March 12, 2024 at 07:53AM
Leicester City Council’s IT systems and critical service phone lines remain down following a “cyber incident.” The nature of the attack has not been confirmed, although ransomware is suspected. The council aims to restore services by the middle of the week and has set up emergency phone numbers for essential services. The incident highlights the prevalence of cyberattacks on UK councils.
Meeting Takeaways:
– Leicester City Council is experiencing a cyber incident, which has caused the IT systems and critical service phone lines to be down.
– The council has not confirmed if the incident involved a ransomware attack, and details are still unclear.
– Security experts suspect ransomware may be involved, as some network border services have been pulled offline.
– Council officials are working to understand the nature of the incident and hope to restore services by the middle of the week.
– Emergency phone numbers have been established for key council services while online forms remain inaccessible.
– Prof. Eerke Boiten suggests that it may take weeks for normal functioning to resume but has faith in the council’s information governance reputation to limit sensitive data damage.