Cyber attack: Gloucester council sets aside £380k for IT repairs

Council leaders are setting aside £380,000 to help restore IT systems affected by a cyber attack.

Gloucester City Council discovered its systems had been breached in December.

The attack, which has been linked to hackers in Russia, affected online revenue and benefits, planning and customer services.

Council chiefs have been working with the National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre to understand more about the breach.

As well as the cyber recovery reserve of £380,000, council leaders are understood to be in conversations with the government over further financial support.

A separate cyber attack in 2020 cost Hackney London Borough Council around £10m and opposition councillors fear the total cost for Gloucester could also end up being in the millions.

Liberal Democrat councillor Declan Wilson asked a cabinet meeting if the funds put aside by the council would be enough, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said: "In recent times, other local authorities such as Hackney and Redcar have also suffered cyber attacks but have incurred significantly greater recovery costs than this.

"Are you confident this reserve is sufficient and the city council is not being exposed to the risk of having to deal with costs it can't afford?"

Performance and resources cabinet member Hannah Norman said the reserve was designed to protect the council from recovery costs from the incident.

The Conservative councillor for Quedgeley and Fieldcourt said: "As the recovery continues the full cost implications will be further understood.

"Sources of funding will then need to be identified."

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