Council IT systems deemed 'safe' after cyber attack

The council is putting "security ahead of speed" as it brings its IT systems back online

A council’s IT systems have been declared safe by experts in the wake of a cyber attack.

Tewkesbury Borough Council, in Gloucestershire, was forced to declare a major incident earlier this month.

Council officers contained the attack by manually shutting down IT networks.

A council spokesperson has now said it has “slowly and securely” started to bring its systems back online after getting the all clear from security specialists.

The housing team is running as normal and the council is now focusing on bring the revenue and benefits team “ fully back online as soon as possible”.

The spokesperson said: “Bringing our systems back online will not be a quick process, because we are putting security ahead of speed.”

They added: “This means that the availability and accessibility of some of our officers and services will continue to be affected - we are prioritising bringing up services which directly support our vulnerable residents.”

Updates will be posted on the council’s website and social media channels.

The council's chief executive Alistair Cunningham said at the time of the attack on 4 September that no personal data was lost.

He added: "We've no idea whether it's a state actor or an individual in their bedroom trying to [create] mischief."

The council is being supported by the government’s National Cyber Security Centre.

Speaking on Thursday, Mr Cunningham said: "There have been no ransom demands, there’s no external presence on our site, so we are treating this as a near miss."

He added: "We are in a good place to say there has been no data lost, and there is nothing unpleasant lurking at the bottom of our cyber systems."