We use a a href="http://world-secure-channel.com/why/" vpn /a to secure connectivity - this eliminates the need to expose internal systems to the whole wide world. Related to topic- a href="http://vpnomania.com/proxy-surf.html/" proxy /a

Security is supposed to keep unauthorized people from accessing the network in the first place.
You plug in something that automatically breaches your VPN and you are in trouble, period.
I doubt that Kirklees Council has a CIA-style network surveillance center, which could flag any intrusion in a matter of seconds.
That means that, as the connection was already made, the intruder was inside the network and thus had all the time and means to wreak havoc if he was so inclined.
They were lucky the "intruder" was not so inclined, that's all.

What can you expect from politicians and bureaucrats? Some of them are so stupid they don't even know which end of the plug goes into the wall socket!

Too bad the bloke didn't get to the payroll application.