A staggering number of cyber 'attacks' - more than 15,000 - have been made against Hertfordshire County Council according to the latest figures.

The attacks took place between January and March this year with the data set to be included in a report due to be presented to a meeting of the council's resources and performance cabinet panel next week.

It says the exact number of attacks – between January 1 and March 31 this year – was 15,964. That's a rate of 181 cyber attacks a day.

According to the report, it's phishing attempts – where attempts are made to get recipients to share data – that are the biggest risk to county council security.

The report states: "There were 15,964 Cyber Security attacks on county council systems with all attempts successfully repelled.

"Email phishing attempts continue to be the highest threat."