Hackney Borough Council Suffers Serious Cyber Attack
Anton Hilton • November 23, 2020
Hackney Borough Council is scrambling to support its IT systems and operations after being at the receiving end of an unfortunate cybercrime. Located in North London, the Council is carrying out procedures in collaboration with the National Cyber Security Centre in a bid to estimate the gravity of the situation.
Being absolutely devastated by this breach, Hackney Council has also reached out to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as well as professionals of the cyber security world with requests of assistance.
The Mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville, remarked that substantial information has not yet been uncovered as the investigative process is still in its infancy stages. He also added that the Council would continue to cater to susceptible citizens as they prioritise data protection for the time being.
Mayor Glanville acknowledged that customers would experience some delays in regular services, but that this is well on the way to recovery. To aid this process, residents should only approach the Council as a last resort and wait for further news regarding the security breach.
The National Cyber Security Centre also validated Hackney Council’s statements by adding that it was offering full support to the affected. While details about the attack are meagre, speculation says that the nature could be ransomware, this being backed up by the fact that ransomware attacks have been on the rise since April of the present year. This was confirmed by IBM Security X-Force Incident Response researchers.
Of course, this noticeable work has not been recorded without due action, with ransomware protection groups working to reinforce the standard of their operations.
With the global cyber arms race continuing to hit high, news has also come in from other parts of the world. Emsisoft – the American cyber security company – for instance, recorded a close of 5,000 ransomware attacks on British organisations within the previous year. And this statistic was not without a cost; these attacks cost British firms a whopping £210 million.
However, despite this large payout, it was difficult to track the origins of these attacks, with the few that were traced leading back to Russia and Eastern Europe.
This goes to show that no matter who or where your organisation is, you’re at risk from a cyber attack and it only highlights the importance of protecting your organisation and yourself.
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