It has been five months since the Hackney Council computer systems were hacked and residents are still waiting for essential council services to get back online.

At the time of writing these services include:

• Council Tax billing where bills based on old information and with incorrect figures are being sent out.
• Residents are unable to apply to join the housing waiting list or for the council tax reduction scheme.
• Some planning services are still unavailable, including land searches.

A full list of unavailable services are listed here https://hackney.gov.uk/service-status

In January, some of our stolen data was published online including passport data, scans of tenancy audit documents for council tenants, staff data, and information on community safety. Two months on we are still left wondering what is the full extent of personal information lost, and what is in the hands of criminals.

Hackney Green Party is acutely aware of the lack of funding made available to local councils by the Government and the effect this can have on services. Furthermore, this was a sophisticated attack and the complex services the council offer make it especially vulnerable.

However, it is becoming clear that suitable data and recovery systems were not in place, and that vulnerable legacy systems were allowed to keep running essential services.

Hackney Council needs to restore confidence, it needs to demonstrate that it can be trusted with our personal data. 

We demand that: 

• Hackney Council to be open and transparent about what has happened, what data has been lost and stolen and when services will be up and running again.

• Hackney Council to publish a report on how the attack happened, what could have been done to prevent it and what measures are being put in place to ensure it does not happen again

More Information

‘Ultimately, fewer people will vote’: How the cyber attack on Hackney Council could damage local democracy
https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2021/03/11/how-cyber-attack-council-damage-local-democracy-may-elections/.

Article about legacy systems being attacked
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252494813/Old-on-premise-systems-targeted-in-Hackney-ransomware-attack

Postal voters urged to re-register
https://news.hackney.gov.uk/postal-voters-urged-to-submit-new-applications/

Data published online
https://news.hackney.gov.uk/cyberattack-update/

Costs of hack
https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2021/02/23/cyber-attack-cost-hackney-council-10m/

Tender details for new specialists
https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/digital-outcomes-and-specialists/opportunities/13928