Glasgow City Council warns of parking fine scam days after cyber attack
The council said it made the decision to take affected servers offline while investigations are carried out, which has disrupted several of its day-to-day digital and online services
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GLASGOW City Council has issued a warning over bogus parking fine messages just days after hackers launched a cyber attack - impacting some online services.
Earlier this week, the local authority said its ICT supplier CGI discovered "malicious activity" on servers managed by a third-party supplier on June 19.
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Glasgow City Council has issued a warning over a parking fine messages scam
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The local authority's online systems have been targeted by hackers
Credit: Getty
The council said it made the decision to take affected servers offline while investigations are carried out, which has disrupted several of its day-to-day digital and online services.
These include viewing and commenting on planning applications and paying penalty charges for parking or bus lane contraventions, while some online diaries and calendars not available, such as bin collection schedules.
This evening, the council said it had become aware of "suspicious messages" being sent to some people in the city and the wider region, directing recipients to pay outstanding parking fines online.
It said it was investigating these texts "as a matter of urgency", and that details of the messages had been shared with police and national cyber security teams assisting them.
The local authority made clear that it does not use text messages to chase the payment of parking fines, and that it would never call, email or message someone asking for their bank details.
The council said if anybody does need to pay a parking penalty, they should do so by calling the number displayed on the penalty charge notice (PCN).
In a statement earlier this week, a spokesperson for the local authority said they "can't confirm" whether any data had been stolen in the incident.
It went on: "As a precaution, we are operating on the presumption that customer data related to the currently unavailable web forms may have been exfiltrated, and we have contacted the Information Commissioner's Office on this basis.
"Until such time as we can ascertain if data has been stolen, and what this may be, we advise anyone who has used any of the affected forms to be particularly cautious about any contact claiming to be from Glasgow City Council.
"Glasgow City Council apologises for the anxiety and inconvenience this will undoubtedly cause."
Chilling moment thieves steal car with wireless device in seconds as new doc reveals how Brit motors end up in Lithuania
The council said that they "can't totally discount" that the scam messages involve stolen data but that the "early indications" are that it is either the work of opportunistic criminals, or a more widespread scam.
The local authority added that no financial systems have been affected and no details of bank accounts or credit/debit cards processed by those systems have been compromised.
Police Scotland is involved in investigating the cyber incident, along with the council, the Scottish Cyber Co-ordination Centre and the National Cyber Security Centre.
It is the third time in recent months that a local authority has been hit by a cyber attack, after Edinburgh and West Lothian councils were targeted in May.
Anyone contacted by someone claiming to have their data is advised to contact Police Scotland on 101 or call the Cyber Incident Response Helpline on 0800 1670 623.
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