City Of Leicester Council Attacked

Uploaded on 2024-04-11 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, GOVERNMENT-Local, FREE TO VIEW, TECHNOLOGY--Hackers

The Britain's Leicester City Council said on 3rd April that confidential data has been published online by a “known ransomware group” following a cyber incident that was identified on March 7.  The authority said on 3 April that 25 stolen documents had been posted online, but now a "much larger batch"  of 1.3 terabytes has been released by hackers. Council leaders described the attack on its systems as "highly sophisticated".

The council said its IT networks were now back online and that a known ransomware group, which has hit a number of government, education and health organisations around the world, was responsible.

The confirmation comes after the criminals responsible for the attack uploaded stolen documents to their Dark Web site, prompting concerns over data security and user privacy. Now, the Inc. ransomware group which is known to share design fwarures with the prolific exploits developed by Lockbit has claimed responsibility for the attack and they are well known for targeting various governmental, educational and healthcare institutions.

The council said on 3rd April that approximately 25 sensitive documents, including rent statements, council housing purchase applications and personal ID records such as passport information were amongst those leaked, but now it has confirmed that the data batch released is much larger. “We have today been made aware that a small number of documents held on our servers have been published by a known ransomware group," said Richard Sword, the council's strategic director.

While the exact extent of the breach remains uncertain, Sword acknowledged the possibility that additional documents may have been compromised.

The Inc. Ransom group, which claims to have extracted 3 terabytes of data from Leicester City Council, has also published a 'proof pack' on a data leak site.While the majority of the council's systems and phone lines are now functioning normally, following a shutdown on 7th March when the attack was first detected, several critical services are still disrupted.

Emergency contact numbers were provided on the council's website as alternative means of communication,  for essential services and the council has cautioned residents and staff to remain vigilant and report any suspicious approaches from parties claiming to possess their data to Leicestershire Police. It says it is cooperating with law enforcement agencies, including Leicestershire Police and the National Cyber Security Centre, as part of the investigation.   

Inc.'s involvement in the cyber incident extends beyond Leicester, as the group has also claimed responsibility for an attack on NHS Dumfries and Galloway, part of the Scottish healthcare system. 

"In the last two weeks it's become evident that INC ransom have clear intent when it comes to targeting local services, with Leicester Council joining the victim list alongside NHS Dumfries and Galloway," commented Darren Williams, CEO and founder of security firm Blackfog.

The Director of critical infrastructure at Illumio, Trevor Dearing said: "Local councils store a vast amount of personal data which can be used in the longer term to conduct further attacks as well as be sold on the Dark Web for a quick profit or used for identity fraud... Attacks on the public sector show no signs of slowing down, but the sheer breadth of services local government must support means funding for cybersecurity will always be a challenge."

“The government should look to implement some of the recommendations in the recent parliamentary committee report on ransomware, especially on how respond to an incident. Ultimately local government should not have to choose between cyber security and social care." Dearing concluded.

Leicester.gov   |    Cybereason    |    Computing    |      Infosecurity   |    Techfinitive   |    TEISS    |  BBC

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