Josh Milton
Published November 25, 2025 7:36pm
Updated November 25, 2025 7:46pm
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Nursery, supermarkets and airports have all been targeted by cyber crooks this year (Picture: Getty Images)
Several London councils have reportedly been hit by cyber attacks in the past 48 hours.
Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea town halls say they are working with GCHQ’s cyber security centre to protect Londoners’ data.
Nearby Hammersmith and Fulham, as well as Hackney in east London, have also reported issues with their IT systems.
Kensington and Chelsea said the incident was identified by itself and Westminster City yesterday morning.
We're continuing to experience a serious IT issue that will affect your ability to get in touch with us, either through phone or through some online tools. We're working internally and with our partners to investigate. If you need to get in touch with us https://t.co/EpH0V8oFFa. https://t.co/svitym6Ftq
— Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (@RBKC) November 25, 2025
The two councils’ shared IT systems and phone lines have also been impacted.
Constituents may struggle to get in contact with Kensington and Chelsea council.
The council added: ‘We don’t have all the answers yet, as the management of this incident is still ongoing.
‘But we know people will have concerns, so we will be updating residents and partners further over the coming days.
‘At this stage it is too early to say who did this, and why, but we are investigating to see if any data has been compromised – which is standard practice.’
Westminster council officials have pushed the red button on their networks as a precautionary measure, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
The council earlier today wrote on X that constituents are reporting issues contacting it through its contact centre and online portal.
We are aware of an issue which will affect your ability to contact us, either via our contact centre, or online through services such as Report It. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are communicating with our partners to understand when we should expect services to… pic.twitter.com/k27eMY4JwA
— Westminster City Council (@CityWestminster) November 25, 2025
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Hackney has raised its cyber security threat level to ‘critical’, with an internal memo warning staff against phishing attacks, in which cyber crooks pretend to be people or organisations to gouge the victim’s personal information.
The police were alerted to the wave of suspected cyber attacks yesterday, the force confirmed to Metro.
‘Enquiries remain in the early stages within the Met’s Cyber Crime Unit. No arrests have been made,’ it added.
The National Cyber Security Centre told Metro: ‘We are aware of an incident affecting some local authority services in London and are working to understand any potential impact.’
M&S, Co-op, Harrods, London’s Heathrow Airport, a London nursery chain, among others, have been targeted by cyber criminals in recent months.
Cyber experts previously told Metro that large retailers make easy prey for hackers, given the vast amount of customer data they handle.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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