Cyberattack disrupts services across Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster councils

At least two London local authorities initiated emergency measures after a cyberattack disrupted shared IT systems on Monday, prompting service outages and an investigation into possible data exposure. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which provides municipal services for one of London’s central districts, and Westminster City Council, the local authority for a neighboring borough, reported impacts across multiple platforms, including phone lines and online services used by roughly 360,000 residents.

Both councils share portions of their IT infrastructure and shut down several systems as a precaution to contain the intrusion. Engineers worked through Monday night and into Tuesday to stabilize operations and begin restoring affected services. Access to functions such as checking council tax bills and paying parking fines remained limited, and the Kensington and Chelsea website was expected to experience intermittent availability as security fixes continued.

Kensington and Chelsea said the incident response remained active and that the full extent of the attack had not yet been determined. The council noted that specialists were examining whether any data had been compromised, describing the assessment as standard procedure during an event of this type. The borough confirmed that business continuity and emergency plans had been activated to maintain essential operations, with a priority on supporting vulnerable residents.

The councils brought in external cyber incident experts and engaged the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre to assist with containment, system restoration, and the protection of critical data. Westminster City Council cautioned residents to expect delays in services in the coming days and expressed appreciation for public cooperation as teams worked to restore functionality.

Hammersmith and Fulham, another London borough that shares some IT systems with the affected councils, also reported disruption, although the level of impact had not yet been fully established.

Security analysts monitoring the situation described evidence of a significant intrusion involving movement across shared infrastructure. They noted that the nature of the affected systems underscored the ongoing challenges faced by local authorities responsible for extensive public services while operating under varied cybersecurity constraints. The councils notified the Information Commissioner’s Office as part of their incident obligations and said further updates would be provided as recovery efforts progressed.