Title

CRIME

Russian hackers accessed private data, council says

Gloucester City Council has warned residents that some personal information may have been stolen by Russian hackers.

Gloucester City Council has warned residents that some personal information may have been stolen by Russian hackers.

The Cyber attack in December 2021 damaged the council's network and online services.

An investigation by the council and cyber incident response experts concluded that while some personal information ‘may have been taken' criminals have not published anything and are unlikely to in the future.

Seven Russian cyber criminals have been sanctioned by the UK and US Government's in relation to this and other incidents.

Gloucester's managing director, Jon McGinty, said: ‘I share the annoyance of the public that we were targeted in this way; this criminal group targeted our council among other private and public sector organisations to disrupt our public services in an attempt to extort a ransom payment from the council.

‘I am sorry for any concern this announcement may cause residents and members of the public, but would like to emphasise this occurred in December 2021 and, based on advice received from our national law enforcement partners, the council believes it is unlikely that any information taken will be released in the future.'

CRIME

How councils can help businesses connect with their largest untapped market

By Pippa Mannerings | 07 July 2026

Older consumers continue to be overlooked by many businesses. Pippa Mannerings details the role local authorities can play in convincing businesses they will...

CRIME

Leading in an age of anger

By Robin Tuddenham | 07 July 2026

Robin Tuddenham says poor behaviour is making local government leadership harder, making stronger standards, better support and trust more important than ever.

CRIME

Steadying the LGA ship

By Heather Jameson | 07 July 2026

As the Local Government Association heads to Bournemouth for its annual conference, can it adapt to political fragmentation and sector reform while staying t...

CRIME

CIPFA prudential code changes aim for greater council transparency

By Martin Ford | 02 July 2026

Changes to councils’ financial reporting are being proposed in a bid to prevent a future collapse on the scale of Woking BC.

Popular articles by William Eichler