A cyber attack on a local council's IT systems is estimated to have cost in the region of £10.4 million, according to new figures.
Redcar and Cleveland borough council has been under pressure to reveal the cost of an attack that took down its website and local services in February, according to the BBC.
Remedial and replacement work for the council's IT infrastructure made up £2.4 million of the overall cost, according to figures given in its budget report. The local authority is in discussion with the government to help cover the financial impact of the attack.
Some 135,000 residents were cut off from public services in February during the hack, affecting online appointments, access to planning documents, social care advice, and the council's housing systems. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was ultimately brought in to help bring services back online.
The exact nature of the attack, and the steps taken to fix the damage, haven't been revealed by either Recar and Cleveland council or the NCSC, and the incident is still the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation. At the time, there was a suggestion that it resembled a ransomware attack, but there has been no official confirmation of this.
According to the report, at the time of the attack, the council had "industry-standard tools" used to secure its computer network, which were configured to provide "optimum protection".
The estimation of £10.4 million has been given to the government to assist a due diligence process with an agreement to provide Redcar and Cleveland with support, according to the budget report.
Individual departmental costs amounted to £3.4 million, while computer systems being out of action resulted in a reduction in enforcement income and a reduction in the amount of council tax and business rates being collected, causing a further £1 million in losses, according to the council.
-
RSAC Conference 2025: The front line of cyber innovationITPro Podcast Ransomware, quantum computing, and an unsurprising focus on AI were highlights of this year's event
-
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks we're burying our heads in the sand on AI job lossesNews With AI set to hit entry-level jobs especially, some industry execs say clear warning signs are being ignored
-
LockBit data dump reveals a treasure trove of intel on the notorious hacker groupNews An analysis of May's SQL database dump shows how much LockBit was really making
-
‘I take pleasure in thinking I can rid society of at least some of them’: A cyber vigilante is dumping information on notorious ransomware criminals – and security experts say police will be keeping close tabsNews An anonymous whistleblower has released large amounts of data allegedly linked to the ransomware gangs
-
It's been a bad week for ransomware operatorsNews A host of ransomware strains have been neutralized, servers seized, and key players indicted
-
Everything we know about the Peter Green Chilled cyber attackNews A ransomware attack on the chilled food distributor highlights the supply chain risks within the retail sector
-
Scattered Spider: Who are the alleged hackers behind the M&S cyber attack?News The Scattered Spider group has been highly active in recent years
-
Ransomware attacks are rising — but quiet payouts could mean there's more than actually reported
News Ransomware attacks continue to climb, but they may be even higher than official figures show as companies choose to quietly pay to make such incidents go away.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolen – and security experts say it won't be the lastNews Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
‘Phishing kits are a force multiplier': Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25 – and experts warn it’s lowering the barrier of entry for amateur hackersNews Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
