Wiltshire Council Bans Bluetooth for Staff

Wiltshire Council bans staff from wearing Bluetooth devices such as Fitbit bracelets following Salisbury poisonings.

11:53 04 July 2019

Wiltshire Council has confirmed that staff members are no longer allowed to bring mobile phones or any Bluetooth devices to meetings after cyber attacks in the wake of Salisbury poisonings.

Alistair Cunningham, the council's executive director, said the authority was the target of "well-coordinated" attacks from abroad following the attempted assassination of former double agent Sergei Skripal in March last year.

He said: "'As soon as we hit the headlines, the number of cyber attacks on our system increased tenfold.

"They were attempts to break through our firewall, go to the internal network, pick up passwords to employees' email.

"In the hottest days, we received 90,000 attacks a day."

Mr Cunningham added: ''We were told to hold meetings in a sterile setting.

"That is, essentially, the old fashioned way - without mobile phones and other high-tech pieces.

"We were asked to remove and lock various devices working via Bluetooth; for example pedometers and fitness bracelets.''

Mr Skripal, 66, was found unconscious on March 4 on a park bench in Salisbury. He and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were poisoned by the Novichok nerve agent. DS Nick Bailey and Charlie Rowley were also poisoned with the same nerve agent while Rowley’s partner died last July after being contaminated with the poison.