London cyber attack data published online

Law enforcement had warned of rise in ransomware cases linked to Covid-19

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said it had secured and taken some IT systems offline following a data breach, but that "core functions remain sound and operational”. EPA

Data stolen from a London council in a cyber attack last year has been published by criminals on the dark web.

A limited amount of the data stolen from Hackney Council in October was put online but was not available through mainstream internet search engines. The council said the vast majority of sensitive information it held was unaffected.

"It is utterly deplorable that organised criminals chose last year to deliberately attack Hackney, damaging services and stealing from our borough, our staff and our residents in this way, and all while we were in the middle of responding to a global pandemic,” said mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville.

"Now, four months on, at the start of a new year and as we are all responding to the second wave, they have decided to compound that attack and now release stolen data.”

Interpol in April said that cyber criminals had increased their efforts to exploit the pandemic by locking hospitals out of their computers unless they pay large ransoms.

The organisation identified a significant increase in attempted ransomware attacks against key organisations involved in the virus response.

Ransomware stops organisations from accessing vital files until they pay a ransom – usually in bitcoin – in return for a key to unlock their systems.