People’s names, addresses, bank account numbers, sort codes are among the type of information taken by Russian cyber criminals who targeted Gloucester City Council.
Council chiefs have now confirmed that a disbanded group called Conti is believed to have been behind the cyber attack which disrupted services in the city in December 2021.
The types of information which may have been accessed also include notices relating to licensing and environmental health issues along wih historic documents relating to social housing cases.
The council does not hold any residents’ credit or debit card information and chiefs are keen to stress they do not believe any of the information taken has been published by the criminal group.
They believe action taken by the US and UK governments to sanction the individuals involved, the fact the group has disbanded and the length of time since the incident means it is unlikely the data will be published in future.
Managing director Jon McGinty said this is one of the reasons they have now made this announcement.
“We believe there is little likelihood any of the information taken will be used. The group has effectively ceased to exist. They have internal fights and break ups. They have unformed.
“That, together with the sanctions that have been taken by governments and the amount of time we’ve been looking online and there has been no evidence this information has been public, gives us cause for belief. We believe it is unlikely it will be published in the future.
“We think it’s unlikely that there will be any harm suffered by anyone as a result of this breach.”
