Scandal-hit OBR faced nearly 240,000 cyber attacks this year amid website failure that leaked Budget

"The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has been targeted by almost a quarter of a million cyber attacks over the past year, a dramatic surge that comes just weeks after the fiscal watchdog accidentally leaked the Chancellor's Budget online. Freedom of Information data obtained by the Parliament Street think tank shows the OBR faced 238,678 hostile incidents in the past 12 months, including spam, malware, and phishing attempts. The figure represents a 162% increase on the previous year's 90,958 attacks."

"The revelations add to mounting scrutiny of the organisation following the resignation of chair Richard Hughes, who stepped down after the OBR's flagship Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) appeared online around 40 minutes before Rachel Reeves delivered her Budget. A formal investigation led by Ciaran Martin, the former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, found the leak was the result of human error rather than a hostile cyber breach."

"Martin's report identified a "misunderstanding" of a WordPress plugin - Download Monitor - combined with a failure to configure the OBR's server to block direct file access. The report noted that WordPress "can be onerous to configure" and that mistakes of this kind are "easily made", but the consequences in this case were profound, triggering political chaos and rattling financial markets."

The Office for Budget Responsibility recorded 238,678 hostile cyber incidents in 12 months, a 162% rise from 90,958 the previous year, with officials saying all attacks were blocked. A premature online publication of the Chancellor's Budget prompted the OBR chair's resignation and an inquiry. The investigation found human error and a misunderstanding of the Download Monitor WordPress plugin, plus a misconfigured server that allowed direct file access via amended URLs. The misconfiguration enabled external users to download the document. The incident caused political turmoil and market disturbance and prompted calls for stronger digital controls across public sector bodies.

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