London Councils’ IT Systems Impacted by CyberAttack, Including Phone Lines

Three West London councils (Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster City Council, and Hammersmith and Fulham) are experiencing major disruption to IT systems and phone services after a cyberattack on a shared services provider; officials are calling it an "IT incident" while investigators and commentators suspect ransomware. Critical services are being prioritised with manual workarounds, external cybersecurity specialists and national agencies are involved, and the full scope — including any data compromise — remains under investigation.