Overview
- Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster City Council detected the incident on Monday, shut or isolated systems, and warned residents to expect delays as phone lines and online tools were disrupted.
- Hammersmith and Fulham, which shares some services with the two councils, adopted precautionary measures and reported limited connectivity pending assurances that partner networks are safe, according to internal memos.
- The councils notified the Information Commissioner’s Office, the National Cyber Security Centre is assisting, and the Met’s Cyber Crime Unit has begun early-stage enquiries after an Action Fraud referral with no arrests reported.
- Officials say it is too early to identify the perpetrators or determine whether data was compromised, though overnight mitigations were applied and critical services are being prioritised under business continuity plans.
- Hackney raised its internal cyber threat level to critical and issued phishing cautions to staff despite not being directly hit, while internal guidance indicated some systems may not be fully restored until the end of the week.