Multiple London Councils Disrupted By Cyber-Attacks

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster City Council, Hammersmith and Fulham Council affected by cyber-incident

The City of London. Image credit: Financial Conduct Authority

Several London councils have had services disrupted by cyber-attacks and said they are investigating whether data has been compromised.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and Westminster City Council said some of their shared IT infrastructure had been affected by a “cyber incident” and that systems including phone lines were disrupted.

RBKC said the two councils were working with specialists and GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to protect data and restore services, while the Met Police is also investigating.

Disruption

Hammersmith and Fulham Council also said it had experienced a “serious cyber security incident” and was working to fix the problem as quickly as possible.

RBKC said its issue had been quickly identified on Monday and emergency plans had been activated so that services could continue to be delivered, adding that the Information Commissioner’s Office had been notified.

It said in a statement on its website that it was “investigating to see if any data has been compromised”.

The Hammersmith and Fulham Council statement suggested its issues could be connected with those of RBKC and Westminster councils.

A statement on its website said it was taking “precautionary measures to review, isolate and protect our networks”.

Cyber-attacks

Hackney Council, which was affected by a serious cyber attack in 2020, told staff it had received intelligence that “multiple London councils have been targeted by cyber-attacks within the last 24-48 hours, with potential disruption to systems and services”.

The Information Commissioner’s Office last year reprimanded the council over the breach, saying it had found examples of a lack of proper security and processes to protect personal data.

Source