Hackney Council faces substantial costs due to 2020 cyber attack

Hackney Council anticipates incurring additional expenses, amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds beyond its original budget, for its ongoing efforts to recover from a cyber attack that occurred in 2020. Councillor Robert Chapman stated that the borough’s “financial predicament remains serious,” noting the total overspend for the current accounting year stands at approximately £37m. Financial records from the council indicate an expenditure of £344,000 allocated to the recruitment of additional agency personnel, partly to address a backlog resulting from the attack. An additional £413,000 is being directed towards IT consultants possessing “cybersecurity knowledge.” A criminal organization published personal information belonging to council employees and residents on the dark web in January 2021, subsequent to a ransomware attack that had taken place three months prior. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a reprimand to the local authority in July of this year, citing a “lack of proper security and processes to protect personal data.” Stephen Bonner, the deputy commissioner at the ICO, characterized the incident as a “clear and avoidable error” on the part of the council. This assessment followed the regulator’s discovery of “simple mistakes like having dormant accounts where the username and password are the same.” Mr Bonner further commented, “Whilst nefarious actors may always exist, the council failed to effectively implement sufficient measures that could have better protected their systems and data from cyber-attacks.” He concluded, “Time and time again, we see breaches that would not have happened if such mistakes were avoided.” In its response at the time, Hackney Council disputed the ICO’s conclusions, asserting that it had not violated its security obligations. The council declared in 2023 its intention to acquire a new “off-the-shelf” housing system to address persistent technological issues stemming from the hack. According to council reports, the repercussions of the cyber-attack have intensified the “challenging financial environment” within the borough, particularly in light of a real-terms reduction in government funding of almost 40% since 2010. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.ukCopyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.