Government efforts to improve interactions with the public through the use of Web 2.0 technologies are being stymied by security fears.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCFS), said Web 2.0 technologies would help the department communicate with younger customers familiar with social networking sites. But the DCFS said it faced a challenge in accommodating both adult and children in the same communication channel.

According to Keith Holder, the head of DCFS sector transformation programme, the desire to increase the level of public interaction was tempered by the need to protect the data it collects. “We are responsible for privacy implications,” he said.

Holder is involved in the departments work on ContactPoint, the database at the heart of government's efforts to share childrens' information across government departments, as part of the Every Child Matters agenda.

A high-level source working with the Swiss government IT department
confirmed that attacks against government web sites were reaching epidemic proportions. Speaking on the condition on anonymity, he told IT Week that his department was frequently under attack from groups looking to steal personal information.

He added that he had spoken to counterparts at the DCFS, who had confirmed they were experiencing "similar" levels of attacks.