Several London councils have been hit by a “cyber attack” which could have compromised residents’ data.
Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Westminster City councils said they have been responding to a “cyber security issue” since Monday morning.
The councils, which share a number of IT systems, added they are working with the "help of specialist cyber incident experts and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), with the focus on protecting systems and data, restoring systems, and maintaining critical services to the public".
A spokesperson for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) said it is currently “too early” to tell whether any data has been compromised, or who could be behind the attack. It said an investigation had been launched, and a number of mitigations put in place.
“The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and Westminster City Council (WCC) – who share a number of IT systems and services as part of joint arrangements – are responding to a cyber security issue,” it said in a statement.
It warned residents a number of systems, including phone lines, had been affected, adding it had informed the Information Commissioners' Office of the issue.
“We apologise to residents for any inconvenience, and thank them for being flexible and understanding,” it said. “People may see some delays in responses and the services we provide over the coming days.
“We will continue working with our cyber specialists and the NCSC to restore all systems as quickly as possible, and we will be in touch with more information as it becomes available. If there are any further changes to services, we will endeavour to keep everyone updated.”
A spokesperson for the NCSC, part of the GCHQ intelligence agency and responsible for helping UK public bodies with cyber security, told Sky News: "We are aware of an incident affecting some local authority services in London and are working to understand any potential impact."
