Hackney Borough Council has had data released online that was stolen in an attack in October last year.
The Council maintains that a limited amount of data was stolen from the Council, with the vast majority of personal data being unaffected.
ComputerWeekly report that among the data stolen is passport data, scans of tenancy audit documents for public housing tenants, staff data, and information on community safety.
Continuing to work with the National Cyber Security Centre and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government, the Council insists that the data isn’t easily accessible through public forums and isn’t available through traditional search engines.
Those affected by the data breach are being worked with directly by the Council.
Mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville, said:
“It is utterly deplorable that organised criminals chose last year to deliberately attack Hackney, damaging services and stealing from our borough, our staff, and our residents in this way, and all while we were in the middle of responding to a global pandemic.
“Now four months on, at the start of a new year and as we are all responding to the second wave, they have decided to compound that attack and now release stolen data. Working with our partners we will do everything we can to help bring them to justice.
“While we believe this publication will not directly affect the vast majority of Hackney’s residents and businesses, that can feel like cold comfort, and we are sorry for the worry and upset this will cause them.
“We are already working closely with the police and other partners to assess any immediate actions we need to take and will share further information about the additional action we will be taking as soon as we can.”
