Glasgow City Council has confirmed that a recent cyberattack did not result in the theft or encryption of council or customer data, according to an independent forensic report published this week.
The review, conducted by external cybersecurity experts, followed a disruptive incident in June that forced some council services offline after malicious activity was detected on servers managed by a third-party supplier.
Initial concerns that sensitive data might have been compromised prompted the council to shut down affected systems and take a precautionary, worst-case approach.
However, subsequent investigations have brought reassuring news for the city’s residents and service users.
“Subsequent independent forensic analysis has found no evidence of encryption or exfiltration of council or customer data – however, we will continue to closely monitor the situation,” the council said in an official statement.
The newly released report states security teams have “high confidence the incident has been contained” and describes the event as an “opportunistic attack on a third-party supplier, rather than on the council itself”.
“Although there is evidence that attempts were made to download data, these were all denied,” the report added.
Investigators confirmed that no council financial systems were affected and no details of bank accounts or credit/debit card data processed by those systems were compromised.
Most Services Restored, Full Recovery Ongoing
In the immediate aftermath, a number of day-to-day digital and online services were taken offline as a protective measure.
Glasgow City Council worked closely with Police Scotland, the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre, and the National Cyber Security Centre throughout the incident.
