Three London councils have reported a cyber attack, prompting emergency plans and an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) into whether data has been compromised. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and Westminster City Council, which share IT infrastructure, said several systems were affected, including phone lines. The councils shut down computerised systems as a precaution.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) confirmed that the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham also reported an attack. Together, the three authorities serve over half a million Londoners. RBKC said it identified the cause of the incident on Wednesday but declined further details due to the involvement of the NCA and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Services such as checking council tax bills and paying parking fines are likely to be limited at RBKC, whose website may experience intermittent outages. The council stated: 'We don’t have all the answers yet... we will be updating residents and partners further over the coming days.' Westminster City Council apologised for delays and thanked residents for their understanding.
The incident, detected on Monday morning, has raised concerns at other councils. Hackney, which suffered a ransomware attack in 2020, warned staff of potential targeting of multiple London councils. Rob Miller, a former IT director at Hackney, described such attacks as 'a genuinely traumatic experience.'
