London councils hit by 'cyber attack' with data potentially compromised

Multiple London councils person been deed by a cyber attack, with the imaginable for residents' information to person been compromised.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and Westminster City Council (WCC) - who stock a fig of IT systems - noticed the incidental connected Monday and person informed the Information Commissioner's Office - a measurement usually taken erstwhile information is compromised.

A connection from RBKC added that the councils are moving with the "help of specializer cyber incidental experts and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), with the absorption connected protecting systems and data, restoring systems, and maintaining captious services to the public".

Graeme Stewart, caput of nationalist assemblage astatine Check Point, the institution credited with inventing the firewall, said the concern had "all the signs of a superior intrusion".

A spokesperson for the NCSC, portion of the GCHQ quality bureau and liable for helping UK nationalist bodies with cyber security, told Sky News: "We are alert of an incidental affecting immoderate section authorization services successful London and are moving to recognize immoderate imaginable impact."

According to the RBKC statement, they and WCC stock IT services with Hammersmith and Fulham council, and determination are reports services determination person been impacted.

RBKC said that a "number of systems" person been impacted owed to the incident, and resources person been diverted to show email inboxes and telephone lines if radical necessitate help.

The council's connection added: "We don't person each the answers yet, arsenic the absorption of this incidental is inactive ongoing."

It went on: "At this signifier it is excessively aboriginal to accidental who did this, and why, but we are investigating to spot if immoderate information has been compromised - which is modular practice.

"Our IT teams worked done the nighttime yesterday and a fig of palmy mitigations were enactment successful place, and we stay vigilant should determination beryllium immoderate further incidents oregon issues."

Read more:
Cost of JLR hack revealed
M&S reveals outgo of cyberattack

Mr Stewart, from Check Point, said: "What's happening present has each the signs of a superior intrusion: aggregate boroughs knocked offline, shared infrastructure exposed, and urgent interior warnings telling unit to debar emails from spouse councils.

"That's classical behaviour erstwhile attackers get clasp of credentials oregon determination laterally done a shared environment. Once they're wrong 1 portion of the network, they tin hop done connected systems acold faster than astir councils tin respond."

👉 Listen to Sky News Daily connected your podcast app 👈

He continued: "The determination to unopen down services truthful rapidly isn't an overreaction - it tells you they fishy this could escalate into encryption oregon information theft.

"Councils clasp incredibly delicate material: social-care files, individuality documents, lodging records, everything you'd request for targeted fraud oregon extortion. If attackers got adjacent that, the fallout wouldn't enactment local.

"The NCSC and Met being pulled successful astatine velocity shows this is being treated arsenic a high-risk event, not an IT outage. And it should be.

"Local authorities stay immoderate of the easiest public-sector targets due to the fact that they're moving immense workloads connected choky budgets with uneven cyber maturity."

Sky News has approached Westminster City Council and Hammersmith and Fulham Council for comment.

The Metropolitan Police has besides been approached for comment.