Londoners told to be vigilant with messages after cyber-attack on council | Local government
The London council has urged thousands of residents to be “extra careful” when receiving calls, emails or texts after confirming data had been compromised in a cyber attack.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), which has 147,500 residents, said some data from its systems was copied in an attack this week.
The council said it believed the theft was related to “historical data” but checked whether it involved personal or financial information of residents, customers or service users.
“On advice from the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), we encourage all residents, customers and service users to take extra care when calling, emailing or texting,” the council said.
Three London councils were affected by cyber attacks this week; RBKC and Westminster city council said a number of systems were affected at both authorities, including telephone lines. The boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham were also affected and said it was “working day and night” to restore its systems.
The attack affected IT systems shared by the three councils, Westminster said on Friday. He added that he was working with the NCSC to maintain essential services.
RBKC also said it was working with the National Crime Agency, the Metropolitan police and the NCSC to identify the attackers.
The council said it faced “significant disruption” for at least two weeks and was working to get its systems back online after services were affected.
Public institutions and private businesses across the UK have been hit by ransomware attacks in recent years; Criminal gangs, often based in the former Soviet Union, lock down a target’s IT systems with malware while also extracting data. The gang members then demand a payment in cryptocurrency to decrypt the systems and return the data.
Neither council indicated whether ransomware was involved. Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham have not confirmed whether data was stolen in their attacks. A ransomware attack on Hackney council in 2020 accessed and encrypted 440,000 files; which led to condemnation from the UK’s data watchdog.
Councilor Elizabeth Campbell, Conservative leader of the RBKC, said warning residents that their data may have been taken was “the right thing to do”.
He added: “All I know is that as a resident myself I would like to know this information as quickly as possible and then be able to make my own choices, follow advice and protect myself if I feel it is necessary.”
