A ‘top secret’ report contains information that could expose Galway City Council to cyber-attacks, with potential to majorly disrupt frontline services.

The 42-pages Cyber Security Audit commissioned by City Hall last September identified weaknesses in the local authority’s cyber defences.

It identified threats to the Council including ransomware, phishing, malware, and social engineering, which is manipulating people to divulge sensitive information such as passwords.

“We are constantly addressing such threats, malicious attempts to access or damage a computer or network system which could result in loss of money or theft of personal, financial or other types of information stored on our systems,” a Council spokesperson said.

Galway City Council has refused a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to release the audit to this newspaper, citing safety concerns if the information being released to the public.

The Council’s Audit Committee commissioned the audit on cybersecurity at Galway City Council.

The City Council’s FOI officer applied the public interest test and considered values of transparency and openness when deciding to withhold the confidential document.

The Council concluded that release of the audit could lead to a cyber-attack. And it found an “attack could result in major interruption to the delivery of front-line services in the city”.

“Having regard to the content of the audit, I have decided that release to the public at large poses a major security risk to the organisation and releasing such information could reasonably be expected to prejudice the prevention, detection or investigation of offences of lawful methods, systems, plans, or procedure employed for this.

“In short, it contains information which if released to the public at large could expose Galway City Council to cyber-attack,” Galway City Council’s FOI officer said.

In 2025, the City Council hired two “security specialists” to “strengthen internal expertise”.

It also completed a cyber-security audit, “identifying areas for improvement and setting clear priorities to boost security”, according to the Council’s Budget 2026.