How Russian hackers took down a Teesside council's computer systems
Cyber Siege: From Russia to Redcar looks at the February 2020 ransomware attack on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council
This is edition number 51 of The Teesside Lead.
I know it should be every Sunday, but the previous edition came out early because there was breaking news about TVCA’s auditors writing to Angela Rayner to criticise them for not engaging with their work. And today’s edition has a story which was embargoed until today.
Next week’s edition will be back to regular Sunday service (as long as Yarm isn’t hit with nuclear weapons).
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A new BBC documentary being broadcast tonight tells the story of how Russian hackers took down a Teesside council’s computer systems, disrupting local services and costing a total of £11.3m to repair.
Cyber Siege: From Russia to Redcar looks at the February 2020 ransomware attack on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council (RCBC) by hackers based in Russia. Ciaran Martin, former Chief Executive of the National Cyber Safety Centre – part of GCHQ – said the incident was “unusually serious”.
After infecting the council’s systems with malicious software which locked staff out and scrambled files, hackers reached out to RCBC to demand payment to restore their systems.
A month later, Covid lockdowns began and demand on council services surged, creating a perfect storm of chaos. Council staff had reverted to working by pen and paper. Then-council leader Mary Lanigan told the documentary: “The destruction of our systems was total… We went back decades.”
Mr Martin added: “If a council are telling you they are worried about their ability to run services for vulnerable children, you take that very seriously.”
It took over 10 months for systems to be fully restored.
Despite the attack on RCBC taking place five years ago, cyber attacks are an ever-present threat to local authorities. In January this year personal data of residents had been compromised in an attack on Gateshead Council, who said they didn’t know how many people had been affected.
According to the Information Commissioner’s Office, there were 202 ransomware attacks on local councils in 2024 alone, and it remains a growing concern for other local authorities in the UK.
For what it’s worth, I lent the tiniest hand to researching and producing this documentary. I’m yet to see the finished film, so I’ll be tuning in at 8.30pm!
Teesside stories you may have missed…
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Billingham teen in Georgian jail for alleged drugs offences could give birth in prison
Work to improve and restore Heugh Battery has begun
World IBD Day
Today is World IBD Day, a day to raise awareness of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It’s a subject that’s close to my heart (or gut), as I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease last year.
The two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. They’re characterised by inflammation in the gut - usually in the intestines. The cause isn’t known, but these lifelong conditions are apparently on the rise. The charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK say there are 500,000 people in the country with IBD, so chances are you may know someone with these diseases without knowing it.
I’ve written previously about my diagnosis with Crohn’s, and about how the main treatment is with immunosuppressant drugs to inhibit the body’s immune response and reduce inflammation.
That treatment was working well for me until last month when, for some unknown reason, it just stopped. This is common with IBD treatment, and nobody’s sure why.
Since then I’ve had migraines, non-stop nausea, blood in my poo and the worst fatigue. I’ll walk with my daughter to school and be so exhausted that I just feel the need to go back to bed. A lot of those with IBD consider it an “invisible illness” because symptoms are generally not visible to others, but it’s literally written on my face via the blotchy-red cheeks of rosacea.
Tomorrow I’ll be having a timely return to hospital for more investigation to find out how ill I am and what the best course of action should be. Around 1 in 5 people with Crohn’s need surgery within the first 5 years of diagnosis, and it’s an option that’s already been recommended to me.
Before diagnosis, I think my only perception of Crohn’s is that it was painful and involved bloody diarrhoea. But the reality is that the symptoms are incredibly broad, non-specific, and vary from person to person.
Crohn’s and Colitis UK have an excellent symptom tracker on their website, which can tell you within 30 seconds whether you may need to go to your GP to talk about IBD.
I’ll be speaking about Crohn’s disease on BBC Radio Newcastle this morning just after 8am. There’ll plenty of poo talk on the breakfast show, and you have me to thank for that. Depending on a large number of things, it’s possible you may also be able to hear it on BBC Radio Tees this afternoon, too!
An extraordinary week at TVCA
Ahead of time, last week would have looked like a tough week for Ben Houchen. An extraordinary meeting of his cabinet was held because of his authority’s continuing failings and risk to value for money, followed by the first BBC Tees phone-in where he would be at the mercy of callers.
But things are never straightforward on Teesside, are they?
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