Three London Councils admit data hack

SENSITIVE AND personal information about residents was probably “copied and taken” during a cyber attack affecting three London Councils last November. A helpline and email address have been set up to answer questions from worried residents.

Westminster Council is the most seriously affected. It shares its IT system with Kensington & Chelsea Council and it admits, on its website, that it is still experiencing some disruption to council services. Past Conservative Governments have urged councils to share services to save money – but sharing IT does mean that more people are affected when things go wrong.

It is thought that the data breach involved limited data, but it will be a while before the extent of the damage is known. Kensington & Chelsea Council’s website admits that some of their services are affected. It also states that a small number of samples it has looked at show that “some of the resident data copied [in the cyber attack] is likely to contain sensitive data and personal information.”

The Council said it would take months for services to return to normal, with Council Leader Elizabeth Campbell saying that the Council will carry out a review “when the time is right”.

Until the “right time” comes along, residents will have to take responsibility for their own cyber security. Westminster City Council has urged them to be extra cautious when answering phone calls, emails or texts they were not expecting.

The third Council involved, Hammersmith & Fulham, has said that it believes that its systems have not been compromised.

The information comes from the BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting Service.

●The Westminster resident helpline is open 9am-5pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and 9am-4pm on Wednesdays. Ring 020-7641 1919. Residents can also raise concerns or ask questions by emailing:
cyberenquiry@westminster.gov.uk

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