Australian Local Government Ransomware Attack, 04 April 2023

Isaacs Regional Council Ransomware Attack Highlights Risks Local Governments Face

It is unknown at this stage what information has been accessed

Company Statement: Cybersecurity incident – Update #3
Source: Incident: Isaacs Regional Council Cyber Attack Highlights Risks Local Governments Face | australiancybersecuritymagazine

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Isaac Regional Council in Central Queensland is the latest local council to face a cyberattack. The central Queensland council publicly confirmed the attack late on Sunday, April 2, saying they had flown in external cybersecurity experts over the weekend to help manage it.

“We are taking this matter very seriously as cybersecurity is part of our day-to-day business,” said council CEO Jeff Stewart-Harris. “At this stage, we do not have any evidence of large data uploads out of our system. However, this is still being fully investigated, so it can’t be guaranteed.”

Council is working with Dell Incident Response and Recovery Services and the Australian CyberSecurity Centre.

Mr Stewart-Harris said the council identified it was ransomware on Saturday morning, 1 April, before systems was switched off.

“We are doing the due diligence that’s the cornerstone of the recovery from a cybersecurity incident, so we ask people to be patient with us around some of our services currently being down,” Mr Stewart-Harris said.

Several high-profile cyberattacks since then, including on Stonnington City Council in Melbourne, have focused attention on the potential cyber vulnerabilities of local councils, something Stewart Harris says Isaac Regional Council is well on top of, saying, “cybersecurity is part of our day-to-day business.”