London councils cyber attack live updates as 'multiple local authorities targeted across capital'

Hackney Council's swift response to intelligence an alleged cyber attack probably stems from its own bitter experience.

Hackers breached the local authority's defences in October 2020, gaining access to and encrypting 440,000 files, affecting at least 280,000 residents.

The Council has acknowledge 9,605 records were exfiltrated, posing "a meaningful risk of harm” to 230 data subjects.

The attack, which was blamed on poor security by a subsequent investigation, led to delays and disruption for months.

This led to a reprimand from the Information Commissioner's Office in 2024, which you can read in full here.

We have already been in with three local authorities who have potentially been affected by the alleged cyber attack, even if they were not a direct target.

But we are also waiting for responses from a number of agencies that might be able to shed more light on the reports, including:

We will update you as soon as they get back to us...

The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan , said he was unaware of the alleged attack when questioned by the LDRS earlier today.

City Hall is helping council build better cyber resilience through the London Office of Technology and Innovation, the national cyber security agency and the National Crime Agency to learn lessons from the attacks like the one on Transport for London , Marks and Spencer's and Heathrow Airport , he added.

We are trying to encourage councils to have better resilience but the reality is, I'm afraid, those who breach protections are going to try more and more ways to get into those systems.

We're going to make sure we're resilient, that means making sure we have the right safeguards in place.

We're making sure councils learn best practice from us.

We now have information in relation to three London councils when it comes to the alleged cyber attack, but no confirmation of the actual targets.

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea have written on X to say it is experience a "serious IT issue".

The Council did not go into further detail the nature of the issue, which it first revealed publicly in another statement on X at 1:10pm on Monday (November 24).

The latest statement, posted today at 10:51am, says: "We're continuing to experience a serious IT issue that will affect your ability to get in touch with us, either through phone or through some online tools. We're working internally and with our partners to investigate. If you need to get in touch with us ."

RBKC works collaboratively with Westminster City Council in several areas. Staff at Westminster received a memo this morning confirming their own IT system had been shut down as a precautionary measure due to a cyber security incident.

We're continuing to experience a serious IT issue that will affect your ability to get in touch with us, either through phone or through some online tools. We're working internally and with our partners to investigate. If you need to get in touch with us .

London council staff arriving at work and logging into meetings this morning have been told a cyber attack on multiple local authorities in the past 24 to 48 hours.

Here's what we know so far:

We are aware of an issue which will affect your ability to us, either via our centre, or online through services such as Report It. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are communicating with our partners to understand when we should expect services to… pic.twitter.com/k27eMY4JwA

London council staff have been warned a "significant and immediate" threat after a reported cyber attack on multiple local authorities across the capital.

MyLondon has seen memos from Hackney and Westminster council that confirm there has been an incident in the last 24 to 48 hours, with both organisations increasing security to stop any attempts to breach their systems.

It is not yet known if any of the reported attacks have been successful, and we are still waiting for more information from the Met Police Cyber Unit and National Crime Agency.

This is a developing story, so you can follow our live blog here for more updates.