International hackers have breached the trading standards computer system at North Yorkshire Council and demanded a ransom.
The Stray Ferret was tipped off by an anonymous source at the council who said the hackers had encrypted large amounts of data and were “demanding a ransom to decrypt it”.
The source added:
“Backups have also been encrypted so this is a big problem. This systems holds a lot of data and this breach could impact on a large number of crime investigations within the area.”
The Stray Ferret asked the council for further details about the breach, which is believed to have happened in March.
We asked how much data had been compromised and how it was able to happen, as well as what action the council was taking to resolve the situation, and the likely cost and timeframe.
The council issued a statement that included quotes from Mike Andrews, the National Trading Standards eCrime team’s national co-ordinator, and Madeline Hoskin, the council’s assistant director for technology.
The National Trading Standards eCrime team investigates fraud on behalf of local authorities.
The statement confirmed there had been “an incident”, which it said had been “contained” but did not clarify the extent of the breach.
Mr Andrews said in the statement:
“We are working with national agencies and other partners to investigate this incident.
“Fortunately, we became aware of the incident at a very early stage and swift action was taken.
“Protecting personal data remains our top priority and steps were taken to contain the potential impact.
“As the investigation is ongoing, it would not be appropriate for us to comment any further at this stage to avoid jeopardising any future legal proceedings.”
Ms Hoskin said in the statement:
“We take considerable precautions to prevent and detect cybercrime and take our responsibilities extremely seriously.
“We worked with an independent team of digital forensic specialists which helped ensure a swift recovery from the incident.
“No information related to the council’s customers outside of the data held by the National Trading Standards E-Crime Team has been affected.”
The council declined to comment further.
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