Portsmouth City Council under cyberattack

Incident is part of a broader wave of cyberattacks targeting UK local authorities

Portsmouth City Council has confirmed that it has been targeted by a cyberattack, joining a growing list of local authorities affected by recent online assaults.

The attack, carried out by a group known as NoName057(16), is a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, a common tactic that overwhelms a system with traffic, making it inaccessible.

While the attack has caused disruptions to the council's website, officials have assured residents that critical services remain operational.

"We can confirm that the Portsmouth City Council website is undergoing a cyberattack, which means you will experience issues when trying to use the site," the authority said in a statement on its Facebook page.

No personal data breaches have been reported, and the council says it is actively working to mitigate the impact of the attack. It added that council's teams are responding to public queries during working hours.

The incident is part of a broader wave of cyberattacks targeting UK local authorities.

Last week, NoName057(16) claimed responsibility for a series of cyberattacks targeting several councils in Greater Manchester.

The group, which has been linked to previous attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, employed a DDoS attack to overwhelm the websites of Salford, Bury, Trafford, and Tameside councils.

While DDoS attacks are relatively unsophisticated, they can still cause significant disruption by preventing legitimate users from accessing essential online services.

Middlesbrough Council said its website had been restored following a cyberattack that took it offline on Wednesday.

The council's IT department identified an issue with the website, prompting a temporary shutdown as a precautionary measure. The council has assured residents that no data or services were compromised during the incident.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has confirmed that it is aware of the attacks and has provided guidance to the affected councils.

"Whilst DDoS attacks are relatively low in sophistication and impact, they can cause disruption by preventing legitimate users from accessing online services," a spokesperson for NCSC told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

These attacks come just months after a phishing scam targeted housing websites in Manchester, Salford, and Bolton, affecting thousands of people.

The scam involved emails requesting personal information, prompting authorities to warn residents to monitor their bank accounts and change their passwords.

In April, Leicester City Council said it was hit by ransomware attack. The confirmation came after cybercriminals uploaded stolen documents to their dark web site, prompting concerns over data security and user privacy.

INC Ransom - a group known for targeting governmental, educational and healthcare institutions - claimed responsibility for the attack.

The council said about 25 sensitive documents, including rent statements, council housing purchase applications and personal ID records such as passport information were among the documents leaked by hackers.

The council cautioned residents to report any suspicious approaches from parties claiming to possess their data to Leicestershire Police.