Inquiry into two cyber-attacks at Gloucester City Council in decade

The sleeper malware got into the local authority's system via an email that was sent to a council officer

An investigation will take place into how a local authority was hit by cyber hackers twice in the past decade.

Gloucester City Council became aware of its latest cyber attack on 20 December, disrupting online revenue and benefits, planning and customer services.

It could take months to fix affected servers and systems need to be rebuilt.

The National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security are investigating, with insiders believing there could be links to hackers in the former Soviet Union.

The software, known as sleeper malware, made its way into the local authority's system embedded in an email that had been sent to a council officer.

Services, including online applications forms used to claim housing benefit, test and trace support payments, discretionary housing payments and council tax support, have been delayed or are unavailable.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), opposition councillors at the Conservative-led council are extremely concerned as it is the second time in recent years the authority has been hacked.

'Stretched financially'

Lib Dem councillor for Podsmead and Overview and scrutiny committee chairman, Sebastian Field, said cyber attacks were a constant threat to every local authority but the city council had been hit twice in the past decade.

"Questions have got to be asked about how secure our systems are," he said.

"The question that urgently needs answering is what it's going to cost to put this right and prevent it in future," adding that like all local authorities, the council is "stretched financially".

"You've also got the double whammy that certain services are not being delivered.

"You can't use the website to find your councillor or check your bin day and you can't look at any past council papers on there.

"Also planning applications are not being determined which is losing income for the council as well", he added.