A ransomware attack that took place in February this year on the Redcar and Cleveland Council portal is said to have costed the council £10.4 million for recovery and reportedly prevented over 135,000 citizen from accessing the public services for few days.
Local authorities state that the costs incurred to recover the data and services were much higher than expected and so they are urging the government to cover at least half of the costs made for recovery.
Redcar and Cleveland Council have admitted that they have upgraded their cyber defense line to many folds and have submitted the recovery costs to the budget auditor.
Also reports are in that £2.4 million was incurred to replace the hardware and software of the council’s IT infrastructure. While £3.4m loss was incurred as many of the populace couldn’t pay the taxes on time.
The council has enrolled itself in the NCSC scheme, which will make its cyber defenses far better than its peers existing in the local government.
Glyn Nightingale, the Redcar and Cleveland Council Councilor has confirmed the news and added that the February cyber attack and the COVID 19 pandemic have shown unprecedented effects on the populace in recent times.
The councilor added that the recent virus spread might also make a negative impact on the job market as it is estimated that more than 3K populace of Redcar and Cleveland Council could lose their jobs in next six months.
Note- Redcar and Cleveland are in North Yorkshire of England and have turned into a popular tourist spot in recent times in UK. In the year 2010, the Council’s 4 wards- Coatham, Newcomen, Zetland and West Dyke were featured in Channel 4’s program titled ‘The Secret Millionaire’.
