about the effectiveness of cybersecurity measures persists.
As the UK government pledges to restore the justice system, it's imperative that organizations like CPS adapt to an ever-changing tech landscape and stay vigilant in their fight against data breaches.
In light of the CPS's substantial investment in technology for their staff, with concerns over data breaches escalating as our reliance on technology grows, the question arises if this spending indicates a robust cybersecurity strategy. Arkadiy Ukolov, a tech expert, warns that as the number of devices increases, so do the potential entry points for cyber invaders, especially in the legal sector handling sensitive data. Thus, the need for watertight encryption and a robust cybersecurity infrastructure becomes crucial.
