Source: www.infosecurity-magazine.com – Author:
Oxford City Council has disclosed a cybersecurity incident which resulted in the exposure of personal data of current and former Council officers across a 21-year period.
The UK local authority revealed that attackers accessed its network over the weekend of June 7 and 8, 2025. The Council’s automated security systems removed the presence and minimized the access the attackers had to its systems and databases.
“Unfortunately, the attackers were able to access some historic data on legacy systems,” the Council commented.
“We have now identified that people who worked on Oxford City Council-administered elections between 2001 and 2022, including poll station workers and ballot counters, may have had some personal details accessed. The majority of these people will be current or former Council officers,” it added.
The authority said there is currently no evidence that any of the accessed information has been shared with third parties.
Additionally, there is no evidence of a mass download or extraction of data.
“We understand that people will be concerned and today we have individually contacted people potentially affected to explain what happened, what support is available, and the steps we’re taking to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again,” the Council said.
No details on the type of personal information accessed has been provided.
The Council said it has reported the incident to relevant government authorities and law enforcement agencies. A full investigation is ongoing to ascertain precisely what data was accessed and if any part was exfiltrated.
Read now: ICO Reprimands London Council for Mass Data Breach
Disruption to Council Services
As part of efforts to carry out checks and investigate the incident, Oxford City Council deployed external cybersecurity experts to take down each of its main systems.
This has resulted in disruption to local authority services for over a week.
“Our staff have been working hard to minimize impact on our residents but we would like to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this has caused to people wanting to access our services,” the Council said.
Most of these systems are now back up and running. The Council’s email systems and wider digital services remain safe and secure to use.
Image credit: Michael715 / Shutterstock.com
Original Post URL: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/personal-data-oxford-council/
Category & Tags: –
Views: 0
