Personal data has been stolen in a cyber attack on Gateshead Council, local authority bosses have confirmed.
The council has confirmed that it was targeted by cyber criminals in the early hours of Wednesday, January 8, but say that its services are operating “business as usual” and that the threat was “quickly contained”. The attack is being investigated by the North East Regional Crime Unit and investigations have shown that some people’s personal data has been infringed, though it is not known how many residents have been affected.
Civic centre officials said that they are contacting people impacted by the data loss directly. Mike Barker, Gateshead Council’s strategic director for corporate services and governance, said: “We have taken immediate remedial action to limit data loss and business continues as usual now we have isolated this incident, but investigations continue into this.
“Work is on-going with relevant parties to understand how this incident happened and any wider implications it may have. A number of files have been accessed as part of this incident and we are now contacting those people impacted directly to ensure they are protected from any further harm. The police are also investigating this as a crime.
“Incidents of this nature unfortunately are on the rise, with many organisations like ours already having dealt with such situations. Our robust security measures have meant the potential damage this could have caused has been mitigated and we are still able to operate our day-to-day business activities.
“Protecting the public is our top priority and I want to reassure our residents and stakeholders we take such situations extremely seriously.”
Mr Barker advised residents and other customers of the council to be on the lookout for phishing emails or fraudulent activity on your accounts, to change passwords if they suspect they have been compromised, and to be “vigilant for anything that does not seem right and be cautious when sharing your personal information”.
He added: “We will be providing updates as part of the ongoing response to this incident and if we discover your data is at risk we will contact you directly. As investigations continue there is a possibility of further issues arising, and we will work to mitigate this should that be the case. Investigations so far have not indicated there is any further damage caused, but we need to be open to the possibility.”
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