100,000 hacker hits per day - Whitehall under siege

NEWS The source, a former government intelligence expert, said that around 30 per cent of these are classified as "serious". These 30,000 attempted hacks involve an intelligent attempt to access government databases. A Cabinet Office spokesman was unable to confirm or deny the allegations, but issued this statement: "Government is a significant target for hackers. We do try and ensure that we have rigorous safety standards but no site is 100 per cent hack proof." The news comes two days after a hacking team called PoizonBOx defaced a raft of central and local government services. The e-envoy's intergovernmental communication site, govtalk.gov.uk, was not restored until this morning following the attacks. Stefan Michal, managing director of ebusiness security firm Enterasys Networks, said: "Almost as soon as you set up a site, you get hits from hackers, and government sites are a very attractive target. "However, most of them are hackers who are just doing it for the challenge, not crackers who are actively trying to cause damage."