In November we reported on a recent cyber attack on Hackney council, now nearly four months after the attack, the criminals are posting stolen information from staff and residents on the dark web.

The council are still working with the UK's National Cyber Security Centre to retrieve all the data lost and restore their systems. Despite all this, the council has stated that the mast vast majority of personal data they hold is unaffected. They went on to say "I fully understand and share the concern of residents and staff about any risk to their personal data, and we are working as quickly as possible with our partners to assess the data and take action, including informing people who are affected."

However, this wasn't enough for some of the residents who had already seen the effects of this attack. One resident who spoke out on social media claimed they had lost £1000 surveying a plot of land they were planning on buying until the breach disrupted any house purchases. This was not a one-off incident, there are numerous cases of people losing money and chances at accommodation because of this attack.

The fact that people are out of pocket and have had life plans derailed because of a lack of land searches is a side effect to councils being hacked that few could have predicted. The authority isn't saying much, including whether or not they have negotiated with hackers or paid a ransom although as the hackers are posting the data it seems that they haven't yet got what they want from the council.

For updates as more is revealed follow ADNS Group on Linkedin today.