Ealing Hit By Computer Virus
Following hot on the heals of a Welsh county council being struck by an unknown computer virus, comes news that London council Ealing has suffered a similar fate.
Welsh county council Powys was believed to have been struck down by two separate computer viruses in April. Council chiefs claimed damage was minimal and the mystery virus seemed only to hit Microsoft applications (including Word and Excel) and Adobe Flash software. Email was unaffected, although 500 staff were said to have complained about slow computers and slow surfing times.
Powys computer security chiefs pointed out that they were not alone in having to deal with such problems and that many government departments and official websites had been targeted by malicious hackers.
Ealing appeared to have a slightly different problem from that of Powys, with their telephone system being brought down, emails not working and the internet unobtainable.
Ealing customer services could not be reached by the internal telephone system and only staff direct numbers worked.
Fearing a major computer virus attack, council bosses decided to close down their whole computer system and make checks. The website became unavailable as technicians examined all of the council’s systems.
A spokesperson admitted that Ealing’s computer’s had been threatened by a computer virus and the situation was contained by closing down the system and the threat removed. The spokesperson didn’t elucidate as to whether a virus had been discovered, or what kind it might have been. The spokesperson was also at pains to point out that the council has a comprehensive anti-virus software capability.
But, as with Powys, Ealing seems unsure as to the exact nature of the attack.
Guest Article by Neil Camp
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My name is Alan Potts and I'm the Editor of the Antivirus-BUYability web site and Managing Director of BUYability Limited. You can connect with me or keep up to date with new posts on this blog via the following social media sites: 
