More stolen data from Leicester City Council published online
The authority suffered a cyber attack last month
More stolen data has been released by cyber hackers who hit Leicester City Council’s computer systems last month. Hackers uploaded a new round of data on Monday, the council said.
It comes after 25 documents, which included passport details, were published online last week.
The 1.3 terabytes of documents in the latest leak is a “much larger batch” than last week’s leak, the authority added. Leicester City Council has apologised to residents for “any distress caused”.
Richard Sword, the council’s strategic director of city development and neighbourhoods, said the local authority would be contacting people impacted. However, due to the volume of data released, teams would be prioritising anyone “considered at high risk” as a result of the breach, he said.
The authority was forced to shut down its systems on Thursday, March 7, after hackers gained access to them. The council said the attack was “highly sophisticated” and conducted by a “known ransomware group who have hit a number of government, education and health organisations around the world”.
The city council has not specified what information has been published in the latest upload of stolen information. However, last week’s release included rent statements, applications to buy council housing and documents used for identification, including passport information.
Mr Sword said: “Cyber security and police experts working with the council informed us yesterday that another batch of stolen data had been published. At 1.3 terabytes, this is a much larger batch of data than the 25 documents published last week.
“We are in the process of reviewing the data to see exactly what it consists of, and have notified the Information Commissioner of our actions. We have a duty to inform anyone considered at high risk as a result of data breaches. Due to the amount of data published, we will be prioritising people who may come under this category.
“We realise this data breach will cause concern, and apologise for any distress caused. We continue to work with Leicestershire Police and the National Cyber Security Centre as part of this investigation.”