Three London councils have been targeted in a cyber-attack, prompting an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the activation of emergency plans. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), Westminster City Council, and Hammersmith and Fulham Council are assessing whether sensitive data has been compromised.
RBKC and Westminster, which share IT infrastructure, reported system disruptions including phone lines. They shut down several computerised systems as a precaution. The Information Commissioner’s Office confirmed Hammersmith and Fulham also reported an attack. The three authorities serve over half a million residents.
The cause of the incident was identified on Wednesday, but details remain undisclosed due to NCA and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) involvement. Services such as council tax inquiries and parking fine payments are likely limited. RBKC’s website may experience intermittent outages as security fixes progress.
In a statement, RBKC said: “We don’t have all the answers yet… at this stage it is too early to say who did this, and why, but we are investigating to see if any data has been compromised.” Westminster apologised for delays and pledged to restore systems quickly.
The attack echoes the 2020 ransomware incident on Hackney Council, which encrypted 440,000 files. Rob Miller, former Hackney IT director, described such attacks as “genuinely traumatic”. Hackney Council issued an internal warning about potential targeting of multiple London councils.
