Cyber-attack leaves Leicester street lights permanently on

The lighting issue is a consequence of a cyber-attack on Leicester City Council's systems

A cyber-attack on a city council has left a number of street lights lit day and night.

Leicester City Council called the IT breach on 7 March "highly sophisticated".

While initial disruption to council services lasted weeks, wider effects continue to show, including street lights staying on.

After the incident, the authority took its IT systems offline and fielded the most urgent phone calls.

'Default mode'

A city council spokesperson said: "We are aware of a number of street lights that are staying on during the day.

"This is due to a technical issue connected to the recent cyber-attack, when we were forced to shut down our IT systems.

"It means we are currently not able to remotely identify faults in the street lighting system.

"The default mode for faults is that the lights stay on to ensure that roads are not left completely unlit and become a safety concern.

"There are a number of steps required to resolve the problem, and we are working through these as quickly as we can."

Police and the National Cyber Security Centre are investigating the attack

A known ransomware group - which has hit a number of government, education, and health organisations around the world - was responsible for the cyber-attack, the council says.

A number of stolen documents have since been posted online by the group.

Staff are working with Leicestershire Police and the National Cyber Security Centre as part of an ongoing investigation.