Kent councils say cyber incident disrupted public services and online operations

The Information Commissioner’s Office is investigating a major data security incident that disrupted operations at Kent’s Canterbury, Dover and Thanet councils.

Earlier this month, the councils of Canterbury, Dover and Thanet in Kent suffered significant cyber attacks that disrupted their daily operations. While the councils did not share details of the cyber attacks, it was reported that Civica, a leading service provider to the councils, experienced a major cyber security incident that had a cascading effect on the councils.

Civica, a privately-owned company headquartered in London, provides IT, HR and enterprise software services to public sector organisations, including the Kent councils. According to the Recorded Future, Civica’s official website was also offline around the same time the three councils suffered data security incidents.

In a statement shared with the media, Rob Davies, the media manager for Canterbury City Council, said, “We are still at the early stages of investigation and so cannot comment on which systems have or have not been compromised, but out of an abundance of caution all systems have been isolated, including those provided by Civica.”

The U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre said that the councils of Canterbury, Dover and Thanet have notified it about the cyber security incident and is “working to fully understand the impact of an incident.”

The councils also reported the incident to the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office. In a statement shared with TechCrunch, ICO spokesperson Rashana Vigerstaff said that the privacy watchdog has received reports from the three councils and will be making enquiries.

“We have received breach report forms from three Kent Councils who form a three-way partnering service: Thanet District Council, Dover District Council and Canterbury County Council, and will be making enquiries,” Vigerstaff said.

In a press release posted on its website, Canterbury Council said that while the investigation is still ongoing, it has so far found no evidence that customer data was accessed during the cyber attack.