It was revealed this week by Kirklees Council that a piece of their VPN Hardware had been sold to the highest bidder after the kit had been made redundant.

Unluckily though the company managing their network failed to wipe the settings from the unit. Luckily though the unit was purchased by a network company who revealed the breach of security, a breach which allowed any user to gain access in to the Kirklees Council network.

Unluckily though the BBC got wind of the story and lots of embarrassment was felt by all. Luckily for us (and you) this error highlights the problem associated with decommissioning hardware. Strict protocols must be adhered to and sometimes taking a hammer to a device (as well as setting factory defaults) is the best policy.

For those Councils currently looking to achieve GovConnect status, then the Kirklees story should really make you think!

If you'd like to know more about Network Security Issues, then please call the sales department at Net-Ctrl. Telephone 01473 281 211, or email sales@net-ctrl.com.