Get the latest tech news

The inside story of a council held to ransom in cyber-attack

The BBC investigates one of the most damaging ranswomare attacks on a UK local council.

But the former head of the National Cyber Safety Centre (NCSC), Ciaran Martin, said his "biggest cyber-security worry" was the threat of simultaneous attacks on public services, like councils and hospitals, which had the potential to "wreck lives". It was feared social workers, tasked with keeping young people safe, would struggle to do their jobs without access to the online records they relied on to help inform difficult decisions. A year later, in February 2023, a group of Russian hackers were sanctioned by UK and US government over a string of attacks on businesses, schools and councils, including Redcar and Cleveland.

Get the Android app