INTERNET security concerns at Wiltshire Council led to internal emails being blocked following the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

iPads used by councillors were blocked from sending internal emails overnight in March, just days after the novichok incident.

All ICT services for both Wiltshire Council and Wiltshire Police are provided by the council’s ICT department.

The block has now lifted, and Wiltshire Council say that while police phones were not affected, all councillors and officers lost access to their emails on mobiles and iPads to check that all systems were secure.

One councillor Graham Payne believes the block was placed on phones because of a security threat following the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

He said: “Back in March, about a week after the Salisbury incident the email function on the iPad stopped working overnight. One day it was there then next it was gone.

“We were told the reason the server was blocked was because Wiltshire Police computers were riding on the back of the council system and there was a weakness in the security.

“A lot of the commands from the police were being conducted through emails following the nerve agent attack and so they could have been trying to hack into the system.

“Wiltshire Council updated their system four years ago but the police had done it a much longer time ago.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We are constantly reviewing our IT security, and work with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to ensure we remain secure.

“In March we took the decision to temporarily halt email access on all mobile phones and tablets across the Wiltshire Council network to ensure all systems were secure.

“This included all council phones and tablets that are used by elected members and officers. Police phones were not affected.

“Once this review was completed in August, email functionality was restored to all mobile devices used by Wiltshire Council. All ICT services for both Wiltshire Council and Wiltshire Police are provided by the council’s ICT department.”

Wiltshire Police confirmed that it had experienced no concerns about the security of its email systems.