London’s Hackney Council has recently disclosed a cyber attack. Its services went down following the incident, and the council are continuing their investigations.
Hackney Council Cyber Attack
Reportedly, Hackney Council of London has fallen prey to a cyber attack that severely disrupting it systems. The news surfaced online on October 13, 2020, after the Hackney Council disclosed it clearly in a tweet.
We have been subject to a serious cyberattack, which is affecting many of our services and IT systems.
We're working with @NCSC and experts to investigate, and will provide updates as we get them.
Please avoid contacting us unless absolutely necessary.https://t.co/2nAt6aYKbd
— Hackney Council (@hackneycouncil) October 13, 2020
As per the details shared in their security notice, the incident affected their IT systems and services, which eventually made them request everyone not to contact them unless extremely necessary. Meanwhile, they strived to manage the provision of frontline services to the vulnerable.
As stated in the notice,
Our focus is on continuing to deliver essential frontline services, especially to our most vulnerable residents, and protecting data, while restoring affected services as soon as possible.
Investigations Underway
In a subsequent update the next day, they reiterated similar information without further details, for which, they clarified,
We are learning more about the attack but are choosing not to share any more information at this stage in order to make sure we do not inadvertently assist the attackers. We want to share as much information with residents as possible, and as soon as we are able to safely do so we will.
What’s clear until the time of writing this article is that they’ve reached out to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Also, they are working with relevant authorities for investigations.
Council staff continue to work with the National Cyber Security Centre, National Crime Agency, external experts and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to investigate and understand the impact of the cyberattack on our servers.
Their services, however, remain down. Hence, they have reiterated their request to not contact them “unless absolutely necessary”.
Whereas, they have pledged to share updates regarding the cyber attack with the citizens soon.
