A high profile cyber-attack on Aberdeen City Council’s website cost the local authority more than £10,000.
Last month, hacking group Team System DZ breached security on the site in an incident lasting two hours.
They posted a cryptic single black page, which took over the entire website, and showed the silhouette of a man in a cowboy hat above the message “security stupidity” on January 28.
The group posted details of the attack on its own Facebook page – and initially gave no reasons for the hack.
But they later claimed it was in response to President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration order.
Now a new report to councillors states that a “vulnerability assessment of the website” carried out by an external company cost £5,550 while paying council staff for 170 hours to deal with the breach cost £4,540.
A report to councillors on Thursday’s audit committee adds that the attack had connotations with the Islamic State (IS) terror group.
It reads : “Messages were issued to the public via social media, the website and local media to reassure the public that no personal data was held on the site.
“There was no evidence that any data had been compromised or that the council’s main network had been breached.
“There was significant press interest on the matter as the image displayed had connotations with ISIS (IS).
“At this time there is no evidence to suggest whether this was the case.
“After initial investigation it is believed that the incident occurred due to a vulnerability found on the file upload facility on the ‘What’s On’ page of the externally hosted internet website.
“It was also discovered that the hacking group were actively searching for UK Government websites with upload facilities at that time.
“This upload function has now been disabled. There is no evidence that any data was breached or that the council’s main network was compromised.”
SNP group leader said the breach was a “wake-up call” to the authority of the threats that exist online.
He said: “This obviously highlights the potential risks that exist in this digital era.
“The council needs to be able to think clearly about the threats that we face and that’s why online security is especially important.”
Finance convener Willie Young added: “From our point of view this shows that our systems are pretty strong in that the hackers didn’t manage to get to any personal information.”
A police probe was launched at the end of last month into the hacking. An update on the investigation is expected from the force today.
