Gloucester City Council will not say if it has insurance to cover cyber-attacks
The council's IT systems were compromised by hackers operating out of the former Soviet Union in December
Last updated 16th Feb 2022
Gloucester City Council leaders have been criticised for not saying whether the local authority has insurance to cover the costs of a recent cyber attack. The council’s IT systems were compromised by hackers operating out of the former Soviet Union in December. And since then, several online services such as the planning portal, revenue and benefits and customer services have been affected.
The council is working with the National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre to understand more about the breach. And last week, council leaders revealed that they were setting aside £380,000 to help restore IT systems affected. However, the council will not say whether or not it has insurance which would cover cyber attacks.
And opposition councillors fear the full costs to repair their systems will be in the millions. They have also criticised this lack of transparency and say the public has a right to know.
Cllr Jeremy Hilton (Lib Dem, Kingsholm & Wotton) said: “It is ridiculous that the Conservative administration at the city council won’t disclose whether or not it had insurance to cover the cost of recovery from the cyber attack.
“Saying yes or no would not disclose anything confidential that would hamper the recovery from hacking of the council’s IT systems. “We already know that £380,000 has been put aside for the cyber recovery, but this may not be nearly enough.
“The non-answer from the city council is a clear indicator that it wishes to keep the public in the dark.
“One imagines if they had insurance they would have come back and proudly said yes. “I suspect the true answer is no and that the council did not have insurance.” The council has declined to comment.