The county council is among the UK authorities that fell victim to millions of cyber attacks in the last five years, it has been revealed this week following a national investigation.

The report by campaign group Big Brother Watch exposed the "extraordinary extent of cyber security threats faced by local authorities" over the last five years and found Bucks County Council (BCC) experienced four cyber attacks from 2013 to 2017.

Based on responses from 395 local authorities, UK councils have been subjected to at least 98 million cyber attacks over the last five years, while 29 per cent of councils experiences one or more cyber security incidents that resulted in a loss or breach of data.

The report states that Wycombe District Council failed to respond to the Freedom of Information Request sent to all local authorities across the UK, while South Bucks and Chiltern District Councils did not experience any cyber attacks over the course of the investigation.

However WDC this week told the Bucks Free Press it had only experienced one cyber attack in the last five years which affected its internal systems and services. 

Big Brother Watch also discovered that "little action" has been taken by the councils to improve staff awareness of cyber security, and a staggering 75 per cent of local authorities do not provide compulsory training on the issue.

The findings  revealed more than half of councils who experienced a loss or breach of data did not report it, and 16 per cent of councils do not provide any cyber security training.

The group has urged authorities to review their policies in order to reduce the risk of incidents that "threaten the security of citizens' invaluable data".

It is not clear how severely the council was affected by the attacks, however cabinet member for resources at BCC, John Chilver, assured the public that council security was upgraded last year, which meant it was protected from the large cyber attack that affected the NHS and other organisations.

He said: "Our technology and the teams that support it stop a huge number of potential security breaches – sometimes more than one million a month, ranging from common email phishing scams to more invasive attacks. 

"We have just agreed further investment in security over the next three years to ensure we keep pace with the latest threats. 

"We work hard to keep awareness high among staff and members on a range of information security and protection issues – from mandatory induction activities to ongoing e-learning and information prominently displayed in county council premises."

Spokesman for WDC, Sue Robinson, said council staff receive cyber security training during their induction, are "bound by IT guidelines" and are regularly updated on cyber security issues and awareness.

Jennifer Krueckeberg, lead researcher at Big Brother Watch said: “With councils hit by over 19 million cyber attacks every year, one would assume that they would be doing their utmost to protect citizens’ sensitive information. 

"We are shocked to discover that the majority of councils’ data breaches go unreported and that staff often lack basic training in cyber security. Local authorities need to take urgent action and make sure they fulfil their responsibilities to protect citizens. ”

Big Brother Watch is a "civil liberties and privacy campaigning organisation" which holds to account "those who fail to respect our privacy."