Residents living in the Redcar and Cleveland borough council are without the online public services since the last seven days since the council online services and computers have faced a cyber-attack. On last Saturday all the council’s computers were attacked.
A cyber-security expert told that the type of attack had all the features of a ransomware attack where the attacker scrambles all the files and hacks the computer systems demanding a ransom. But Redcar and Cleveland Council had not yet told the exact type of attack it had suffered.
Due to the cyber-attack, more than 135,000 people living under the jurisdiction of the council are not able to use any of the services that are provided by the council online like appointment bookings, document planning, advice for social care and resolving housing complaints.
The council told that it had the support from the National Crime Agency and the officials were taking part in the investigation and resolving the issue along with the council members and other cyber-security members from the National Cyber Security Center.
The team of experts from the National Cybersecurity Center told that they were assessing the impact made on the computer systems to find out the exact flaws.
One of the main problems is that without the computer the council has to use the pen and paper mode to document all the things in the council. As there are no email systems as of now the company has to use telephone lines to communicate with the residents of the council.
It is making use of Facebook and Twitter to communicate with the taxpayers.
The council members said that the IT systems are being rebuilt and that they have to use limited calls and emails and prioritizing their jobs. The members have said that it would deal with the non-urgent messages later.
