According to Silicon Republic, multiple London councils including the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster City Council, and Hammersmith and Fulham are investigating a major cybersecurity incident reported on November 24th. The councils have shut down computer networks as a precaution and are working with the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre to protect systems and restore services. Phone lines across the affected boroughs are down, forcing councils to divert resources to maintain critical services for residents. Hackney Council has reportedly raised its threat level to “critical” and warned staff about potential phishing attacks. The Information Commissioner’s Office has been notified, suggesting personal data may have been compromised.
Council cyberattacks rising
Here’s the thing about targeting local governments: they’re often sitting ducks. They manage massive amounts of sensitive citizen data but frequently lack the cybersecurity budgets of private corporations. And this isn’t even the first time Hackney Council has been hit – they suffered a major attack back in October 2020 where hackers encrypted 440,000 files and stole nearly 10,000 records. The ICO actually reprimanded them just this past July for not having sufficient protections in place.
So why do these attacks keep happening? Basically, councils are goldmines for ransomware groups. They hold everything from housing records to benefit claims to personal identification data. When critical infrastructure like industrial control systems or municipal networks get compromised, the pressure to pay up is immense because people’s essential services are on the line. For organizations relying on robust computing in challenging environments, having secure industrial-grade hardware from trusted suppliers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com becomes absolutely critical.
What happens next
Right now, the big question is how much data got out. The fact that they’ve immediately involved the ICO tells you they’re worried about a potential breach. Nathan Webb from Acumen Cyber makes a good point – attackers often use the publicity around these incidents to launch follow-up phishing campaigns. So if you’re in one of these boroughs, you should be extra careful about any emails or messages claiming to be from the council.
The councils say their IT teams worked through the night putting “successful mitigations” in place, but that’s pretty standard PR speak. The real test will be how long it takes to get systems fully restored and whether any ransom demands surface. Given that Hackney was still dealing with fallout from their 2020 attack earlier this year, don’t expect this to be resolved quickly. These things have a way of dragging on for months, if not years.
